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Breakout Sessions

2024 New Voices Breakout Grant Recipients:

Dr. Ben Wiebracht and Students

Ben Wiebracht is an English Instructor at Stanford Online High School and the co-founder of Pixelia Publishing, a non-profit, open-access platform for student-teacher scholarly collaborations. One of his main goals is to inspire lifelong Austen readers by welcoming students into adult conversations about her life and work—and by giving them opportunities to make original contributions to those conversations. His scholarly work, often co-authored by his students, has appeared in Persuasions On-Line, Dickens Studies Annual, and Nineteenth Century Studies, among other publications. In 2021, he and members of his class published a critical edition of the 1795 poem Bath: An Adumbration in Rhyme, aimed at readers of Jane Austen.

His current project with students is a critical edition of The Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque. He and his students will present in Session A1.

There will be five breakout sessions at the 2024 AGM. During registration, attendees may choose one speaker from each of the five sessions, A through E. Times shown are subject to change in the final schedule.

BREAKOUT SESSION A, FRIDAY, Oct. 18, 11:20AM

A1. Dr. Ben Wiebracht and Students, Northern California Region

Doctor Syntax and the Mass Market: What the Regency's Forgotten Bestseller Shows Us About Austen's Original Readers

Waverley, Coelebs, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage—these are some of the recognized bestsellers of the Regency. But we need to make room for another: William Combe’s Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque, which sprinted through eight large editions in the 1810s and spawned numerous spinoffs and sequels. Illustrated by Thomas Rowlandson, it is the tale of an impoverished curate who embarks on a picturesque tour of England, seeking fame and fortune as a travel writer. Doctor Syntax’s success grants us new insight into Austen’s reading public, and, indeed, her own attempts to reach a mass audience.

Ben Wiebracht earned his Ph.D. in English from Stanford in 2015 and currently teaches at the university’s Online High School. His doctoral research focused on the evolution of love stories in English literature from the Renaissance to the 19th century. More recently, he has been exploring (and, in some cases, republishing) the work of some of the lesser-known contemporaries of his favorite novelist, Jane Austen, with the goal of gaining new insight into her life and career.

A2. Maria Clara Biajoli, Federal University of Alfenas, Brazil

Dr. Jenny Rebecca Rytting, Northwest Missouri State University

Where in the World is Austen Annotated?

This session will examine selected editions of Austen’s novels translated into different languages, focusing on footnotes, editor’s notes, and translator’s notes added to the text in order to explain to readers elements of the story that are not immediately clear to them. The need for annotation is an interesting record of cultural differences, originating from the passing of time and geographical variation—in other words, one might need Austen explained when one comes from a different country from hers, and/or a different historical period (as we all do). Because the external information included in a book has a significant weight in readers’ reception of that work and author, these annotations frame the reading experience and ultimately influence Austen’s global image.

Maria Clara Biajoli is Professor of English at Federal University of Alfenas, Brazil, where she teaches Jane Austen and other writers of the 18th and 19th centuries. She became a member of JASNA in 2014 and is now part of the Virtual Region. She presented papers at four prior JASNA AGMs and has published papers about Austen in Persuasions and other academic journals.

Jenny Rebecca Rytting is a Professor of English at Northwest Missouri State University and a life member of JASNA (Metropolitan Kansas City Region). She has published translations of a Danish hymn and a Middle English poem as well as articles in Persuasions and Persuasions On-Line, and has presented at the Williamsburg, Victoria, and Denver AGMs and for the Kansas City, Iowa, and Nebraska Regions.

A3. Dr. Juliet McMaster, University of Alberta

Nuggets of Knowledge: The Exacting Art of Annotation

“Oh, I would not tell you what is behind the black veil for the world! Are you not wild to know?” Isabella Thorpe tantalizes Catherine Morland. Do we readers need to trail through The Mysteries of Udolpho to find out? No! The annotator can do that work for us. As Jane Austen’s world recedes from us in time, items familiar to her, such as powder, pomatum, pelisses, and phaetons, and references to “Cecilia, Camilla, or Belinda” often call for explanation. The skilled and tactful annotator can bring these nuggets of knowledge to light.

