Dicono...attorno a Jane Austen, notizie e curiosità dall'Italia e dal Mondo

Sites in England reveal Jane Austen's life and world

By CARRIE BEBRIS / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

"The first time I visited England, my travel companion left our itinerary entirely up to me. A self-confessed "Janeite" (Jane Austen fan, in common parlance), I perhaps ought not to have been entrusted with such matters.We disembarked at dawn from our eight-hour flight and drove straight to Jane Austen's house.


KYLE ALCOTT/DMN
Portrait of Jane Austen, based on a drawing in London's National Portrait Gallery.
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The modest cottage, where the author of Pride and Prejudice wrote some of the most beloved novels in all of literature, was fairly quiet that morning. Although long established as a great writer, Jane Austen had not yet become the pop-culture icon she is today.

Now, Jane's status has inspired not only a subgenre of books and other media based on her life and works, but also an expanding segment of the tourism industry.

Visitors from around the world come to England seeking Jane in the places she knew in life and depicted in her stories. Successful film adaptations have added shooting locations to the list of sites associated with her, and tour companies offer itineraries built entirely around Jane.

Indeed, for a woman who lived a relatively retired life two centuries ago, so many places boast connections to her that even Jane's most devoted fans could spend an entire vacation visiting none but Austen-related sites and still not see them all.

Where to begin? Gentle reader, your most obliged servant humbly offers this list of essential sites – those that best capture the spirit of the author, her era and her timeless creations.

Bath: Jane Austen's city
"Oh! who can ever be tired of Bath?"

–Catherine Morland, Northanger Abbey

Jane Austen's world does not merely survive in Bath. It thrives.
An ancient city, Bath's popularity – and population – exploded during the 18th century when its natural hot springs inspired city planners to develop it as an elegant resort. It quickly grew into England's premier spa town, where the fashionable came to take the waters, stroll its shop-lined streets, and, most importantly, socialize with other members of the Polite World.

Though born and raised in the Hampshire village of Steventon, Jane moved to Bath in 1801 when her father retired from his position as vicar. The family hoped Bath's healing waters would improve his declining health. Now a UNESCO World Heritage city, Bath retains so much of its Georgian character and architecture that one almost expects to see ladies in Empire-waist gowns promenading as they did in the Regency era.

Visit in September, and you will.

That is when the annual Jane Austen Festival takes place. The 10-day event celebrates Jane's life, work and times. Venues throughout the city host lectures, concerts, workshops, soirees, dances, Regency dinner parties and other opportunities to immerse oneself in Jane and her era. Special tours and other programs grant visitors entrée into properties not normally open to the public, such as private townhouses. This year's Grand Regency Promenade will attempt to set a Guinness World Record for "largest gathering of people dressed in Regency costumes." (Sept. 18-27; 011-44-1225- 443000; www.janeausten.co.uk/festival).
If the festival doesn't coincide with your travel plans, Jane's presence permeates Bath throughout the year. The Jane Austen Centre, just a few doors down from one of the houses in which Jane lived, offers a permanent exhibition on Jane's experiences in Bath and their effect on her writing. Enjoy "Tea With Mr. Darcy" in its Regency Tea Room before or after one of the center's excellent walking tours. (40 Gay St., Queen Square; 011-44-1225-443000; www.janeausten.co.uk)

Other must-sees in Bath include two places where Jane and her characters attended balls and other social events. The Assembly Rooms (011-44-1225-477173; www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/ w-bathassemblyrooms) appear much as they did in Jane's time, with the addition of a Museum of Costume on the lower level. In the Pump Room of the Roman Baths (011-44-1225-444477; www.romanbaths.co.uk), people-watch to the music of a string trio while indulging in the "Jane Austen High Tea" like a proper heroine (or hero). Should you care to sip a glass of spa water for your health, as Regency-era visitors did (apparently in the belief that something so dreadful-tasting must be good for one's constitution), a costumed gentleman will draw it for you.

Hampshire:
Jane Austen's county
"Everybody is acquainted with Chawton & speaks of it as a remarkably pretty village, & everybody knows the House we describe."

–Jane Austen, letter to her sister Cassandra

Just southwest of London lies Hampshire, the county where Jane Austen was born, lived the majority of her life and died.

