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The Wire, Volume 28, Number 2 Summer 2015
2015 “I have got some pleasant news for you, which I am eager to communicate.”
Jane Austen Society
of North America
Wisconsin Region The Wire, Volume 28, Number 3 Fall 2016
“I have got some pleasant news for you, which I am eager to communicate.”
Jane Austen Society
of North America
Wisconsin Region
Wisconsin members of JASNA gather after the banquet at last month’s AGM in Washington, D.C.
Another successful AGM in the books JASNA’s Annual General Meeting, held Oct. 21-23 in
Washington, D.C., was a rousing success. As usual, we
asked our Wisconsin members to contribute their thoughts
and impressions of the weekend’s highlights. Their respons-
es are below.
Among hundreds of your best friends As usual the AGM was like being among 800 of your best
friends. People who love to read, love Jane Austen, and love
to analyze in minute detail a few sentences in a paragraph of
Emma and come up with meanings so brilliantly deep, they
defy imagination--if that is even possible to Austen lovers.
We are always made to feel welcome, comfortable, edu-
cated and loved by the dozens of truly dedicated hosts each
year. Their attention to detail, smiles and helpful directions
made us feel at home for this, our third AGM in a row.
Our breakout speakers were well prepared, knowledgeable
and very witty. I thoroughly enjoy how much we laugh in
our sessions. What impresses me is that we are left wanting
more, and the supply of topics we can discuss is almost inex-
haustible.
Kelly VanderHeiden
Handmade vest accessorizes husband In 2014 my husband, Thomas, and I attended our first
JASNA meeting in
Montreal so I knew
we needed some
period costumes.
I bought my hus-
band’s jacket,
pants, and shirt
from Gentleman's
Emporium. I was
worried it would
not be good quality
or wouldn’t fit, but
it was perfect. Of
course I made the
cravat, which is just
a long white scarf. I
decided that I
would always make
a different waist-
coat to change it up
and get as much
use out of the
things I bought. We
also use these cos-
tumes when we go
to English country
dance weekends, so
the money was not
wasted on just one
event.
The pattern for the waistcoat comes
from Laughing Moon, which has lots
of patterns for period costumes. The
first vest was in red, but I decided it
was not quite long enough. The sec-
ond is blue. I was of course in a hurry
so I didn't put the bound pockets in
the blue vest; I don't think he missed
them. I did make it 2 inches longer
since my husband is so tall. The pat-
tern is pretty easy, and I am hoping to
use the material that I bought at the
Emporium at the Washington meeting
for next year's vest.
— Sandi Rutherford
Sense and Sensibility at the Folger My mother, sister and I attended the new adaptation of
Sense and Sensibility by Kate Hamill. It was performed at the
beautiful Folger Shakespeare Theatre following Sunday’s
brunch.
We all enjoyed the lively play and were awed by the actors’
agility on chairs with wheels during rapid scene changes. The
beautiful and intimate Elizabethan theater was a perfect set-
ting for the play and the close of our AGM experience.
— Susan Richard
Dinner and history at Mount Vernon One of the special tours several Wisconsin members took
advantage of was an exclusive tour of Mount Vernon. Dinner
in the Mount Vernon Inn was followed by an exclusive can-
dlelight tour of the mansion. I was surprised to learn Mount
Vernon has 11 bedrooms and most of the time they were full
JASNA’s dinner at Mount Vernon.
Susan Richard, her mother Yolanda Jensen, and sister, Kitty Rosenberger (NJ)
of visitors. Up to 677 visitors visited a year, and some stayed
for months at a time. Apparently, George and Martha were
very social people.
— Liz Philosophos Cooper
Meeting an author I had the opportunity to sit beside Collins Hemingway at
one of the plenary talks. I didn't know who he was but some-
one behind us said how much they enjoy his books and when
is the third volume coming out. I scribbled his name down by
noting it on his name tag. Then I went to the Emporium to
buy his book, The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen. I quickly read
the first volume (but unfortunately upon getting home I have
been too busy to finish the second volume).
I have to say that the book is well written especially the let-
ters throughout part II. The letters actually feel like you are
reading one of her letters. It seems odd to be thinking of the
marriage of Miss Jane Austen and if you can get around that
concept the thesis that she married seems plausible.
