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Calendar for 2013


Come join us for our first event of 2013

A talk by Linda Greenberg on The Vicar of Wakefield, followed by a talk about Fitzwilliam Darcy in honor of the 200th Anniversary of Pride & Prejudice

Saturday March 16, 2013
1 pm – 4 pm
Presidio Public Library
3150 Sacramento Street, near Baker St.,
San Francisco, CA

Our spring meeting will feature a talk by our own Linda Greenberg, who will speak on her PhD thesis  on Goldsmith's  "Vicar of Wakefield", which, she argues, is a source of and inspiration for the clerical hero, and so was an influence on Jane Austen in the creation of her many clerics.  A short overview of the novel will be presented at the meeting, but if you have a chance, give it a look before the meeting: it's a quick and fun read.

Then, in honor of the 200th anniversary of "Pride & Prejudice", the membership will be given an opportunity to discuss that most-fascinating of Austen heroes, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy.  Does Darcy deserve the adoration he has received from a besotted public? After all, he was amazingly nasty to poor Lizzy at the ball. And he doesn't actually say much in the novel. The discussion will be introduced by a short overview of the critical literature on Darcy, designed to provoke a heated discussion! It has been said that we all deserve our own Jane Austen; similarly, we all have in mind our own Mr. Darcy. Come and share your Darcy with us!

This event is free of cost and all are welcome. Address questions to rc@jasnanorcal.org.

Download Flyer here

Directions to Presidio Library


Past Events of 2012

Saturday March 31, 2012

"Second Impressions"
A presentation & book-signing, Noon to 4:00pm
Temple United Methodist Church

65 Beverly Street, San Francisco, CA
near Junipero Serra Blvd & 19th Avenue
within a half-mile of San Francisco State University

Our jane-ite year starts out with a bang! This meeting will be devoted to a most special presentation by a local-girl-makes-good, Sandy Lerner, aka Ava Farmer. Sandy, a graduate of Cal State-Fresno (BA, political science), Claremont Graduate School (MA, econometrics), and Stanford University (MS, statistics and computer science), went on, along with now ex-husband Len Bosack, to design the computer router upon which they co-founded Cisco Systems.

After leaving Cisco, Ms Lerner bought Chawton House, home of Jane Austen’s brother Edward, which, despite the fears of the local villagers, she lovingly restored. Sandy, most appropriately, devoted it to the housing of the Chawton House Library, a center devoted to early English women’s writing. Her wide-ranging interests also include the founding of “Urban Decay Cosmetics” (motto: “if pink makes you puke”); currently, she is running the 800 acre Ayrshire Farm in Virginia, promoting the benefits of locally produced, humanely-raised meats and organic produce. Ms. Lerner has received several honorary doctorates, from Washington and Jefferson College, Goucher College, University of Southhampton (England) and Shenandoah University.

Along with Anna Quindlen and Cornel West, she will be a keynote speaker at this year’s AGM in New York City, speaking on the importance of money in the novels – both wealth and poverty. Of greatest interest to our group, however, will be her remarks on her recently published novel Second Impressions (written under the nom de plume “Ava Farmer”). The result of twenty-six years of research, it promises to be the first historically-accurate sequel to Pride & Prejudice. Ms. Lerner will not only read from the novel and sign copies (some will be available for purchase), but will also discuss the process of researching and writing this lovingly-crafted sequel, and she will be open to questions about her other ventures.

This presentation is free and open to the public. The event will include tea and light refreshments.

Presentation & Book-Signing Flyer

Saturday June 16, 2012

From Byron to Box Hill - Pleasures Domestic & Continental
Summer Meeting and Picnic, Noon to 4 PM
Trinity Church

330 Ravenswood Avenue, Menlo Park, CA
Between El Camino Real & Middlefield Road

Our summer meeting will be held at Trinity Church in Menlo Park in the same delightful space where we held last summer’s meeting, where, like Fanny Price, we can “sit in the shade on a fine day, and look upon verdure,… the most perfect refreshment.” This meeting will feature a too-long absent friend of JASNA Norcal, Steve Arkin, Professor Emeritus and former Chair of the English Department of San Francisco State University. After a few years in Minnesota, Steve is returning to the Bay Area, although currently he is spending a few months in London and Geneva. This will surely inform his presentation on "Jane Austen and the Radicals: Domestic Arrangements in the Time of Napoleon", in which he will discuss the circle that gathered around Shelley in Geneva, contrasting the domesticity in Austen with its radical alternatives in the lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Claire Clairmont, and will consider some of the issues that were alive in Britain through the Napoleonic wars.

