Breakout Speakers
Session A: Friday, September 27, 3:30 – 4:20 PM
A1 Sheryl Bonar Craig
Mr. Darcy Improves on Acquaintance
Published in Persuasions 35 (2013).
“Pride and Prejudice and Poor Laws”
Persuasions 35 (2013): 64-74.
What Jane Austen’s first readers did not need to be told was that a man named Fitzwilliam Darcy had to be a moderate Whig, one who supported Tory Prime Minister William Pitt’s tax and Poor Law reform proposals, and that Darcy’s home county, Derbyshire, paid high wages, provided generous welfare benefits, and funded the best system of poor houses in England. Thus, Darcy, and moderate Whigs like him, were worthy of both Elizabeth Bennet’s and the reader’s esteem and served as role models to be emulated throughout Georgian Britain and, as it turns out, throughout time.
Sheryl Bonar Craig, PhD, a frequent AGM speaker, teaches English at the University of Central Missouri. She is a JASNA Life Member, a member of the JASNA-Metropolitan Kansas City Region, and the Editor of JASNA News. In 2008, she was the International Visitor to Chawton and has also served as a JASNA Traveling Lecturer. Sheryl has written numerous articles for Persuasions and other scholarly publications.
A2 Victoria Hinshaw
A Visit with Mr. Darcy to Pemberley
Jane Austen created her Pride and Prejudice hero as the timeless ideal of the perfect man, complete with a great fortune, admirable appearance, impeccable integrity, and just enough (excusable) flaws to make him human. As one of the 200 richest men in England and the recipient of heartfelt praise from his housekeeper, Darcy fulfills many responsibilities to his estate, his splendid home and its collections, and to all his dependents: servants, tenants, and neighbors – every inch the timeless CEO.
Victoria Hinshaw holds an M.S. from The American University, Washington, D. C. She is the author of twelve historical novels and novellas, and has served on the faculties of Alverno College and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, as well as on the staff of the Milwaukee Art Museum. A Life Member of JASNA, she has spoken at several AGMs and to numerous regional groups.
A3 Sarah Horowitz
Picturing the Plot:
Illustrations and the Reader Experience of Pride and Prejudice
This talk will explore the influence of illustrations on reader experience by examining editions of Pride and Prejudice illustrated by Hugh Thomson (1894) and C.E. Brock (1895). By looking at the interaction of image and text, we can gain insight into how the addition of illustrations changes Pride and Prejudice, how the illustrations and the text work together to create meaning and how reading an illustrated edition influences the reader’s interpretation of the novel and its themes.
Sarah Horowitz has been a special collections librarian at Augustana College since 2007. She enjoys connecting students with unique primary documents and talking about the book as object, i.e. what can be learned from a document beyond the words on the page. She has a Master’s Degree in Library Science, with a specialization in rare books, from Indiana University. Her research interests include illustrated books, Jane Austen, and teaching with special collections materials.
A4 Maureen Kelly
“Ring the Bell for Hill”: Servants in Pride and Prejudice
Servants were vital to the comfort and daily lives of leading characters at Longbourn, Netherfield, Rosings, Hunsford and Pemberley. This talk explores what we know from Pride and Prejudice—and can deduce from Jane Austen’s other writings and from contemporary servant memoirs and recent research—about the numbers, conditions, duties and lives of the servants.
Maureen Kelly is retired from Edinburgh Napier University. She has lectured on information management and continuing professional development, and her principal interests are Jane Austen, music, church activities and genealogy. She has given many talks to different branches of the Jane Austen Society and recently was a speaker for JASNA at the 2011 AGM.
A5 Deborah Knuth Klenck
Performing to Strangers: Being, Seeming, and Courting in Pride and Prejudice
Published in Persuasions 35 (2013).
“Raptures and Rationality: Fifty Years of Reading Pride and Prejudice”
Persuasions 35 (2013): 13-22.
The world of Pride and Prejudice seems to be governed by the artifice of courtship, with almost everyone on the marriage market playing roles for imagined social success. Two exceptions are Elizabeth Bennet, “a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart,” and Mr. Darcy: he, too, speaks truth, often too much so. Thinking about the novel this way explains the many blunders between these characters as well as the properness of their union in the end—a union of honest minds.