Questions that he tries to answer are: What went on during
Jane Austen's twenties? Why did her sister destroy her letters,
journals, and diaries from this period?
I recommend the books because they are well written.
— Sandi Rutherford
Visiting American history The AGM provided many opportunities to be amongst
American history. Our hotel, the JW Marriott, was across the
street from the beautiful Willard
Hotel where Abraham Lincoln
stayed prior to his inauguration.
We gathered for lunch on a beauti-
ful sun-filled day under the blue
umbrellas of the Willard’s Café du
Parc, basking in history. Next
door, we visited the Occidental
Grill, built in 1906, to view the
wall-to-wall autographed photo-
graphs of statesmen and states-
women hanging from ceiling to
floor including Eleanor Roosevelt,
Amelia Earhart, Robert Frost,
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Sandra
Day O’Connor and many others.
I especially enjoyed that our
hotel was a short distance to the
White House. On the route, I
walked past the US Treasury De-
partment and Blair House, stood
on the street directly in front of the
White House with the Lafayette
Square behind me. I enjoyed sit-
ting on a bench in the square eat-
ing my lunch, observing the tour-
ists and all the activity.
During the AGM, I enjoyed the
breakout session by Mackenzie Broderick, titled “Funny La-
dy: Dangerous Humor and Female Empowerment in Austen’s
Emma.” Broderick stated that in Emma, Austen used jokes and
riddles to put people in their place. Humor in Austen can veil
inappropriate comments. Emma made Miss Bates the butt of
her joke at Box Hill and was confronted by Mr. Knightley for
her rudeness and insensitivity to a much less fortunate wom-
an. Broderick proposed that Mr. Knightley’s direct rebuke of
Emma’s behavior causes her to recognize her own vanity. She
apologizes, leading to the evolution of her character and reali-
zation that she loved Mr. Knightley. Humor was the means to
move the story along.
Emma also used humor to manipulate her friends to do
what she wanted them to, especially Harriet Smith. Harriet
was especially vulnerable as she was so serious and susceptible
to Emma’s manipulations.
Broderick stated that Frank Churchill also uses humor to-
ward Jane Fairfax to show his power over her as he flirted
with Emma. This veiled humor was a means to hide the truth
of their relationship.
Emma attempts to use humor to put people in their place
and to manipulate her friends to follow her suggested path in
life, but she finds she is a good person despite her manipula-
tions.
— Phyllis Menne
Phylllis Menne (right) and Elizabeth Ireland visit the lobby of the historic Willard Hotel.
By Sara Bowen
Note: Sara Bowen took notes during all of her AGM sessions, and
has very kindly shared with us summaries of all the presentations she
heard. We are grateful to her for bringing some of the substance of the
meeting back to Wisconsin.
Digging up Steventon Rectory Deborah Charlton is an archeologist who directed the Ste-
venton Rectory Project, which spent nine years and a good
deal of lottery and English Heritage money trying to fathom
the dimensions of Jane Austen’s birthplace. Her AGM
presentation on the archeological digs at Steventon was an
example of the non-traditional AGM presentations than wid-
ened knowledge of Jane Austen’s life.
The site of Steventon Rec-
tory today is a meadow,
with only a pump location
indicating that there was
ever a dwelling on the
site. The rectory was dis-
mantled in the 1820s as a
later rector of the Austen-
Knight family chose to
move and not to live on a
former riverbed with a
very high ground water
level that led to flooded
cellars and unhealthy con-
ditions. When Jane Aus-
ten became famous, later
generations of the family
produced quite different
sketches from their mem-
ories of Jane Austen’s
birthplace, and one purpose of the dig was to use the latest
archeological tools to figure out the actual layout of the recto-
ry.
But while Jane Austen’s fame was useful in getting the
necessary funding and academic support, the dig’s purpose
was more extensive, as the 10,894 items excavated from the
site present a stunning picture of the material culture of a mid-
dle-class farming family in Austen’s lifetime. Pieces of table-
ware can be dated from records at the Spode museum; other
objects elucidate entries about life at Steventon in Austen’s
letters. There will be a BBC special on the project in 2017,
and Charlton’s book, Archeology Greets Jane Austen, will be
published later in 2016. Click here to see the project’s website.
