Robert Bell, a professor at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, has been named the Outstanding Baccalaureate College Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. According to the press release, Dr. Bell “teaches courses on Jane Austen and George Eliot, Shakespeare, and James Joyce, as well as general courses on poetry, the history of the novel, and English literature.” The AustenBlog Staff extends its congratulations to Dr. Bell. Who says the motto of liberal arts majors is “do you want fries with that?”

Hayley Mills, whom AustenBlog Readers of A Certain Age will remember from such films as the original version of THE PARENT TRAP, will appear this weekend in a one-woman play that includes readings from Jane Austen’s work. The play is called “A Rare Pattern” and is part of Chamber Music Plus Southwest in Arizona. The shows are on Saturday, November 20 in Phoenix and Sunday, November 21 in Tucson. Send in a review if you get to see it!

Anne Tyler, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Breathing Lessons and The Accidental Tourist, considers Jane Austen her “all time favorite novelist,” according to USA Today (via Yahoo).

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s act “All the Great Books (abridged)” includes “a dating game with three ‘bachelorettes’ - Jane Austen, George Eliot and Virginia Woolf.” The Company is appearing at Washington University’s Edison Theatre this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, November 19 and 20, and all performances include a discussion with the company after the show. Other tour dates are available on the Company’s Web site. As always, we would love to publish a reader review!

And now, for a bit of levity…

Are you Elizabeth? Anne? Marianne? Even perhaps…Emma? Find out here!

In an article in the Philadephia Inquirer about online courtesy, Ralph Waldo Emerson is cited as an early “flamer”:

Writers in particular get criticized. Ralph Waldo Emerson said of Jane Austen: “Miss Austen’s novels seem to me vulgar in tone, sterile in artistic invention, imprisoned in the wretched conventions of English society, without genius, wit or knowledge of the world.” Thomas Carlyle, in turn, called Ralph Waldo Emerson “a hoary-headed toothless baboon.”

Let it be noted that Thomas Carlyle not only defended Our Dear Jane, but that he and Emerson were reportedly very good friends. The moral of the story, Gentle Readers, is that nobody insults Jane and gets away with it!

The website rediff.com reports that BRIDE AND PREJUDICE, orginally slated to open on Christmas Day, will not be appearing in US theatres until mid-February:

It is not uncommon for Hollywood distributors to juggle the release date when the market seems too crowded or the test screenings suggest the film needs more time and less competition to find an audience. . .Miramax honcho Harvey Weinstein, who scored a big hit with the musical Chicago and had admired Gurinder Chadha’s Bend It Like Beckham, had very high hopes for Bride And Prejudice. But the much-hyped film opened to mixed to downbeat reviews in the United Kingdom and India. It opened at top spot in the UK but with a not-so-great $3 million over the weekend. . . In the second week in the UK — not to forget India — the film that cost about $7 million lost a big chunk of its audience. Its gross in the UK is at $9 million, half of what Bend It Like Beckham minted, and the film, fast on its way out, is being shown in just about 50 screens.

The other downside of the later release of the film (beside not being able to see it sooner!) is that BRIDE AND PREJUDICE is no longer eligible for nominations in the Oscars and Golden Globes.

The Baltimore Sun interviews Azar Nafisi , author of Reading Lolita in Tehran.

From the article:

Iranian writer Azar Nafisi believes in using the power of imagination to change women’s lives.

Her best-selling book, Reading Lolita in Tehran, tells the story of a clandestine book group Nafisi held at her own home in defiance of government book bans. The literature she shared with her seven female students - works by Vladimir Nabokov, Jane Austen, Henry James, F. Scott Fitzgerald - offered temporary escape and perspective on the totalitarian regime in which they were living. Inside their teacher’s home, the young women shed their veils and gained a new way of perceiving themselves as well as the fundamentalism oppressing them.

As always, check Bug Me Not for a user name and password if you wish to bypass registration.

The Christian Science Monitor has published an article discussing Jane Austen’s increasing appeal in today’s society:

Perhaps bored with the predictable cycle of conquest and consummation on “Sex and the City,” popular culture is rediscovering Jane Austen and her subtle love stories. From “Regency House,” a PBS reality series that challenges men and women to dress up in Georgian costume and court each other in the traditional manner described in Austen’s novels, to several new movie versions of “Pride and Prejudice,” audiences are intrigued by an era in which romance boiled slowly and passions bubbled under the surface. . . For Hollywood, the attraction of the stories lies in their appeal to the date-movie crowd. But Austen fans say what differentiates the author from similarly plotted Harlequin novels are her witty, often satirical, comments about human nature. “They are universal,” says Sue Hughes, editor of Jane Austen’s Regency World, a bimonthly magazine. “It’s the way people behave and work in connection with each other. The way she’s observed them so cleverly is really what matters.”

The article gives several nods to the various Austen adaptations released in the past decade, from the popular 1995 PRIDE AND PREJUDICE miniseries to BRIDGET JONES’ DIARY and it’s sequel. The crew here at AustenBlog are delighted to hear that the rest of the world is slowly catching on to the brilliance of Our Dear Jane!

The Leaky Cauldron reports that some of the Harry Potter cast are donating books to “The Big Book Auction” which supports LEPRA, a UK charity devoted to fighting leprosy and AIDS. Emma Thompson, who plays Madame Trelawney in HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN, has donated a signed copy of “Persuasion.” The auction, which starts today, is located on Ebay, and will continue for the next 9 days.

Other actors known for their work in Austen adaptations are donating books as well: Kate Winslet (SENSE AND SENSIBILITY 1996), Alan Rickman (SENSE AND SENSIBILITY 1996), Judi Dench (PRIDE AND PREJUDICE 2005), Julia Sawalha (PRIDE AND PREJUDICE 1995), and author Helen Fielding (”Bridget Jones’ Diary) have all offered up some of their favorites.

Fielding is offering a signed copy of “Pride and Prejudice” as well as an autographed picture.