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The President's Report1997 has been a busy and interesting year for the Jane Austen Society and it has been wonderful to see such a large attendance at our meetings. The Mansfield Park conference was a real highlight of the year - five excellent speakers enriched our understanding of Jane Austen’s most controversial novel and everyone attending enjoyed the National Maritime Museum venue. It has also been an exciting year for Jane Austen publications, with four new biographies appearing and another one due out early next year. We can also look forward to a book entitled What Killed Jane Austen? I was recently contacted by the artist who is illustrating this book with the most unusual request for information I have ever received during my time as president – what would Jane Austen have looked like in her coffin? Would she have worn a dress or a nightgown, what would have been on her feet, would she have worn a cap, and how would her hands have been placed? I helped the artist to the best of my ability, but have been puzzling over the matter ever since. Are any of our members experts on the 19th century laying-out of corpses? If so, I’d love to hear from you! I am frequently asked (by people who don’t read Jane Austen) how we can manage to find topics for discussion year after year. Surely, these people argue, we must have said everything there is to say about Jane Austen by now! I think you will agree that the enclosed programme for 1998 includes many new and interesting topics and ensures that there will be no difficulty at all managing ever more fascinating discussion about our favourite author! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Susannah Fullerton Current JASA PublicationsThe December 1997 issues of JASA publications Sensibilities and the JASA Newsletter, have been sent to all JASA members. The articles in Sensibilities are:
including the papers presented at the 1997 JASA Mansfield Park Conference:
Items from the Newsletter (and from Practicalities, JASA's news update sheet published in March and September) are reproduced on these web pages. Most past issues of Sensibilities can be purchased for A$5.00 each. See the Sensibilities index of articles. For a taste of what members enjoy in Sensibilities, the JASA refereed journal praised for its consistently high literary standards, read an extract from a talk by Penny Gay to a JASA meeting in 1994, as reported in a previous Sensibilities: 'Emma and the Battle of Waterloo'. |
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News, Views & Titbits— At Peter Carey’s luncheon for the launching of his latest book Jack Maggs, he spoke of his research for Oscar & Lucinda. He had never seen Oxford or Oriel College, and needed to get into a student’s room in order to give a description of it as Oscar’s room. He knew nobody there, so in desperation knocked at the first student’s door he found in Oriel. He told the deeply suspicious student who answered the door that he was doing research on Oxford for the BBC, and after being admitted began feverishly writing a description of the room and its furnishings. Among other things he noticed that the young man was using a grey sock as a bookmark for his copy of Pride & Prejudice. — Pen Pal anyone? Would you like to correspond with another Janeite? We are happy
to give details in this Newsletter to put people in touch, so contact us if you also would
like a correspondent.A Janeite in Portland Oregon would love to correspond with a JASA
member, particularly if someone is considering visiting Oregon. She is of Scandinavian
background, and is a retired music teacher. Contact details are: — Being a person who likes studying dates, and having access to a perpetual calendar, I investigated the dates as recorded in Pride & Prejudice and found a discrepancy! The letter written by Mr Gardiner to Mr Bennet was Monday August 2, 1813. However, Mr Bingley referred to the ball at Netherfield as being on 26 November, a Tuesday. But 26 November 1812 was a Thursday! Another discrepancy is that Lydia complained of being not able to go out while at her aunt’s in London although she was there a fortnight: however she went there on 2 August and had been married only one week when her aunt wrote to Elizabeth explaining the role of Mr Darcy in the wedding on 6 Septeber. If I have in fact read the book correctly she was actually there a month! I would have since calculated the date Elizabeth was married if I knew the period required for a regular wedding licence. Mrs Bennet tells Elizabeth that they ‘shall be married by a special licence’. I presume then that Jane and Bingley had set a minimum date, and of course Elizabeth and Darcy would need a special licence to be married on the same date. The chronology as I calculate it is:
Heather Higgs — We understand new films of both Mansfield Park and Sanditon (as completed by ‘Another Lady’ – Australian Marie Dobbs) are still coming. The best news is that there is at last a new version of Northanger Abbey in the pipeline. — I have been puzzling for some time about the absence of the Gardiners’ children from the Christmas celebrations at the Bennets. Stuart Cooke, who is a Post Doctoral Fellow with the Fanny Burney project, says that Fanny does not give Christmas more than a fleeting mention in her letters and diaries. This lack of importance of Christmas is verified in a book by J A R Pimlott, The Englishman’s Christmas: A Social History (1978). Talking about pre-Victorian Christmas he cites the Gentleman’s Magazine of 1824:
Yet Pimlott then refers to Southey as saying in 1807 that Christmas was kept alive by the children. I refer readers also to an article in the JASNA journal, by Hugh McKellar, ‘Muted Merriment: Christmas Celebrations in Jane Austen’, Persuasions, 1986, pp8, 12-16. Jacqueline Reid-Walsh — The Letters of Rachel Henning (1826-1914) record the experiences of a young Englishwoman in Australia between 1853 and 1882. They were published in The Bulletin between August 1951 and January 1952, and in book form in 1952, with a foreword and pen drawings by Norman Lindsay. From Springwood in December 1951, Norman Lindsay wrote to author, poet and anthologist, Nancy Keesing:
Marlene Arditto — An item from the most interesting Newsletter of the Centre for the Study of Early English Women’s Writing at Chawton Park, has made a fascinating connection, new to this writer, between her involvement in Jane Austen’s brother Edward’s Chawton House renovations, and both Emma and Mansfield Park.
