This is Getting Spooky

At least for me it is. On my way to a meeting in Olney, MD on Friday I stopped at a light, glanced over and saw this:

Then, at the meeting, I was handed a calendar of events and what do you think was in there?

THE NOVELS OF JANE AUSTEN

Robin Bates (professor of English, St. Mary's College)

September 24 - October 29

Thursdays, 7-9 pm

We will read the six complete novels of Jane Austen, examining them in the context of the time and her life. Among the topics we will examine are 19th-century marriage rituals, economic pressures on middle class women, Austen's favorite writers, and the dynamics of the courtship novel.

I don't think I heard the first 10 minutes of the meeting I was so surprised!

I've missed the start of the class, and St. Mary's is impossible for me to make by 7 pm after I get off of work, but the board member who handed me the calendar has team-taught classes with Robin and said she would put us in touch with each other so I could make an appointment to interview him.

Serendipity indeed.

I have started Emma and will post on that later or in a day or two. My apologies to those of you who love it, but it's my least favorite of the novels. I simply can't stand Emma. I know she's modeling certain faults and flaws, but I don't (and never did, even when I read it and was much younger) identify with her and she grates on my nerves. Mr. Knightley, as well, isn't quite up to par as a male lead. He comes off as a man in his 50s rather than mid-thirties.

So I will read for Austen's precise prose and order The Mysteries of Udolpho in preparation for Northanger Abbey!

Comments

[Holly]

I think you and Jane were just meant to be and you are now better attuned to her messages!