Deborah Knuth Klenck is a professor at Colgate University, receiving several awards for excellence in teaching. She has published numerous articles about Jane Austen, as well as Pope, Boswell, and Johnson in Persuasions, Persuasions On-Line and other scholarly journals and books. She has been a breakout speaker at many AGMs.
A6 Jennifer Potter
A Father’s Love: How Jane Austen’s Relationship with Her Father Shaped Her Life
and the Relationship between Elizabeth and Mr. Bennet
A large variety of father figures are described across Austen’s works. Mr. Elliot in Persuasion dismisses his daughter while Mr. Woodhouse depends more on Emma than she does on him. In Sense and Sensibility no father is present. Jane Austen understood the importance of the father/daughter dynamic and its impact on the daughter’s personality. This lecture examines Jane and Mr. Austen and how their relationship influenced that of Elizabeth and Mr. Bennet. In both cases, having supportive fathers allowed for Jane and Elizabeth to be confident in their lives and decisions.
Jennifer Potter has been a member of JASNA-Metropolitan New York since 2010, after discovering JASNA at the Brooklyn Book Fair. She is currently the co-coordinator of the region’s Juvenilia Group, which organizes events for younger members. She studied history as an undergraduate and procrastinated working on her senior thesis by re-reading Pride and Prejudice.
A7 Linda Troost & Sayre Greenfield
Pride and Prejudice in Its Own Time: Reading the Newspaper in 1813
Part of this session published in Persuasions 35 (2013).
“Measuring Austen’s Condescension”
Persuasions 35 (2013): 95-106.
Thanks to the digitization of the Burney Newspaper Collection, it is now fairly easy to study the actual daily papers and monthly magazines that Austen and her audience would have read. What conversations would have been taking place over the breakfast table when Pride and Prejudice burst onto the scene? What were the novel’s readers thinking about in the “real world”? How does this media context help us understand Austen’s novel?
Linda Troost is professor and Chair of English at Washington & Jefferson College in Pennsylvania.
She has published articles on topics ranging from British musical theater to Robin Hood.
Currently, she edits two journals: Eighteenth-Century Women, an annual for AMS Press, and
Topic: The Washington & Jefferson College Review.
Sayre Greenfield is a professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg.
He specializes in reception history and has published articles about Shakespeare, Spenser, and full-text databases.
He is the author of The Ends of Allegory (1998, University of Delaware Press) and is finishing a book on how the famous lines
in Hamlet became famous. Sayre and Linda have spoken at several AGMs.
Session B: Friday, September 27, 4:35 – 5:25 PM
B1 Deborah Barnum
“My Own Darling Child”: 200 Years of Publishing and Collecting Pride and Prejudice—Timeless Indeed
This talk shall take you on a descriptive and visual journey through the publication history of Pride and Prejudice. We’ll meet Mr. Austen, Mr. Egerton, Henry Austen, and Jane Austen, and then discuss book collecting, focusing on editions of Pride and Prejudice of visual and collectible interest, as well as various editors, publishers, illustrators, and more!
Deborah Barnum is a former law librarian. She is now the owner of Bygone Books, a closed shop of fine and collectible books located in Burlington, Vermont. She is the Regional Coordinator for the Vermont Region and blogs on “Jane Austen in Vermont.” Since 2009 she has compiled the “Jane Austen Bibliography” for Persuasions On-Line.
B2 Matthew Camp
“I liked a red coat myself very well—and indeed, so I do still at my heart”:
The Role of the Militia in Pride and Prejudice
The Militia in Jane Austen’s time was tasked with the oversight and protection of the population. Their presence was not only esteemed by the community, but the uniform they wore attracted many a young woman. This talk will place the Militia in the context of the time and explore the differences between the Militia and the Regulars. Questions to be considered: Why did Colonel Forster’s regiment come to Meryton? What was the effect on the local economy? Why join the Regiment? Was Darcy’s gift of a position for Wickham a form of punishment or in actuality a kindness?