After her father died, Jane left Bath and returned to Hampshire with her mother and sister, settling in Chawton in 1809. Jane's older brother, Edward, who had inherited Chawton Great House from wealthy, childless relatives, provided the Austen women a six-bedroom cottage in the village.

It was in Chawton Cottage (now Jane Austen's House Museum) that Jane's lifelong gift of writing matured and flourished. On what seems an impossibly small writing table that still rests in the corner of the parlor, she revised the manuscripts that became Sense and Sensibility , Pride and Prejudice and Northanger Abbey and wrote Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion.

The comfortable house, surrounded by gardens and greenery, holds many Austen artifacts. To coincide with this year's 200th anniversary of Jane's arrival in Chawton, the cottage and outbuildings have undergone major renovations to resemble even more closely the home Jane knew. (011-44-1420-83262; www. jane-austens-house-museum.org.uk)
A short walk down the road, Edward's 16th-century mansion has been restored as the Chawton House Library, a center for the study of early English women writers (011-44-1420-541010; www.chawton.org). Its collection of rare novels and other works includes a manuscript by Jane Austen and early editions of her novels. Guided tours of the house and library are offered twice weekly (reservations recommended). Self-guided garden tours are available weekdays. Adjacent is St. Nicholas Church , where Jane's mother and sister are buried. These sites and more are part of Chawton's Jane Austen Trail (011-44-1420-85057; www.janeaustenalton.co.uk).

In the final weeks of her life, Jane moved to Winchester to be closer to her doctor. She died in 1817 at age 41 and is buried in the north aisle of Winchester Cathedral. Her grave and a window erected in her memory are part of the regular public tour; a special Jane Austen Tour can be prebooked for groups of five or more (011-44-1962-857225; www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk). Near the cathedral, a plaque marks the house at No. 8 College St. where she died.

Derbyshire:
Mr. Darcy country
"With the mention of Derbyshire, there were many ideas connected. It was impossible for [Elizabeth] to see the word without thinking of Pemberley and its owner."

–Pride and Prejudice

Though Elizabeth Bennet traveled to Derbyshire hoping to avoid Mr. Darcy, modern Janeites go there hoping to find him.
In her descriptions of Elizabeth's journey to Darcy's home territory, Austen refers to many real locations in the Peak District, including Bakewell. This charming village and the Rutland Arms Hotel on its square are thought to have been the model for the fictional Lambton and the inn where Elizabeth stayed.

Indeed, the Rutland Arms maintains that Austen herself lodged there in 1811 while revising Pride and Prejudice, and you can book the room in which she is said to have slept. Although there is no documented evidence of Austen's stay, the 1804 hotel is nevertheless an authentic example of the coaching inns she and her characters would have patronized while traveling. Its exceptional dining room is open to non-guests and is one of several local restaurants that claim to have invented the Bakewell tart. (011-44-1629-812812; www.rutlandarmsbakewell.co.uk)

Austen also mentions Chatsworth, the nearby home of the duke and duchess of Devonshire that is believed to have inspired Pemberley. One of 10 Treasure Houses of England, Chatsworth is a magnificent estate and indeed served as the filming location of the Pemberley scenes in the 2005 Pride and Prejudice movie starring Keira Knightley. Another great house near Bakewell, the 12th-century Haddon Hall, was used to film the Lambton Inn scenes.
Other Derbyshire filming locations include Sudbury Hall and Lyme Park, used for Pemberley interiors and exteriors in the 1995 BBC miniseries. (Chatsworth, 011-44-1246 535300, www.chatsworth.org; Haddon Hall, 011-44-1629-812855, www.haddonhall.co.uk; Sudbury Hall, 011-44-1283-585305, www. nationaltrust.org.uk/sudburyhall; Lyme Park, 011-44-1663-762023, www.nationaltrust.org.uk/lymepark)

London:
Hub of Regency society

"Here I am once more in this Scene of Dissipation & vice, and I begin already to find my Morals corrupted."

–Jane Austen, letter to Cassandra

Jane never officially resided in London, but both she and her characters visited the city. Throughout her adult life, she was a regular guest in the home of her brother Henry and spent a considerable amount of time there in the autumn of 1815, nursing him through an illness and overseeing the publication of Emma.