Juliet McMaster of the University of Alberta is a founding member of JASNA and a frequent speaker at AGMs. She is the co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen and author of books on Thackeray, Trollope, and Dickens, and of Jane Austen on Love and Jane Austen, Young Author. Most recently, she has published a biography of the Victorian painter, James Clarke Hook.

A4. Sheila Kindred, Nova Scotia Region

“With Ships and Sailors She Felt Herself at Home:” How Austen’s Siblings—Francis, Charles, Fanny, and Henry—Stoked Her Naval Knowledge and Fired Her Creative Imagination

What might a family network of four very different siblings—Francis, Charles, Charles’s wife Fanny, and Henry—provide to Jane Austen to feed her interest in the British navy? We will tell you, through instances and visual images, about the wide range of insider information they could offer her from their diverse naval experiences. We will also show how Austen’s awareness of the multi-faceted naval world adds to our appreciation of her sophisticated understanding of the navy, and her ingenuity in employing it in the creation of themes and characters in Mansfield Park and Persuasion.

Sheila Johnson Kindred and Hugh Kindred taught philosophy and law, respectively, at universities in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. For the last 20 years, they have pursued their fascination with Jane Austen’s fiction and family by researching, writing, and speaking at several AGMs and regional meetings. Sheila was a JASNA Travelling Lecturer in 2022-23 and is the author of the book, Jane Austen’s Transatlantic Sister: The Life and Letters of Fanny Palmer Austen.

A5. Melissa Anderson, Southern Oregon University

Jane Austen and France: Everyday Life in Times of War and Revolution

Jane Austen’s family was deeply affected by the events of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, and yet France is largely absent from her work. This talk examines the ways that France does show up in her writings and investigates how everyday life in Regency England would have been shaped by the wars. Using concepts drawn from the work of Michel de Certeau, it explores how Austen’s focus on the domestic sphere may have been an intentional choice to validate the lives of women, who were profoundly affected by the wars and yet whose voices were absent from political discourse.

Melissa Anderson has a doctorate in comparative literature and a master’s degree in library and information science. She is currently Associate Professor in Hannon Library at Southern Oregon University. She presented a breakout session on information literacy in Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility at the 2022 AGM. Her research interests and publications include topics such as 19th-century literature, information history, history of science, information literacy instruction, and, of course, Austen.

A6. Brenda Cox, Georgia Region

Jane Austen and the Evangelicals of the Church of England

The Church of England significantly influenced Jane Austen’s life and novels. During her lifetime, the Evangelical movement within that church spearheaded key breakthroughs in the church and in English society, ranging from education for the poor to the abolition of the slave trade. The Evangelicals’ campaigns also gave women increased opportunities to help transform society. In Austen’s letters, she comments negatively about the Evangelicals in 1809, but very positively in 1814. Who were these people, what did Austen think of them, and how did they influence her novels, especially Mansfield Park?

Brenda S. Cox is the author of Fashionable Goodness: Christianity in Jane Austen’s England (2022), which explores many aspects of the church in Austen’s writings and world. She has presented on Austen and the church at three previous AGMs, to JASNA regional groups, and to Jane Austen groups abroad. You can find her articles in Jane Austen’s Regency World and online at Persuasions On-Line; Jane Austen’s World; and Faith, Science, Joy, and Jane Austen.

BREAKOUT SESSION B, FRIDAY, Oct. 18, 3:00PM

B1. Dr. Christine Kenyon Jones, Virtual Region

Jane Austen and Lord Byron: Literature, Politics, and Culture

Building on her book, Jane Austen and Lord Byron: Regency Relations, Dr. Kenyon Jones considers these authors side-by-side. He was a famous celebrity, while she was a country parson’s daughter writing anonymously. He was educated at Harrow and Cambridge, while she was almost entirely home-schooled. He participated directly in national and international politics as a member of the House of Lords, whereas she lacked even the right to vote. This talk explores these major differences, but also considers how Austen’s and Byron’s lives, interests, work, and sense of humor often brought them within touching distance in Regency England.

Dr. Christine Kenyon Jones is a Research Fellow at King’s College London, UK, focusing on the Romantic and Regency period. Her books include Jane Austen and Lord Byron: Regency Relations (2024) and Dangerous to Show: Lord Byron and His Portraits (2020), and she has authored articles in Persuasions and Persuasions On-line.

