By Elizabeth Jewell The August 25, 2024, meeting was to celebrate and discuss the recent publication of Inger Sigrun Bredkjær Brodey’s Jane Austen and the Price of Happiness, published by the Johns Hopkins University Press in June of 2024. The book examines the endings of Austen’s novels, describing them as “rushed, ironic, and reluctant to satisfy readers’ thirst for romance.”…
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By Laine Wood The North Carolina region met for its July meeting themed Fun and Games: Pride and Prejudice Adaptations Chat and Trivia. The meeting began with a few polls about adaptations, with the 1995 and 2005 versions being the most hotly debated as straight adaptation favorites. Favorites for modern day retellings included Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) and Bride and…
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By Bill Gaither Members gathered on June 23, 2024, for an engaging and in-depth discussion of Jane Austen’s unfinished novella or novel The Watsons. The discussion was led by members and scholars Mary Jane and Betty E., and Mary Jane created the helpful study guide. This was a Virtual Book Club meeting. Also leading the meeting was emcee for the day Rose C. and…
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By Elizabeth Jewell It was a small but fascinating group in Mebane yesterday–here we are: Elizabeth Jewell, with Pamela Hale (if I’m reading her handwriting correctly?) next to me, and Connie Eble across from me, with Carolyn Brown next to her. We talked about Eudora Welty and linguistics and the 200th anniversary of passenger railroads. And Jane Austen! One area…
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By Bill Gaither On April 24, 2024, members gathered via Zoom to hear an expanded version of Sue Scott’s insightful and entertaining talk, “Is My Idiolect Showing? Individualized Speech Patterns in Austen’s Novels,” which Sue originally delivered at the 2023 JASNA Annual General Meeting (AGM). This talk discusses the distinctive speech patterns, or idiolects, that Jane Austen created for her…
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