Reminder: JASNA Syracuse/JABC Ithaca Joint Meeting in Ithaca, Sat., March 8

On Saturday, March 8, at 2 pm, at the Crow's Nest Cafe (on the second floor of the Autumn Leaves Bookstore, 115 The Commons, Ithaca), JASNA Syracuse will be joining forces with the Jane Austen Book Club of Ithaca to discuss "Theatre and Performance in Mansfield Park."

As part of our continuing observance of Mansfield Park's 200th anniversary this year, let's think about all the ways in which role playing plays a role in this controversial novel. As the Crawfords and the Bertrams prepare to perform Lovers' Vows, what's the problem with putting on a play at home--or at least this particular play, with this particular cast? Is more acting taking place off stage than on? And did Jane Austen herself disapprove of home theatricals? We'll discuss these and other questions--and perhaps read some of our favorite passages from the play and the novel.

Special note: A JABC Ithaca member has just informed me that this weekend's print version of the Ithaca Times has run an event listing incorrectly giving the date for this meeting as Sun., Feb. 23. The date and time will be as given in boldface above. We apologize for the mixup, and hope to see as many of you as possible on March 8.

A Concert in Ithaca and a Jane Austen Day in Philadelphia

And while we’re thinking and talking about Ithaca, here’s a message from an old friend of JASNA Syracuse, Dr. Joanna Manring--the director of the Jane Austen Singing School for Young Ladies (formerly of Skaneateles and now of Lexington, KY). Joanna writes of an upcoming musical event in Ithaca:


********

Greetings, friends old and new!

I'm delighted to be coming to Ithaca at the end of March as the soprano soloist for Haydn's uplifting Creation with the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra and Ithaca College Choir under the direction of Lanfranco Marcelletti. A perfect way to herald spring! The concert will be in Ford Hall on the Ithaca College campus on March 29th at 8 pm.  Tickets are available at the CCO's website.

I hope to see you there!

********

In addition, Paul Savidge, Regional Coordinator for JASNA Eastern Pennsylvania, has sent us word of his Region’s forthcoming “Jane Austen Day” in Philadelphia:

********

I am writing to invite you and your regional members to Jane Austen Day 2014 in Philadelphia on Saturday, April 26, 2014, sponsored by the Eastern Pennsylvania Region of JASNA. This year's day-long event entitled The Unfinished Jane Austen will be a fascinating exploration of Austen's two unfinished novels, The Watsons and Sanditon, and a provocative discussion of what Austen might have accomplished if she had lived a longer life. We are very excited to have an illustrious panel of Austen scholars joining us for Jane Austen Day. Presentations by Professors Jocelyn Harris, Janine Barchas and Michael Gamer will be the highlights of the event.

Jane Austen Day will be held in the exquisite Grant Room at Philadelphia’s historic Union League and will include complimentary morning tea and coffee, a delicious luncheon, selected merchants including a bookseller, and an abundance of good discussion and fellowship.  Registration must be postmarked by April 5th. Information about Jane Austen Day is available on the Region's website.

Reminder: JASNA Syracuse Candlemas Meeting at Liverpool, Sat., Feb. 1

On Saturday, February 1, at 2 pm,  in the Sargent Room of the Liverpool Public Library (310 Tulip St., Liverpool), our Candlemas meeting will be devoted to two midwinter diversions: an “Argument Clinic” on Mansfield Park, and a book swap!

2014 is the 200th anniversary year for Mansfield Park--which has always been Jane Austen’s most controversial novel. So, taking our cue from the old Monty Python “Argument Clinic” sketch, let’s hold an “Argument Clinic” on MP (though a much more courteous one than the Pythons’ session becomes!). Love Fanny Price or hate her? Want to take Mary Crawford out to dinner or hang her out to dry? Can anything positive be said about Henry Crawford--or, for that matter, about Edmund Bertram? What’s wrong with putting on a play at home, anyway? And so forth!

(In the photo above, Action Jane Austen is having her own "Argument Clinic" with Action Sigmund Freud. Can you imagine the conversation Miss Austen and Dr. Freud might have about Mary Crawford's "Rears and Vices" joke?)

To chase the February blues away even further, we plan a book swap. If you can, please bring at least one book to the meeting with you to donate to the swap; it needn’t be Austen-related, but it should be of potential interest to our members and guests. And plan to take away at least one book! Any books left over at the end of the meeting will be donated to the Liverpool Library for its book sale.

Finally, please make a note of the dates, locations, and topics for our Lady Day and May Day meetings. (The Lady Day meeting is rather early, and the May Day meeting is rather late--but that’s the way things worked out with various folks’ schedules.)

On Saturday, March 8, at 2 pm, in the Crow’s Nest Cafe of Autumn Leaves Bookstore (115 The Commons, Ithaca), we’ll join forces with the Jane Austen Book Club of Ithaca to discuss “Theatre and Performance in Mansfield Park.” (More about those home theatricals...plus the playing of roles in “real life” in the novel.)

And on Saturday, May 10, at 2 pm, at RiverRead Books (5 Court St., Binghamton), we’ll talk about Austen’s treatment of the clergy in her work in general--and in Mansfield Park in particular.

Happy Austenmas!

First, a very happy "Austenmas" (as Lisa Brown calls Jane Austen's birthday, December 16) to you all! And a very happy birthday to Our Authoress, who at age 238 is riding higher than ever in our and the world's esteem. (Above, a photo of a quilt Jane Austen and other family members made.)

