Photos from the War of 1812 Bicentennial and Jane Austen Weekend

Your Regional Coordinator and her Regency Beau were present at the Genesee Country Village and Museum in Mumford for the first day of the War of 1812 Bicentennial and Jane Austen Weekend. Saturday's events proved most enjoyable, though the weather was uncomfortably warm. But if we were warm, this young man working the bellows in the village blacksmith shop was even warmer. (All photos in this post are by the Regency Beau, Edward R. Voytovich.)

However, this fine cockerel not only was undeterred by heat, but believed himself to be the equal of any uniformed human male in the village!

"What dreadful Hot weather we have! It keeps one in a continual state of Inelegance." (JA to Cassandra, 18 September 1796.) Nevertheless, the three JASNA readers in the attempted "mini-marathon" reading of Pride and Prejudice did their best to combat it. From left, A. Marie Sprayberry of the Syracuse Region, and Chris and Sharon Cassidy of the Rochester Region, practice the not-so-subtle art of the fan.

The three JASNA representatives were joined in the reading by one audience volunteer, Angela of Binghamton.

Believe it or not, this redcoated military band represented an American rather than a British regiment. (One can't help wondering whether this led to some confusion on the field of battle.)

Captain Eric Borresen and friend, however, were unambiguously American officers.

Syracuse/Rochester Co-RC Lisa Brown--who is also an enthusiastic English Country Dancer and caller, as we know--introduced the Country Dancers of Rochester demonstration team.

And the dancers delighted the audience with "The Duke of Kent's Waltz," "Shrewsbury Lasses," and other ECD favorites. ("Shrewsbury Lasses" is familiar to viewers of the 1995 BBC version of Pride and Prejudice as the dance where Elizabeth is forced to shout, "Other way, Mr. Collins!"--but there was no need for that here!)

More June News and Announcements

First, it may have been a dreary day in Central New York yesterday, but those of us present at the Colgate Bookstore for Jack Wang's presentation on the Cozy Classics series of children's books had a delightful time! Jack gave us an engaging description of how the series came to be; how he and his twin brother, Holman, go about selecting the best twelve words for each book for very young readers; and how the brothers painstakingly construct the wonderful felted figures for illustrations. (Unfortunately for all those of us who are in love with the muddy Elizabeth Bennet on the cover of the Cozy Classics Pride and Prejudice, mass reproductions are simply not feasible!) Here, Jack gives us a sneak peek at one of the images from the Cozy Classics Emma, to be published late this year (following Jane Eyre and Oliver Twist). Click on the photo for a better view of Emma yanking Harriet Smith away (none too gently) from Robert Martin. If you're intrigued, go posthaste to the Cozy Classics website to learn more!

Second, Volume 34 of Persuasions--JASNA's annual peer-reviewed, hard-copy journal--has been sent out to members. This volume contains transcripts of Anna Quindlen's and Cornel West's plenary lectures at the 2012 AGM in Brooklyn; several papers based on Brooklyn breakout sessions; and a most interesting Miscellany section, including another paper on Pride and Prejudice by Rochester's Leo Rockas, plus a review by Deborah Kaplan of the controversy surrounding the portrait owned by Paula Byrne that may--or may not--depict JA. If you're a JASNA national member and have not yet received your copy, please contact A. Marie Sprayberry (see "Contact Us" at right).

Third, don't forget about the War of 1812 Bicentennial and Jane Austen Weekend, coming up on June 22-23 at the Genesee Country Village and Museum in Mumford (west of Rochester). See the May 26 post for details.

Last but by no means least, another exciting weekend event is in store: Our sister Region to the east, the New York Capital Region (serving Albany, Saratoga Springs, and environs), is hosting its Second Annual Retreat at the Wiawaka Holiday House in Lake George on Sunday-Monday, June 30-July 1. This year's topic will be Persuasion--and our own Co-RC Lisa Brown, Royal Navy expert extraordinaire, will be giving two of the three formal presentations! Also on the schedule are a viewing of the 1995 film version of Persuasion, as well as informal discussions and a concluding picnic tea. The registration fee is $15 for JASNA members and $25 for non-members; this does not include lodging and meals (go to the Wiawaka website for information about reservations and costs). For more information about the Retreat, please contact the Capital Region's RC, Pat Friesen, at mcfriesen2 at gmail.com.