— Did you know? There is a Jane Austen Book Shop in the USA. It is run by mail
order, and sends out four catalogues per year advertising new and second hand books on
Jane Austen, different editions of her works, and books about the Brontës, Elizabeth
Gaskell, Fanny Burney, Maria Edgeworth and other early women writers. There is no
obligation to buy, but the temptation is enormous! To get your name on the mailing list,
write to: — Did you know? (2) A new Zealand book chain has published the current 100 top selling books of fiction. Jane Austen has 3 in that list (Pride & Prejudice (No.3), Emma and Persuasion)! — Do remember that the JASA Newsletter is intended to be a members’ publication: if you have anything to communicate to (or ask of) your fellow members, if you’d like to write a review, or mention a course, a film, whatever, please do contact the editor or Susannah Fullerton. I must say that we are delighted with the level of members’ contribution to the current Newsletter — do keep it up. |
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 Did Edmund Bertram ever have this much fun? |
JASA Conference 1997 on Mansfield ParkPenny Gay contributes this report on our 1997 Conference. Papers from the Conference, including the Welcome and Concluding addresses appear in the current issue of Sensibilities: The Maritime Museum was the perfect setting for a consideration of Mansfield Park: we could easily imagine ourselves walking on the ramparts at Portsmouth as we made our way along the boardwalks of Darling Harbour. The catering area outside the ANZ theatre in which the conference was held even featured an exhibition on the wreck of the Sirius in 1790. Indeed, my only disappointment of the day was not to have the opportunity to explore the wealth of information that the Museum could obviously have provided regarding the Royal Navy in Jane Austen’s day: what would it really have been like to have been midshipman William Price? Our Patron, Professor Yasmine Gooneratne, welcomed us with wit and true elegance in a brief address which we will be glad to see in print. Professor Oliver MacDonagh then began the day’s intellectual adventures by contextualising the ‘ordination’ debate in Mansfield Park as representing a crucial period in the history of the Church of England: its move towards an ideal of greater spirituality in its pastors and away from the largely social functions of the typical 18th century clergyman. Professor Joe Kestner, one of our two American visitors who came especially for the conference, spoke most entertainingly and eruditely on 'The Soldier and the Dandy: Military Portraiture and the Men of Mansfield Park', illustrating his talk with a fascinating series of slides, many of them portraits of the naval hero Nelson — the ideal of ‘manliness’ for William Price and other 19th century young men. Our Vice-President, Yvette Field, brought in ‘the ladies’ just before lunch, with a sterling examination of the perennial problem of 'The Trouble with Fanny Price' — no problem, really, for those who attend to Jane Austen’s textual signals. Lunch, a superbly presented array of sandwiches and other ‘finger foods’ (would Jane Austen, so alert to the possibilities of new words, object to the phrase?), was followed by a lively history of cosmology and astronomy from ancient times to 1811 — the date which marked the discovery of Uranus: this perhaps explains the popularity of star-gazing among the more studious young people of Mansfield Park. Bob Degotardi, the entertaining speaker, pointed out how very many of the great astronomers were in fact clergymen! Professor Emily Auerbach, the creator of the popular American radio series The Courage to Write, finished the conference with an appropriately inspirational return to the question of the heroic nature of Fanny Price, citing the great line of another quiet woman and writer, Emily Dickinson: ‘Tell all the truth, but tell it slant’. The indefatigable Susannah closed proceedings by thanking all the speakers most eloquently, and contributed her own light-hearted summary of what the characters of Mansfield Park would have thought of the day. Unlike the Bertram girls, all of us present felt that we had gained a great deal of useful and thought-provoking information — and enjoyed delightful company, despite the sad want of men. Penny Gay |
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 Bathing Machines. 1800. |
