On Saturday, November 2, at RiverRead Books (5 Court St., Binghamton), we’ll discuss “Slavery and Servitude in Mansfield Park.” Until the Patricia Rozema film version of MP appeared in 1999, few readers paid much attention to the references to Sir Thomas Bertram’s plantation in Antigua--but the Rozema film, though it exaggerated these, at least made many of us notice them. How does the fact that Sir Thomas’s fortunes are partly founded on slavery affect our views of him, of Fanny Price’s situation, and of Mansfield Park in general? We’ll start our observance of MP’s bicentennial in 2014 by considering these issues--as well as how the Rozema film relates to the novel generally.
On Saturday, December 7, we’ll gather for a joint meeting with the Jane Austen Book Club-CNY of Hamilton. Please note a change of venue for this meeting since our August 18 blog post: We’ll assemble on the third floor of the Colgate Bookstore (3 Utica St., Hamilton) to hear Deborah Knuth Klenck, JASNA Syracuse member and Professor of English at Colgate University, present a talk titled “Performing to Strangers: Being, Seeming, and Courting in Pride and Prejudice.” Deborah was unfortunately unable to give this talk at the 2013 JASNA Annual General Meeting in Minneapolis, so both she and we are eagerly looking forward to it in Hamilton!
And for refreshments at the Dec. 7 meeting, we’re going to Plan C--for Cookies! We propose a cookie potluck: Each attendee is asked to bring a dozen or so cookies to share. If you haven’t got time to bake, that’s OK--we’re not expecting Martha Stewart to come. But if you come to “have your share of the conversation,” do bring a share of the cookies! Tea and lemonade will be provided.
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