A Day of Pride, Prejudice, and Politics

The theme of the Spring Meeting of JASNA-SW, the Southwest Region of the Jane Austen Society of North America, was "A Day of Pride, Prejudice, and Politics," and I had the good fortune of being on the program with a stellar group of speakers:

First, there was Dr. Charles Lynn Batten, the UCLA professor about whom I've been hearing for years. The conversation with my fellow Austen addicts usually goes like this:

"You mean you've never heard Lynn Batten speak?"

"No."

A disbelieving shake of the head and pitying look follows.

Well, now I have heard Dr. Batten speak, and he is not only exceedingly knowledgable and insightful about Jane Austen, he was also downright hilarious. Dr. Batten's talk was called "Jane Austen: Conservative or Liberal?" His verdict: Austen was most likely a moderate Tory.

My opinion? I see his point, which is far more well-researched than my own belief, which is, quite simply, that Jane Austen had exactly my politics and beliefs. Same favorite colors. Would have like the same movies, too. As Karen Joy Fowler put it in THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB, "each of us has a private Austen."

[Back row, from left, Dr. Charles Lynn Batten, Syrie James, Laurie Viera Rigler, Dr. Margaret Horwitz. Front: Colin Firth! Photo by Barbara Smith.]

Then there was Margaret Horwitz, JASNA's Traveling Lecturer, who gave an illuminating talk called “The Legacy of Her Voice: Ethics and Wit in Austen’s Novel Pride and Prejudice and Its Filmed Adaptations." Dr. Horwitz's talk made me want to go back and watch both the BBC mini and the 2005 movie (as if I need an excuse) to see all the symbolism in props and camera angles that Margaret pointed out in her lecture.

Syrie James,  author of the best-selling LOST MEMOIRS OF JANE AUSTEN, gave us a sneak preview of her upcoming SECRET DIARIES OF CHARLOTTE BRONTË. Can't wait to read it.

As for me, I gave the very first public reading of my upcoming novel, RUDE AWAKENINGS OF A JANE AUSTEN ADDICT. If I am to judge by the laughter in the audience, then everyone was having as good a time as I did.

If that wasn't enough fun, there was a white elephant sale of – you guessed it—Jane Austen related books and tschotschkes. I spent $60 on 12 back issues of PERSUASIONS, the wonderful bound journal of the Jane Austen Society of North America. Such a deal! My bookshelves are groaning. But I'm all smiles.

Austen Goes to Chicago: A very belated account of the 2008 JASNA AGM

For me, a JASNA AGM (Annual General Meeting of the Jane Austen Society of North America) can be anywhere. As long as there are breakouts and panels and all-Jane-Austen-all-the-time, it doesn't matter where I am in the world. But the location of this AGM was particularly captivating. Perhaps it was because I'd never been to Chicago before (other than various layovers in O'Hare Airport). Perhaps it was because my hotel room had a lake view. Or perhaps it was because the shops and bustle of Michigan Avenue were right outside my door. All I know is that I fell in love with Chi-town and know I will return for more. 

As for the AGM itself, it was like one of those dreams that you never want to wake up from, the one where you turn on the hotel TV and there are Jane Austen movies playing 24 hours a day on one of the channels—I'm not kidding; the AGM folks really did make that happen. That and having costume rentals on site for those who wished to dance at the ball in Regency costume and didn't have their own. And a professional photographer to memorialize the occasion.

And all that was in addition to the main attraction, which was an array of breakouts and panels and poster sessions that were so fascinating I wished I could have slipped out of my own breakout (yes, my very first time as a breakout speaker) to attend at least three others that were going on at the same time. An embarrassment of riches it was, from the Thursday night curtain-raiser, Visualizing Jane Austen and Jane Austen Visualizing, featuring Jeff Nigro of the Art Institute of Chicago talking about the elusive portraits of Austen, to the riveting panel on Friday, entitled How far across countries, cultures and disciplines does Jane Austen's legacy reach? featuring Austen scholars Inger Sigrun Brodey,  Paula Marantz Cohen,  Gillian Dow,  Peter Graham and  Elisabeth Lenckos.  And so much more.

My only regrets were that I missed Claudia Johnson's Saturday morning talk and that I couldn't figure out how to attend the ball and the panel on Romance Fiction in the Wake of Austen at the same time. I really do think that a cloning workshop must be offered at an AGM of the future!

Then there were all the little touches, like witnessing a marriage proposal at the opening of the Saturday night Regency ball. The aspiring groom quoted from the famous Persuasion love letter, and his beloved of course said yes. There was even a preview of the upcoming Broadway musical version of Pride and Prejudice at the Sunday brunch. Not being a big musical aficionado, I didn't expect to be moved to tears, as I was, by the musical talents of co-creators Lindsay Baker and Amanda Jacobs, not to mention besotted with the production's Mr. Darcy, Colin Donnell (nice first name, don't you think?), who made the pulses of every female in the room start racing. 