Emma comes to America Emma was the only Austen novel to appear in America
during Austen’s lifetime. Juliette Wells of Goucher College
led the AGM brunch attendees through her detective search
for copies of the first American edition of Emma, published in
Philadelphia on Dec. 16, 1816, less than a year after the book
appeared in England.
The publisher, M. Carey, received two copies of Emma
from England, probably pursuant to a standing order for new
English fiction, but it is quite likely that Sir Walter Scott’s
enthusiastic unsigned review of Emma in the Quarterly Review
persuaded him to print 500 copies for American consumption,
using the Scott review as a marketing blurb. It was far cheaper
for Carey to publish his own copies rather than pay the high
tariff that was passed after the War of 1812 for more English
copies. In addition, it was viewed as patriotic for American
publishers to produce their own editions. Jane Austen and her
publisher, John Murray, almost certainly never knew of the
edition, and would have gotten no royalties in the days before
international copyright protection.
The major cost for Carey would have been the paper, still
handmade at that time, so Carey had his printer compress the
text and cram the book into two volumes instead of John
Murray’s three. The poor quality of the paper and the board
binding used for most copies meant that very few survive.
Wells has traced down six copies of this Philadelphia edition,
though there are rumors that an antiquarian bookseller has a
seventh and is holding out for a higher market.
Austen would not be published again in America until
1832, when the Carey firm would shorten Emma and bowd-
lerize Emma’s use of the Lord’s name in vain. You can see
Alberta Burke’s copy of the 1816 Emma, now at Goucher Col-
lege, online here.
Jane Fairfax, the Anti-Heroine Gillian Webster, chair of the Kent Branch of the Jane Aus-
ten Society, challenged her AGM audience to consider why
in Emma, we root for the dashing if imperfect Emma and not
for the noble, struggling Jane Fairfax, while in Mansfield Park,
we root for the struggling, perfect Fanny Price and not for the
dashing and imperfect Mary Crawford.
Webster noted that we don’t hear of Jane Fairfax until
chapter 10, and she doesn’t enter the action until chapter 20.
Even then, we know her only through the unreliable eyes of
Emma and the chatter of Miss Bates — until her breakout
moment at Donwell Abbey, where she finally reveals the ten-
sion of her life. But by then, it is too late for us to engage with
Jane Fairfax, and for in the rest of the novel, we hear very
little in her own words — rather, we see her primarily through
Frank’s eyes and writing. On the other hand, we experience
Mansfield Park and Mary Crawford primarily through Fanny’s
eyes, but Mary Crawford comes on stage early and engages
our attention with her verve whenever Austen lets us see her
directly through her own talk and actions.
Webster feels that Austen’s juxtaposition of these two her-
oines and two anti-heroines shows her enormous narrative
range. We are meant to sympathize with Emma Woodhouse
because Austen wants us to realize that we are as unreliable
as she is. Jane Fairfax is not as perfect as the reliable Mr.
Knightley thinks she is, as Austen’s contemporary audience
would have been appalled at Jane’s clandestine engagement
and correspondence. We are meant to acknowledge the trials
of Fanny Price and Jane Fairfax, but the zest and life of Em-
And what were some topics at the AGM?
ma Woodhouse and Mary Crawford reach us in ways the
pale Jane Fairfax and Fanny Price do not.
Letter Writing in Austen’s World When Marsha Huff and I planned the Milwaukee AGM
on “Jane Austen’s Letters in Fact and Fiction,” we hoped
someone would present a paper on the culture and conven-
tions of letter writing in Austen’s time. No one gave us a pro-
posal on that topic, but that lack was filled by Dr. Bao Bui of
Ball State University at the 2016 AGM, who spoke on
“Epistolary Networks, Private Space and Postal Culture in
Regency England.”
Dr. Bui gave a history of the postal service in England,
noting that until Austen’s lifetime, there was no expectation
of privacy in a letter sent by public post. However, with the
development of Enlightenment ideals and the lessening worry
about internal revolt in England, the postal service of Aus-
ten’s era gave a reasonable expectation of privacy between
sender and recipient. But letters sent by public post were only
delivered as far as the local post office during this period, so
Jane Fairfax was running a huge risk in sending and receiving
letters.
