Jane Austen Summer Program

08/26/2026

"Pugs in Art" was first presented at the Jane Austen Summer Program of 2016, entitled "Mansfield Park and Its Afterlives." Rae Yan explores the symbolic meanings and historical popularity of the pug, the constant companion of Lady Maria Bertram throughout Mansfield Park: https://www.austenforteachers.org/post/pugs-in-art

Image: William Hogarth, The Painter and his Pug, 1745. Self-portrait with his pug, Trump.

08/26/2026

"Mr. Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve, and caprice, that the experience of three and twenty years had been insufficient to make his wife understand his character. Her mind was less difficult to develope. She was a woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper. When she was discontented she fancied herself nervous. The business of her life was to get her daughters married; its solace was visiting and news."- from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Volume I Chapter I

Happy 80th Birthday to Alison Steadman who portrayed Mrs. Bennet in the 1995 BBC television adaptation of Pride and Prejudice!

08/26/2026

Happy National Dog Day!

08/25/2026

"As soon as the producers came to me and asked if I was interested in doing Pride and Prejudice, I scuttled away and read the book as fast as I could. At the time, I was reading Charles Bukowski, and so Jane Austen was a kind of shock, really. I was shocked by how modern and how exciting and vital the book seemed. I felt like I’d missed out on something, and I was amazed by how young Jane Austen was when she wrote the book—she was 21 when she wrote that first draft—and how young the characters were."- Excerpt from Harper’s Bazaar's interview with director Joe Wright titled 'Pride and Prejudice Director Joe Wright on Scrapped Scenes, Darcy Auditions, and the New Netflix Series', published Apr 21, 2025

Happy Birthday to Joe Wright who directed the 2005 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice!

08/25/2026

"For one daughter, his eldest, he would really have given up any thing, which he had not been very tempted to do. Elizabeth had succeeded, at sixteen, to all that was possible, of her mothers' rights and consequence; and being very handsome, and very like himself, her influence had always been great, and they had gone on together most happily." - from Jane Austen's Persuasion, Volume I Chapter I

Happy 60th Birthday to Julia Davis who portrayed Elizabeth Elliot in the 2007 ITV television adaptation of Persuasion!

08/25/2026

"Mr. Collins was not a sensible man, and the deficiency of nature had been but little assisted by education or society: the greatest part of his life having been spent under the guidance of an illiterate and miserly father; and though he belonged to one of the universities, he had merely kept the necessary terms, without forming at it any useful acquaintance. The subjection in which his father had brought him up, had given him originally great humility of manner, but it was now a good deal counteracted by the self-conceit of a weak head, living in retirement, and the consequential feelings of early and unexpected prosperity. A fortunate chance had recommended him to Lady Catherine de Bourgh when the living of Hunsford was vacant; and the respect which he felt for her high rank, and his veneration for her as his patroness, mingling with a very good opinion of himself, of his authority as a clergyman, and his rights as a rector, made him altogether a mixture of pride and obsequiousness, self-importance and humility."- from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Volume I Chapter XV

Happy Birthday to Tom Hollander who portrayed Mr. Collins in the 2005 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice!

08/25/2026

Thank you to everyone who attended Jane Austen and Company's talk 'Jane Austen's Vulnerable Young Men' with Celia Easton. If you missed it, you can watch the event on Jane Austen & Co's website or YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pfl3jR4SE8

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Starting with Edward Ferrars, we will take a look at Austen’s creat...

08/24/2026

"I write in the greatest distress; the most unfortunate event has just taken place. Mr Johnson has hit on the most effectual manner of plaguing us all. He had heard I imagine by some means or other, that you were soon to be in London, and immediately contrived to have such an attack of the gout, as must at least delay his journey to Bath, if not wholly prevent it. I am persuaded the gout is brought on, or kept off at pleasure; it was the same, when I wanted to join the Hamiltons to the Lakes; and three years ago when I had a fancy for Bath, nothing could induce him to have a gouty symptom."- from Jane Austen's Lady Susan, Letter 28 Mrs Johnson To Lady Susan

Happy Birthday to Stephen Fry who portrayed Mr. Johnson in the 2016 film Love & Friendship, an adaptation of Lady Susan!

08/24/2026

"Tom Bertram must have been thought pleasant, indeed, at any rate; he was the sort of young man to be generally liked, his agreeableness was of the kind to be oftener found agreeable than some endowments of a higher stamp, for he had easy manners, excellent spirits, a large acquaintance, and a great deal to say; and the reversion of Mansfield Park, and a baronetcy, did no harm to all this." - from Jane Austen's Mansfield Park, Volume I Chapter V

Happy Birthday to James D'Arcy who portrayed Tom Bertram in 2007 television adaptation of Mansfield Park!

08/24/2026

In her talk 'Lord Mansfield and the Slave Ship Zhong', Professor Danielle Christmas discuss the historical connection between the Mansfield decision and Jane Austen's novel, Mansfield Park. Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjKpVXBVLLY