?Pride and Prejudice? lovers descended in Brooklyn for the 33rd annual Jane Austen Society of North America general meeting this weekend. At the decidedly un-Pemberley Brooklyn Marriott at Borough Hall, Jane Austen lovers proudly displayed their devotion to the 19th century novelist, some with name tags bearing the words ?Life Member? and ?First-time Attendee,? others decked out in period wear that surely got a couple of stares on the C train.
At the conference, titled ?Sex, Money and Power,? keynote speaker Anna Quindlen, a journalist and author of ?One True Thing? and ?Black and Blue,? began her speech by leading the audience in reading the famous opening sentence of ?Pride and Prejudice?: ?It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.?
Quindlen spoke to an audience of over 700 about the new literary sphere that Austen ncarved out for herself from a field overwhelmingly dominated by men, writing about day-to-day, undramatic moments. Austen?s talent lay in highlighting dynamic character balances in the home, portraying women with a nuance they had rarely received before.
?In the battlefield of the kitchen table, Jane Austen was a general,? Quindlen said.
Quindlen said she shared empathy when Austen upon learning that the lengths to which the latter went to hide her role as an author. Reading from a letter by Austen?s nephew, Quindlen described how the writer refused to fix a creaky door that led to her room so that she would be alerted when a visitor was coming, thus be able to hide her blotter and paper.
This was the first time in 25 years that the meeting took place in New York City. Attendees, some of whom had from as far as New Zealand and Japan, participated in guided tours of the Brooklyn waterfront and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, staged readings at The Morgan Library and Museum and even a costume promenade and Regency-themed ball.
Other speakers included Cornel West, the headline-making Princeton University professor and self-described ?Austen freak?, Sandy Lerner, the founder of the Chawton House Library in England, and Daniel James Coal, an adjunct professor at New York University.
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, who introduced Quindlen, stirred up the crowd with his Brooklyn-meets-Austen jokes. ??Sex, Money and Power? sounds like a Jay-Z song,? the diminutive but gregarious politico quipped.
At a book publishing panel, industry veterans spoke of the unbroken popularity of Jane Austen?s novels across print and e-book formats. ?Pride and Prejudice? is still one of the best-selling books in the United States, and publishers continue to release new editions to appeal to different crowds. The Penguin Threads series, for example, have hand-stitched covers that were inspired by Etsy enthusiasts.
Needless to say, it was a very informed audience that sat before the various panels, one that was familiar with more than just the books. When one speaker wondered out loud when the BBC miniseries ran, the crowd shouted loudly and unanimously, ?1995!?
And of course, any sex and power discussion about Jane Austen would hardly be complete without mention of Colin Firth, the star of the BBC series and arguably the most popular Mr. Darcy ever.
?That scene where Colin walks up the hill with a wet shirt and boots ? I think that inspired a lot of people to write their own erotic Jane Austen stories,? Deb Werksman, an Austen-related manuscript editor, said.
Sitting in the crowd among legions of rather elderly Austen die-hards was quite the show. They oohed and ahhed (literally) always at the perfect moment, including when one panelist confessed to stealing early editions of Austen?s works from a rare boks library, and guffawed at any mention of vampire Darcys, or, even better, Christian Grey-type Darcys.
?You don?t see 50 shades of Ayn Rand,? writer Ann Herendeen gloated, winking at the fans.
And Linda Berdoll, an author of Austen erotica, said, much to the crowd?s enjoyment: ?One critic told me that Mr. Darcy?s penis was an entire character on its own!?
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