Reading

You are Cordially Invited to the JASNA~SC March Meeting with

Deborah Barnum
A Lecture and Book Discussion on

Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South: A Victorian Pride and Prejudice

Saturday. 16 March 2024, 2-4 pm
Bluffton Library
120 Palmetto Way Bluffton, SC 29910

********

North and South, published in 1855, has been described as an industrialized Pride and Prejudice. Set in a mill-town in Victorian England (think Manchester), it is a powerful book of social commentary. Margaret Hale, suddenly uprooted from her gentrified existence in southern England to a town in the noisy industrial north, is at first horrified by the poverty and suffering all around her. But as she begins to befriend the mill-workers and their families, and finds herself in a battle of wills with the wealthy mill owner John Thornton, she develops a sense of social justice and new insights about the human condition. She is a sparkling heroine; he is no Mr. Darcy, only better!

**************

Deb Barnum lectures on all things Jane Austen…This will be a visual talk on Gaskell and a discussion – read the book if you can – but not required!

~ Free & open to the public ~
~ Light refreshments served ~

For more information: jasnasouthcarolina@gmail.com /
Please visit our website: https://janeaustensocietysouthcarolina.org/

Hope you can join us!

c2024 JaneAusteninSouthCarolina

Please join us as we welcome JASNA President Mary Mintz to Charleston!

When: Saturday, February 17, 2024, 2 – 4 pm
Where: Gage Hall, 4 Archdale St, Charleston, SC 29401* Free and open to the public!
What: Mary will speak on:

“Jane Austen in American Periodicals:
Highlights of the First Hundred Years.”

References to Jane Austen appear more than one thousand times in U.S. magazines and journals during the nineteenth century. The articles that discuss Austen provide an interesting story of a woman author who was deeply appreciated for her writing and for her biography–for the most part. Perhaps, not surprisingly, her greatest advocates and defenders were other prominent women. Critical standards and critical language were vastly different from the twenty-first century interpretations we enjoy today. Continuous attention, appreciation, and even controversy helped ensure that her reputation remained alive for the first hundred years of her afterlife among American readers.

***************

Mary Mintz holds two master’s degrees, one in library science and one in English literature with a specialization in nineteenth century British literature. Her master’s paper focused on one of the prominent Victorian poets. After a forty-year professional career, she retired as the Associate Director for Outreach at the American University Library in Washington, D.C., as well as the Humanities and Honors Librarian. Now an emerita member of the faculty, she enjoyed working closely with history and literature students to support their original research. She has served JASNA nationally as the chair of the Nominating Committee, as an at-large-member of the Board of Directors, and as vice-president/president-elect. On December 16, 2022, she became the president of JASNA. She says, however, that one of her most rewarding roles in JASNA so far has been serving as Regional Coordinator of the DC Metropolitan Region. She took JASNA’s third tour of England in 1999 and became a life member in her first year of membership. Meeting JASNA members in their home Regions and at the Annual General Meeting is the part of being President that she enjoys the most.

* Please note that the SEWE is happening this same weekend – parking might be a bit of a hassle, so prepare accordingly: there is a parking lot behind the building, as well as on the outskirts, and two parking garages on Queen Street, which is a few minutes walk to Gage Hall.

Please Join Us!