Monday, May 31, 2010

Welcome to the Jane Austen Today Team, Tony!

Inquiring Readers,

This week I welcome Tony Grant from London Calling as a new member of the Jane Austen Today team. As you know, several months ago Raquel Sallaberry from Jane Austen em Português joined the team. You will now be receiving news about Jane Austen and her life from a British male, a Brazilian translator of Jane Austen's works, and me, an American Janeite transplanted from The Netherlands - a truly international group of Jane Austen fans.

Tony has already proved himself to be a valuable addition. Yesterday he reminded me politely that while the interiors of Pride and Prejudice were shot in Wilton House, the exterior shot was of Chatsworth. My bad. I immediately set out to correct the mistake. Here is Tony's shot of Wilton House. Isn't it lovely?


I asked our new colleague to introduce himself to you, which sits below. After reading this, please visit his blog. Click here to read about his visit to Chawton. It is quite informative and, even better, his photographs are lovely. Tony lives in Jane Austen country and arranges tours. (I am trying to reign in my envy.)

Here then, is Tony's biography:

My name is Tony Grant and Vic has very kindly asked me to write a regular article for her great BLOG, Jane Austen Today.

I live in the Borough of Merton which includes Wimbledon and a great chunk of South London.

My wife, Marilyn and I have lived here for many years since we gaduated from teachers training college in Kingston upon Thames in the 1970's. We have four children, Sam 23, Alice 20, Emily 17 and Abigail 9.

Marilyn works full time as a teacher for Kingston.She is responsible for developing the curriculum for traveller children in her area and also leads the Commenius Project for Kingston. This project creates links with schools in Eastern Europe and Germany. She often goes on visits to schools in Germany and Estonia.She also hosts visits for teachers from those countries coming here.In Estonia, she is helping them develop strategies to integrate Russian children into their schools. There are deep routed ethnic problems between Estonians and Russians.

I am now partly retired from teaching. I do some supply teaching but I also work as a freelance tour guide for a Canadian company called Tours by Locals.

I lead tours of the South of England for family and friendship groups. Many of the tours are tailor made to peoples personal requirements.

I was born in Southampton. From an early age my grandmother made me aware of Jane Austen. It was my grandmother who showed me the site in Castle Square where Jane lived for two years. On visits to Winchester my grandmother also showed me the house where Jane died and her tomb in the north aisle of Winchester Cathedral.

I read my first Jane Austen novel, Mansfield Park, when I was doing my Batchelor of Arts degree in the early 1970's.The detailed interplay of relationships, setting and action I found intensely interesting. I later developed my interst in investigating and exploring the past when I did a masters degree at the Institute of Education, London University.

Having been born and brought up in Southampton, Hampshire, and now living in North Surrey, I have been able to visit, over the years many of the places Jane mentions in her letters and uses in her novels. I live very close to some of those places.

I have my own BLOG, London Calling, in which I discuss ideas and places to do with Jane. My BLOG also allows me to present one of my other passions photography. I have photographed many Jane Austen sites.

I am looking forward to writing articles for Jane Austen Today and I would love to receive your responses.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Jane Austen Movie Throwdown

As we read Pride and Prejudice all of us have imagined Pemberley. Which house best represents the Pemberley you imagined?

Wilton House (Interior) Chatsworth House (Exterior): Pride and Prejudice 2005








Lyme Park: Pride and Prejudice 1995









pollcode.com free polls
Which house best fits the Pemberley of your imagination?
Wilton House (2005) Lyme House (1995)

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Pride and Prejudice in Emoticons

Pride & Prejudice in Emoticons



Pride & Prejudice: a drama in triple i parts, as told by Yahoo!Emoticons and Bookshop, the author of this brilliant piece:



PART I:



~Longbourne~



Bingley: :-h

Darcy: :|



Meryton: [-O<

Mrs Bennet: $-)

Mr Bennet: :-j



Jane: ">

Bingley: :x



Darcy: L-)

Lizzie: 8-|

Darcy: :-?

Lizzie: :))

Darcy: :|



Wickham: ;;)

Lizzie: ;;)

Lydia: ;;)

Darcy: ;;)?

Lizzie: =;

Darcy: :-w



~Proposal the First~



Mr Collins: :-B

Lizzie: :-@

Mr Collins: [-O<

Lizzie: :-&

Charlotte: :-?

Mr Collins: *-:)

Charlotte: ">

Lizzie: #-o



Bingley: :-h

Jane: =((





PART DOUBLE I:



~at Kent~



Lady Catherine: [-)

Collins: ^:)^

Darcy: :|

Lizzie: /:)

Darcy: ;;)?

Lizzie: :-??





Find the rest of the story at: Bookshop, Live Journal. Thank you Charley Brown of Enchanted Serenity of Period Films for pointing me in this direction!