B2. Dr. Lesley Peterson, Winnipeg Region

“That little insignificant fellow, Tom Thumb”: Henry Fielding’s Early Burlesque and the Origins of Jane Austen’s Style

In March 1788, soon after Jane Austen started writing her juvenilia, the Austen family staged Henry Fielding’s early play Tom Thumb: A Tragedy—not tragedy at all but farce, featuring a comically small, giant-slaying hero (a role first performed at the Haymarket by a girl). Fielding uses unlikely heroes, absurd logic, and exploded clichés to mock heroic tragedy, strategies familiar to readers of Austen’s early send-ups of the sentimental novel. This session will engage participants in an exploration and comparison of Fielding’s and Austen’s burlesque style, while also celebrating Austen’s break from Fielding in her respect for creative female energy.

Lesley Peterson is a retired Professor of English at the University of North Alabama, having taught classes in Shakespeare and Jane Austen. Currently, she is Editor of the Journal of Juvenilia Studies. She presented at the 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 AGMs, and served as a 2023-24 JASNA Traveling Lecturer. She has published on Jane Austen in Persuasions and elsewhere and is writing a book on Jane Austen’s writings and the Austen family theatricals.

B3. Breckyn Wood, Georgia Region

Good Tenses Make Good Neighbors: Or, How Grammar and Linguistics Shaped Austen’s Moral Worldview

There was a growing sense in the 18th century among language experts such as Samuel Johnson and Hugh Blair that good grammar equaled good breeding and even good morals. Austen clearly agreed with this sentiment in part: her most ignorant, tasteless characters are also those who commit the greatest solecisms. But what about her refined characters who, like Lady Susan, use their “happy command of language . . . to make black appear white”? In this session we will explore the ideas of 18th-century linguists and their influences on Austen’s development as a writer and her creation of morally complex characters.

Breckyn Wood is a freelance writer and editor as well as an independent researcher. She has authored several children’s books, and her article on Austen, Adam Smith, and morality appeared in JASNA’s Persuasions in 2023. As the founder and host of Austen Chat, JASNA’s monthly podcast, Breckyn enjoys interviewing scholars and other experts about Austen and the Georgian Era.

B4. Dr. Kathleen Whitley, Denver/Boulder Region

The Pursuit of Health: Medical Progress in the Age of Austen

During the late 18th century, surviving to adulthood was a true accomplishment. Infectious diseases were rampant, and few effective medical treatments were available for any ailments. Jane Austen lived when physicians were just beginning to understand how the human body worked, what diseases were, and what treatments would help (and not kill) patients. This presentation will discuss common illnesses of the time, some contemporary medical treatments, and home remedies available in the Austen household. We will also examine how new medical discoveries improved the health of Jane Austen’s family, friends, and Great Britain in general.

Kathleen Whitley is a retired psychiatrist with a long-standing interest in the history of medicine and public health. She is a member of the Denver/Boulder Region of JASNA.

B5. James Nagle, Puget Sound Region

Jane Austen’s Novels Would Not Exist Without 125 Years of Political, Social and Legal Developments

We know Austen’s novels not only because of her talent but also her timing! The same novels 100 years earlier might not have been published. Four developments coalesced to create fertile ground for Austen’s work. First, the public had the money to buy books. Through wars and opportunism, England ruled the waves and trade boomed. Second, a newly literate public thirsted for reading material. Third, the publishing industry exploded beyond Bibles and almanacs. Finally, women authors proved the profitability of romance and gothic genres, which they pioneered. This session shall explore these developments.

Jim Nagle, a member of the Puget Sound Region, is a life member of JASNA and its former secretary. A semiretired lawyer, Jim loves researching and discussing the Regency. An entertaining and engaging speaker, he has presented at numerous AGMs on such Regency-related topics as inheritance law, land transportation, George III, elections, the army, prize money, burial and other death rituals, and ending the Regency marriage. He has also served as a JASNA Traveling Lecturer.

