Thursday, November 7, 2024

Growing Older with Jane Austen

C.E.Brock
https://pemberley.com/janeinfo/jabrokil.html#senssens
 

Event: JASNA CWNY November Meeting

Topic: "Growing Older with Jane Austen"
Discussion led by Marie Sprayberry, JASNA-CWNY member
When: Saturday November 16 23, 2024 at 1 pm EST: Note this event is postponed to November 23
Where:   In Person at Pittsford Barnes & Noble, Community Room

Marie Sprayberry writes: At our Sat., Nov. 16 meeting at the Pittsford Barnes & Noble, I will lead a discussion inspired by Maggie Lane’s 2014 book Growing Older with Jane Austen (published in the UK by Robert Hale, London). Unfortunately, this book is not currently available in the US except at outrageous prices from online booksellers. 

However, coming to our rescue are two guest posts by Brenda S. Cox on Vic Sanborn’s blog “Jane Austen’s World.” In these posts, Cox (the author of the book Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen’s England) summarizes Lane’s chapters; provides (at the end of the first post) a list of characters Lane discusses in her book; and gives us much food for thought. I thank both Brenda Cox herself for these posts, and our own Celia Easton for bringing them to my attention. Here are the links:



To get things going on the 16th, here are some discussion questions to consider. Let’s definitely discuss this first set:

(1) Here are Cox’s own questions at the end of her first post: Who is your favorite older character (let’s say over 35; lifetimes were shorter then) in Austen’s novels? Who is your least favorite older character? Why? Do they show you anything particular about aging in Austen’s England?

And then let’s pick a few of these others:

(2) In her consideration of characters growing older, Lane also includes some characters under 35 who are encountering the limits of marriageability in Ch. 1, “The Loss of Youth and Beauty.”  Whose loss of “bloom” and “approach to the years of danger” may become a problem for them, and how do they overcome this problem (or not)?

(3) One topic Lane discusses in Ch. 2, “My Time of Life,” is that of older characters who have arrived at a certain “time of life” and use this perspective (sometimes explicitly) to give advice to younger characters. Which pairs of characters do you see as falling into the advisor/advisee pattern, and how successful is the advice-giving in each case?

(4) In Ch. 3, “Parent Against Child,” Lane considers several characters in parental roles who get into tense situations with their children or wards. Who are some of these parents/guardians and children/wards, and how are the tensions eventually resolved?

(5) In Ch. 4, “Old Wives,” Lane discusses the characters who have “been married long enough to come to some accommodation with the choices they had made in youth and to live with whatever idiosyncrasies they may have discovered in their husbands” (p. 72). Who are some of these characters, and what do you think of their ways of adapting?

(6) In four chapters, Lane considers the fates of “Old Maids” (Ch. 5) and various types of widows (Chs. 7-9). Among the various spinsters and widows, how do money (as also discussed in Ch. 10, “Age and Money”) and the professions or social status of fathers or deceased husbands influence their situations? And whose adaptations to their situations do you admire most and least? 

(7) In her final two chapters, Lane discusses “The Dangerous Indulgence of Illness” (Ch. 11) and “Nothing to Do but to Die” (Ch. 12). In which of Austen’s works do the illnesses or deaths of characters play roles in the plots?









Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Review of the Cleveland AGM

JASNA AGM
Cleveland

 Intriguing? Come and find out what really happened at JASNA's Annual General Meeting in Cleveland. Meet the folks who attended and find out what they learned. See you there!


Event: JASNA CWNY October Meeting
Topic: AGM Reports
When: Saturday October 26, 2024 at 11:00 AM Note change of date and time!!!!
Where:   In Person at Pittsford Barnes & Noble, Community Room

Wednesday, September 4, 2024

September Double Header

September features an exciting double header for our region

First up is an event in the Buffalo region on September 12:
Event: Jane Austen: The Origins of a True Original
Where: Clarence Library
When: September 12, 6 pm



Next up is an event in the Rochester area on September 21.