Friday, May 28, 2010

Follow Friday: The Jane Austen Societies


The Jane Austen Society of North America cannot be overlooked in our Friday Follows. Featuring the incomparable publications of Persuasions Online, the electronic journal of JASNA. Regional JASNA Societies also boast their own websites -
are a few that quickly come to mind. (Forgive me if in my haste to create this post I did not include your society.) If you want to find a local JASNA chapter, click on these links, which feature 65 sister organizations:

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Two Interviews With Patricia Rozema, Director of Mansfield Park

Patricia Rozema, the director of the controversial 1999 film adaptation of Mansfield Park, discusses directing her movie in two interviews featured in this post. Many Janeites and scholars hated her lively Fanny Price and her strong political position on slavery in the film. While I thought the film was intriguing (and I enjoyed watching it in the theater), upon repeated viewing I find it jarring that Frances O'Connor's Fanny is as attractive, forward, and personable as Mary Crawford. This change makes Eward Bertram, played by Johnny Lee Miller, look like a putz. Henry Crawford's play for Fanny's affections seems less manipulative and makes more sense, for she is certainly more attractive and available than Maria. A lively Fanny also diminishes Mrs. Norris' cruelty, for haranguing a character who is weak and dependent has different connotations than sniping at a strong and beautiful woman.

1. CBC Book Club interview: The CBC Book Club tracked Patricia down to ask her several questions about her film, Fanny Price and what she's working on now.

Q.: A decade ago, your adaptation of Mansfield Park was a part of the explosion of Hollywood interest in Jane Austen. You wrote and directed Mansfield Park. What drew you so strongly to this book?

A: First and most importantly, the plight of the main character -- her status as an outsider moved me. Then, I was interested in how different this novel was from the others. What was going through Austen's mind when she wrote it? It's so much more grave and engaged with issues of morality than the previous ones to that point. Then I read a couple of academic essays which suggested that this book was something of a meditation on the ideas of captivity and is born from a position of anger about the treatment of people as property. Then I read about the fact that the slavery issue was HUGE at the time of writing, raging in every wealthy home, and there was a court battle that resulted in something called the Mansfield Judgment -- the first case that restricted slavery in England. It was part of the public discourse of the time. And there were a few mentions of Austen loving a favourite abolitionist writer of the time. All these things together made me think I could engage with one of the greatest writers in English on one of her most unusual novels about something deeply important. I felt like I could make something new and add to our perception of Austen in an authentic way.

Click on this link to read the entire interview.

2. Interview at Moving Image Source - This page offers a 36-minute oral interview with the director. You can also download a PDF document of the transcript.

[Patricia] changed direction with the period filmMansfield Park, an adaptation of Jane Austen's most difficult novel. "It's a tangled and dark work with a kind of atmosphere of sexuality and menace on the whole," says Rozema, as she talks candidly and intelligently about how she created a film that brought a modern perspective to its interpretation of the Jane Austen novel, while remaining true to the spirit of the book.

2011 Jane Austen Festival Australia will Hold a Costume Competition

It's not too early to plan for a Competition for costumes from the Regency Era (1795-1830 England)

The 2011 Jane Austen Festival Australia will be holding this costuming competition, which is open for everyone to enter. The four categories include:
  • Women's Outfit
  • Gentleman's Outfit
  • Regimental Outfit
  • Children's Outfit
Categories in the competition will cover three ability levels (Beginner, Improver and Experienced).

Each winner in each category will receive a season ticket to the Jane Austen Festival, plus a special "award winner" icon to place on their website or blog.

You must keep good records of what you've done and what you've learnt in a "Dress Diary", which will be considered alongside the final outfit. For details, please join the JAFA Costume Competition Google Group if you plan to enter so we have an idea of how many will be entering and can keep you updated on any changes. For more details click on the Jane Austen Festival, April , 2011.

Some links to help you include my recent posts on the topic:
A great resource for patterns is Sense and Sensibility Patterns. The site has been revamped, but the patterns are still available!



Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Murder at Mansfield Park, A Video Talk by Lynn Shepherd

Lynn Shepherd talks about her first novel, a Jane Austen murder mystery, at Basildon Park, the house that featured as 'Netherfield' in the 2005 film of 'Pride & Prejudice' starring Keira Knightley



Purchase her book at Amazon.UK. It will be available in the States soon. The three reviews on the site, all by men, give this book a resounding heads up.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Elizabeth Bennet Notebook

This notebook is an homage to Elizabeth Bennet, our heroine from Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen.

The notebooks are totally handmade: sewing the leaves, collages and assemblages of the covers with the fabric – all done by me. Small imperfections are the product of the manual work, which makes copies uniques. Color may differ slightly from your screen.
Measures: 14,5 x 10.5 x 1.5 cm
Sheets: Sheets: 80 sheets/160 pages - unlined fine vergé paper (80g/m2)
Cover: satin fabric under a thin layer of foam on cardboard and surrounded with cotton lace.

Find the notebook at Etsy! Raquel Sallaberry, Jane Austen em Portugues