B6. Kristen Miller Zohn, Georgia Region

“Exposed to the Public Eye”: Austen’s Viewing of Professional Female Visual Artists in 1813

In 1813, Jane Austen visited three art exhibitions and was disappointed not to find a portrait of Elizabeth Darcy, writing, “I can only imagine that Mr. D. prizes any picture of her too much to like it should be exposed to the public eye.” At the Society of Painters in Oil and Water Colours and Royal Academy exhibitions, Austen had the opportunity to view paintings and sculptures by more than 40 women artists who were exposing their works to the public eye. This slide lecture will explore the chosen subject matter, training methods, and professional activities of these female artists.

Art historian Kristen Miller Zohn is the Executive Director of the Costume Society of America and Curator for the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art. She is a frequent AGM presenter and contributor to Persuasions and Persuasions On-Line. Kristen is a Life Member, has served as the Regional Coordinator for the Georgia Region and as a member of the national JASNA board, and was the co-coordinator with Jennifer Swenson for the 2021 AGM in Chicago.

BREAKOUT SESSION C, FRIDAY, Oct. 18, 4:05PM

C1. Lona Manning, Vancouver Region

“To Meet in a Charitable Scheme”: The Sentimental Novel and Unsentimental Charity

This lively talk will open with a short quiz about mentions of charity in Austen’s novels, followed by an examination of the “charitable visit” scene in Emma. Emma believes Mr. Elton will fall in love with Harriet Smith because this is what happens in many novels of the period. We’ll hear some typical examples, and we’ll see that Austen avoided the cliché of the day. This talk will include a brief overview of the parish system and the charitable organizations that sought to improve the condition of the poor in Austen’s time.

Lona Manning is completing her master’s (by Research) through the University of York, focusing on Austen and the sentimental novel. She is the author of the Mansfield Trilogy and Shelley and the Unknown Lady, a novella about the poet and Mary Crawford. Her articles have appeared in Persuasions and Jane Austen’s Regency World.

C2. Dr. Zan Cammack, Utah Valley University

Diane Neu, Puget Sound Region

Of Hamlet and Heartbreak: Suggestions of Shakespeare in Sense and Sensibility

In Sense and Sensibility, Shakespeare’s influence emerges as a notable undercurrent specifically connected to Marianne’s relationship with Willoughby: both in the problematic gift of the horse, Queen Mab, and in the unfinished volume of Hamlet brought up by Mrs. Dashwood after Willoughby has gone away. From Hamlet-esque gaslighting to Ophelia-like heartbreak, we will explore how Austen set up these allusions to provide her readers with additional subtext and to foreground the ill-fated dynamics between Marianne and Willoughby. Expect a lively discussion where we’ll connect the dots between Austen’s characters and Shakespeare’s drama.

Dr. Zan Cammack is a lecturer at Utah Valley University, specializing in public humanities, material culture, and new media. She is a producer and co-host of The Thing About Austen podcast. She has presented at regional JASNA and AGM events and published on Austen in Nineteenth-Century Studies. Additional scholarship includes publications in journals such as Theatre Topics and the Journal of Modern Literature, and her monograph, Ireland’s Gramophones.

Diane Neu is a producer and co-host of The Thing About Austen, a podcast about Jane Austen’s world. She is a life member of JASNA and has previously served as a panel member for an AGM special session on “Talking Jane.”

C3. Dr. Roger E. Moore, Vanderbilt University

Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing: Jane Austen’s Clergymen and their Literary Ancestors

Jane Austen’s clergymen have a distinguished literary genealogy. While Mr. Collins, Dr. Grant, Mr. Elton, and the others are deeply original characters, they are also stock figures in a venerable tradition of ecclesiastical satire with roots in late-medieval and Reformation-era England. Look at Austen anew as we set her flawed clergymen beside Chaucer’s Friar, Milton’s gluttonous prelates, and a host of wool-clad wolves from bawdy anti-Catholic satires of the sixteenth century. Laugh with us as we make surprising connections between Austen and some of the most entertaining clerics of English literature.

Roger E. Moore is Senior Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Science at Vanderbilt University. A specialist in Renaissance and eighteenth-century literature, he is the author of Jane Austen and the Reformation: Remembering the Sacred Landscape (2016) and numerous essays on Austen. He was a plenary speaker at the 2019 AGM and served as JASNA Traveling Lecturer in 2021-22.