Although Jane joked about London's tainting influence, she enjoyed the city's cultural opportunities. She also took advantage of its shops, performing errands not only for herself but also for friends and family back home. Her favorite tea merchant, Twinings, still operates out of the same 1717 shop that Jane patronized. (216 Strand; 011-44-207-353-3511; www.twinings.co.uk)

The National Portrait Gallery (011-44-20-7306-0055; www.npg.org.uk) houses the only portrait of Jane that scholars are reasonably certain was drawn during her lifetime. This 1810 watercolor-and-pencil sketch by her sister Cassandra is on permanent display in Room 18. The Gallery's archives also hold several 1870 stipple engravings based on the portrait; these are viewable only by appointment.

Remember the small writing table back at Chawton Cottage? The British Library now holds the portable writing desk that Jane used to set upon it. This small wooden case, with a sloped writing surface and compartments for supplies, is on permanent display in the "Sir John Ritblat Gallery: Treasures of the British Library," along with Jane's 1815 Persuasion manuscript and the third volume of her juvenilia notebooks. (St. Pancras building, 96 Euston Road; 011-44-870-444-1500; www.bl.uk)When you go

Details

•Not all locations are open daily. Check online or by phone to confirm schedules and ticket prices.

•Chatsworth House is undergoing significant restoration in 2009. Although most areas remain open to visitors, some wheelchair access and views may be restricted. Call or consult Chatsworth's Web site for updates.

•For more Jane Austen-related locations throughout England, In the Steps of Jane Austen by Anne-Marie Edwards (Jones Books, $18.95) is a valuable guide.

•Hampshire County Council, www3.hants.gov.uk/austen. htm

•Derbyshire UK, www.derbyshireuk.net/ pride_prejudice.html

•Seeking Jane Austen, www.seekingjaneausten.com

•The Republic of Pemberley, www.pemberley.com/jasites/jasites.html

Jane Austen in the U.S.

The Jane Austen Society of North America sponsors year-round programs and events throughout the U.S. Membership is open to anyone with an interest in Austen. The Dallas-Fort Worth area has a very active local chapter and will be hosting the society's annual international conference in 2011.

•National Web site: www.jasna.org

•North Texas chapter, www.jasnanorthtexas.org, or Rosalie Sternberg (214-676-1995) /p>

who is CARRIE BEBRIS
Carrie Bebris is the author of the award-winning Mr. & Mrs. Darcy Mystery series, in which the now-married Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice find themselves embroiled in intrigue. The series opens with Pride and Prescience, and the Darcys' continuing adventures (Suspense and Sensibility, North by Northanger, and The Matters at Mansfield) entangle them with characters from other Austen novels. Her fifth mystery, The Intrigue at Highbury, will be released in March.

•A life member of the Jane Austen Society of North America, Bebris holds a master's degree in English literature and speaks frequently about Austen and her writing. She resides in Ohio.

•Contact: www.carriebebris.com

THANKS TO http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dw...n1.1ebf37d.html

Austenmania, alive and well from book clubs to Hollywood and even new vampire stories, fuels the second annual Jane Austen Festival from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Historic Locust Grove.
You will find vendors of period-type fabrics and bonnets, shoes, reticules and mantuas for the stylish woman. Margaret Sullivan, author of "The Jane Austen Handbooks," gives an 11 a.m. talk both days. Entertainment includes shadow puppets, raree shows (peep boxes) and a style show of Regency clothing. And, of course, there are teas, teas, teas on the hour, from noon to 4 p.m. both days.

Admission to the festival, which includes a tour of Locust Grove, is $6. Afternoon tea is $25. For tea reservations, e-mail Bonny Wise at [email protected] or call (502) 897-9845. Locust Grove: 561 Blankenbaker Lane. For more information, visit www.jasnalouisville.com.

