Last month, we examined Henry Austen’s comment about his sister Jane: “In composition she was equally rapid and correct.” We learned that Jane was probably neither. The somewhat limited evidence shows that she wrote at the average writerly pace of about 500 words a day. What she was, was a…
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Category: The Regency Era
More than tea and balls, the Regency era barely survived its own upheavals to create the modern age. Era is defined by explorations, fights over slavery, innovations in business and science that led to the Industrial Age, and near-civil war.
Sifting Through Austen’s Elusive Allusions
Excellent researchers have divined many, many references and allusions that Jane Austen makes in her novels and letters. In his various editions of her works, R. W. Chapman lists literary mentions along with real people and places. Deirdre Le Faye’s editions of Austen’s letters include actors, artists, writers, books, poems,…
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Frankenstein in Austenland
News alert from Bath: Frankenstein is coming to Austenland. No, I’m not talking about another mashup between a Jane Austen novel and a horror thriller but rather about plans afoot in the city of Bath to create a museum honoring Mary Shelley’s creation. Casting about on the internet while researching…
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Fanny Burney: Writer of Her Time
Fanny Burney was the female writer before and during Jane Austen’s life. Both in popularity and literary regard, she stood astride the Regency era as the Colossus stood astride the harbor of Rhodes. She published her first novel, Evelina, when Jane Austen was three years old, hit her publishing peak…
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Get out the Popcorn. It’s Time for Movies!
Enough people had commented on the two new Jane Austen adaptations earlier this year that at first I decided not to. However, lots of people are binge-watching shows during these plague weeks. The movie Emma has moved directly online, where it’s available for a fee; and the Sanditon series is…
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Jane Austen, Contagions, & the Danger of Doubling
It has been so long since a disastrous contagion swept through the Western world that most of us have forgotten how deadly contagious diseases are. The scariest in my lifetime was polio, because the disease could cripple as well as kill. I remember lining up at the local high school…
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Jane Eyre: The Other Woman
Charlotte Brontë featured a Jane Austen-style heroine in her novel Jane Eyre. Despite her inferior social and financial position, Jane would not back down against Mr. Rochester any more than Elizabeth Bennet would back down against Mr. Darcy. Jane Eyre’s difficult situation as a governess is exactly what Austen’s Jane…
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Coincidences Kick Off P&P; Chararacter Carries It
In a recent blog, I wrote about coincidences in Jane Austen’s work. I’m following up again today with a few more examples of how she used them and how this use affected her work. Coincidences were a common contrivance to solve plot problems before and during Austen’s life. (And remain…
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Giving Thanks with Austen
With my regularly scheduled blog appearing this year on Thanksgiving, I wondered whether there was any formal giving of thanks in Jane Austen’s work. The November U.S. holiday has spread to most of the Americas. The English have a more general harvest-related tradition of providing bread and other food to…
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Commemorating 40 Years, and 400
Today’s blog provides a capsule of the recent Annual General Meeting of the Jane Austen Society of North America, in Williamsburg, VA. The week involved history, pageantry, and good manners—and that was outside the conference halls. It was the 40th anniversary of the founding of JASNA, and the 400th commemoration…
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‘It was certainly a very remarkable coincidence!’
“It was certainly a very remarkable coincidence!”—Northanger Abbey. Writing from roughly 1795 on, Jane Austen is usually seen as the last major writer of the 18th century. In many novels of that century, plot coincidences were not only accepted, they were expected. It was a big coincidence if there were…
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Austen’s Letters, Rooms, TV, and Library …
This month’s mailbag brings a bundle of news related to Jane Austen. Autumn is a busy season for our favorite author! First is that Jane Austen’s House Museum has been able to purchase a section of one of Jane’s letters, thanks to a generous outpouring of public support. The letter,…
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Third Time’s the Charm: More Fun Facts about Austen
Though this may not be as exciting as Sheldon’s “Fun With Flags” segments on The Big Bang Theory TV show, today’s episode features the “Third Time’s the Charm Quiz” with questions about Jane Austen’s life and times. (It’ll also be the last quiz, so all those who stress over test-taking…
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More Questions–More Answers!–on Austen’s Life and Times
Last month’s pop quiz was so much fun that we’ll do another one today. These questions go somewhat further afield, so they may tax your Regency knowledge. As before, there’s no rhyme or reason to topic order. Today’s quiz has twenty-five questions. The answers appear below each question to avoid…
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Pop Quiz for All You Students Suffering Spring Fever
Today brings a little fun and games in celebration of spring. (It comes late to the high desert in Oregon. Our trees are just now in bloom. See the dogwood by the headline.) Today’s blog features a quiz on a variety of Jane Austen topics. There’s no rhyme or reason…
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Survey of Janeites, Thoughts on the Results
In 2008, the Jane Austen Society of North America took a survey of its membership about Austen’s characters. I’ve come across the results several times. I thought I’d recap them here and offer a few thoughts of my own. Fully one-third of Janeites read three or more of Austen’s books…
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Sailing the Seas on a Family Ship
Last month, we saw how Jane Austen’s family used connections to help promote the careers of her two sailor brothers, Frank and Charles. When we left them, the Napoleonic wars were ending, causing a glut of naval officers. The Austen brothers’ lack of connections—their few sponsors had fallen out of…
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Networking in the Age of Sail
Unlike Army officers, members of the Royal Navy could obtain commissions without purchasing them. This difference created opportunities for the penurious sons of gentlemen like Jane Austen’s father, the Rev. George Austen. Two of his younger sons, Frank and Charles, joined the Navy when they were barely into their teens….