C4. Dr. Caitlin Kelly, Georgia Institute of Technology

Guidebooks, Itineraries, and Ways of Seeing: Scripting Tourism in Northanger Abbey

During the time when Austen was writing, tourism was emerging as an experience distinct from travel, and this session will explore how that difference can be seen in Northanger Abbey. While tourist sites like spa towns, great houses, and scenic vistas all make appearances, we can also see Austen making use of forms and genres central to the tourist industry, such as guidebooks and itineraries. By examining those guidebooks and the way of seeing and experiencing the world that they promoted, we will discover how tourism dictated the ways that Austen’s characters navigate English society.

Caitlin Kelly teaches in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at the Georgia Institute of Technology. For over a decade, she has taught Austen’s works at the college level, and she has presented on her strategies for introducing Austen to first-year students and STEM majors at national academic conferences. Though Caitlin was a breakout speaker at the 2020 AGM, this is her first in-person AGM experience.

C5. Dr. Alice Villaseñor, SUNY Buffalo State University

Political Satire - Austen Style

This session will focus on “Austen style” political satire in two contexts. First, the session will highlight examples of the author’s satirical allusions to local Hampshire political campaigns. In consideration of the conference location’s proximity to the Garfield National Historic Site, the session will also discuss President Garfield’s use of Austen’s satire to describe a book about a political figure of his own time.

Dr. Alice Villaseñor is the Associate Director of Civic and Community Engagement at SUNY Buffalo State University. She has published on Jane Austen and has a forthcoming book chapter about teaching Elizabeth Gaskell. A lifetime JASNA member, she has served JASNA as the 2006 International Visitor, member of the IVP Committee, board member of JASNA and JASNA-SW, and current member of the JASNA EDI Committee. This will be her ninth AGM presentation.

C6. Emma Marie Duke, Maria Barzilay Freund, Elizabeth Klaimon, and Lindsey Surratt

Austen Annotations II: “two inches of ivory”

Four speakers will present miniature presentations on aspects of writing and books in Austen’s era. They will use the PechaKucha format, in which each will show 20 slides with 20 seconds of commentary for each slide. A question-and-answer session will follow. Mini-lectures include:

BREAKOUT SESSION D, SATURDAY, Oct. 19, 10:40AM

D1. Dr. Sarah Emsley, Nova Scotia Region

“She placed her bonnet on his head & ran away”: Stealing Sources and Avoiding Consequences in Jane Austen’s Fiction

We tend to speak of Jane Austen “drawing on,” not “stealing” sources. Yet like all writers, she took names, places, incidents, and aspects of character from the world around her to use in her work. Like “The Beautifull Cassandra,” she takes what she wants. But she transforms it: by the end of the story, what she leaves behind is no longer the same bonnet. This session will examine perspectives on writers and sources from Margaret Drabble, T.S. Eliot, Alice Munro, and others, along with passages from Austen’s writing, to explore questions about the creative process and the ethics of fiction.

Sarah Emsley is the author of Jane Austen’s Philosophy of the Virtues and the editor of Jane Austen and the North Atlantic. She has served as a JASNA Board Member and Traveling Lecturer and has presented at 11 AGMs and several regional meetings. She lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and is currently working on a novel.

D2. Deborah Barnum, South Carolina Region

Jane Austen, Book Owner

In light of recent scholarship on female book ownership, this session will visually explore the titles owned and inscribed by Jane Austen. Her extensive reading, her access to her father’s and brother Edward’s collections and the local circulating libraries, are well documented—but what of the books she took pride in actually owning: How did she get them? What were they about? Where are they now? How may Austen have mined these works for her own writings? The variety is illuminating, showing the extent of her interests and knowledge of the literature and history of her world.

Deborah Barnum is the owner of Bygone Books. She co-founded the JASNA-Vermont Region and writes the “Jane Austen in Vermont” blog and the JASNA-South Carolina website. She compiled the “Jane Austen Bibliography” for Persuasions On-Line and now writes the Burney Journal’s “Year in Burney Studies.” Barnum has given AGM and regional talks on collecting/illustrating Austen and other women writers. She serves on the board of North American Friends of Chawton House and works on locating books for the “Reading with Austen” project.