JASNA Conference 1997Our President reports on a very successful trip to the 1997 JASNA conference in San Francisco.: At the conference of the Jane Austen Society of North America, held in October in the beautiful city of San Francisco, I found Anne Elliot’s idea of good company — ‘the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation.’ I felt very honoured to be taking part in the programme and attending such a well organised and smoothly run conference. The theme of the conference was ‘Sanditon: A New Direction?’. Jane Austen’s unfinished novel was just the right subject for San Francisco — the sea breezes were refreshing enough to cure any ‘spasmodic bile’ or ‘pulmonary complaints’ we might have been suffering. This was my first visit to the USA and I enjoyed six wonderful days of sightseeing with my two sisters (who had joined me there from Amsterdam and Perth) before the conference started. The key-note speaker was Reginald Hill, the British mystery writer whose novels (starring detectives Dalziel and Pascoe) include many references to Jane Austen. In spite of feeling intimidated at addressing an audience ‘which knew more about Jane Austen than Jane Austen knew about herself’, he gave a highly entertaining talk, charting his personal passage from initial indifference to adulation of the works of Jane Austen. Other plenary speakers included Melbourne’s John Wiltshire, presenting the paper on ‘Sickness and Silliness in Sanditon’ which we enjoyed so much in Sydney last year, plus past president of JASNA, Eileen Sutherland, who gave a delightful history of sea-bathing and health resorts, and Marilyn Sachs (author of many children’s books) who explained the advantages of 'Jane Austen as Therapy'. Sandy Lerner, owner of Chawton House (who is speaking at our Christmas lunch this year) spoke about the Chawton House project. he conference included several breakout sessions — it was extremely difficult to decide which talk (out of a choice of five) to attend as all sounded interesting and challenging. ‘Is Sidney Parker the intended hero of Sanditon?’, ‘The Economics of Sanditon’, ‘Continuations of Sanditon’, ‘Jane Austen’s Multi-culturalism’ and ‘Parasols and Gloves and Brooches and Circulating Libraries’ were just a few of the talks on offer. My paper, ‘We shall ... call it Waterloo Crescent: Jane Austen’s Art of Naming’ was one of the breakout sessions and I was introduced by Joan Austen-Leigh, a descendant of Jane’s brother James. I was delighted by the warm response I received after my talk. The Regency Ball took place on Saturday night and was, in the words of Catherine Morland, ‘a splendid sight’. There must have been at least two hundred people in costume, and dance masters, also appropriately attired, taught us all the steps of Regency dances. I danced the night away with soldiers, sailors, clergymen and Regency beaux, and fully agreed with Fanny Price that ‘a ball (is) indeed delightful’. On Sunday there was an opportunity to attend a performance of the play My Solitary Elegance, written and performed by English actress Judith French. It was ‘good hardened real acting’ and I am working hard to persuade Judith to come and repeat her play for a Sydney audience next year. Over the years I have despatched many an order to Jane Austen Books in Chicago. Pat Larkin, who runs the bookshop, attends each JASNA conference, and I felt like a child in a sweetshop when I entered her room. As, like Oscar Wilde, ‘I can resist everything except temptation’ when in a bookshop, I made full use of the opportunity, purchasing for myself and for our Society library. The conference quiz was a challenge I was also unable to resist. There were twelve perfect entries, so a tie-breaker was necessary. Being one of three people to win that tie-breaker was a real thrill! I spoke to several distinguished academics who have expressed interest in coming to
talk to our society, I caught up with speakers who have visited us in the past, I met
people whose books and articles I’ve enjoyed reading and I met hundreds of
wonderfully friendly Americans and Canadians. I can’t wait to attend another JASNA
conference and the ones planned for the next few years sound extremely tempting: Fanny Price marvelled at the human ability to remember — ‘If any one faculty of our nature may be called more wonderful than the rest, I do think it is memory.’ Thanks to this ‘wonderful faculty’ I will continue to enjoy the JASNA San Francisco conference for a long time to come! Susannah Fullerton |
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Other Places, Other SocietiesFor contact edtails of other Jane Austen societies and links to other Jane Austen web sites see our Links page. JA in Canberra? Sydney member Jessie Terry has been assisting with our Editorial Committee, but is now
moving to Canberra. She would love to hear from ACT Janeites, fearing she will suffer
withdrawal symptoms which could conceivably be alleviated by chats about the novels, Sensibilities
articles, etc — perhaps over a cuppa? Her address is: ... in Melbourne This Melbourne report is by our President, who visited them recently. On Saturday 25th October I joined JAS Melbourne for their meeting at the English Speaking Union building in Toorak Road. I had been asked to present the paper I gave at the JASNA San Francisco conference on 'Jane Austen's Art of Naming'. This provided a nice excuse to visit the Melbourne group, something I had been wanting to do for a long time. About 40 members were present. There was a full agenda with their AGM, a short talk from Helen Lefroy (who was visiting from England) and my paper. I loved having an opportunity to catch up with the Melbourne president, Carla Hawley (who has become a very good friend) and to meet many of the Melbourne members. I would urge