Speaking of Mr. Darcy, here I am with my own.

For more photos from the AGM, please visit my photo gallery. Hope to see you in Philadelphia for the 2009 AGM!

Jane Austen: On the Next Oprah

"Are you going to be on Oprah?"

This is the first thing friends and family will ask any soon-to-be-published author.

It's very sweet that our loved ones have so much faith in us. However, it's sort of like asking, "Are you going to win the lottery?"

Consider the numbers: Since 2002 Oprah has chosen anywhere from one to five books per year. Grand total so far for 2008: One book. Even in the earlier years of Oprah's Book Club, when Oprah would choose as many as eight or nine books per year, it was still a long shot. After all, there are 175,000 books published every year.

Clearly, having your book chosen by Oprah is the holy grail of publishing good fortune.The books Oprah chooses are instant #1 New York Times Bestsellers. But more important than the glory Oprah's Book Club bestows on authors is the service it does for readers, for Oprah has single-handedly done more to revitalize adults' interest in reading than just about anyone. For that we all owe her a debt of gratitude.

About a month ago, one of my readers, a lovely woman named Christina, gave me something more important to dream about than getting the call from Oprah. Christina got me thinking about Jane Austen getting the call from Oprah or, more precisely, an entire community of surrogates known as the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA) getting the call from Oprah.

It just so happens that JASNA will be descending upon Oprah territory in October 2008 and would love nothing better than to bring Austen to Oprah's audience.

Why are the Janeites coming to Chicago? Every October, Jane Austen addicts convene in a different city for JASNA's Annual General Meeting. It's wall-to-wall, nonstop Austen: breakout sessions, plenary speakers, poster sessions, panels and performances, a Regency Emporium where Janeites can buy Austen-related books and other goodies (and this year, rent costumes), a banquet, and a Regency ball, complete with English country dance and a whole lot of us dressed in costume. In other words, if you're like me, you feel like you died and went to Austen heaven.

I can't think of an author more Oprah-worthy than Jane Austen. After all, Oprah has always been big on self-help and self-discovery, and in my opinion, one couldn't ask for a more comprehensive and entertaining set of self-help books than Jane Austen's six novels. Every time I read them I learn something new about myself, including discovering more ways to "make sport for my neighbors, and laugh at them in my turn." After all, it is Austen's sense of humor, coupled with her keen observation of human nature, that make her stories timeless.

Here is what Christina envisions for a special Oprah show (fears, actually, because sadly Christina cannot afford the trip to Chicago, what with gas prices being what they are, and therefore she'd miss out on being in the studio audience):

"Oprah will do a special show that week just on the Jane Austen phenomenon and have an audience full of JASNA people and give out cars and iPods to everyone—and first editions of P&P to a special audience member with the winning ticket under her seat—and have Colin Firth and Matthew Macfadyen [the two Mr. Darcys from the last two film versions of Pride and Prejudice] and Rupert Penry-Jones [Captain Wentworth from the latest Persuasion movie] as surprise guests—and then end the show by sending everyone to England for a Jane Austen tour!

Alas, I will bitterly watch it all on TV, green with Caroline Bingleyesque envy!"

Okay, maybe cars and first editions and transatlantic travel are a little excessive. But surely Oprah could give everyone in the audience the Penguin edition of the complete works. And the guest line-up is certainly do-able. In costume, of course.

I would suggest adding Jennifer Ehle and Keira Knightley as guests, so that the two Mr. Darcys can have their Elizabeth Bennets by their side. Hey, dueling Lizzie and Darcys! As for the JASNA folks bringing entertainment value to the mix, William Phillips, one of the coordinators of the JASNA AGM, spoke at last year's AGM, and he was brilliant--charming and funny and informative. And William is just one of the many bright and sparkling speakers and storytellers who will be at the AGM. Another thought: Karen Joy Fowler, author of The Jane Austen Book Club, would also be an excellent guest—brought down the house with her witty speech at the 2004 AGM.

As for me, I'll be happy to be in the audience and offer up all of my swag to the lovely Christina.

What a show. Oprah, we await your call.

Mo' Better Austen

[This is my third guest post for Penguin USA's blog. ]

There were only about two months between the end of The Jane Austen Book Club's run in movie theatres and the beginning of Masterpiece Theatre's months-long Austen extravaganza. Four new films! One new biopic! Two rebroadcasts! Those of us who have to manage a serious Austen habit thought we'd died and gone to Janeite heaven.

Then, on April 6, 2008, it all ended. The end credits rolled on the last installment of Sense and Sensibility, and we were left to fend for ourselves.