Second, here's the link to the national JASNA organization's Austenmas gift to the world: Volume 34.1 of Persuasions On-Line, JASNA's electronic journal.  This link always goes “live” at midnight on Dec. 16. The issue includes papers on Pride and Prejudice from JASNA's 2013 Annual General Meeting in Minneapolis, as well as a very lively "Miscellany" section (which even includes a paper on the YouTube sensation The Lizzie Bennet Diaries)!

Third, here's a supplement to a recent communication: In addition to the two English Country Dance events already held in our Region this month, the Syracuse Country Dancers will be hosting an English Country Dance at the United Church of Fayetteville (310 E. Genesee St., Fayetteville) on Saturday, Dec. 21, 8-11 pm. Carmen Giunta will be calling. Music by Baa and the Shepherds: Barbara Seppeler, piano, Lee and Julian Shepherd, violin and cello, with a guest appearance by Ruth Thomson, Celtic harp. Thanks to Lee Shepherd for the information. (Note, by the way, that information about events hosted by ECD groups in three Upstate cities--Syracuse, Rochester, and Binghamton--can always be obtained by clicking on the appropriate links in the “Links” column on the right side of this blog.)

Finally, JASNA Syracuse’s first meeting of 2014 will be the Candlemas meeting, held in the Sargent Room of the Liverpool Public Library (310 Tulip St., Liverpool) on Saturday, Feb. 1, at 2 pm. Taking our lead from the old Monty Python sketch called “The Argument Clinic,” we’re going to hold an “Argument Clinic” on Mansfield Park, JA’s most controversial novel (which is celebrating its bicentennial in 2014). Love Fanny Price or hate her? Want to take Mary Crawford out to dinner or hang her out to dry?  We’ll shake off the midwinter blahs even further by having a book swap. Details about the swap, and about subsequent 2014 meetings, will be given in the new year.

Holiday Gatherings for JASNA Syracuse and JASNA Rochester

“Action Jane” is making her holiday preparations, and so are the Syracuse and Rochester Regions of JASNA! On consecutive Saturdays--December 7 and 14--each region will be hearing a presentation by a distinguished local JASNA member, and celebrating the Winter Solstice holidays and Jane Austen’s 238th birthday (on December 16).

********

First, on Saturday, December 7, at 2:00 pm, the JASNA Syracuse Region and the Jane Austen Book Club-CNY will join forces on the third floor of the Colgate Bookstore (3 Utica St., Hamilton) to hear Deborah Knuth Klenck’s presentation “Performing to Strangers: Being, Seeming, and Courting in Pride and Prejudice.” Deborah is Professor of English at Colgate University and has taught there since 1978, providing an array of courses from Shakespeare to Restoration and Eighteenth Century to Survey of British Fiction and seminars on Jane Austen, Samuel Johnson, and other authors. She has also taught in the Women's Studies Program and the Liberal Arts Core Curriculum, and has directed the honors program in English. And she has published numerous papers in JASNA’s Persuasions and other journals, and has given presentations at JASNA’s Annual General Meeting, the Modern Language Association Convention, and other scholarly gatherings. Her December 7 presentation, in fact, will be the breakout session she was unable to give at this year’s JASNA AGM in Minneapolis because of injury--so she and we are eagerly looking forward to this!

For refreshments at the December 7 gathering, as reported earlier, we’re planning a cookie potluck: Each attendee is asked to bring a dozen or so cookies to share. If you haven’t got time to bake cookies personally, that’s OK--we’re not expecting either Lady Catherine de Bourgh or Martha Stewart to barge in and provide a critique. But if you come to “have your share of the conversation,” do bring a share of the cookies! Tea and lemonade will be provided for an early birthday toast to Jane Austen.

********

The following Saturday, December 14, at 11:00 am, the JASNA Rochester Region will host its annual Jane Austen Birthday Lunch at the Chatterbox Club, 25 N. Goodman St., Rochester. The program will be a presentation by Nicola Minott-Ahl titled “Game Theorist or Gamester--Is Lydia Bennet the Real Heroine of Pride and Prejudice?” Nicola resides at the western end of the Syracuse Region but works in the Rochester Region: She is Associate Professor in the Department of English and Comparative Literature, and is on the Steering Committee of the Media and Society Program, at Hobart & William Smith Colleges in Geneva. She teaches and writes on Nineteenth Century British Literature, and her interests include the Gothic, historical fiction, architecture and novels, and film adaptation of Nineteenth Century novels. She has published articles on William Thackeray, on the architectural novel in France and England, and in the fields of Film and Adaptation Studies; she also has a book forthcoming from Sussex Academic Press.

The birthday festivities will include lunch (featuring the Chatterbox Club’s traditional popovers), dessert, and the beloved toast to Jane Austen from Rudyard Kipling’s “The Janeites.” The cost for the program is $27 per person, and advance registration is required. More information and a registration form are available on the JASNA Rochester blog, at this link.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Now that the World Series is over, are you or your partner missing baseball already? Do you still believe baseball was invented just down the road in Cooperstown? Did you ever wonder how a cricket match can take five days to complete? Even a casual baseball or sports fan is sure to love our co-coordinator Lisa Brown's presentation of "Did Jane Austen Invent Baseball: The Early History of Bat and Ball Games in the U.S. and England." Lisa will talk about the origins of baseball, cricket and what Jane's got to do with it on Saturday, November 16th at 1:00 pm in the Barnes & Noble in Pittsford, a suburb of Rochester.

Upcoming JASNA Syracuse Meetings

Here’s a reminder of our All Hallows meeting on Nov. 2, and an announcement of plans for our Christmas/JA’s birthday meeting on Dec. 7. The time for both meetings will be 2 pm.

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.