Matthew Camp was born and educated in England and graduated from the Tonbridge School where Jane Austen’s father was a pupil and a Second Master in the mid-18th century. He earned a Master’s Degree in History from the University of York, actively engages in primary research on the Napoleonic period, and is a collector of British militaria. He is a JASNA member and has presented a number of talks on the military in the time of Jane Austen for the Minnesota Region.
B3 Diane Capitani & Holly Field
A New View of Mr. Collins or: “You Used HIM Abominably Ill”
In Pride and Prejudice, how do we learn about Mr. Collins’s character? Elizabeth Bennet and her father both seem to agree that he is “not a sensible man.” But who else adds their voice to this opinion, be it Lady Catherine, Mrs. Bennet, the Lucas family, Sir William, or Charlotte? Why is it, then, that avid readers and many critics have held such a poor view of poor Mr. Collins? Is Lizzie Bennet a reliable narrator where Mr. Collins is concerned? This presentation will explore the role and position of the clergy in relation to Mr. Collins and point out hints from our dear author that perhaps readers have neglected, that tell us we “have used him abominably ill.”
Diane Capitani earned her PhD in theological and historical studies from the Garrett Theological Seminary at Northwestern University, where she is the Director of the Writing Center and Affiliate Faculty in writing and theology. Diane holds four master’s degrees from Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, and the Garrett Theological Seminary at Northwestern University. She has been a two time nominee for the Distinguished Teaching Award. Currently, Diane is working on her latest book, Jane Austen, Augustinian, as well as a Jane Austen novel. She has published articles on Jane Austen, feminist theology, Christianity and literature, and Iris Murdoch in the U.S. and the U.K. She is currently the Traveling Lecturer for JASNA for the Central Region and has spoken at several AGMs.Holly Field has a degree in Speech Pathology and an M.A. in Audiology from the University of Illinois. Before going into private practice, she was in Clinical Research at the University of Illinois Medical School in the Department of Otolaryngology. Bringing a research background into the field of literature gives one an opportunity to evaluate information from a different perspective. So it is the combined approach of Diane’s expertise in theology and Holly’s scientific approach to question even established thinking that has led to what we feel is an alternative view of our favored Pride and Prejudice.
B4 Juliet McMaster
From Three Sisters to Five: Pride and Prejudice and the Juvenilia
Of all the six novels, Pride and Prejudice, with its vigorous and exuberant heroine who loves a laugh and its array of zany minor characters, is the most clearly informed with the zest and energy of Austen’s Juvenilia. Here we find the ebullient teenager still sparkling through the work of the mature novelist.
Juliet McMaster, Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at the University of Alberta, is the author of books on Thackeray, Trollope, Dickens, the eighteenth-century novel, and Jane Austen the Novelist. She is also the co-editor of Jane Austen’s Business and The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen, and editor-illustrator of Austen’s The Beautifull Cassandra. She founded the Juvenilia Press, which is now located in Sydney, Australia
B5 Jeffrey Nigro
Reading Portraits at Pemberley
One of the many famous moments in Pride and Prejudice occurs in Volume III, Chapter I: Elizabeth Bennet and her aunt and uncle Gardiner view the works of art on display at Pemberley, most notably the portraits of Darcy and Wickham. Among other things, this passage reveals aspects of Austen’s own knowledge of the art of portraiture in her time, its functions and goals. This illustrated talk will bring the discipline of art history to bear on the portrait viewing at Pemberley, to explore how Austen and her contemporaries looked at and thought about portraits, and how those views inflect Elizabeth’s (and the Gardiners’) viewing of them; how portraits were displayed in country houses and how those installations affected viewer’s perceptions of portraits; and how Austen’s verbal descriptions of the Pemberley portraits relate to the time-honored tradition of writing about the visual arts.
Jeffrey Nigro is an art historian, lecturer and educator. He has had a professional relationship with the Art Institute of Chicago for almost 25 years, first as a staff lecturer, then as Director of Adult Programs in the Department of Museum Education. Jeff is currently an Adjunct Lecturer at the Art Institute and an Instructor for Adult Education Seminars at the Newberry Library. He was the JASNA Traveling Lecturer for the Midwest in 2001, and he currently serves as Regional Coordinator for the Greater Chicago Region.