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London Run Riot: The Overt Politics of Austen’s Gothic Romp
During Jane Austen’s life and beyond, England was beset with constant internal strife—labor protests, political riots, and military mutinies. These came as the result of falling wages–caused by increasing mill automation–high-priced food, and the harsh conditions and poor pay of military life. From the mid-1790s through the end of Austen’s…
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Persuasion–and Anne Elliot!–Comes to Kansas City
The 2018 annual general meeting of the Jane Austen Society of North America in Kansas City focused on Persuasion, Jane Austen’s last and most poignant novel. The AGM featured numerous insights into both the book and issues related to it, including my own talk on the influence of Jane Austen’s…
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Balancing Historical Figures and the Story
Recent posts have been about the best way to use history in historical fiction. The goal is to use as much history as possible without burying the story in unnecessary details or derailing the story with unnecessary asides. You want to have history support your story. You don’t want the…
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Judy O’Grady and the Purchased Lady
While researching The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen, my trilogy on the life of Jane Austen, I ran across a fascinating book called Judy O’Grady and the Colonel’s Lady: The Army Wife and Camp Follower Since 1660. The work is titled after a Kipling poem, in which he says the…
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Seeing Fanny Price Through Modern Eyes
Until this week, I had seen all of the major film adaptations of Jane Austen’s novels—the theater releases, the BBC series, etc.—except one. I have now completed the sweep by finally watching Patricia Rozema’s 1999 version of Mansfield Park. I missed the movie when it came out. After reading a…
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Jane Austen’s Chawton Sanctuary
Jane Austen was a religious woman but not a religious writer. The good prevail in her works, but unlike one of her favorite authors, Samuel Richardson, or one of her contemporaries, Maria Edgeworth, the outcome is the result of the characters’ decisions and actions. It is not the result of…
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Foreign invasion of Bath? Quelle Horreur!
The lovely city of Bath, England, might be the most regular character in Jane Austen’s novels. Much romantic intrigue occurs there in Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. A clergyman finds a wife there in Emma. The bad boys in the other three novels head in that direction—one known to have seduced…
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Retracing Themes in Austen’s Life and Works
My blogs over the last two years have covered a wide expanse of territory: Jane Austen’s fiction; her speech patterns; her looks; her romantic life, both real and possible; the close biological relationships of people involved in courtships; the effect of the war on her life and that of her…
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Jane Austen and the Casualties of War
Jane Austen had two brothers who served in the navy, Frank and Charles, and two who served in the militia, Edward and Henry. Father George Austen and brother James, as clergymen, were discouraged from bearing arms but recruited soldiers and militiamen from the local population. It was the women in…
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Book Launch of ‘Austen Marriage’; Plus Excerpt, Giveaway!
Having written the last several times about Jane Austen’s relationships with men–and the confusion about which relationships were real and which ones lacked supporting evidence–I am announcing today the launch of the last volume in my trilogy based on her life, “The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen.” True to what…
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Last Volume of ‘Marriage’ Available for Pre-order
My last several posts have provided background on what little is known about Jane Austen’s relationships with men. In short, several promising relationships ended prematurely and, according to tradition, she lived a quiet life as a spinster, composing or extensively revising her novels at the family cottage in the village…
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A Dance to Time: When Wellington Became a Janeite
The “Long War,” as it was known in the day, raged between England and France during almost all of Jane Austen’s adulthood. Two of her brothers served in the Navy, and the others served in or supported the Militia. England’s problem from the start was that it had no effective…
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A Modest Proposal: Might the Spinster Have Married?