The message boards and blogs swelled with the lamentations of Austen fans everywhere. What would we do? Where would we turn?

Of course we had Austen's six novels to re-read, and we would never tire of doing so. And we would continue to play our Austen DVDs till they skipped or our players wore out.

But, like any addict, there's no such thing as enough. We want more. More, I tell you. More.

So, if anyone out there in the world of film and television is listening, please take note: There can never be too many adaptations of Pride and Prejudice. Or Emma. Or Sense and Sensibility. Or Northanger Abbey. Or Persuasion. Or Mansfield Park.

Don't think for a second that it's been done before, or "Who needs another Pride and Prejudice." We do. Just look at what Gurinder Chadha did with her Bollywood-meets-Hollywood tribute to Pride and Prejudice, the delightful Bride and Prejudice, which is one of my absolute favorites. In fact, I'd like to see Gurinder Chadha take on the rest of the Austen canon. So think musical. Think multicultural. Think modern retelling. (Remember Clueless? Someone please do that with Northanger Abbey, which is Austen's ultimate coming-of-age story.)   

Here's my latest and fondest idea for the next Austen adaptation: a contemporary, African-American version of Pride and Prejudice starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, who is one of my favorite actors of all time. I got this idea when I saw him in Talk To Me, which I loved so much I watched it twice in the same week. All I could think of was that his character reminded me of Mr. Darcy, and how perfect this actor would be as the quintessential Austen hero.

Not that we don't want more costume productions set in Regency England. We can never get enough of bonnets and balls and carriages. Just make them all miniseries, okay? We'll even settle for two hours. But no more of those ninety-minute teases that then get snipped even more for the American broadcasts (I'm talking about the latest versions of Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion). Surely you cannot think that the audience who can quote at will from the Colin Firth, five-hour Pride and Prejudice has a short attention span.

Now that we've established More, let's talk about Better.

Granted, we Austen addicts are so grateful that anyone attempts to adapt our favorite author to the screen that we'll watch whatever you put before us. Then, inevitably, we'll complain about the deletion of a key scene from the book or the actor's anachronistic hairstyle or the mysterious altering of the master's dialogue. But we'll still buy those movie tickets and turn on our TVs. And you know what? We'd buy even more tickets and acquire more DVDs and spread more word-of-mouth if you set your standards higher.

Which is why you should have one of us* on board for your next production. After all, don't you want to make those who know the books well and have an extensive knowledge of the period as happy as you make those who don't?

Not that there's any way to please everyone, and granted, we Janeites can be a picky bunch. Nevertheless, we could have told you that when you changed the pivotal "letter scene" in the latest Persuasion to a long-distance marathon, millions of Janeites would collectively groan, look to the heavens, and ask "Why?" I liked the film in spite of it, but I could have liked it a whole lot better.

We don't really expect you to have one of us on the set, but it sure would be nice. (And I mean that in the Henry Tilney way.*) In the meantime, keep rolling out those films and minis. Soon. Please?

*We can easily be found in the membership rolls of the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA) or in the Jane Austen Society (JAS) of the UK). Operators are standing by.

**See Northanger Abbey, Volume I, Chapter XIV.

Ten Ways to Cope Without The Complete Jane Austen Series

by Laurie Viera Rigler, author of Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

[This is my guest post for  Jane Austen Today.]

What? No more weekly doses of Austen on PBS? Fear not, my fellow addicts. Help is here. All you need to do is follow this ten-part program.

Re-reading Austen's six novels (or reading them for the first time) will of course play a big role in this program. Ah, but what accompanies each read will make your experience even sweeter.   

1. Try Northanger Abbey for your first post-Masterpiece read. Why Northanger Abbey? One reason could be that it was the first of Austen's novels to be accepted by a publisher—who then couldn't be bothered to publish it. Idiot. Thumbing your nose at such stupidity is one reason to read it first. Another, even better reason, is that NA's a fun way to shake off the post-Masterpiece blues.

•    After you read the book, see what it's like to be Catherine Morland, the heroine of Northanger Abbey. How? Drive or walk around your city or town and pretend you are seeing it from the point of view of someone who has never been there and finds it fascinating and exciting. See? You're experiencing your world like Catherine experienced the city of Bath. If you're hard pressed to find something exciting or fascinating about your world, go into the nearest flower garden and learn to love a hyacinth. Or just think about how a young woman from the late eighteenth/early nineteenth century might respond to some of the modern technological wonders you take for granted.  Like hot showers, for example. Flush toilets in every house. Mascara. Tampons.

•    Then, top off your newfound sense of wonder and appreciation for your world by firing up your DVD player with the 2007 adaptation of Northanger Abbey* starring J.J. Feild and Felicity Jones. There. Aren't you feeling better already?

