Embarking On A Course of Study

What Would You Leave for Jane While Visiting Her House?

Soon I'll be heading to England for a visit to London, which includes a too-brief pilgrimage to places associated with Jane Austen, including the Jane Austen House Museum, where I'll be taking a writing class after I tour the house. The JAHM has a blog that you can follow and in catching up on the posts, I read one from April that talks about how much making a pilgrimage to Jane's house means to most people who visit (myself included; I can't wait!). One very special surprise, is that some visitors leave a gift or message for Jane that the staff finds later.

"It seems that for many people being in her home is part of an ongoing relationship that they develop with her as not only an author of their favourite books but also as a woman. Recently Isabel and I have found a few gifts and offerings to Jane and the house. I found a carefully made fan of hearts hung on a door handle in The Austen Family room. Each heart has a name of a character from Sense and Sensibility and they rotate to align with different people."

 

I am definitely going to leave her a note while I'm there. The idea is just too wonderful not to join in.

I have paper - made by hand by me during the 18C Festival at Johns Hopkins I attended this past March:

 

Isn't it pretty? The best part was jumping up and down on it (wrapped in newspaper) to help dry it out.

My plan is to write a grateful letter to Jane from either Lizzy or Elinor - for the adventure of being in her book, the lessons learned, and the great guy at the end!

Which do you think it should be from?

And what would you leave for Jane if you were visiting her house? Leave a comment; I'm eager to hear.

To read a letter from a visitor left in Jane's bedroom, visit the Jane Austen House Museum blog.

More Doctor Who and Jane Austen

This is a terrific article from a couple of years ago suggesting that the Doctor needs to meet Jane, and reminds us that she created the modern English novel (throw that at the next person who scoffs at her as a chick lit writer!): Jane Austen Should Be On Doctor Who

Much as I would love to see this myself (see previous post), it cannot be with Mr. Smith, darling as he is. He's cute, he's silly, he's surprising, but he's not sexy (not like Tennant and Eccleston) or very good at flirtation.

She'd think of him as an amusing, scrappy little thing, probably dig his mind, but I seriously doubt there'd be good chemistry between them. Matt needs some protein shakes and some dumbells to start. Tennant would be the best choice, but as he's lost to us now, we can dream of a future Doctor meeting up with our brilliant Jane.

 

   If you can't wait, and if you like audio episodes, here is one from Big Finish where the Doctor does meet Austen: Austen/Doctor Who Big Finish Audio.

I have a few audio episodes myself, but this doesn't mean they shouldn't do a TV episode!

Jane Austen/Doctor Who Video - with Tennant as Darcy and Piper as Lizzy

This is so perfect. Wish the DW producers would do an Austen episode. (If you're not a Who fan, check out the show at www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho.)

Happily, I'm also going to the Doctor Who exhibition at the Olympia Two during my visit!

Jane Austen Podcasts

Hi everyone - I'm downloading a bunch of Austen-related podcasts for the various plane rides next month and wanted to share an interesting one with you: a comparison of Elizabeth Gaskell (Cranford) and Jane.

The only annoying part is that it's in bits, not one full episode! It's at Penguin Radio:

Austen vs. Gaskell

 

 Another Austen-related episode is a talk with William Deresiewicz whose book "A Jane Austen Education" has recently come out.

Austen's Life Lessons

Many more wonderful podcasts can be found at the terrific blog, Jane Austen's World:

Jane Austen's World podcasts page

These are sure to make the plane ride fly by - pardon the pun!

What Jane Austen Read and Taking Workshop at the Jane Austen House Museum!

 

I've recently discovered a fantastic site through the Jane Austen House Museum website. It's called UK RED, which is an open-access database housed at The Open University containing over 30,000 easily searchable records documenting the history of reading in Britain from 1450 to 1945. Evidence of reading presented in UK RED is drawn from published and unpublished sources as diverse as diaries, commonplace books, memoirs, sociological surveys, and criminal court and prison records.

You can't search in general terms such as 'what did young ladies read in the year 1800 in Hampshire?' or something, you can only search by name. There is a list to choose from once you click on a letter in the alphabet. It's based on subscribers to the circulating library. Our dear Jane is on that list of course.

I searched for her and here's her list for your viewing and reading pleasure! Join me in reading as many of these volumes as we can squeeze in!

What Jane Read

In other news, I'm headed out of the country to a friend's wedding in Iceland this summer, then going on to England and France. I am currently planning my visit to the Jane Austen House Museum where I have just registered for an awesome workshop called "The Ideal Heroine." Here's the write up:

Who’s your favourite? Elinor or Marianne, or maybe Lizzie, Fanny, Catherine, Emma or Anne? Jane Austen’s heroines began entrancing and dividing readers 200 years ago. In this workshop we’ll be looking at these wonderful creations and at some of their literary descendants, and spending the day creating and developing characters who might stroll off the page and into a reader’s heart. This, like all of the season’s workshops, is designed to suit experienced as well as beginner writers.

What a lucky thing - to be able to take a writing workshop in Jane's house! I will take copious notes, I promise.