Dr. Bui posits, with help from Linda Troost, that Mr.
Knightley’s reference to Frank’s feminine-looking handwrit-
ing gives us the clue to the success of keeping their corre-
spondence private — Frank could have sent his letters under
an assumed female name, and the postmistress would have
thought it was a female friend writing Jane. How did Jane
Fairfax get letters to Frank without gossip? Possibly by send-
ing them in the name of his aged nurse. Personal letters were
assumed to be open for consumption by all family members,
so Jane would have had to be extremely secretive about re-
ceiving and sending any letters.
Dr. Bui tied the letter writing in Emma to the larger com-
munications shifts beginning in the eighteenth century and
still ongoing. Emma and Knightley represent the old medie-
val village communication system of face-to-face discussion.
But Frank and Jane — and “Frank”, as in franking letters, is
no accidental name in Dr. Bui’s view — represent the future,
where the cohesiveness and insularity of the Highburys of
England would be smashed by the communications and
transportation revolutions. The postal use by Frank and Jane
Fairfax was not only shocking with respect to the courtship
mores of the times, but it represented modernity breaking into
human relationships. Frank and Jane’s secret letters are the
bridge between Highbury’s face-to-face community and the
anonymous world of the internet.
Robert Martin’s Reading List Emma Woodhouse scorns Robert Martin’s reading list for
its lack of elegance, but Susan Allen Ford in her AGM plena-
ry explained how Austen’s audience would interpret Martin’s
reading as that of an upwardly mobile farm manager interest-
ed in the scientific advances of his time. Emma, in her view, is
as much about reading as Northanger Abbey is, and Robert
Martin’s book list tells us much about him, just as Harriet’s
reading list warns us of the dangers facing her if she turns
down Robert’s proposal.
The 1809 General View of the Agriculture of Surrey (which
was on view in the Library of Congress special exhibit for
AGM attendees) was written by William Stevenson, a writer
on economic matters who was the father of Elizabeth Gas-
kell. If Martin is reading this avidly, it means that he is a man
looking to the economic future, sharing agricultural advances
with others and helping England prosper through the shortag-
es of the Napoleonic war period. The Elegant Extracts by
Vicesimus Knox, were two volumes of prose and poetry
which were defining a canon of literature — Jane Austen
gave a copy of the prose volume to her niece Anna. The Vicar
of Wakefield, one of the most popular novels of the late eight-
eenth century, celebrated English rural life without skimping
on its complexities. All his reading choices show Martin as a
man looking to the scientific future and cultivating his mind
and heart, not Gothic frivolity.
On the other hand, there are warnings for Harriet Smith in
her book choices. The Vicar of Wakefield’s daughter turns
down a proposal of marriage to a good farmer her father ap-
proves of, and runs off with a rake who tries to ruin her. The
Children of the Abbey has a woman from the lower economic
class turn down a poorer man because she thinks a clergyman
will marry her, and the book’s villain’s name is Woodhouse!
The Gothic genre in general often deals with orphaned wom-
en searching for their fathers, and finding the fathers, their
fortunes, and a husband in a happy ending after torturous
adventures.
One of Ford’s most striking insights was regarding Emma
as a modified Gothic novel. There is the failed abduction
from Mr. Elton; Mr. Woodhouse as the weak but tyrannical
Liz Cooper, in character as Emma, sends a text on her phone.
(You know that if Emma could, she would.)
father; Frank Churchill as the treacherous lover, and Mr.
Knightley as the rescuer of his protégé. Robert Martin stands
aloof from these modified Gothic stereotypes in his stolidity,
but he does heroically provide a safe harbor for Harriet once
she wills it.
The Working Women of Emma Sheryl Craig, who has done so much interesting work on
the economic background of Jane Austen’s novels, encour-
aged AGM attendees to look at the world of Emma not from
the perspective of the wealthy heiress Emma Woodhouse, but
from the perspective of all the working women of Highbury.