President James A. Garfield
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_A._Garfield

Event:  A Preview of Dr. Alice Villaseñor's talk at the AGM in October
Where: Pittsford Barnes and Noble Community Room
When:  September 21, 1 pm

Political Satire - Austen Style
This session will focus on “Austen style” political satire in two contexts. First, the session will highlight examples of the author’s satirical allusions to local Hampshire political campaigns. In consideration of the conference location’s proximity to the Garfield National Historic Site, the session will also discuss President Garfield’s use of Austen’s satire to describe a book about a political figure of his own time.


Dr. Alice Villaseñor is the Associate Director of Civic and Community Engagement at SUNY Buffalo State University. She has published on Jane Austen and has a forthcoming book chapter about teaching Elizabeth Gaskell. A lifetime JASNA member, she has served JASNA as the 2006 International Visitor, member of the IVP Committee, board member of JASNA and JASNA-SW, and current member of the JASNA EDI Committee. This will be her ninth AGM presentation.
LinkedIn profile for Dr. Villaseñorwww.linkedin.com/in/alice-villaseñor











Thursday, June 13, 2024

Join the Navy See the World

The Spirit of Buffalo - Sail Ho!

"A little beauty, and a few smiles, and a few compliments to the navy, and I am a lost man."
Persuasion chapter 7

A quick reminder about our Buffalo area events:

Film Night

We have our Film Night at Clarence Library on June 27th at 6:30 pm. Susan will bring popcorn! If anyone wishes to bring additional treats, it would be greatly appreciated. We will be viewing the 2007 Persuasion.  

Sailing Adventure

Also, if anyone is interested in the Spirit of Buffalo sail, there are tickets left for that day. It’s Saturday, July 20th, at 6 pm. 

To register contact Susan Harris-Gamard at: sharrisgamard@gmail.com

What a wonderful combination of events! You can watch a great movie adaptation of Jane Austen's most naval novel and, a few weeks later take to the high seas (or at least Lake Erie) on the Spirit of Buffalo.

Hope you can join in!

Tuesday, May 7, 2024

Regency Games

A Game of Cribbage or Boney's Last Shuffle
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/389106

"We have had Mrs. Lillingstone and the Chamberlaynes to call on us. My mother was very much struck with the odd looks of the two latter; I have only seen her. Mrs. Busby drinks tea and plays at cribbage here tomorrow..." 
Jane Austen, Letter to Cassandra, 1801




Regency Era Games for Young Ladies


Both are Skittles.

Which one is from the Regency?

Try a few games at our next meeting on Saturday, May 11 at 1:30 pm.

(Please Note the Date & Time Change)

Pittsford Barnes & Noble Community Room

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Black Girl in a Big Dress Let's Watch and Discuss

 

Black Girl n a Big Dress
https://www.facebook.com/BlackGirlinaBigDress/

Event: JASNA CWNY April Meeting
Topic: “Black Girl in a Big Dress” Webseries, let's watch and discuss
                Discussion led by Alice Villaseñor, JASNA-CWNY member
When: Saturday, April 20, 2024 at 1 pm EDT
Where:   IN PERSON at Pittsford Barnes and Noble, Community Room
 
Black Girl in a Big Dress is a web series featuring “an African American Anglophile cosplayer in love with the Victorian Era” (See the “About” Section of the BGBD YouTube Channel). For the April meeting, Alice will facilitate a discussion about the first season, which can be viewed on Youtube:http://www.youtube.com/@BlackGirlinaBigDress. Please try to watch as much of the first season as you can so that we can have a lively conversation (it will take about 30-minutes). 

I think you will enjoy both the series and the discussion.

 

 

Friday, March 8, 2024

Jane Austen for Young Adults

 

By Cassandra Austen, Public Domain, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Austen

Event: JASNA CWNY March Meeting
Topic: A discussion of young adult versions of Jane Austen’s books
When: Saturday, March 16, 2024 at 12:30 pm EDT. Note the earlier start time.
                It's a Barnes and Noble thing.
Where:   IN PERSON at Pittsford Barnes and Noble, Community Room

Jane Austen started writing when she was in her teens. Many of her fans started reading her works in their teens, and now her works are enjoyed by young and old. Many authors have taken Jane Austen's works a step further and written Jane Austen themed novels specifically for young adults. 

Join us for a discussion of works written for young adults. The discussion will be lead by Kate Jorgensen with assistance from Celia Easton. Try a young adult novel and let us know what you think of it. Here are a few websites you can visit for suggestions: