Even the van ride to the hotel was fun. The other two riders, Sue and Suzanne, were also going to the conference. Sue is a Shakespeare enthusiast and described how she had gone to England to help with the fund-raising efforts to get the Globe Theatre built (rebuilt?). http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/
Arrived on Friday morning at 10:00 - just in time to register and get to my first breakout session which was the English Country Dance class from 10:30 to noon. I had been to two classes before this and so recognized some of the movements such as 'casting' and 'crossing.' I wish they would pick 3 dances and call them The Jane Austen dances that everyone should learn. If we novices could focus on just a small number of dances at first, we'd have a chance to memorize them.
Following lunch on our own (I went to the BBQ place across the street. It was ok.) We heard Dr. Joan Ray in the first plenary session. Her topic was "S&S as Austen's Problem Novel." She addressed the fact that many readers feel a sort of unease after reading S&S, and that unease has to do with Brandon marrying Marianne at the end instead of Willoughby. In fact many of the attendees at the AGM were wearing buttons that said either "Team Brandon" or "Team Willoughby." After hearing Dr. Ray's address can there be any doubt that Team Brandon won!?
For those who are hearing-impaired, the hearing-assistive device that was made available to us was a god-send. Dr. Ray's talk was the first lecture I've heard in years where I could hear every single word! I urge all future AGM hosts to take the care that was taken at this AGM to provide such high-quality devices. Usually these things work very poorly with lots of static. These did cut out for a while during one of the sessions, but other than that they were absolutely wonderful.
For breakout session A, I listened to Joan Strasbaugh, publisher at Jones Books Press, whose talk was entitled "In the Beginning: Sense and Sensibility -- With Hot Sauce." This was an interesting look at the events going on in JA's life at the time that she was writing S&S and how those events apparently found their way into the book. For example a wedding register from that time contained the names Lucy Steele and Edward Ferrars.
At session B I heard Jack T. Laney speak about "Gentlemanly Pursuits: A Brief Discourse on Snuff, Cravats, and Firearms." All I can say is that it was a brave person who first dipped that snuff stuff.
For session C I heard Kristen Miller Zohn, curator of the Columbus, Georgia Museum, speak on "Tokens of Imperfect Affection: Portrait Miniatures and Hairwork in S&S." This was an extensive look at the miniatures artists of JA's day and some of their artwork. It was surprising to see all the ways that a lock of hair could be displayed, such as forming it into an elaborate ring.
On Friday night there were several activities including a whist tournament, a theatrical production, and a movie marathon. I was exhausted from lack of sleep and traveling, so I slept through the first half of the evening. I did wake in time to catch the second half of the new movie, "Scents & Sensibility."
The Worthington Hotel (Renaissance) in downtown Fort Worth was modern on the exterior....
but was furnished closer to how an inn would be furnished with dark wood furniture and with elegant upholstery (ok, except for the foot-stool)....
Saturday morning began with the continental breakfast and my first pass through the three(!) emporiums. I bought several books including "33 Great Writers on Why We Read Jane Austen." They gave us great-looking and very convenient tote bags to load up. There was a UPS store across the street from the hotel which was very convenient. I shipped my loot back rather than lug it all onto the plane.
When we walked into the large ballroom for the morning plenary session at 9 a.m., we were greeted by a projected painting from the movie, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (Clint Eastwood et al). The program said that there would be three lecturers, Elaine Bander, Juliet McMaster, and Peter Sabor. Their combined presentation was entitled "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of S&S." When it was time to introduce them, the theme from the movie began playing! Now this is my favorite western of all time in part because the music was so good. The whole crowd reacted enthusiastically and began clapping in unison to the music. What fun!
Elaine Bander was first up and gave a very interesting talk about how Marianne confused ethics (the good and the bad) with aesthetics (the ugly). In other words, Willoughby had so much 'manly beauty' that he must be a good person, right?
The second speaker of the trio brought out letters from JA and from her characters in S&S. Unfortunately, the hearing devices failed about halfway into this talk. But they were able to fix the system later in the day.
Going back to the movie music for a second. If you haven't heard of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, I recommend that you give them a listen on www.youtube.com. They perform that theme music from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly and provide all the sound effects. It's great fun.
After this plenary was breakout session D. I heard Dr. Pat Michaelson's lecture and demonstration, "How to Talk Like Mrs. Palmer (and other silly people)." This was easily the funnest/funniest session of the weekend. (It was very droll!) Two young ladies in full costume demonstrated, and then the audience participated in an exercise. Pat is the author of Speaking Volumes: Women, Reading and Speech in the Age of Austen. I was 'monstrous glad' I heard this talk!
Next, in session E, was Carrie Bebris with "Gunsmoke: Dueling in Jane Austen's Time." I've long been interested in the history of dueling and really enjoyed this one.
The afternoon keynote lecture was a crowd pleaser. Andrew Davies who wrote the screenplays for several of the JA movies presented "Mr. Darcy's Wet Shirt & Other Embarrassments; Some Pleasures and Pitfalls in Austen Adaptations." For his introduction a music video played which featured a black&white recording of Connie Stevens singing "Sixteen Reasons Why I Love You." The song was intercut with excerpts from Davies' screenplays. The crowd responded to him like they would to a rockstar with many camera flashes and standing ovations. He showed clips from some of the movies and explained why he made the choices he did.
The last breakout session was James F. Nagle and "Coaches, Brouches, and Gigs, Oh, My!" My wife used to compete in carriage driving (with me riding along as groom), so this was another fun one for me. His first main point was that in matters of transportation people are always concerned with three things: speed, comfort, and safety. In JA's time you could have up to two of those at a time but not all three. He then talked about the matter of horses, then the roads, and finally the types of carriages. He pointed out the types of carriages that the various people in JA's novels had and what the signficance of each.
There was a reception in the early evening which included two singing cowboys, ala Dusty and Lefty. Afterwards the banquet with the toast to Jane Austen was given. One of the 2011 essay contest winners read her essay. There was a break and then two or three other activities, including the Regency Ball which ran from 9 to midnight. I would guess that there were between 100 and 150 dancers. The music was live. Almost all of the dancers were in Regency costume. I was not far enough along in my dancing lessons to participate, so I just watched for half an hour or so. I hope that the wife and I will be able to hold our own by this time next year.
Sunday morning was the time for the regional coordinators to meet. There were nearly 50 people in the meeting. It was nice to see all these officers that I've been corresponding with these last few months. They are doing a marvelous job running the Society. Following this meeting, there was an Author Book Signing event. There were somewhere between 10 and 20 authors at rows of tables. I think most of these books were of the sequels and prequels variety. Finally, there was a farewell brunch.
There was a lot of buzz about next year's AGM. I heard 2 or 3 different conversations in which the speakers predicted that next year's meeting in New York will sell out very quickly. The theme will be "Money, Sex, and Power in Jane Austen's Literature."
This was my first AGM since the one in 1996 in Richmond. I was 'monstrous glad' that I was able to make this one!
- Randy
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