P.S. And this just in: The JASNA Minnesota Region has just announced that electronic registration for this year's Annual General Meeting--"Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice...Timeless," to be held at the Hilton Minneapolis on September 27-29--will open on Wednesday, June 12, at noon CDT (1 pm EDT). Go to this link for details. Hard-copy registration materials have already been mailed to all JASNA members who have not waived receiving a printed brochure. AGMs always fill up quickly, so if you intend to go, do not dawdle on Wednesday (or whenever you receive the hard copy)!

"Box Hill East" and "Box Hill West": Upstate Janeite Events in June

Two delightful events await Upstate NY Janeites in June! 

First, the Colgate Bookstore, the Jane Austen Book Club-CNY that meets at the Bookstore, and the JASNA Syracuse Region will co-host a presentation called "Pride, Prejudice, and Picture Books: Adapting Classic Novels for a Young Audience" on Saturday, June 8, at 2 pm at the Bookstore (3 Utica Street, Hamilton). Author Jack Wang will talk about the Cozy Classics book series he has developed with his brother, Holman, to present well-loved stories to young children in 12 words or less. (Jack has even promised us a "sneak preview" of the Cozy Classics Emma, to be published this fall!) The event is free and open to the public, and refreshments will be provided. More details about Jack and the books are available at the Bookstore's webpage for the event. We do hope you can join us for this very special presentation! If you can attend, please drop an RSVP email to Regional Coordinator A. Marie Sprayberry (see "Contact Us" at right) by June 4; no need to email with regrets.

By way of making the day in Hamilton even more of a "Box Hill East" than it already is, Marie also proposes that anyone who wishes to get together for an entirely informal and optional lunch should meet her by the gazebo in the Hamilton Village Green (which is the briefest of walks from the Bookstore) at noon. (Free parking is available at the village lot east of the Green, next to the police station.) If the weather is fine, we can either bring our own lunches or purchase them from vendors at the Hamilton Farmers' Market, and eat on the Green. If wet weather threatens or prevails, we can adjourn to a nearby restaurant (options include the Colgate Inn, Hamilton Whole Foods, La Iguana [Mexican], the Royal Indian Grill, Nichols and Beal, etc.). And even if you can't make the lunch, rest assured that we will all have a chance to meet and mingle after Jack's presentation. 

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Now for "Box Hill West": Members of JASNA Rochester are preparing for the War of 1812 Bicentennial and Jane Austen Weekend, to be held at the Genesee Country Village and Museum in Mumford (west of Rochester) on Saturday and Sunday, June 22-23, from 10 am to 4 pm. The usual GCV&M admission charges apply for this event (see the museum's webpage for the weekend for details). 

 Space doesn't permit a detailed listing of the various drills, demonstrations, and other military events, but rest assured that both soldiers and sailors will be present (both Lydia Bennet and Louisa Musgrove would be in seventh heaven!). JA-specific events include the following (on both days; times are subject to change):

• Noon-4 pm: A marathon reading of Pride and Prejudice. 
• 12:30 pm: Jane Austen Era Fashion Show.
• 3 pm: Jane Austen Era Dance Demonstration by the Country Dancers of Rochester.

  

  Demonstration of  English Country Dancing at last year's event.

 And on Saturday night from 6 to 9 pm, the "Netherfield Ball of 1813" will take place in the GCV&M's John L. Wehle Gallery. The Ball has been specially planned for beginning dancers (so don't be shy!), and the Ball admission charge of $25 includes refreshments. Advance registration is required for this by May 31, but places are still available (go here for the details). 

So get out your "summer finery" for these "summer engagements," and we hope to see you at one or the other!