•    *Ready for more? Try the 1986 adaptation of Northanger Abbey. Though it's unpopular with a lot of Janeites, you might, like me, find it entertaining.

2. Read Sense and Sensibility.

•    After you close the book on Elinor and Marianne, imagine what happens next. (We all know these characters are real and keep living their lives after the books end, don't we?) Here's a fun situation to ponder: What happens the first time Edward and Elinor go to London and have dinner at Edward's mother's house—and are sitting across the table from Lucy and Robert? What do they talk about? Imagine Elinor sitting in the drawing room after dinner with Mrs. Ferrars and Lucy. And here's another one to consider:  Should Marianne, or Mrs. Dashwood, ever confront John Dashwood about his broken promise to help them financially? If you were to write that speech, what would you have Marianne say? Or should the Dashwood ladies let John's own guilty conscience do all the work?

•    Now that you've survived all those Dashwood/Ferrars family reunions, reward yourself with a screening of the Ang Lee/Emma Thompson Oscar-winning Sense and Sensibility (1995)*  And while you're at it, order yourself a large pizza, chocolate cake, and/or a trough of margaritas. Yes. This program is definitely working.

3. Read Pride and Prejudice.

•    After you read the book, imagine that you are Elizabeth experiencing your first visit to Rosings as Mrs. Darcy. (Lady Catherine has cooled down by now and consoles herself by hoping that her nephew will be so fortunate as to become widowed at a young age and redeem himself by taking a second wife, i.e., Anne de Bourgh.) Amuse yourself by observing the gyrations of Mr. Collins when he and Charlotte join the Rosings party for dinner. As Elizabeth once said to Mr. Darcy, "Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can."

•    But wait, there's more. It's time to watch the Colin Firth/Jennifer Ehle P&P mini again (one can never watch it too many times), and/or the 2005 movie with Keira Knightley, depending on whether your idea of Mr. Darcy is Colin Firth or Matthew MacFadyen or both. The 1995 mini is a great excuse to have a pajama party (where I grew up, we called them slumber parties). And one is never too old to have a slumber party. Send the kids away for sleepovers and banish any curmudgeonly significant others. Then, bring in lots of goodies, because five hours of viewing requires a great deal of fuel. There's all that fencing and swimming and dancing and taking refreshing turns around the room. I'm getting exhausted just thinking about it. No matter which film you watch (or even if you watch both), be sure to buy the soundtrack of the 2005 film and play often. It's stunning.

4.  Read Mansfield Park.

•    Even if you're a reader who can't quite warm up to Austen's heroine Fanny Price (I feel your pain, but do give her some time; she grew on me after awhile), you can have a lot of fun thinking about how this book could have ended but didn't. For me, that's the most fascinating, thought-provoking aspect of Mansfield Park. As Patricia Rozema, director of the controversial 1999 adaptation of Mansfield Park, put it in her screenplay, "It could have all turned out differently, I suppose. But it didn't." With that in mind, imagine what would have happened if Edmund had married Mary Crawford, and if Fanny had given in and married Henry Crawford. Happy marriages? Reformed rakes? Or a disaster?

•    As compensation for the lack of a truly satisfying Mansfield Park film (see below)*, you get to watch the lovely 2007 BBC mini of Sense and Sensibility instead. I know, it's Sense and Sensibility, not Mansfield Park, and you just saw it on TV, but who cares? It's worth seeing again. It'll make you feel good. And isn't that what this program is all about?

*I'm one of the minority of Janeites who liked  the 1999 Patricia Rozema adaptation of Mansfield Park, but I liked it more as a story inspired by Mansfield Park than as an adaptation per se. Rozema's rendering of Fanny Price is more like the director's idea of a young Jane Austen than the protagonist Jane Austen wrote for Mansfield Park. And Rozema's vision of the story's subtext is pretty dark. But then again, the book itself is perhaps the least "light, and bright, and sparkling" of Austen's works. By the way, there is a fascinating article on this film by Kathi Groenendyk in JASNA's journal Persuasions: As for the latest adaptation that aired on PBS, it has such a truncated version of the story that one wonders how anyone who didn't read the book could figure out what's going on. Mrs. Norris, Fanny's main nemesis, has mysteriously turned into a bland creature. And Fanny Price looks entirely too 21st-century and wears cleavage-baring day dresses (none of this is the fault of the actors, but still). As for the 1983 BBC mini, the heroine is more faithful to the book than its companions. However, while the principal actors are unquestionably talented I couldn't quite see some of them in their roles. And it's got that static, video-on-a-stage feel of early BBC productions that I find challenging to watch.