As reported in last month’s blog about Jane Austen’s romantic attachments, biographers dutifully recount the story of Jane’s acceptance/rejection of a proposal by Harris Bigg-Wither, a young, brash man six years her junior, on Thursday-Friday, 2-3 December 1802. The story goes that Jane and Cassandra journeyed to Manydown, the Bigg-Wither…
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Brotherly Love?
In a recent blog, I wrote about the general but oft ignored belief that cousins should not marry. Cousin marriage was fashionable in Jane Austen’s time among the wealthy, but it also happened more than once in Jane’s immediate family. Her brother Henry (top, by headline) married their cousin Eliza, and the…
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Engaging Stories About Miss Austen and Her Beaus
How many times was Jane Austen engaged—or married (!)? Thoughts about her short life—and her emotional life, whatever it may have been—bubble up in this year of 2017, the 200th anniversary of her death. Officially, Austen was engaged once, for less than a day, to a young, callow Harris Bigg-Wither,…
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To Celebrate Austen’s Life, Chance to Win Collector’s Edition
Jane Austen lovers the world over have spent the last week commemorating the loss of the author at the far too young age of 41. She died on July 18, 1817, and was buried in Winchester Cathedral on July 24. In recognition of her passing, we are inviting our fellow…
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Marrying a Cousin
There’s a whole lot of marrying going on in Jane Austen’s novels. Among the major characters of her six major novels, at least nineteen couples tie the knot. One wedding was so singular that it could have been halted in certain quarters, then and now. The marriage in Mansfield Park…
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Miss Austen—No Politician, She
In this, the 200th anniversary year of Jane Austen’s death, we learn that white supremacists are co-opting the English author in support of a racial dictatorship, shocked opponents are claiming that true readers are “rational, compassionate, liberal-minded people,” and conservatives are chiding Janeites for assuming that great literature can be…
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Austen and MTM: Pleasantly Subversive
When the news came recently that Mary Tyler Moore had died, I joined millions of others in feeling a deep sadness at the loss of an actress who had lit up television during a relatively bland era. Before she was done, Moore won seven Emmy Awards and two Tony Awards,…
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Impressions of Australia
On the week-long visit to Australia to discuss the time and works of Jane Austen with fellow Janeites, the schedule set up so that I had a day on and a day off, giving me the opportunity to see a little of the country-continent. This was a welcome change from…
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Austen in Australia
I spent the week in Australia, giving presentations on the history and work of Jane Austen. The lectures took me to Sydney, where I spoke at the Annual General Meeting of the Jane Austen Society of Australia, and at a local library; and at the Austen societies in Newcastle and…
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Do Austen’s Novels Reveal Her Views on Slavery?
My last blog explored the effort in England to abolish the slave trade—the buying and selling of human flesh—which was accomplished in 1807—as well as the effort to eliminate slavery itself throughout all British possessions, which was not accomplished until 1840. Slave owners were helped through their “difficult” six-year period…
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Fight Against Slavery Carried on Beyond Austen’s Life
Slavery was one of the most contentious issues of Jane Austen’s time. Some scholars claim that she ignored the issue or even accepted the legitimacy of the practice. Others claim that her novel Mansfield Park serves as an anti-slavery tract. For certain, Austen would have tackled the complex issue in a…
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Strolling in the Pleasure Gardens of Jane Austen’s Bath
Whereas the first day of the Jane Austen Festival in Bath was as dreary as anyone could wish to avoid—enlivened only by the gaily dressed ladies and gentlemen who braved the rain for the Promenade—the next day broke off as sunny and pleasant as anyone in England would wish to enjoy….