D3. Dr. Barbara Laughlin Adler, Eastern Michigan Region

Jane Austen and the Reading Revolution

During Jane Austen’s lifetime, a revolution took place in the practice of reading. Between the 16th and 19th centuries, reading slowly transitioned from a spoken, social activity, to a silent and solitary one. Jane Austen lived and wrote during that transition. At the same time, a shift occurred in the reading audience, from predominantly male to increasingly female. With literacy on the rise among women, many critics feared a growing shift in gendered social roles; all kinds of evils would result, they warned, if women gained knowledge and learned to think and speak for themselves!

Barbara Laughlin Adler is Professor Emerita at Concordia University in Ann Arbor, where she taught media history, literature, and oral interpretation of scripture for 35 years. Barbara has published in several professional journals and has lectured on Austen-related topics at regional meetings and local libraries. Until recently, she served as Regional Coordinator for the JASNA-Michigan Region. She spoke at Toronto’s 2002 AGM, and her breakout paper, “A Disagreement Between Us,” appeared in Persuasions #24.

D4. Dr. Toby R. Benis, St. Louis University

“I ask only for a comfortable home”: Pro Tips for Managing the Georgian Household

Feminist scholars have long pointed out how the labor of domestic housekeeping is largely unacknowledged and performed mainly by women. We will survey the day-to-day tasks expected of genteel female housekeepers in Austen’s time and will discuss the far-reaching effects of a woman administrator’s organization of interior spaces and time in the home. What were the value and costs assigned to housekeeping routines? We can glean insights from the rich history of women’s writing on this subject, including eighteenth-century housekeeping guides; excerpts from Austen’s letters and Martha Lloyd’s household book; and passages from Pride and Prejudice and Emma.

Toby Benis is a professor of English and gender studies at Saint Louis University in Missouri. She is completing a book on the idea and practice of the neighborhood and neighborliness in Austen’s fiction. She has published articles about Austen in Persuasions, Studies in Romanticism, and The 18th Century: Theory and Interpretation. She presented at the 2021 JASNA AGM in Chicago on the topic of Francis Austen’s naval drawings.

D5. Collins Hemingway, Southern Oregon Region

Riots & Insurrections: Social and Political Unrest in Austen’s Time

This session explores the social, political, and religious upheavals of the Regency era and their causes, including constant agitation by citizens for political representation, protests over industrial automation that forced down wages, and frustrations over high-level corruption and other abuses by the ruling class. The wealthy drove the government to repress the voices of citizens, who pushed back both peacefully and violently. Efforts to overthrow the government were met with political trials and executions, and two famous poets narrowly avoided arrest for sedition. The talk shows how Austen refers to major issues in a way that avoids risks for herself.

Collins Hemingway is the author of Jane Austen and the Creation of Modern Fiction: Six Novels in “a Style Entirely New,” which describes Austen’s development as a writer. The book is forthcoming from McFarland and Company. He has also written literary fiction based on Austen’s life and is a regular speaker at JASNA AGMs. He has written five other books on a variety of subjects including business, technology, ethics, and cognitive psychology.

BREAKOUT SESSION E, SATURDAY, Oct. 19, 2:50PM

E1. Linda Zionkowski, Central and Western Ohio Region

Austen and the Comedy of Complaint

While Austen’s novels censure characters who are truly insensible to the pains, misfortunes, and feelings of others, those disturbed by a poorly-cooked meal or a drafty window fall into her group of whiners. This well-populated category of individuals is distinctive to Austen’s fiction, but not unique among critiques of sensibility in her time: James Beresford’s wildly popular treatise, The Miseries of Human Life (1806), portrays the art of whining in all its varieties. We will explore how Beresford’s focus on complainers offered a model for a wholly original source of comedy—one that Austen incorporated to perfection in her work.

Linda Zionkowski is Samuel and Susan Crowl Professor of Literature at Ohio University, where she teaches 18th-century studies. She has presented at several AGMs as well as Central and Western Ohio Region JASNA meetings. Her publications include Men’s Work: Gender, Class, and the Professionalization of Poetry, 1660-1784; Women and Gift Exchange in Eighteenth-Century Fiction: Richardson, Burney, Austen; and most recently, Women and Music in the Age of Austen (edited with Miriam Hart).