5. Read Emma.

•    After you finish the book, play a little game called "Emma, Reformed Matchmaker." You'll need to play with a single friend (preferably a single friend who would like to be in a couple). Each of you sits down and writes a list of qualities that your friend's perfect, future mate should possess. Do not reveal what is on your lists until both of you are finished writing. Now share. You may be surprised to find that your lists differ greatly. When you read your friend's list, refrain from exclamations of horror unless one of the items on that list includes "must be incarcerated in a maximum security prison." Now, give your list to your friend to take home with her. Tell her she is free to cross out whatever she doesn't like on your list and keep whatever she does like. Or burn the whole thing. If she cares to share her final list with you, you may keep your eyes open for appropriate candidates and discreetly point them out to her. That's "point them out," not shove them in her face. Remember, you are "Emma, Reformed Matchmaker." If your friend doesn't care to share her final list, then graciously wish her all the best in finding her dream partner and promptly change the subject. Then, take her to Ford's (or local emporium of your choice) to buy a new dress. Or draw her picture. Without a potential mate watching the proceedings. See? You're a better, happier human being already.

•    Now that you've had a successful run at self-improvement, Jane Austen-style, you deserve to have an Emma film festival. That's three very clever films indeed: The Kate Beckinsale/Mark Strong-starrer, the Gwyneth Paltrow/Jeremy Northam movie , and the brilliant Clueless, starring Alicia Silverstone and directed by Amy Heckerling. Three fabulous films means you get to invite at least three friends over to have a viewing party or slumber party. And stock up on provisions, for a private screening of three films, without sitting down to supper, [would be] pronounced an infamous fraud upon the rights of men and women.

6.  Read Persuasion.

•    After you finish the book, amuse yourself by imagining whether or not Mrs. Clay will indeed become the next Lady Eliot. If she does, will Anne and Frederick, or any of her family, ever visit Sir William and Lady Eliot? How will Mary's health survive it? Or Elizabeth's pride? Or on a pleasanter note, will Capt. Wentworth allow his wife on board his ship? If so, what exciting places will Anne visit?

•    Watch the lovely, 1995 adaptation of Persuasion starring Amanda Root and Ciarán Hinds. Optional: the 2007 version of Persuasion.  Although Austen's story is compressed into a scant 93 minutes in the latest version, this one is also worth watching, particularly if you love Rupert Penry-Jones as much as I do. Besides, the DVD restores the small but significant bits that were cut from the PBS broadcast.

7. Join the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA) and mingle with fellow Janeites at local and national meetings. I know what you're thinking, and yes, the rumors are all true. It's a cult. We have a secret handshake. We aim for total world domination. Okay, you can stop sweating now. I'm kidding. Really. JASNA is a community of warm, welcoming, fun-loving people who love Jane Austen and love getting together and talking about their favorite author with like-minded people. Like you. There are local reading groups (think Jane Austen Book Club, but usually with more than just the six Austen novels), regional get-togethers with fascinating speakers, entertainment, and delicious food, special screenings for members, and annual general meetings (AGMs) in a different city each year with talks and panels and workshops and English country dance lessons and a banquet and a Regency ball. At my first AGM I thought I'd died and gone to Austen heaven. 

8. Watch a film that's so life-affirming and joyful that it merits a place of its own on this list: Bride and Prejudice, Gurinder Chadha's Bollywood-meets-Hollywood tribute to Pride and Prejudice. It's way better than a year's supply of antidepressants or a gallon of Absolut martinis. Hint: This one merits a party or at least inviting one friend over to watch with you. First, order in Indian food. Then, before popping in the DVD, unearth floaty scarves from your wardrobe or nearest accessory emporium, and keep them on hand to wave around while you dance along with the various musical numbers. Be sure to buy the soundtrack and play it in your car or on your iPod while commuting to work the next day. I feel better just thinking about it.

9. Now that you've got that Indian groove thang going, try English country dancing. Then you can watch all the movies set in Jane Austen's time again, and at the ballroom scenes you can dance along. There are many places to learn English country dancing, and from my experience, the people are friendly and welcome beginners, and there's no need to bring a partner with you. Some dance societies hold regular dances and even annual balls. In Southern California, check out Vintage Dance & History. Nationwide, go to the English Country Dance Webring and the Country Dance and Song Society.

10. Finally, take a trip back in time to Regency England. No, I haven't lost my mind. I have, however, written a novel that will transport you to 1813 England. Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict  is the story of a modern L.A. girl and Austen fan who wakes up one morning as an Englishwoman's in Austen's time. As of April 29, Confessions comes out in paperback, which means the fare to Jane Austen's world becomes even more affordable.

If you have another item or two to add to this list, I would love to hear your suggestions, and I'm sure the readers of this blog will thank you. Just enter your suggestions as a comment .

"A Ball? I Long for a Ball!"

by Laurie Viera Rigler, author of Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict (http://janeaustenaddict.com)

(This post also appears as a guest post on About.com's Classic Literature blog.)