B6 Linda Slothouber
Bingley’s “Four or Five Thousand a Year,” and Other Fortunes Made in the North
Published in Persuasions 35 (2013).
“Bingley’s Four or Five Thousand, and Other Fortunes from the North”
Persuasions 35 (2013): 50-63
The “North of England,” where the Bingleys and their fortune originate, had a specific meaning in Austen’s era – as the cradle of the industrial revolution, it was where entrepreneurs made enormous fortunes and ascended the social ladder. This presentation will examine textual clues to the Bingleys’ background and describe the factories along the route of Elizabeth Bennet’s northern tour.
Linda Slothouber is regional co-coordinator of JASNA’s Washington, DC Metropolitan Region, a JASNA Board member and the co-coordinator for the 2016 AGM in Washington D.C. She has toured historic industrial sites in the north of England and spoken with former textile mill workers in towns where mill employment is a heritage reaching back to the early 19th century. She has contributed articles to various magazines about Jane Austen, Wedgwood, and industrial heritage, and spoke at the 2009 and 2011 JASNA AGMs.
B7 Kim Wilson
Entertaining Mr. Darcy:
How Mrs. Bennet Satisfied “the appetite and pride of one who had ten thousand a year”
We will explore what is involved in putting on a truly elegant Regency dinner and evening entertainment, one designed to impress a man such as Mr. Darcy. We will discuss how the Bennets fed and entertained the “large party assembled at Longbourn.” Handouts with sample menus, recipes, table settings, and games will be given out, so that breakout participants can recreate their own special Regency evening for their own Mr. Darcys.
Kim Wilson is the author of the popular Tea with Jane Austen and equally popular In the Garden with Jane Austen. Her continued studies of Austen’s work and lifestyle along with her Economics degree from the University of Washington-Seattle have contributed in making her a most distinguished expert in tea, gardening and food of the period. She continues in the position as editor of the Wire, the JASNA Wisconsin newsletter, is a Life Member of JASNA and has spoken at several AGMs.
Session C: Saturday, September 28, 10:45 – 11:35 AM
C1 Emily Auerbach Pride, Prejudice & Proliferation in Prequels, Sequels, Spin-Offs, Mash-Ups, and other Adaptations and Permutations of Pride and Prejudice
Dr. Auerbach will explore how Pride and Prejudice continues to capture the imagination of readers and has inspired the creation of numerous adaptations in variety of forms, from books to movies to illustrated comic books. Dr. Auerbach will discuss sequels and prequels that extend the lives of Austen’s characters, modern-day reimaginings, mashups with zombies and other creatures, and more.
Emily Auerbach is an award-winning English Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She serves as Project Director of the UW Odyssey Project, a free, life-changing college humanities course for low-income adults. In addition, Emily is co-host of University of the Air, a one-hour program broadcast statewide on Wisconsin Public Radio featuring interviews with faculty in a variety of disciplines. She is also the Project Director of the “Courage to Write” series of radio documentaries and written guides on women writers. She has written books on Jane Austen and is a popular speaker at many JASNA AGM’s and Regional events.
C2 Tim Bullamore
Wickham Wanderer: Was Lydia Bennet’s Lover Mad, Bad or Simply Misunderstood?
George Wickham is commonly seen as a lecherous cad who led innocent Lydia Bennet astray. In this humorous—not to say controversial—talk, Tim Bullamore argues that this is too simplistic an interpretation of events, and that the manipulative Lydia should bear at least some responsibility for her downfall.
Tim Bullamore, editor and publisher of Jane Austen’s Regency World magazine in Bath, England, bears no resemblance to the main topic of his talk: Mr. Wickham. But as a one-time Liberal politician, he likes to explore many different points of view. In his spare time he is a copy editor for the London Times, writes classical musicians’ obituaries for the Daily Telegraph, and raises a teenage daughter.