JASNA Syracuse May Day Meeting in Binghamton, Sat., May 11, 2 pm

Our JASNA Syracuse May Day meeting (a trifle delayed to avoid a conflict with the Rochester Jane Austen Ball) will be held at RiverRead Books, 5 Court Street, Binghamton, on Saturday, May 11, at 2 pm.

 Our topic at RiverRead will be "Pride and Prejudice: Free for All." In this, our final meeting about P&P during its 200th-anniversary year, you're invited to bring topics of your own choice for discussion. Certainly there exist as many opinions about this novel as there are editions and covers of it! (A small sampling of these is depicted above, and Austen scholar Janine Barchas has presented a fascinating slideshow of covers and comments on The New York Times online.)

Issues such as the comparative merits of Mr. versus Mrs. Bennet; the pros and cons of the Collins-Lucas marriage; the various financial questions raised in the novel; and the possible future turns in the Darcy-Bennet marriage have been known to occupy Janeites for hours--and the RiverRead attendees are no slouches when it comes to lively discussion! So, once more, we encourage you to come "have [your] share of the conversation" about the novel Jane Austen called her "own darling Child."

More Spring Events

We have received news of more spring Austen-related events--some of which are coming up in the next few days. Our first news reporter is JASNA Syracuse/JABC-CNY member Deborah Knuth Klenck, Professor of English at Colgate University, who writes:


On Tuesday,  I'll be giving a Humanities Colloquium, "Jane Austen's School of Rhetoric: Style, Substance, and 'Delicacy of Mind.'"

April 23, 2013, 4:30 pm, Robert Ho Lecture Room, Lawrence Hall, Colgate University.

Free and open to the public.

In 2010, British textual scholar Kathryn Sutherland stirred up controversy about how much "help" Jane Austen received from her editor(s).  The BBC News website called its leading article "Jane Austen's Elegant Style may not be Hers," and the "story" was similarly exaggerated in the North American media. This talk shows that, despite some irregularities in punctuation and spelling common to her contemporaries, Austen's style is not only HER OWN and carefully honed: her novels teach good style through bad style. The dialogue of (usually minor) characters who combine ignorance with hypocrisy and blatant self-promotion with fulsome flattery shows forcibly "how not to do it," as examples will demonstrate.


And, by the way, congratulations to Deborah on her upcoming breakout session at the 2013 JASNA Annual General Meeting in Minneapolis in September! Her topic there will be "Performing to Strangers: Authenticity in Courtship in Pride and Prejudice."

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Our second reporter is Jim Reicker of the JASNA Ottawa Region, with news of two Canadian events--which may be within reach for our members living near the Canadian border:

 
JASNA Ottawa's upcoming activities include a Pride and Prejudice read-a-thon to celebrate the 200th anniversary of its publication. This will take place on Saturday, May 4, in the Councillors' Lounge of the Ottawa City Hall, 110 Laurier Ave. West, Ottawa, Ontario, from 9 am to 9 pm.

Come, read, listen and meet other Janeites. You may read in the language of your choice. All are welcome. Light refreshments will be available.

FYI: Here's an event, not sponsored by the Ottawa Chapter, but in Prescott, a nearby town in the region.  On April 20 and 21, a one-woman show, "Yours Ever, Jane" starring Sarah Finch. More information at this link.


For more information about the Ottawa read-a-thon, including an approximate schedule, contact Jim (jreicker at gmail.com).


 

In Memoriam: Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

The Official Spokescat of JASNA Syracuse has left us. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu died this morning after a brief illness, in the arms of your Regional Coordinator and her Regency Beau, the humans she owned for thirteen happy years. In medical attendance were Dr. Eric Davis and the devoted staff of Lyndon Veterinary Clinic in Fayetteville--her friends and admirers, as well as health care providers.