— Diane Heilenman, The C-J

thanks to http://www.courier-journal.com/article/200...for+Austen+fans

'Lady Susan': Jane Austen's epistolary novel
August 18, 9:11 AMAustin Literature ExaminerJoanna Bettelheim


Everyone knows the six standards of the Jane Austen canon: Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility, Emma and, of course, the perennially-adapted Pride and Prejudice. But if you're going to call yourself a true Austenite, or if you're going to take a class on the 19th-century author, you're going to have to read the largely forgotten novel, Lady Susan. Written in the popular epistolary style of the time, the story is almost completely told through letters written by the characters.
Coming in at 60 pages (give or take a few depending on your edition), Lady Susan is a quick and enjoyable read. It tells the story of a manipulative seductress, the novel's namesake, Lady Susan, who entices men for their money and position. Lady Susan's daughter, Frederica, is her polar opposite. Naive and timid, Frederica's only ally is Mrs. Vernon, Lady Susan's sister-in-law. Mrs. Vernon is the picture of domestic propriety and is horrified by Lady Susan's designs on her brother. Letters between Mrs. Vernon and her mother discussing this threat to the family, and between Lady Susan and her best friend Mrs. Johnson sharing their mischievous plots, populate most of the novel.
Though, like any good piece of fiction of the time, the good end happily and the bad unhappily, there is plenty in Austen's tale to keep the interest of the most cynical reader. There are nuances in the story that make the reader ask whether Mrs. Vernon and Frederica are really as good as they seem. Lady Susan's glamorous immorality revealed in her conniving letters make her a character you truly love to hate. These aspects add another level to what could be simple morality tale.
Austen fans will enjoy this novel as an early example of her work, before she developed her strong third person narration. But even those who count Clueless as their only Austen experience should be entertained enough to count this as an enjoyable read.

Where to find: Lady Susan can be found in most bookstores and online. It is also included in certain editions of Austen's other works.

FONTE http://www.examiner.com/x-20517-Austin-Lit...pistolary-Novel

23/08/2009 - "Orgoglio e pregiudizio" di Jane Austen

...E si perche’ molti di noi, purtroppo, dedicano alla lettura solo quei pochi giorni di vacanza. Proprio perche’, secondo alcuni, durante le agognate ferie e’ bene leggere qualcosa di distensivo e rilassante, questo mese la rubrica "Libri" di MARSICANEWS si occupa di un classico dell’800 inglese: ORGOGLIO E PREGIUDIZIO.
Dedicato forse a pochi (anzi poche), Orgoglio e Pregiudizio e’ il libro romantico per eccellenza, scritto da Jane Austen tra il 1794 e il 1799 e pubblicato solo nel 1813, e’ ambientato nella campagna lodinese nei primi anni dell’ 800 appunto. E’ la storia di cinque sorelle "da marito", le sorelle Bennet, Jane dolce e bella, Elizabeth o Lizzy ribelle e un po’ sfacciata, Mary studiosa ma bruttina, Kitty succube della sorella minore e Lydia superficiale e civetta. I loro genitori sono inopportuni e impresentabili che mettono spesso in imbarazzo le figlie in societa’, lui un flemmatico borghese (ormai decaduto) simpatico ed ironico, lei pedante e superficiale. La loro vita scorre tranquilla tra un ballo campagnolo e lunghe passeggiate sino a Meryton nell’attesa che qualche bel giovane, magari ricco, si faccia avanti. Ma l’arrivo in paese di Mr Bingley dalla grande citta’ sconvolgera’ questo placido equilibrio.
Mr Bingley giovane della Londra bene (guadagna piu’ di 5.000 sterline l’anno!!) simpatico e gioviale e’ accompagnato dalle due sorelle, un cognato ed un carissimo amico, Mr Darcy, anch’egli ricco ma al contrario scontroso e solitario. Durante un ballo di benvenuto tra Jane e Bingley e’ amore a prima vista nonostante le battute acide e cattive delle sorelle di lui e l’nvadenza quasi meschina della madre di lei. Ma saranno Lizzy e Darcy i veri protagonisti di questo libro, tra cui e’ subito odio dovuto ai pregiudizi, all’orgoglio, alla vanita’ accecante che impedisce loro di vedere al di la’ delle apparenze, per quello che realmente sono.
Comincia cosi’ la storia tra Lizzy e Darcy fatta dapprima di liti, battute sarcastiche ed insulti (in senso buono siamo sempre nell’800) e poi di lievi rossori, di pause e sguardi improvvisi e colti in momenti di distrazione reciproca. Con l’arrivo degli ufficiali in paese per la la famiglia Bennet arrivera’ un duro colpo, Lydia scappa con un giovane ufficiale, mettendo cosi’ in serio pericolo il futuro di Jane e Bingley, ma sara Darcy, per amore di Lizzy, a risolvere la questione (...sappiate che e’ stato fatto tutto per voi...). Si potrebbe passare ore e ore a scrivere e commentare Orgoglio e Pregiudizio, ma vi lasciamo la possibilta’ di scoprire come andra’ a finire. Le sensazioni che si hanno una volta finito il libro saranno di abbandono e vi troverete a paragonare gli uomini di oggi, i nostri uomini (e lo farete fidatevi!), con la gentilezza, la dolcezza di Darcy: un uomo capace di grandi gesta pur di far felice la propria amata, pur di vedere nuovamente sorridere quegli occhi nocciola che tanto l’hanno ammaliato. Un libro bello da regalare anche a queste nuove generazioni di adolescenti che trovano irresistibile un vampiro o che sospirano davanti all’ennesimo libro tratto da una fiction di successo, e pensano che leggere un classico dell’800 sia una punizione, un compito. Esistono varie edizioni di questo libro, tutte in serie economica poi.... per le piu’ romantiche... ci sono anche varie trasposizioni televisive.