It was only about six years ago when I looked at pictures of empire-gowned members of the Jane Austen Society of North America and said, "I'll never be one of those people who dresses up in costume and goes to a Regency ball. Isn't that a bit like going to a Star Trek convention and wearing Vulcan ears?"

Lesson #1: Whenever you say, "I'll never be one of those people," what it really means is that you already are one of those people. You just don't know it yet.

Lesson #2: It all starts with English country dance lessons. You know how they talk about gateway drugs? Well, English country dance lessons, my friends, is the gateway drug.

I went to my first dance lesson at the 2004 Annual General Meeting of the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA AGM) , which took place in my part of the world, i.e., Los Angeles. Learning English country dance was, after all, part of my research for my novel, Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, which is about a modern L.A. girl who wakes up one morning as a woman in Austen's time. Dance lessons were as legitimate a pursuit as attending the various lectures. Or so I told myself. How could I, in all good conscience, write a dance scene if I had the opportunity to dance and passed it up?

[Here I am dancing with my friend Ron at the 2008 Jane Austen Evening.]

Then came the JASNA ball itself that Saturday night in 2004. Sure, I didn't wear a costume; lots of people didn't. But I danced every dance and not only did I have a blast, I also discovered that English country dance, which in the movies looks like people are merely parading about and posing like peacocks, is actually quite a workout. I also found that when I looked at the women in their gowns this time, I experienced costume envy. I too wanted to wear a dress and pretend I was Elizabeth Bennet dancing with Mr. Darcy. Wouldn't my turns and steps look ever so much more elegant in a Regency ball gown than in black velvet pants? No, I told myself, I won't give in. Costumes are where I draw the line.

Since then I have attended two more JASNA AGMs and two more JASNA balls. Still in contemporary dress. But the turning point came when I attended something last year called the Jane Austen Evening, which is not a JASNA-sponsored event. At the Jane Austen Evening, which is organized by the Society for Manners and Merriment,  almost all of the attendees are in costume. Unlike the JASNA balls, where everyone is there because they are Jane Austen readers, the attendees of the Jane Austen Evening appear to be a mixture of Jane Austen readers, period-dance aficionados, people who are into historical re-enactments, and combinations thereof.  You can imagine the costumed glory of these folks.

["A whole campful of soldiers!"]

Lesson #3: No one is immune to the costume bug. Case in point: At this year's Jane Austen Evening, I was in the powder room where a number of women were primping. One of them, who was in her early twenties, said to a friend, "I can't believe I'm doing this. I'm actually a t-shirt-and-jeans kind of girl." Another woman, who was perhaps forty and in a gorgeous bright green gown, said, "How about me? I'm an airline mechanic."

You can't make up that kind of dialogue.

Lesson #4: English country dancing can heat you up in more ways than one. The best thing about going to the Jane Austen Evening last year was the fact that I went with my husband Thomas, he who had previously informed me that Regency dancing was the most fundamentally uncool activity he could imagine, and that it would be a cold day in hell…you get the picture. But when the girlfriend who was supposed to go with me couldn't make it, Thomas gallantly offered to take her place. Even took English country dance lessons with me. And that's when I realized that not only is English country dancing a good workout, it's also pretty hot.

It's one thing to dance with one of your girlfriends or some random guy you're not interested in. It's quite another to stand up with the man you find most agreeable in the whole world, the handsomest man who ever was seen, the man who has a noble estate in Derbyshire, I mean, Pasadena. It was then that I truly got why all that serious courting went on at balls in Jane Austen's novels, and why women longed for a dance. Not only was it pretty much the only genteel outlet for vigorous exercise, aside from walking and horse riding; it was the only place that a young man and woman could spend lots of seriously flirtatious face-time with each other. All that eye contact and hand touching and display of bodies was highly charged, and all done with the full sanction of society. No wonder the women were fanning themselves. It was after going to that ball with Thomas that I expanded the ballroom scene in Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict. As for Thomas, he had such a good time that this year he decided to invite a group of friends to go with us.

[The handsomest young man that ever was seen...]

At last year's Jane Austen Evening, I wore a long skirt under a knee-length, empire-waisted dress, in a sort of poor man's imitation of a Regency gown. This year, I decided, I would cross the line for good. And so I had a gown made for the occasion. I even had my hair done (admittedly more like big prom hair than authentic Regency hair, but more of a period look than my usual flat-ironed style).

Bring it on, I said. There's no difference between me and those guys who speak Klingon to a friend of mine whenever she ventures into the sci-fi section of her local bookstore. I may not speak Klingon, but I can dance Mr. Beveridge's Maggot like Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle did in the 1995 Pride and Prejudice. Yes, I am a Jane Austen addict, and my version of Vulcan ears is a scarlet silk-taffeta empire-waisted gown.   