C3 Elvira Casal
Mothers and Other Strangers: Images of Motherhood in Pride and Prejudice
Is Elizabeth at all like Mrs. Bennet? Looking at the many different mother-figures in Pride and Prejudice—from Lady Lucas to Lady Catherine de Bourgh—this lively and provocative talk will explore how motherhood and maternal roles are constructed in the text with special attention to Elizabeth’s development as a heroine and “a woman worthy of being pleased.”
Elvira Casal is a Professor of English at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. She specializes in prose fiction, especially the 18th and 19th century female British novelists. Along with publishing on Jane Austen and George Meredith, she is an avid fan of Maria Edgeworth and other writers of the period. The JASNA Tennessee region recognizes her as a dedicated regional member and she is a Life Member of JASNA. Elvira is a frequent lecturer at AGMs.
C4 Susan Allen Ford & Stephen Lawrence
Mr. Collins Interrupted:
Reading Fordyce’s Sermons with Pride and Prejudice
With Steve Lawrence as the voice of Mr. Collins/Dr. James Fordyce, Susan Allen Ford will explore Fordyce’s definitions of ideal female conduct: the attractions and dangers of the witty woman, the definition of the accomplished woman, and the depiction of the virtuous marriage and family. The session will also propose an answer to questions that puzzle many readers: Which three pages of Fordyce’s Sermons might Mr. Collins have read? What do they cover? And what is “lost” by Lydia’s interruption?
Susan Allen Ford teaches at Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi, and is Editor of Persuasions
and Persuasions On-Line. Susan has been a breakout speaker at many AGMs and is known for her fondness for
Fordyce’s Sermons, Lovers’ Vows, and Mr. Collins.
Stephen Lawrence is Chief Executive Officer of Chawton House Library, a unique research and study center that
houses rare works written by women in English from 1600 to 1830. The center is housed in the Elizabethan
manor once owned by Austen’s brother, Edward, in Chawton, England.
C5 Julienne Gehrer
Did Jane Austen Prefer a Plain Dish to a Ragout?
Food references in Jane Austen’s novels and letters give us clues about the author’s dining experiences, but delving into two Austen family cookbooks serves up a more vivid picture of what was likely to be on Jane’s plate. How did dining at the great houses of Edward Austen Knight compare with meals taken at Chawton Cottage? Jane’s daily reality more closely resembled the lifestyle of the Bennets while visits to Godmersham portrayed the pleasures of Mr. Darcy and Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Colorful slides highlight these early works, showcase period food recreations, and illustrate the types of kitchens that originally produced these dishes.
Julienne Gehrer is a Life Member of JASNA and the Regional Coordinator for the Metropolitan Kansas City Region in Kansas. She is an Editorial Director for Hallmark Cards, Inc., where she has developed products for over thirty years. Julienne is the author of two books, In Season: Cooking Fresh From the Kansas City Farmers’ Market and Love Lore: Symbols, Legends and Recipes for Romance. She is also the creator of three board games including Pride and Prejudice—the Game.
C6 Lynda Hall
Charlotte Settles in the Back Parlor: Her “pleasantest preservative from want”
As a minor character in Pride and Prejudice, Charlotte Lucas is hidden behind the heroine’s vibrancy and her story is often overlooked. But Charlotte is important because she represents the pragmatic perspective necessary for many women of Jane Austen’s class and time. The “truth universally acknowledged” is not ironic to every woman. Through the story of Charlotte Lucas, Jane Austen reflects the sometimes difficult choices real women had to make to survive.
Lynda Hall is Assistant Professor of English at Chapman University in Orange, California. Her research primarily focuses on nineteenth-century British literature, with a special interest in Jane Austen and the English Gothic novel. She has published papers in Nineteenth-Century Gender Studies and Persuasions. She is currently working on a book about Jane Austen and value (working title: Sense, Pride and the Market Economy: Tracing Value in Jane Austen’s Novels.)