For, as she pointed out, Highbury was run by working wom-
en. She counts at least 16 working women in Emma.
Mrs. Goddard runs her school and has three other teachers
— does her gratitude to Mr. Woodhouse indicate that he gave
her some capital to start up the school? Mrs. Wallace runs the
bakery; Mrs. Ford runs the emporium; Mrs. Stokes runs the
Crown Inn — no mention of any husbands for any of them.
Mrs. Hodges and Mrs. Wright run the Knightley and Elton
homes; there is an unnamed housekeeper at Highbury, in ad-
dition to housemaids like Hannah and the cook Serle. Mrs.
Martin has two housemaids, but the Bates’ household can
only afford Patty, who is probably an apprentice out of the
poorhouse working only for room, board and clothing. And
Miss Taylor has managed to leave the governess/companion
world through marriage just as Jane Fairfax contemplates en-
tering it.
Craig described the meager wages available for women
employees, noting that women in Austen’s time were paid at
most half the wages of men for the same job. Mary Wollstone-
craft argued that keeping women from education led to the
claims that they weren’t intellectual or emotionally competent
to perform jobs outside of the home. Austen’s portrayal of the
working women of Highbury — and her acknowledgement of
women in poverty such as the cottager, the elderly servant and
the gypsy women — show her understanding of the strengths
and the challenges of economic realities for women, strengths
and challenges she personally knew well.
JASNA-WI charter member Mary Anne Gross sells calen-
dars at Ford’s Emporium.
A table full of
JASNA-WI
members at the
AGM banquet.
Emma at 200 “No One But Herself”
was the theme of the Jane Austen Society
of North America’s 38th Annual General
Meeting. Twenty Wisconsin Region
members attended, but we had several
spouses, sisters, and daughters in attend-
ance as well, swelling our numbers into
the mid-30s. Two former Wisconsin
members, Julie de Witt and Kathleen
Madden, who now live in Massachusetts,
joined our group. The JW Marriott, the
state-of-the-art host hotel, was not only
spacious but beautiful in its furnishings
and glitzy surfaces. The “smart” elevator
was a wonder. You pushed one button
and it told you what car to take.
I believe there were some 800-850 Austen devotees seated
at the banquet and we still had oodles of room. Despite the
modern surroundings, the ambience of this AGM took us
back in time to Emma’s Highbury and the Regency period.
Many from my 2013 Pride & Prejudice-themed tour to England
were present, and it was fun to catch up if even for a few mo-
ments. The late Joan Philosophos once told me that she
would see friends from year to year, the conference was al-
ways like a reunion to her.
There were only four breakouts over Friday afternoon and
Saturday, unlike other years when there would be six. Howev-
er, one had to choose from eight or nine in each time slot, and
in some instances that was really tough. Please take the time
to read all of the articles in this issue. Our own prolific Sara
Bowen has contributed greatly, and I think you will get a feel
for the conference and all the nuances and artistry of Austen
and Emma, as well as a feel for our nation’s capital. Many of
the speakers’ presentations will be included either online or in
the published Persuasions.
Huge thanks go to not only Sara Bowen, but also Phyllis
Menne, Susan Richard, Sandi Rutherford, Liz Cooper and
Kelly VanderHeiden for their articles in this issue. I admit to
taking many of the photos, and I hope you find them flatter-
ing. In addition to these mentioned, I also appreciated the
help at Ford’s Emporium (selling our Region’s 2017 calendar
and jewelry), the following: Sue Forgue (Greater Chicago
Region), Janet Johnson, Dee Kuech, Mary Anne Gross, Julie
deWitt, Kathleen Madden, Vicki Teal, Elizabeth Fadell, Cor-
al Bishop, Kim Wilson, Rosemary Cummings, Sandi Ruther-
ford’s husband Thomas, and my husband David. As you
might expect the AGM is jam-packed with plenary and
breakout sessions, and many took the time to keep our Re-
gion’s treasury stoked.
Don’t forget to look at our website, www.jasnawi.org.
Have a look at the Fall program’s photos. Sue Forgue and
Vicky Hinshaw’s presentation was well attended.