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Rain in Bath Fails to Dampen Spirits During Promenade
Being in Bath for the annual Jane Austen Festival was a special treat, and things were so busy that the first time I’ve had to write is two days later, in another Austen haunt about 90 miles east of Bath–Hampshire. Even these thoughts are quickly put together. No coherent theme has emerged!…
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News Release
The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen Trilogy’s Volume II Now Available for Pre-order Official book launch at Jane Austen Festival in Bath, England, in September PORTLAND, Oregon, August 30, 2016 – Volume II of The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen Trilogy, a new historical novel based on Austen’s life, is…
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Chawton House Library Conversations: June Podcast
The Chawton House is very closely tied to Jane Austen’s history. In 1781, Thomas Knight II inherited the house. He and his wife Catherine had no children of their own, but through family connections with Jane Austen’s father, the Reverend George Austen, they eventually adopted Jane’s third brother, Edward, when…
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Help us pick the cover for Volume II
Volume II of The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen trilogy will be launched in September at the Jane Austen Festival in Bath, England. In the new book you will learn more about Jane Austen during the “lost years” of her life—seven years of which historians have little to no information. The…
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North America Winner of Sweepstakes Announced
Please join me in congratulating Karen vanMeenen of Rochester, New York, the Grand Prize Winner from the US in The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen Sweepstakes 2016. She has won a fantastic Grand Prize trip for two to the beautiful UNESCO World Heritage City of Bath, England, to attend the…
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UK Winner of Sweepstakes Announced for Bath Festival
Drum roll, please! It’s time to announce our Grand Prize Winner from Great Britain in “The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen” Sweepstakes 2016. Vicki Smith of Manea in Cambridgeshire, England, is our lucky Grand Prize Winner! She has won an exciting Grand Prize trip for two to the beautiful UNESCO…
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Sweepstakes update, Austen movie fun
All– Just a brief update to let you know that “The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen” Sweepstakes 2016 has concluded, and we’ll be announcing our Grand Prize Winners soon. Watch for updates here. Also, Mary Jo Murphy in the New York Times ranked all the Austen movies done to date….
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A Taxing Subject for Americans–and for Austen and her Peers
April 15 being tax day in the U.S., I thought it appropriate to celebrate the many ways the tax man visited Jane Austen and her fellow citizens during Regency times. The tax philosophy of the day echoed the views of the famous tax philosopher, George Harrison of the “Beatles”: “If…
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JASNA Interviews Collins
Collins Hemingway was recently interviewed by Christopher Duda, Treasurer of the Eastern Pennsylvania Region of the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA), about The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen and what inspired him to write a novel about one of the world’s most beloved English writers. Listen to the…
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First Monthly Winner of 2016 Bath Sweepstakes
We have our first winner of the monthly prize of our 2016 Bath Sweepstakes, which is a signed copy of The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen. This is the first of several smaller prizes before we select the grand prize winner, which will be a trip for two to Bath,…
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Austen Sweepstakes Offers Grand Prize of Trips to Bath
Trips to Bath, England, are the grand prizes of The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen Sweepstakes 2016, to coincide with the city’s annual Jane Austen Festival in September 2016. The sweepstakes, which honors Jane Austen, her work, and the many readers around the world who have made her a literary…
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News Release
Enter The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen Sweepstakes 2016; Win One of Two Grand Prize Trips to Bath, England PORTLAND, Oregon, Jan. 4, 2016 – The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen Sweepstakes 2016 was announced today by author Collins Hemingway in celebration of Jane Austen, the world-renowned English novelist, and…
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Reader Thoughts on ‘Marriage,’ Austen’s Journey of the Soul
’Tis better to give than receive, but in this holiday season I would like to take a moment to thank readers for what I have received—their very generous thoughts and comments on my novel, The Marriage of Miss Jane Austen. What touched me most was the number of times “beautiful”…
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Wilsonville Spokesman
December 16, 2015 Marrying Microsoft and Jane Austen It may come as some surprise that after several decades co-authoring nonfiction works on science and business with the likes of Bill Gates, Eugene-based writer Collins Hemingway — who is unrelated to Ernest Hemingway — should direct his efforts to a literary…
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Diana Jordan podcast interview with Collins Hemingway
An interview with Author Collins Hemingway
booksworld.com
October 9 Collins Hemingway Pens Novel About Jane Austen
GeekWire
October 8, 2015 Former Microsoft exec, who co-authored a book with Bill Gates, tackles the world of Jane Austen
News Release
Ex-Microsoft Exec Goes from High Tech to Novel About Jane Austen Historical fiction imagines impact of mature love on author’s life, work; Early reviews positive on ‘imaginative journey of the soul’ PORTLAND, Oregon, October 8, 2015 – A long-time Microsoft executive who co-authored a book on business and the Internet…
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Clarkson, Anning, Austen Ring
Of Jane Austen’s known jewelry, her topaz cross came from her younger brother, Charles, who bought one each for his sisters with his first navy prize in 1801. Her turquoise bracelet probably came from another brother, Edward, as a memento relating to the death of his beloved wife Elizabeth…
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