If you'd like to learn English country dance and you live in Southern California, visit lahacal.org  for lessons near you. (You can also link from there to the Jane Austen Evening site.) If you're in another part of the U.S., you can try the English Country Dance Webring; or just do a Google search with the keywords "English country dance" and your geographical area, and you're sure to find something nearby.

And if you'd like to join a warm and welcoming community of fellow Austen addicts, visit the Jane Austen Society of North America at http://jasna.org and find out where your local region meets and what events are going on throughout the year. As for the AGM (and that famous Saturday night ball), this year's event will be held in Chicago.

By the way, the most important thing that the JASNA AGM balls and the Jane Austen Evening have in common, aside from dance and costume, is the abundance of warm and welcoming people. So if you're shy with strangers or don't have a partner to accompany you to these events, never fear.

If you'd like to see my photo album of this year's Jane Austen Evening, visit the Many Charming Views / Scrapbook  section of my website, janeaustenaddict.com.

(I came across a YouTube video of folks dancing the Sir Roger de Coverley at the Jane Austen Evening, and there I am in the foreground dancing with my friend Alice. Video by Larry Buckel. He and his lovely wife Carin helped organize the event:)

Mansfield Park: Jane Austen's Most Controversial Novel

by Laurie Viera Rigler, author of Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict (http://janeaustenaddict.com)

(This is yet another of my series of guest posts for About.com's Classic Literature blog.)

Discuss Mansfield Park in your book club, and your friends, like most readers, will tend to differ over a variety of points. The most typical one is this: Is the heroine, Fanny Price, a model of moral integrity, or a self-righteous prude? Is the marriage that ends the story (and Austen's stories always end with a marriage) between the right two people? And what's up with that part about the play?

The story begins when nine-year-old Fanny Price is taken from the home of her impoverished parents and moved to the estate of Mansfield Park to be brought up by rich relatives. This is no clear-cut Cinderella story, however. Although there are a couple of mildly wicked stepsisters (Fanny's cousins Maria and Julia) and a stand-in for a wicked stepmother in the form of her Aunt Norris, teenaged Fanny's central nemesis—and rival in love--is the saucy, sassy anti-heroine Mary Crawford.

The object of both Fanny's and Mary's affections is Fanny's cousin Edmund (I know, I know, but in Jane Austen's day one could marry one's cousin without anyone batting an eyelid). Edmund loves Fanny like a cousin, but he is in love with Mary.

Did you ever feel jealous of someone, and at the same time also felt you didn't have the right to be jealous? Fanny, being in an inferior position in the Mansfield Park family and unloved by her birth parents, has deeply rooted self-esteem issues. Mary, on the other hand, walks through life with a serious sense of entitlement. Shouldn't that be enough to put us squarely in the pro-Fanny camp?

Perhaps, but Fanny challenges us at every turn. For example, there is the famous section of the book in which Fanny disapproves of and refuses to participate in a play that her cousins and neighbors are putting on at home for their own amusement. For this part of the story to make the least bit of sense to a modern reader, one needs to understand that this particular choice of home theatricals would be the modern equivalent of a group of teenagers voting to have a wild, high-risk party in their strict parent's house while said parent was out of town.

Despite Fanny's balking at participating in said wild party, we cannot quite dismiss her as a buzz-killing Miss Perfect. After all, she is eaten up with jealousy for a great deal of the book, and as we all know, jealousy is not a pretty emotion. She is also not one to obey those in authority at all costs. In fact, she stands up to the biggest authority figure in her life by refusing to do what she knows in her heart would be wrong, and I'm not talking about acting in a play. (I'll say no more, lest I spoil the book for those who've yet to read it.)

If you've ever had an opinion that your friends considered uncool, and you stuck to it despite ridicule and pressure, you'll find a kindred spirit in Fanny Price, and you'll want her reward to be the man she loves. However, if you're still doing shots with your inner bad girl, you'll be rooting for Mary Crawford to win the object of her, and Fanny's, affections. (By the way, Austen scholar Emily Auerbach pointed out at one of the Jane Austen Society of North America's annual meetings, that several of Mary Crawford's lines of dialogue are astonishingly similar to lines from Jane Austen's own letters.)

To make things more interesting, some readers will want Fanny to be won by Mary's rakish, heartbreaker brother, Henry Crawford, who finds himself unaccountably in love for the first time in his life. Henry doesn't seem to stand a chance with Fanny, who is not only in love with another man, but also has watched in contempt and pity while Henry toyed with Fanny's cousins, the above-mentioned Maria and Julia. It's one big love triangle. Or square. Or heptagon.

Could there possibly be a better Austen novel for book clubs to chew on? And I haven't even touched on the theories about Mansfield Park's antislavery subtext.

