JASNA has received permission from the Modern Language Association to offer a recording of the “What’s the Word?” radio program on Pride and Prejudice, broadcast this past week (and which will be broadcast on other public radio stations throughout the U.S.) featuring Austen scholars Marcia McClintock Folsom, Rachel Brownstein and Susan Staves. The program is 30 minutes long and discusses the plot and social context of the novel. Do check it out–it’s quite good. (As the site points out, only those with broadband should attempt to stream it–but those with dialup and lots of time can try downloading it.)

The JASNA Web site is becoming a really impressive resource for Jane Austen fans! (And the RSS feed is keeping us up to date on the latest additions!)

After being generally disappointed by the first two selections in ITV’s Jane Austen Season, as an eternal optimist (stop laughing) we are looking forward to Persuasion, airing tomorrow. From the beginning there has been an air of trying to get it right about this production rather than attempting to recreate it.

Alert Janeite Holly alerted us to a couple of articles about the film which only serve to increase our optimism. The Manchester Evening News has an interview with Sally Hawkins, who comes off as an intelligent and thoughtful woman. The article, unsurprisingly, discusses The Snog up front and center:

She adds: “I think the purists will have something to say about that but I hope they’re forgiving and understand that we’re appealing to a modern audience who expect it now.

Sally, seriously: if it’s not out of place, we Middle-Aged Austen Whores have no objection to a nice smooch. Really! (more…)

As part of the “Beyond the Book” events currently going on in Florida, the Little Bookworms bookstore in Lakewood Ranch will hold a Pride and Prejudice Mother-Daughter Tea Party this afternoon from 2 to 4 p.m. There will be a reading from the novel and monologues performed by teenage actresses from Suncoast Youth Theater. The Bradenton Herald has more information.

Reading this, we become somewhat resigned to the “teen edition” of Pride and Prejudice that Bloomsbury has put out (we hasten to add that the book is not abridged in any way–just has a supposedly “teen-friendly” cover and supplemental material). This sounds like a great event.

We think this is just online and not in stores, but Tesco has The Jane Austen Collection–a boxed set of DVDs of the BBC Jane Austen adaptations from the 70s and 80s except for P&P and Persuasion, which are the 90s versions–on sale today for £49.99, a savings of £50.

Becoming Jane has been released in Australia, and the media is right on top of it. The Courier-Mail has the perhaps inevitable article about why anyone would want to make an Austen biopic.

Austen wrote beautifully romantic stories but away from the novels she appeared to be more of a novice, dying, aged 41, never having married.

Not that she didn’t have a chance. Some people believe she received three proposals.

Three? We can think of one definite, and one possible (her sister-in-law’s gormless brother). Someone remind us of the third. (One hopes they don’t mean Tom Lefroy!) (more…)