all our members who are planning a visit to Melbourne to get in touch and try to attend one of their meetings — it is so worthwhile to have close contact between our two groups! Susannah Fulerton ... in Adelaide The Adelaide Austenites continue to meet on the 3rd Saturday of each month, but in a different venue – now 115 Brougham Place, North Adelaide. The group has enjoyed a varied programme this year, including a lecture-recital by Karl Schenscher on the music of Jane Austen’s era. Papers include Sara Shepherd’s brilliantly scholarly study of Lady Susan, Dr Shelagh Brown on Jane Austen and medicine, John Hunt on marriage in the novels, Madge Mitton on money in the novels of Austen and Trollope, and Claudia Quinn-Young on household interiors of the age and the novels. For anything but light relief, we tackle the fiendishly difficult quizzes devised by Lynnaire Hawker. Austen enthusiasts are most welcome to all our meetings. Contact: Madge Mitton, 8303 4563(w) or 8431 6698 (h), or Claudia Quinn-Young on 8362 5109 Madge Mitton ... in New Zealand We few Janeites in Christchurch unfortunately know little of any other JASA members in New Zealand. Nevertheless, we have managed to get along pretty well through our interchange system of information on the subject of Jane Austen and her wondrous works. In our comparative isolation we have become collators of material on the subject of the lady in question, through book reviews, comments, opinions, items from publications similar to JASA and letters. And of course there is always the Internet to keep us right up to date. Christene Evans found this evocative and insightful comment in Jane Austen: In Style by Susan Watkins (NY 1996):
Christene also sends a personal offering, concerning familiar characters, in the form of clerihews. A selection of verses follow:
Christene Evans, Adrienne Marshall and Ruth Williamson … and in New York Liaison officer Pamela Whalan reports on the JASNA-NY publication. When reading the Summer Newsletter of the Greater New York Region of JASNA, I was impressed by the use the members make of local historical and cultural venues. Their Spring Fete was held at the John Jay mansion in Katonah, which was built as the home of one of the British Colony’s early lawyers. Here they enjoyed a lecture on 18th century law and literature by Professor Richard H Weisberg. On 16 and 17 August they attended a Jane Austen weekend at an 18th century farmhouse and inn, furnished in late 18th century Dutch style and, if they wished, members could dress as characters from Jane Austen novels and mingle with the costumed guides. On 6 September they visited the Yale Center for British Art for a guided tour of the collection and a talk on English portraiture and landscape painting of the late 18th and early 19th century. In spring 1998 they are planning a weekend trip outside the New York City area and are considering a number of places of historic interest including Hartford, which boasts many 18th century buildings, the homes of Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe, and the oldest public art museum in the United States. It is wonderful to have such resources at hand, but even more wonderful that the members utilise them as wisely as they do. The New York organisation also announces its ‘sisterhood’ with our own Society — it is worth quoting:
We knew that! Do contact the editor if you’d like to correspond with a NY Janeite! Don’t forget to tell us a little about yourself, so that we can pass it on. |
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Jane Austen Courses, WEA, SydneyJane Austen’s Novels: On The Page, On The Screen Presented by Susannah Fullerton, President of JASA Susannah will be starting a new course on American Literature in Term 2 of 1998 with the WEA, and in the meantime has a very full programme of Discussion Groups with them, on topics such as 'Jane Austen: the Novelist in her Time', 'Frustrated Heroines', 'Determined Heroines, Tales of Travel', etc. Contact the WEA on 9264 2671 if you are interested in setting up a discussion group — it’s a most pleasurable activity |
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Fanny price — a personal viewMarjorie Jones surprises herself by feeling compelled to come to the defence of Fanny Price. I little thought that I would ever be springing to the defence of Fanny Price, my least favourite Jane Austen heroine — too prissy for my taste, and irritating in her meekness and lack of vitality. The incentive to re-examine my attitude began with the discussion following Emily Auerbach’s address at the Mansfield Park Conference in August. Professor Auerbach presented a strong case for Fanny’s acceptance as a heroine worthy of Jane, citing her moral integrity and her strength in sticking to her ideals in the face of formidable opposition. Some were not convinced, and most seemed to agree with Professor Auerbach when she confessed that the one thing she found it hard to forgive in Fanny and Edmund was their lack of humour. It was while listening to the comments of the audience that I found myself taking Fanny’s part (in my mind only, as my raised hand came too late and was too tentative — was I ‘doing a Fanny’ here?). Fanny was accused of lacking compassion, and her failure to empathise with her poor, overworked mother was cited. One apologist for Fanny reminded us that she was still very young and that most girls of her age would be unable to appreciate fully the mother’s difficulties. Perhaps more important was the long separation between Fanny and her family. She left them at the age of nine and there is no mention of her receiving letters other than from William. With what high hopes and anxiety she must have looked forward to her reunion with the mother who had seemed to bear the loss of her with no great sorrow:
The beginning was not too disappointing:
She was allowed to kiss a small brother but received from him ‘just a stare or two.’ Susan and Betsey ‘seemed glad to see her in their way’ and Fanny reflected that ‘would they but love her, she should be satisfied.’ When she makes the mistake of assuming that there must be a room beyond the parlour, as it is so small, she
This is a Fanny sensitive to others and eager not to offend. Her concern was probably unnecessary, as Mrs Price was soon flying off in all directions, eagerly talking to William, recollecting that Fanny and William might be tired and hungry, regretting the absence of a butcher in the street, complaining of the ‘sad fire’ and scolding Susan for Rebecca’s failure to bring in the coals. Mrs Price is thoroughly disorganised but one has the impression that she rather enjoys chaos and thrives on noise and bustle. She even seems to cope quite well with her boorish husband, who pays scant attention to his long-lost daughter. All in all, Fanny did not get the welcome she hoped for but instead of collapsing into tearful self-pity she summons reserves of strength and maturity and shows what could be called true compassion. She sees what is wrong and once the first shock is over sets about doing what she can to improve the situation. She is hurt by the lack of warmth shown her but
So speaks a surprisingly rational and mature young woman. Almost at once she sets to work on Sam’s clothing, ensuring that he is able to join his ship in time and she finds a practical solution to the ongoing squabble between Betsey and Susan over the latter’s little knife. The Price household would not have become ordered and quiet overnight as a result of Fanny’s efforts, but it must have become a little more so, although it is doubtful Mrs Price would notice. Fanny was also accused of not showing any sympathy for the plight of the unhappy Maria Bertram. During the theatricals she is aware of the pangs of jealousy suffered by poor Julia and feels pity for her. She is sorry for the unfortunate Mr Rushworth when Maria treats him badly and she tries to ease his discomfort. She had little reason to admire or respect Maria and is certainly shocked by her conduct, but she might also have felt pity for her when contemplating Maria’s bleak future, doomed to a prolonged tête-à-tête with Aunt Norris. This is all conjecture, but why should we assume that Fanny’s condemnation of the affair precludes a measure of sympathy for the cousin who has exiled herself from her home and from society? Is Fanny guilty as charged? Of lacking humour – yes. Of lacking compassion? This you must decide for yourself. Marjorie Jones Winners! 1997 JASA Writing CompetitionResults of the Writing Competition for 1997 were announced at the October meeting, and the judges — Marjorie Jones, Alice Oppen and Meghan Hayward — were delighted with the number and standard of the entries. Topic: write as one of the characters who was at the event, a description of a social gathering in an JA novel. The first three placegetters are:
Apart from these three, special mention was also made of entries from Pamela Whalan, writing Miss Mary King’s report of the Netherfield Ball, and Jessica Carvell’s letter from Anne Steele to a friend. Our congratulations to all! |
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 A Hugh Thomson illustration for |
A New Jane Austen BiographyA new JA biography has just been published — Claire Tomalin’s Jane Austen: A Life, for which we hope to organise a review for you soon. The author’s own comments, as published in The Good Book Guide Magazine, November 1997, Issue 107, are interesting:
On the basis of that, I for one look forward to the biography! Jane & the InternetJASA's newsletter has recently been reproducing interesting items drawn from the Jane Austen email discussion group on the Internet. To subscribe to this group: If you've never subscribed to an email discussion list, the following will get you
information on what's involved: Here is a recent contribution to the list from Juliet Youngren:
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  FEEDBACK: info@jasa.net.au 31 July 1998 What's New | About Jane | About JASA | JASA News | Sensibilities | Calendar | Conference | Book Reviews | JASA Library | Writing Competition | Mrs Goddard's School | Regency Fair | LINKS
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