E2. Paul Savidge, Eastern Pennsylvania Region

The Curiosities of Jane Austen

This session will focus on one of the 20 books known to have been owned by Jane Austen: a first edition copy of the remarkable Curiosities of Literature, a compilation of short essays on all things literary, written by Isaac D’Israeli and published in 1791. We will discuss the history and enduring influence of Curiosities of Literature and its author, describe what we know of Austen’s ownership of the book, and identify where we can see traces of D’Israeli’s reflections in Austen’s writings. Austen’s own copy of Curiosities of Literature, with her beautiful signature and what are purported to be her markings, will be displayed at the session for inspection.

Paul Savidge is a life member of JASNA, a member of the JASNA Board of Directors, and a former Regional Coordinator of the Eastern Pennsylvania Region. A practicing attorney, Paul has a growing collection of rare books related to Austen and her times. At the Denver AGM, he gave a memorable performance as Darcy spraying water on himself in the production of Syrie James’s Austen in 48 Minutes.

E3. Dr. Rachel Gevlin, Virginia Commonwealth University

Married to a Rake; or, How to Lose a Guy in Ten Years

Jane Austen lived during a time when men controlled all the money and when marriage, as an institution, was binding for life. What, then, was a woman in an unhappy marriage to do? This session will consider the many attempts by women (both successful and otherwise) to extricate themselves from unhappy marriages, as well as the public responses to these endeavors. We’ll examine the legal documentation around these early cases brought by women and the social commentary around the cases at the time, with an eye toward both the broader public response as well as, of course, what we might surmise of Austen’s own response.

Rachel Gevlin is Term Assistant Professor of English at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she teaches courses on 18th-century literature, literary theory, and women writers. Her book project explores representations of marital disunion in the 18th-century novel, and her writing on Austen has appeared or is forthcoming in English Literary History and Persuasions. She has presented twice for the Washington, DC, Region of JASNA and was a breakout speaker at the Denver AGM in 2023.

E4. Julienne Gehrer, Metropolitan Kansas City Region

A Visit to the Pastrycook: Inspiration for “The Beautifull Cassandra” and Beyond

A family visit to London may have inspired the outrageous scene between Austen’s cheeky heroine and the pastrycook she cheated and abused. Jane’s fascination with the pastry shop is evident in references sprinkled through her work. Explore the world of the Georgian pastrycook and see sweetmeats, biscuits, Bath buns, and other delights recreated from Austen family cookbooks. Discover how the pros would have prepared the “six ices” Cassandra devoured. Learn principles of icehouse construction and view images of a London ice chamber and the Godmersham icehouse. Understand confectionery shops not only as a trade but as a gathering place for various levels of society.

Julienne Gehrer is an author, journalist, and food historian who has presented at AGMs, regional events, and at Jane Austen’s House. She co-presented with chefs for “A Jane Austen Literary Dinner” and “A Cheese Tour of Jane Austen’s England.” Her articles have appeared in Persuasions, Texas Studies in Literature and Language, and LitHub. Recent books include Dining with Jane Austen and Martha Lloyd’s Household Book: The Original Manuscript from Jane Austen’s Kitchen, Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.

E5. Kate Jorgensen, Central and Western New York Region

Cover/Uncovered: Textiles and the Regency Era through the Lens of the Shawl

While Austen's work does not focus on technological change, her world was transforming through the rapid increase of industry, including textile production, expanding international trade, the spread of the British Empire, and the resulting cultural impacts of Imperialism. Austen’s letters and novels subtly weave in these shifts, including references to textiles such as muslin, nankeen, chintz, and shawls. This session will examine, through the lens of the shawl, these many changes during the Regency era, providing background to enhance understanding of how these changes shaped Austen's life and work.

Kate Jorgensen, MBA, MLIS, CAPM, CPSO, is a life-long learner, reader, and textile and hand arts enthusiast with an interest in history and how it links to who we are today. As a member of the Central and Western NY Region, she has presented on textiles, shawls, and the Regency era.