This column is my last as your Regional Coordinator. Kim
Wilson will be taking the helm and may change things up a
bit. I feel very confident that you will be in excellent hands.
Do please step up to volunteer your time and talents. The
Wisconsin Region is one of 76 throughout
the US, and we number about 160. There
are some 4,850 members throughout the US
and Canada, as well as several countries.
The Jane Austen Society members in Eng-
land count their members separately and, at
this writing, I do not know their number.
My thanks also to the Executive Board
members who have served with me: Phyllis
Menne, vice president of Madison and book
club coordinator; Tara Jordan, vice presi-
dent of Milwaukee; David Lewellen, our
Wire editor; Janet Johnson, our treasurer;
Veronica Jaeger, our membership coordina-
tor, Kathleen O’Brien, historian and book
club coordinator; and Vicki Teal, our web-
master. At the election held in September, Sara Bowen took
over from Vicky Hinshaw as recording secretary, and Susan
Flaherty took over from Diana Burns as hospitality chair. To
Vicky and Diana, many, many thanks, and welcome to Sara
and Susan. The position of new members chair was vacant,
and I will be serving the Region in that post. So you see, I’m
not going away!
by
Judy
Beine
Coordinator’s term ends with fine AGM
Judy Beine (left) with Lorraine Hanaway, the last remaining
founding member of JASNA.
The “Will & Jane” exhibition at the Folger Shakespeare
Library took 3 ½ years to prepare, and 2016 AGM attendees
thought it was worth every minute of the effort. Much of the
publicity for the show has emphasized “the shirt” that Colin
Firth wore for his swim in the 1995 Pride and Prejudice televi-
sion version, but curators Janine Barchas of the University of
Texas and Kristina Straub of Carnegie-Mellon University pro-
duced an in-depth presentation of the celebrity culture that has
attached to Shakespeare and Austen.
Barchas and Straub led tours of the exhibition and gave a
detailed talk at the AGM about their discoveries linking the
explosion of “Bardolatry” about 200 years after his death and
the current celebration of Austen 200 years after her death.
For instance, the porcelain figurines produced in Austen’s
lifetime celebrating actors such as David Garrick, John Philip
Kemble and Edmund Kean in Shakespearean roles have their
counterpart with late twentieth century porcelains portraying
Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet or Gwyneth Paltrow as
Emma. Shakespeare and Austen have been used to merchan-
dise any number of products: Jane Austen Bath Gin, “Gin of
a Different Persuasion” anyone?
The exhibition, which closed in early November, con-
tained items fascinating to Austen and Shakespeare fans: Aus-
ten’s copy of “Sir Charles Grandison” from Chawton House
Library; Emma Thompson’s original notes in her screenplay
copy of “Sense and Sensibility”; Walt Whitman’s personal
copy of Shakespeare’s poems; and Cassandra Austen’s copy
of Emma. There were programs showing that two famous
Shakespearean actresses of the eighteenth century were Mrs.
Crawford and Mrs. Yates! AGM attendees rejoiced at the
chance to view in one compact exhibition Shakespeare treas-
ures collected by the Folgers and Austen collections from
many sources including the Burke collection at Goucher Col-
lege and Chawton House Library. There are no current plans
to re-install the exhibition elsewhere, though the curators
wonder whether English audiences would respond to their
findings as fervently as American audiences.
‘Will & Jane’ exhibit delights AGM attendees
‘The Shirt’ worn by Colin Firth in the 1995 adaptation of Pride
and Prejudice.
Information about the next three JASNA AGMs is now
available at www.jasna.org. The 2017 AGM, “Jane Austen
in Paradise: Intimations of Immortality,” will celebrate how
Austen has affected culture in the 200 years after her death.
Paradise, for attendees, will be the Huntington Beach, CA,
Hyatt Regency Resort and Spa, which overlooks the Pacific
Ocean. The dates are Oct. 6-8, and the room block will open
in January. As experienced attendees know, if you hope to
attend an AGM, it is important to reserve your room early —
rooms at the meeting hotel have sold out before AGM regis-
tration opens, and it is easier to cancel a room if plans change
than to come off the wait list.