In Mansfield Park, Jane Austen is clearly at the height of her storytelling mastery, deftly playing with reader loyalties and expectations while serving up the delicious social satire and suspenseful plotting that keep us coming back for more.

Nevertheless, Mansfield Park presents clear challenges to filmmakers who wish to adapt it, which is perhaps why director Patricia Rozema turned the heroine of her 1999 adaptation  into a synthesis of Fanny Price, Mary Crawford, and Jane Austen herself. As for the latest adaptation of Mansfield Park, which airs on PBS's Masterpiece Classic on Sunday, January 27, I am all anticipation. Let's see what the filmmakers have got up their sleeves this time.

Read more about Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict,  and surrender to your Austen addiction at http://janeaustenaddict.com.

I QUIT!

About two months ago I was obsessively checking my amazon.com sales ranking  (I'm told this is a common addiction among newly published authors and that sometimes said authors must be hauled off to rehab) when I came across a gem of a customer review, entitled "Austen Addict Needs Rehab." This title was not, in fact, as serendipitous as it appeared, as I discovered when I read the first two sentences:

Laurie Viera Rigler should resign her membership in the Jane Austen Society. I don't see how anyone who admires Austen's work could associate that great author's name with this tripe.

I happened to be in a fairly confident mood that day, and so I was able to laugh it off. After all, I knew when I was working on this book that should it ever be published, it was likely to arouse the ire of some and the approbation of others, Janeites being a particularly passionate bunch. And if I've learned anything from my years of reading Austen, it's the importance of laughing at myself.

So, aside from the absurdity of the reviewer's proclamation, how was I able to resist the temptation to take any of this personally? Glad you asked. I'd have to say that other external forces of a positive nature, such as finding out Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict debuted on the Los Angeles Times bestseller list and several good reviews made this call for my resignation from JASNA seem a trifle, even an amusing one.

Inevitably, all highs wear off. It could be that (a) you get a bad review. Or (b) you're having a hard time zipping up your jeans. Or (c) that cute guy who lives across the street didn't smile back at you. It doesn't matter, of course, that (a) the reviewer simply didn't enjoy your book but did enjoy making herself look clever at your expense. Haven't you ever done that in private conversation? The only difference is that newspaper reviewers get to be catty in public. It also doesn't matter that (b) you happen to be premenstrual AND ate pizza for the last three days, so of course your jeans are tight at the moment; and (c) that cute guy across the street wasn't wearing his glasses and didn't see you smile. In fact, he didn't even know that blurry blob across the street was you.

Nope, none of that matters whatsoever. By the time you've been through (a), (b), and (c) and who knows how many other imagined slights, you're ready for some more self-flagellation. Let's see--what would hit the spot? I know! Let's check our amazon.com ranking. No. This cannot be true. It just shot up 5,000 points in four hours?? How is that possible? Does my book really suck? Is it all over? Am I the biggest loser on the planet?

But wait, there's more: Surely the answer to the question of whether or not "L" must be stamped on my forehead awaits me in the review section of my book's buy page. Let me scroll down a bit and--NO--not another bad review. This one is so awful ("I chose this book for my book club pick. I was so NOT impressed that I am going to tell the other book club members not to waste their time") that I feel compelled to re-read the one that says I need to resign from JASNA.

And you know what? This time I'm not laughing.

I've thought about this descent at length, and I've come to the conclusion that something has to change. And you know what? It isn't my membership status in JASNA. In fact, since then I've become a life member.

No, what needs to change is me. My habits. My beliefs. Was I going to allow other people to determine my happiness based on something as inconsequential as whether they love or hate my work?
After all, is my book any better or worse than it was because of the good review? Or the bad review? Of course it isn't.

All I know is this: If I sit on the praise/criticism seesaw, I'm doomed to the inevitable down after going up. Anyone ever see a seesaw stand still with someone at the top?

I've decided to find my happiness elsewhere. I've also decided to stop making devil's bargains with myself. To wit: I am a master at all those "If only this happens, I'll be so happy" wishes. At first it starts out with: "If only I had an agent for my book, I'll be so happy." Well, I was/am. But then it turned into, "If only I get a publisher for my book, I'll be so happy." Then it's "If only the book gets a good review, I'll be so happy," and "If only it sells a lot of copies, I'll be so happy." Have I kept any of those promises? Only temporarily. All it takes to make the seesaw go down is the first bad review, drop in sales figures, too-tight jeans, or imagined slight from my neighbor.

So here's what I choose instead: I choose the happiness that comes when I practice gratitude for all the blessings in my life. I choose the happiness that comes when I'm giving a reading and my sole mission is to make the people who came to see me happy. I choose the happiness that comes when I delight in the pure joy of creating a strong scene or a funny moment. I choose the happiness that comes from whatever comes.

Failure, I've decided, is not an option.

May happiness be yours to keep.