Although Lady Mary certainly never let her humans forget who the real head of the household was (in her heyday, her 5 a.m. breakfast call rivaled General Tilney’s “Dinner to be on table directly!”), she gave as little trouble and as much enjoyment as any of us--human or feline--can expect to do in this life. She also took her duties as Official Spokescat seriously, serving as muse for several blog posts and always posing cooperatively for photographs. Noblesse oblige, worthy of the lovely “aristocat” she was.

It is a long-standing tradition in Austenworld that Jane Austen did not care for cats. This seems to be based on the fact that no cats are mentioned in any of the major works, whereas dogs play supporting roles in Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, and Northanger Abbey. However, your RC would like to point out two appreciative mentions of felines in the Letters.

First, JA took a moment in a 1799 letter to Cassandra from vacation lodgings in Bath (the final move to Bath was not made until 1801) to note “a little black kitten runs about the Staircase” as a feature in the Austen family party’s being “exceedingly pleased with the House.” Second, and more significantly, JA actually compared herself to a cat in a later message to Cassandra: In an 1813 letter from brother Edward Knight’s grand estate at Godmersham, she made several inquiries about domestic economy at home in Chawton, and concluded with this observation: “My present Elegancies have not yet made me indifferent to such Matters. I am still a Cat if I see a Mouse.”

Bon voyage, Lady Mary.  And may the Mice be plentiful.

The "Promise of Spring"

Spring has come to New York State--although we're obviously cheating a little with this photo, given that many of us still have snow on the ground! (This glorious vine was photographed last Memorial Day weekend at the Cloisters in New York City.)

Nevertheless, the "promise of spring" is before us in many ways. First, this phrase is the title of a new English Country Dance CD by Charlene Thomson (who, with the late Suzanna Spiese, performed so beautifully for us at our first RiverRead Books meeting in Binghamton). Charlene's original compositions in the ECD tradition make delightful listening--and one of them, "Lisa's Maggot," is dedicated to our own Co-Coordinator Lisa Brown! (Lisa reminds us that a "maggot" in this context is a fanciful or whimsical dance.) The "Promise of Spring" CD can be ordered at this link.

Furthermore, we have a busy schedule of Austen-related events to look forward to in Upstate this spring and early summer. The "Events" column at right gives a complete listing, but here are some of the highlights:

• The Rochester Jane Austen Ball--always a wonderful occasion for dancers and gallery spectators alike--will be held as usual at a country club in the Rochester area on Sunday, May 5, at 2 pm. (The club's regulations forbid disclosing the name of the venue except to registered attendees, but think leaves and acorns.) A raffle/silent auction and a tea will also be among the activities. There is an admission charge for dancers, and a half-price admission for spectators. Go here for a downloadable registration form. 
• The JASNA Syracuse May Day meeting will be Saturday, May 11, at 2 pm, at RiverRead Books in Binghamton.  Our topic will be "Pride and Prejudice: Free for All." It's our last meeting on P&P in its 200th-anniversary year, so what angles would you like to explore? Bring your ideas to share!
• The traditional end-of-season "Box Hill" event in the Syracuse Region this year will be a presentation at the Colgate Bookstore (co-sponsored by the Bookstore, the JABC-CNY, and JASNA Syracuse) on Saturday, June 8, by Dr. Jack Wang. With his brother Holman, Jack is the co-author of the new Cozy Classics series of board books for toddlers--and your Regional Coordinator guarantees that to see these books is to be utterly charmed by them. Jack will discuss how he and Holman have adapted Pride and Prejudice and other classics for very young readers, and (appropriately for a "Box Hill" event) will give us a sneak preview of the forthcoming Cozy Classics Emma! 
• Finally, JASNA Rochester will be assisting the Genesee Country Village in Mumford with the "Jane Austen" portion of its "War of 1812 and Jane Austen Weekend" on Saturday and Sunday, June 22-23. With Redcoats on parade and a "Netherfield Ball" in store, Lydia Bennet would go distracted--and there will be a mini-marathon reading of Pride and Prejudice and other JA-related presentations as well. Details about the Ball, and preliminary details about the rest of the weekend, are available here.