In 2018, the AGM returns to the Midwest. “Persuasion:
200 Years of Constancy and Hope” will be the theme for the
Kansas City AGM, which will be within a day’s driving dis-
tance of most parts of Wisconsin. Kansas City, with its won-
derful museums and attractions, will be a vibrant — and eco-
nomical — location for an AGM. This AGM will be held
earlier than usual — Sept. 28-30, 2018.
In 2019, “Northanger Abbey: 200 years of Real, Solemn
History” beckons us to one of the great historical locations of
the United States, Williamsburg, VA. The meeting will be
held at the conference center of the Williamsburg Lodge,
which is adjacent to the famous restoration of Virginia’s colo-
nial capital city and close to its museums. A highlight of this
AGM will be a staging of the new musical of Northanger Ab-
bey. It is anticipated that there will be a huge demand for this
AGM, so mark your calendars now for Oct. 4-6, 2019.
Williamsburg announced as site of 2019 AGM
Milwaukee Report By Kathy O’Brien
A bright, summery day welcomed 15 members of the Mil-
waukee Book Group to Marsha Huff’s to discuss Virginia
Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own on Nov. 6. The book itself, mi-
nus preface, chronology, introduction, and end notes, is only
about 112 pages long. However, all these extras are almost
necessary for understanding the book, as you can’t take much
of anything literally. It originated out of two lectures given by
Woolf, and thus is perhaps more spoken than written. You
can just read along, nodding, until something makes you say
WHAT? WHO? This made for a lively discussion by our
group. In fact, this is best read by a group, as different readers
catch different things.
There are various made-up writers, like Shakespeare’s sister
Judith, and the four Marys—Mary Hamilton, Mary Beton,
Mary Seton, and Mary Carmichael. These women are named
in an old ballad. Without the end notes, you’d be stuck. The
narration sometimes seems stream of consciousness, but as
Marsha pointed out, the words are carefully chosen. There’s a
lot to argue about, discuss, and learn.
The central idea is that a woman writer needs 500 pounds a
year, and a room of her own that locks. What the 500
amounts to today, we can’t determine, but it certainly means a
competence, and the room gives her freedom. Some of these
things have changed for the better, but many have not.
Northeastern Report By Tracy Rysavy
Is it possible to modernize Jane Aus-
ten’s Regency gothic satire? The Northeast
Wisconsin JASNA book club pondered
that question in September when we met
in Green Bay to discuss Val McDermid’s
Northanger Abbey, the second Austen up-
date by a bestselling author to come out of
what is now the four-book Austen Pro-
ject*.
McDermid’s retelling has “Cat” Mor-
land heading not to Bath but to the Edin-
burgh Festival, a large arts and cultural
festival in McDermid’s native Scotland
that brings in a similar influx of summer-
time tourists as the attractions of Bath did
in Austen’s day. And rather than gothic
novels, Cat gloms vampire novels, from
Twilight to the original Dracula.
While in Edinburgh, Cat meets Bella
Thorpe and her overbearing sports-car afi-
cionado brother John. Our group felt McDermid was at her
strongest when translating the superficial self-centeredness of
the former and the overbearing sexism of the latter. Her Bella
and John work well as modern-day antagonists, while bearing
more than a passing resemblance to their Regency doppel-
gangers. We agreed that Bella’s text-speak, in particular, is
hilariously shallow.
And of course, there’s Henry Tilney, his sister Eleanor, and
their father. Here, Henry is a lawyer rather than a clergyman,
but he retains that same love for both edifying and delighting
Cat as his namesake does in the original. Northanger Abbey
itself moves up to the Scottish borderlands, so it’s just as iso-
lated as one would want a gothic abbey with a potentially
Marsha Huff (left) welcomed Milwaukee-area members to her house to discuss “A
Room of One’s Own.”
mysterious past to be.
While Austen’s Catherine conjures up melodramatic plots
at every turn, McDermid’s Cat sees vampires—in fact, she
wonders if Henry himself isn’t a possible vampire!
