By Elizabeth Jewell
JASNA President Mary Mintz presented “Jane Austen in American Periodicals: Highlights of the First Hundred Years.” She began by saluting the contributions of Karin Wiberg, Sara Tavela, and Gisele Rankin to the NC chapter of JASNA.
Mintz covered both the people who praised Jane Austen—often other women writers—and the reviews that were less appreciative. Her discussion of periodicals included both magazines and academic journals (newspapers, which also fit into this category, were not covered). There were more than a thousand articles about Austen in US periodicals during the nineteenth century. Once only searchable on microfilm or microfiche, the data was transferred to a digital database in the early 2000s, making it much easier to study.
Some recent scholarship focuses on the early US reading of Austen, including two books by Juliet Wells, Reading Austen in America (2017), and A New Jane Austen: How Americans Brought Us the World’s Greatest Novelist (2023). Early readership of Austen in inexpensive editions is examined by Janine Barchas in The Lost Books of Jane Austen (2019).
Mintz reviews early US periodical coverage of Jane Austen’s work, and highlights Godey’s Lady’s Book, a fashion periodical available and widely popular from 1830 to 1896, especially under the editor Sarah Josepha Hale. Hale’s life is explored in Melanie Kirkpatrick’s Lady Editor: Sarah Josepha Hale and the Making of the Modern American Woman.
Mintz also mentioned Maurice Thompson, the author of Alice of Old Vincennes, who was a savage critic of Austen. JASNA-NC member Mary Jane Curry summed up her reaction to hearing about Thompson: “So much misogyny, so little insight!”
Up Next
In May, we have two opportunities to gather. Our May 4 meeting will be our Virtual Book Club, and we’re reading Susan Allen Ford’s What Jane Austen’s Characters Read (and Why). Susan will join us for an author Q&A and discussion, so you won’t want to miss out! Later in May, we’ll be having regional movie outings to see Jane Austen Wrecked My Life; we’ll share the dates/times as soon as the movie times release. We also have the fabulous opportunity to attend the Regency Ball at the Jane Austen’s Summer Program in New Bern, NC at Tryon Palace. Thank you to JASP’s leadership, including our own Inger Brodey, for their generosity and for opening up this amazing opportunity!