A turn about the room

You guys, you guys! I went to Jane Austen camp! I am totally not kidding.

Backstory: I love Jane Austen. Pride & Prejudice is my favorite book ever, hands down. I've been to her cottage in Chawton and seen the tiny writing writing table where she worked. I've been to her burial site. I geeked out in Bath on the gravel walk, where a key scene takes place in Persuasion. I love her.

So a couple of weeks ago, when I saw on Twitter that my alma mater, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, was hosting a four-day conference for the 200th anniversary of Pride & Prejudice, I thought about it for 24 hours -- to just, you know, pretend to be an adult and make rational decisions -- and then signed up.

I was a little worried how scholarly it would be. Indeed some of it was. Two or three professors just about read directly from their papers on things like "the Lockean education" and "the networked novel" that went over my head. And I wondered if I had made a mistake in coming.

(The video here is me dancing the Duke of Kent's Waltz!)

But then there were fabulous discussion groups (even though we had a bit of a Catherine de Bourgh in our group, which appropriately was in the posh octagon room redubbed Rosings for the event) in which we talked about the book in-depth. And other panels on topics such as P&P as a precursor for romance novels, a post-Colonial look at P&P using Sri Lanka as a test case, how costumes help detail character in the 2005 movie. One participant brought some books from her impressive P&P collection, including an edition with the lovely Hugh Thompson illustrations. I have the peacock illustration on my Nook cover, a tote bag and a T-shirt. But to hold the book in my hands? Unbelievable.

And the friends I met were super fun, including a teacher from Virginia, and a mother and her 11-year-old daughter who has read more Jane Austen than I have. All so great.

But the best part -- the best part -- was that we learned to dance ... in preparation for the ball. A ball! The steps were hard to remember, but no one cared. Well, the caller might have cared. I felt bad for him, and the patient dance enthusiasts who were there to help us look good.

The ball itself was fab. Historical drinks from a local bartender who loves that kind of stuff, a silent auction, live music, the dancing itself, whist (easy peasy!). The music even stopped when "Mr. Darcy" and "Caroline" showed up. All in all, just so lovely. (Edited to add: Lots of people had period dresses, many didn't. I was lucky in that I was a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding years ago and the dress was PERFECT for the ball.)

Now there's a Jane Austen ball here in Alexandria that I may go to and another workshop and I've joined the Jane Austen Society of North America, so this is now a slippery slope. And UNC is planning on doing a Jane Austen camp every year. Next year is on Sense & Sensibility. I'm on the fence about going -- but mostly just because I don't know the book as well as P&P or Persuasion. But I'm definitely leaning toward going!

You can read more about the camp here and see some of the collector's P&P books here. I'll leave you with a slideshow of more pics from the weekend: the Rosings room, dance lessons, the ball and the lovely dance book they made for us.

My girl Jane

My fave cover of my fave book.
Source: Archive.org

Monday is the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen's "Pride & Prejudice." If you haven't read this book, WHY THE HELL NOT? It's only been my favorite book ever since, oh, about ninth grade. 

I remember it very clearly. The teacher was out or something or for some reason we spent like four days watching the 1980 TV adaptation of the book. And I was lost and gone forever. The frisson of excitement whenever headstrong, opinionated Elizabeth goes up against headstrong, opinionated and rich and handsome Mr. Darcy. The obligatory ball scenes. The turns about the room. After finishing the series, I immediately read the book. And I've done so a million times by now. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." Opening lines are so key to drawing readers in and P&P's is my absolute favorite. It's been used so often, it's a cliche by now, but reading it in print every time I open the book (I own several copies, digital and print), it's as fresh and fun and comforting as ever: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." Funny, clever, sly. You go into the book knowing this is more than just boy meets-cute girl.

The chemistry between Darcy and Elizabeth is off the charts. Every scene they're in, you want to yell: JUST KISS ALREADY. But of course, back then, that would've been the ruin of them both. But this is one of my favorite scenes:

[Darcy to Elizabeth:] "There is, I believe, in every disposition a tendency to some particular evil—a natural defect, which not even the best education can overcome."

"And your defect is to hate everybody."

"And yours," he replied with a smile, "is willfully to misunderstand them."

JUST KISS ALREADY.

And then, and then, there's the proposal scene where she spurns him. (Him: "You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you." Her response -- and I'm paraphrasing here: "Oh, hells no.") And then the visit to Pemberley, which is my favorite part of the book, because Darcy's being all nice, and Elizabeth is all: "What the eff? Why's he being so nice? And WOW he has a great house." 

But when they do finally get together, it's just so squee-worthy, because finally they can talk about their feelings. Which has my favorite line from the whole entire book, which I've bolded below.

Elizabeth's spirits soon rising to playfulness again, she wanted Mr. Darcy to account for his having ever fallen in love with her. "How could you begin?" said she. "I can comprehend your going on charmingly, when you had once made a beginning; but what could set you off in the first place?"

"I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun."

I mean, damn. That is why Darcy is my fictional boyfriend. I seesaw between Darcy and Mr. Thornton from "North & South." They're similar in many ways: rich, handsome, taciturn, arrogant, spurned at first by a self-righteous heroine. Sometimes Thornton has the edge, because he's a self-made man, where as Darcy was born into his wealth and status. But really thinking on it, Thornton I love mostly because of the miniseries -- and actor, ahem. But Darcy. There hasn't been an iteration of Darcy that I haven't loved, which leads me to believe it really is the character not just the person playing him, that I love.

Three Darcys: Matthew Macfadyen (2005), Colin Firth (1995),
Daniel Gordh ("Lizzie Bennet Diaries," 2012-13)

And Elizabeth, jeez. I aspire to be like her. Who doesn't? That's all there is to say.

So, thanks, Jane Austen, for writing my favorite book ever. 

Me at Chawton, where Jane lived for a few years.
This is the tiny writing table where she revised/wrote many of her books!