The majority of us loved McDermid’s reworking and
thought she pulled it off successfully. I confess to being the
lone dissenter, feeling that Cat’s visions of vampires didn’t
quite feel believable, and so this important element of the plot
came off to me as rather forced. I also didn’t quite buy the
scene where John Thorpe whisks Cat off in his sports car,
whizzing past the Tilneys while Cat begs him to stop because
she has promised to go on a hike with them. Cat decides
against sending them a text because it’s “too difficult” to ex-
plain herself, and she prefers to wait until she sees them in
person. I had to wonder what millennial wouldn’t just let
those fingers start flying and immediately try to make her
apologies via text.
Regardless of these nitpicks, since Northanger Abbey is not
updated as often as other books in Austen’s catalog, it was a
treat to read McDermid’s version.
In addition, each of us read and reported on a different
Georgette Heyer novel, from The Grand Sophy to Venetia to
The Unknown Ajax. Some of us had read and reread nearly all
of Heyer’s books, while for others, this was their first foray
into her work. We all enjoyed our Heyer selections, and those
new to her work look forward to reading more.
Our next meeting will be on Jan. 8 at the Atlas Coffee Mill
in Appleton at noon. We will be discussing Cranford by Eliza-
beth Gaskell and First Impressions by Sarah Price. If you’d like
to be added to our email list for meeting notices, please email
Tracy Fernandez Rysavy at [email protected].
*Though the project was originally intended to modernize
all six full-length novels, the publisher has announced no
plans to update Mansfield Park or Persuasion, and the Project’s
website has been redirected to the publisher’s main site. You
can still view the Project’s Facebook page at Facebook.com/
austenproject.
Madison Report A group of seven met to discuss Lady Susan and the film
Love and Friendship that was based on it.
Those who attended the AGM discussed the meeting, which
sounded interesting. We talked about the Shakespeare First
Folio that is on display in Madison, and also an interesting
presentation by APT founders Anne Occhiogrosso and Ran-
dall Duk Kim about the first ten years or so at the theater.
The tea was, as usual, delicious with contributions from the
members.
Please remember to send Vicki Teal events for the
Wisconsin web site--www.jasnawi.org. We wel-
come any kind of Austen event that is happening in
the area. Vicki's email is [email protected].
Also, we can share all kinds of Austen-related tidbits
on our Facebook page, facebook.com/
jasnawisconsin.
Please send news and notes for The Wire to editor
David Lewellen, [email protected]
Don’t forget to check the
Wisconsin Region
website sometimes!
http://jasnawi.org/
For questions on membership,
please call 1-800-836-3911 or
email the U.S./international
membership secretary, Carole
Stokes, at
Veronica Jaeger, membership
coordinator for the Wisconsin re-
gion, should also be notified of
any changes.
Veronica can be reached
More perspectives on Austeniana Jane Kivlin recommends to our attention the blog Jane’s
Addiction, and in particular this long, thoughtful review of
the recent movie Love and Friendship and the book Eligible, a
modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice.
Darcy versus Poldark, or vice versa The PBS website includes this note: “Mr. Darcy has found
himself up against a serious rival for the hearts of the nation in
the form of Winston Graham’s Captain Poldark, in the BBC’s
smash hit adaptation of the best-selling Georgian and Regen-
cy romantic novels. Our primary loyalty will always be to
Jane’s characters of course, but we couldn’t ignore this phe-
nomenon entirely! As such, we beg Darcy’s indulgence and
discreetly bring to your notice the superb World of Poldark, a
lavish, beautifully illustrated companion to the novels, the
series and the times, with features on everything that makes
the series so memorable: the characters, the plots, the loca-
tions, the costumes and the landscape.”
In the Milwaukee area, Poldark can be seen at 8 p.m. on
Sundays. Season 2 is playing now.
Women writers beyond Austen Lily Miceli recommends the recent book Not Just Jane: Seven
Amazing Women Writers Who Transformed British Literature, by
Shelley DeWees. Here is a link to a Wall Street Journal re-
view, which may or may not be behind a paywall, depending
on what kind of mood your browser is in.
Liz Cooper snapped this picture of Austen’s one-time love inter-est Tom Lefroy at Trinity Col-lege in Dublin, Ireland.
Hazel Jones, who spoke at the AGM, knitted these figures of Darcy
(above) and Anne and Wentworth (left). Pattern are in the book
Pride and Preju-knits.