By Dan Read Clergymen and their professional lives and nonprofessional loves are a large part of all of Austen’s novels. As the daughter of a clergyman and with several clergyman brothers, her own personal well-being depended significantly on family livings and preferments. So this book, subtitled “Christianity in Jane Austen’s England,” was immediately of interest and I bought a copy…
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Discussion of John Mullan’s What Matters in Jane Austen?
By Elizabeth Jewell JASNA member Yvonne Tang, who met Professor John Mullan in England, invited him to be our guest for a discussion of his book What Matters in Jane Austen? Professor Mullan noted that he’d received quite a few questions from JASNA members and could not answer them all, but would tackle five or six of them, particularly those that allowed…
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Laughter Through Gritted Teeth: Considering Bodily Diversity in Austen’s Novels with Kathleen James-Cavan
By Laine A. Wood The April meeting for the JASNA North Carolina region concerned an issue that has been gaining traction in recent years, especially since the onset of the pandemic: disability and bodily diversity. English professor Kathleen James-Cavan was the presenter for the meeting. James-Cavan endorsed four reasons for recent articles on the subject of disability in that she…
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Learning an Ancient Art: Quilling Workshop with Carolyn Edge
By Linda W. Darden The JASNA North Carolina region got crafty for the March 26 meeting with a quilling workshop led by The Quilling Edge’s Carolyn Edge. Carolyn has been quilling since 2017, starting with a hobby picked up in a local workshop, and now she creates stunningly beautiful designs as shown on her website. In advance of the meeting, members…
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A Foray into Poetry: Poets Familiar to Jane Austen
By Nancy Martin-Young The JASNA-NC book club jumped genres February 19 and perused poetry from Jane Austen’s era. Led by co-regional coordinator Sara Tavela, the group examined poetry ranging from William Collins’ heavy-handed “Ode to Pity” to the wonders of William Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey”—and the parodic verse of Austen herself. Austen’s life straddles the wit and order of the Enlightenment…
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