SENSING JANE AUSTEN
To mark 200 years since the beloved novelist’s death, celebrate your shared sensibility by visiting her family homes and favorite places, including Bath, England. There’s a gathering in SoCal too.
Two centuries after her death, British author Jane Austen has found the literary distinction and reader popularity she lacked during her life.
The Jane Austen Society of North America will gather Oct. 6-8 at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa for “Jane Austen in Paradise,” a conference marking the bicentennial of the death of its favorite author.
Highlights will include lectures by Austen experts Gillian Dow, executive director of Chawton House Library, and Richard Knight, a descendant of Jane’s brother Edward.
There will be Jane Austen-style improv theater, a fashion-arts tea and a promenade and ball.
Most of the events and lectures are still open to the public, barring overbooking.
“Just pay the $30 it takes to become a member, and the registration fee [$370],” said Claire Bellanti of Northridge, president of the society.
The organization, with 5,000 members, has grown dramatically since the original gathering in 1979, Bellanti said. “The first meeting was held in New York City and drew 100 people.”
She attributes part of the growth to film adaptations of Austen’s novels made in the 1990s, along with the 1995 BBC miniseries of “Pride and Prejudice,” starring Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy. Why is she so fond of the author? “She’s a natural psychologist who has a way of pinpointing and creating characters that are very real,” she said.
“She’s also a beautiful writer; her prose is elegant and lovely to read and she has a delightful sense of humor.”
Info: www.jasna.org