C7 Noral Foster Stovel
“Will You Dance?”:
Film Adaptations of Pride and Prejudice
Dr. Stovel will show how adaptations of Pride and Prejudice interpret Austen’s novel through the lens of their own time and place. Her talk will focus on film clips of the Netherfield Ball as portrayed in the 1940 movie starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier, the 1979 BBC television adaptation starring Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul, the 1985 BBC television mini-series starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, and Joe Wright’s 2005 film starring Keira Knightly and Matthew Macfadyen, as well as the 2003 American Mormon film adaptation, Pride & Prejudice: A Latter-Day Comedy, and Bride and Prejudice, a Bollywood version by Gurinder Chadha, starring Aishwarya Rai.
Nora Foster Stovel, PhD, is Professor of English and Film Studies at the University of Alberta. She has published on Jane Austen, D.H. Lawrence, Margaret Drabble, Carol Shields, and Margaret Laurence, including Divining Margaret Laurence: A Study of Her Complete Writings (2008). She is currently composing “Sparkling Subversion”: Carol Shields’s Vision and Voice and is planning Women with Wings: The Romantic Ballerina. She edited Jane Austen Sings the Blues, a miscellany in honour of Bruce Stovel (2009) and Jane Austen and Company, essays by Bruce Stovel (2011). She always enjoys speaking to Janeites about Austen and has thoroughly enjoyed addressing eight JASNA AGMs and the San Francisco and Sacramento chapters as JASNA’s Western Traveling Lecturer for 2011.
Session D: Saturday, September 28, 2:15 – 3:05 PM
D1 Elaine Bander From Cecilia to Pride and Prejudice: What becomes of the moral?”
Pride and Prejudice, a novel about rereading and revision, has been called a revision of Frances Burney’s 1782 novel, Cecilia, and Austen’s title echoes the phrase “PRIDE and PREJUDICE” repeated in Burney’s final chapter. A generation after the publication of Cecilia, however, Austen imagined a different kind of heroine, hero, plot, and, most significantly, a different kind of “moral.”
Elaine Bander, retired Professor at Dawson College, has spoken at many AGMs and as a JASNA Traveling Lecturer. She has served on the JASNA Board of Directors, is the Regional Coordinator for Montréal, and is a member of the Persuasions editorial board. In addition, Elaine is currently coordinating the 2014 AGM, which will celebrate 200 years of Mansfield Park.
D2 Carrie Bebris
The Mysterious Mr. and Mrs. Darcy
What happens when a mystery writer puts one of the world’s most famous novels under the magnifying glass? Carrie Bebris, author of the Mr. & Mrs. Darcy Mystery series, offers a unique opportunity to see Pride and Prejudice as Austen herself did—through a novelist’s perspective.
Carrie Bebris is the author of the award-winning Mr. & Mrs. Darcy Mysteries. She holds a Master’s Degree in English Literature from Marquette University and studied Austen on the graduate level with Dr. Claudia Johnson. She has served JASNA in numerous capacities, including being a member of two AGM Steering Committees (1995, 2005). She currently serves as a member of JASNA’s Nominating Committee and is the Program Coordinator for JASNA-Dayton.
D3 Liz Philosophos Cooper & Molly Philosophos
The Bingley Sisters: Pursuits and Pastimes of Regency Life
The sister-in-law team will provide an overview of both city and country Regency life from their unique point of view. Nothing escapes their notice, including pleasurable pastimes, sophisticated shops, fetching fashions, high spirited holidays, and acceptable acquaintances. Their kindly meant comments will be accompanied by a wide variety of illustrations that bring the world of Pride and Prejudice to life.
Liz Philosophos Cooper may have developed her passion for Jane Austen from her mother, Joan Philosophos,
a dedicated and highly recognized JASNA member. Liz has continued in her mother’s footsteps and beyond;
she is a Life Member of JASNA, served a nine-year term as Wisconsin Regional Coordinator, and is JASNA’s
current Vice President for Regions.
She is also the co-editor of the calendar, “A Year with Jane Austen,” published by the JASNA-Wisconsin region,
and she contributes articles to Jane Austen Regency World magazine. She has spoken at previous AGMs and
is known to morph into Caroline Bingley for the Ball.
