It seems to be Jane Austen week in Fort Wayne
…because the Journal Gazette has two articles about Jane Austen today.
The first is an interview with a professor of English from Manchester College, Katherine Ings.
This native of Prince Edward Island doesn’t consider herself as expert as some “Jane-ites” on Austen. Still, during a trip to England, she searched out Austen artifacts in the British Museum in London and visited Austen’s haunts in Bath — seeing the carry-about desk on which she secretly wrote and tasting the waters at Bath’s famous Pump Room. “They smell of sulfur,” Ings says. “They’re really foul.”
Why do people insist upon putting a dash in the word “Janeites,” anyway?
Also, Jane Austen’s writing desk is in the British Library, not the British Museum. We observed it there (in the Treasures Room! With the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Magna Freaking Carta! The very best company indeed!). And we found that the water served in the Pump Room really is not that bad…it has a metallic tang and of course is warm, which is a little strange.
“The British audience is getting a different ending from the North American audience. The Jane Austen International Society is not at all pleased about this. The North American version ends with a kiss, and the British version does not, and there is considerable debate about why the North American audience needs an explicit display of affection.”
What, pray, is the “Jane Austen International Society?” And for the record, it’s not so much the display of affection that is the objection, it’s the bad romance-novel dialogue that accompanies it.
There also is an editorial by Catherine Lee, executive director of the Fort Wayne Cinema Center, objecting to much of P&P3. We agree with much of what she says but know from experience that she is whistling into the wind. 
December 26th, 2005 at 8:31 am
What, pray, is the “Jane Austen International Society?” Well, what are we waiting for! Let’s build the better mouse trap, and they will come! Mags, you be President and I can be treasurer… let’s restrict membership to sycophantic minions, though..
ps. you’d better register http://www.jais.org before someone else does…
December 26th, 2005 at 3:59 pm
let’s restrict membership to sycophantic minions, though
Well, THAT goes without saying.
January 7th, 2006 at 9:10 pm
Hi–just for the record, I did indeed see Austen’s desk at the British Library; the reporter must have substituted “museum” for “library.”
January 7th, 2006 at 10:46 pm
Hi Katharine,
Bloody reporters!
Thanks for posting.
The desk is really beautifully displayed. It made me happy how well the display was put together.