This will be followed by a Regency picnic, organized and presented by Anne Krause, who will offer a few words on “Culinary Novelties for Regency Foodies”.
Summer Meeting & Picnic Flyer

Saturday September 15, 2012, 12 Noon to 4 PM

Lady Bertram: Lover or Loafer?: An Exploration of Lady Bertams' Ennui as Sexuality by Professor Beard

Live Oak Park Community Center, Fireside Room, 1301 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA
(near Rose Street, north of Campus)

“A Fall Day with Jane Austen”: Sitting on the sofa with Lady Bertram and reading a letter by Austen, with clues to the British Abolition Movement.

Our first talk will be by Professor Pauline Beard, chair of the English Department at Pacific University, Oregon, and JASNA Travelling Scholar. She will speak on, "Sex and Debility in Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park: Lady Bertram, Loafer or Lover?". The presentation examines the debility in the aristocratic Lady Bertram and her sexuality, in terms of cultural studies of Regency attitudes which suggest that “stimulation was a source of disorder” and that “stimulation led to debility”. The theory applied to the women in Mansfield Park and some of the other novels opens up whole new areas of discussion.

After our usual Regency tea, the second presentation will be by our own Joyes Burris, who will speak on, "Was Jane Austen in Love with Mr. Clarkson, the Abolitionist?". In a letter of February 1813 Jane Austen wrote that she was "in love with the author [Charles Pasley] as I ever was with Clarkson or Buchanan, or even the two Mr. Smiths". In her talk, Joyes Burris will discuss the persons and works identified in this letter, with emphasis on Thomas Clarkson, abolitionist. A close reading of this letter will shed light on the abolition movement in Britain.

This is offered gratis to the public, & all are invited, although contributions to the Regency Tea will be gratefully accepted. Address questions to Anne Krause, rc@jasnanorcal.org

Fall Meeting Flyer

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Litquake 2012: Austen à Go-Go: The Enduring Appeal of Jane Austen

Hotel Rex, 562 Sutter Street, San Francisco
$10. Buy tickets online at http://litquake.org/calendar-of-events/austen-a-go-go-the-enduring-appeal-of-jane-austen

Why does Jane Austen, almost 200 years after her death, continue to inspire us? Biographies, movies, newly annotated versions of her novels, meetings of the Jane Austen Society of North America’s nearly 4,000 members…we clearly can’t get enough of her. Join Litquake as it welcomes a panel of authors inspired by all things Austen-related, and be ready for some surprises. Tea will be served!

Moderated by D.A.Miller,  with Karen Joy Fowler, Sandy Lerner, Kirke Mechem, & Elizabeth Newark  

D. A. Miller is a literary critic and film scholar. He is John F. Hotchkis Professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley, where he is also affiliated with the Department of Film and Media.  Miller’s work has been enormously influential in a wide range of fields in literary and cultural studies.  He is the author of several books including Jane Austen, or The Secret of Style (Princeton, 2005).

Sandy Lerner is author of Second Impressions, a sequel to Pride and Prejudice. Originally a Silicon Valley pioneer (the co-founder of Cisco Systems), she also founded Chawton House Library in England, and advocates for organic farming.  This spring JASNA Norcal had the privilege of a reading by Ms Lerner from her superbly-researched sequel, and all those who attended agree that she is one of the most fascinating speakers we have ever had!

Karen Joy Fowler is the bestselling author of The Jane Austen Book Club, as well as science fiction, short stories, and historical fiction. Her latest collection is What I Didn’t See: Stories. She lives in Santa Cruz.  Her talk at a JASNA Birthday Gala was a great hit.

Composer Kirke Mechem has written more than 250 works - including an opera of Pride and Prejudice. His first opera, Tartuffe, has had 400 performances. He has been called “the dean of American choral composers.” A couple of years ago a recital from his opera P&P was hosted by JASNA Norcal; the arias performed were exquisite and worthy of Austen.   His talk on the process of composing P&P proved him to have the wit and charm needed by such an endeavor.

London-born Elizabeth Newark has written seven children’s books, poetry, essays on Jane Austen and Charles Dickens, and a sequel to Pride and Prejudice. She is a member of the Jane Austen Society.  Elizabeth Newark is a treasure of JASNA Norcal, delighting us over the years with many beautifully crafted

Saturday December 8, 2012

Celebrate Jane Austen's 237th Birthday
9 am – 4 pm
San Francisco State University
Seven Hills Conference Center

$35 for JASNA Members, their Guests, and Students
$45 for Non-members
Registration deadline is December 5th.

Our yearly Jane Austen Birthday Gala includes the usual pleasures of a sumptuous breakfast, high tea, cake and a special toast, icebreaker, quiz, prizes, drawings, and JA-themed  mercantile. In addition there are three very special presentations:

The charge for the event is being kept at last year's levels; also, to encourage attendence by young Jane-ites, the JASNA attendence rate of $35 is being extended to students. Address questions to 650-755-3062 or e-mail rc@jasnanorcal.org.

Download Flyer here
Registration Form

Updated 03/03/2013