Northern California Region: Doctor Syntax (HYBRID)

The Forgotten Tale of Doctor Syntax

Join the Northern California Region for a hybrid event on "The Forgotten Tale of Doctor Syntax, the Regency's Most Popular Fictional Character." Ben Wiebracht and three of his students—Rathan Muruganantham, Madeline Ayer, and Mayuko Karakawa—were JASNA's 2024 New Voices speakers at the Cleveland Annual General Meeting. They will share key insights from their semester-long project on The Tour of Doctor Syntax: In Search of the Picturesque. Their work culminated in a new critical edition of the poem. 

Topics for the talk will include:

• The colorful life of William Combe, the author of Doctor Syntax, who wrote the poem from debtor's prison.
• The picturesque, both in Doctor Syntax and in Austen's work.
• Thomas Rowlandson's celebrated Doctor Syntax aquatints, which were published alongside the poem.

Weibracht will bring some rare early editions of the poem as well as several standalone original aquatints for attendees to examine and enjoy. 

After Q&A and a break, during which light refreshments will be served, Weibracht will preview his next student-teacher collaboration—a critical edition of the poem The Wrongs of Africa (1787), by the often-overlooked abolitionist William Roscoe. After a brief overview of Roscoe’s life and career, as well as the state of the abolitionist movement in the late 1780s, attendees will be invited to join in a reading and open discussion of several passages from the poem–including one that Jane Austen herself is known to have read.

The first part of the talk will be live-streamed via Zoom.

Register now for this free event!