Molly Philosophos is a member of JASNA-Wisconsin and JASNA-Greater Chicago and is well-known for appearing
as one of the Bingley Sisters—who attend AGMs frequently. For Molly and Liz, Jane Austen and JASNA is a
family affair. Molly is dedicated to keeping families together and caring for the betterment of children
in her capacity as Director of Development at Hephzibah Children’s Association in Chicago.
She recently received her Master’s Degree in Nonprofit Administration.
D4 Sue Forgue
Where’s Wickham?
For 200 years, Mr. Darcy has sought out Wickham and Lydia in London. His one clue is to find his sister’s former governess Mrs. Younge, but who is Mrs. Younge and where is her new location on Edward Street? Using a combination of contemporaneous prints and panels from the 1813 Horwood’s Map of London, we’ll become Bow Street Runners and try to locate both Mrs. Younge and the elopers.
Sue Forgue is a Life Member of JASNA and has served as a board member of the Greater Chicago Region. As the creator and webmaster of the research website, The Regency Encyclopedia, she calls herself a dedicated armchair academic. She has contributed articles on the history of the time to the Greater Chicago region’s newsletter and JASNA News, as well as Jane Austen Knits magazine.
D5 Cheryl Kinney, Theresa Kenney & Joan Ray
What’s the Matter with Anne de Bourgh?
Jane Austen made use of bodily events to develop her characters, drive her plots, and cleverly illustrate the social and economic nuances of the domestic sphere in which her characters lived. This tripartite breakout session will examine the fictive illness of Anne de Bourgh as a literary device. We will examine imitation in parent-child relationships in the novel and illustrate Miss de Bourgh’s reactions to various characters; we’ll consider her as a psychologically oppressed child with a controlling, haughty mother and finally discuss the various illnesses that could have affected Anne de Bough and other young women in Regency England, how the illnesses where treated, and what we know about the illnesses today.
Cheryl Kinney has been on the Consumer’s Research Council as one of
“America’s Top Obstetricians and Gynecologist” yearly since 2002.
Along with being such a gifted doctor in today’s society, Dr. Kinney has fervently studied
illness and the practice of medicine in Regency England. She has lectured all over the United
States, Canada, and England on women’s health in Jane Austen’s novels and Regency England.
She is a sought after speaker for JASNA regions and AGMs as well as various other affiliations.
She recently co-coordinated the 2011 AGM, which celebrated 200 years of Sense and Sensibility
in Fort Worth.
Theresa Kenney received her PhD in English from Stanford and is currently an
Associate Professor of English at the University of Dallas. She has published numerous
articles about Jane Austen, as well as Charles Dickens, Shakespeare and the Metaphysical poets,
in Persuasions and other scholarly journals. Dr. Kenney has spoken at a number of
JASNA AGMs as well as for numerous other organizations.
Joan Klingel Ray, PhD, is Professor Emerita of English and President’s Teaching Scholar at the
University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. She is the author of the popular book,
Jane Austen for Dummies, as well as scholarly articles on Jane Austen, Samuel Johnson,
George Herbert and more. She recently edited the two-volume Dictionary of Literary
Biography of Jane Austen. Joan is a
coveted speaker for JASNA regions and AGMs, three-term past President of JASNA and,
since 2000, President of the North American Friends of Chawton House Library.
D6 Kristen Miller Zohn
“A Fine House Richly Furnished”:
A Look at Pemberley and Its Owner
This virtual tour of Pemberley illustrates the decorative styles and functions of rooms mentioned in Pride and Prejudice, as well as others that would have been on the tour. These images are discussed in relation to how the rooms and furnishings reveal Darcy’s true character and foreshadow his relationship with Elizabeth.
Kristen Miller Zohn is the Director of Collections and Exhibitions at the Columbus Museum in Georgia and is a Past-President of the Southeastern Museums conference. Her particular interests are portraiture and decorative arts of the 19th century, on which she is a frequent speaker. She has contributed to American Art in the Columbus Museum: Painting, Sculpture and Decorative Arts and the recently published The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, Vol. 20, Arts and Architecture.