[Michela Bartolucci]

FONTE : http://www.marsicanews.it/index.jsp?inizio...&dettaglio=5433

Ragione e sentimento... E mostri marini

Dopo Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, sta per essere rilasciato da Quirk Books un nuovo mash-up tratto da un altro dei capolavori di Jane Austen e rielaborato in chiave, a dir poco, fantastica.

L'editore inglese Quirk Books ha annunciato nei giorni scorsi la pubblicazione del romanzo Sense and Sensibiliy and Sea Monsters, versione orientata al fantastico e all'horror di Ragione e Sentimento, uno dei libri più importanti della scrittrice britannica Jane Austen. Il romanzo è la seconda operazione di riscrittura delle opere della Austen, e segue di pochi mesi l'esordio del divertente Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, che ha riscosso un grande successo di vendite. In occasione di questa seconda uscita è stato realizzato anche un divertente book trailer.

Tecnicamente l'operazione di riscrittura è denominata mash-up, termine mutuato dal mondo della musica techno in cui indica il mixaggio di due canzoni diverse allo scopo di creare un brano del tutto nuovo. In campo editoriale la Quirk Books ha interpretato l'operazione prendendo un romanzo famoso e riscrivendolo, introducendo temi e situazioni da genere horror. Mentre la riscrittura del primo romanzo della Austen era toccata all'americano Seth Grahame-Smith, la riedizione di Ragione e Sentimento è stata opera di Ben H. Winters, autore che finora non era mai salito agli onori della cronaca. La casa editrice ha precisato che mentre nel primo romanzo, circa l'85 per cento era composto dal lavoro della Austen, in questo secondo romanzo solo il 60 percento sarà originale. Il resto è costituito dalla riscrittura di Winters, che ha inserito aragoste giganti, polipi disgustosi, serpenti di mare a due teste, spietati pirati e altro ancora.

L'editor Jason Rekulak ha così spiegato la scelta dei mostri marini: "Dopo il successo della prima rielaborazione, che trattava di vampiri, molti editori si sono accodati. Ma noi non avevamo alcuna intenzione di fare il milionesimo romanzo vampiresco, così abbiamo cercato altre ispirazioni. L'idea dei mostri marini ci permette di attingere a moltissime fonti, prime fra tutte i romanzi di Jules Verne e le leggende nordiche. Ma anche Lo Squalo, Lost, Pirati dei Caraibi e persino i cartoni animati di Spongebob. Credo che i fan cercavano da noi qualcosa di altrettanto originale, e penso che non resteranno delusi."

Il romanzo originale, pubblicato nel 1811, racconta le vicende delle sorelle Elinor e Marianne Dashwood, dai caratteri estremamente diversi, che in seguito alla morte del padre si trasferiscono in un cottage di campagna, dove conosceranno l'amore e la delusione fino a trovare finalmente la felicità. Nella rielaborazione, le due sorelle si trasferiscono ancora, ma su un'isola misteriosa, piena di creature selvagge e di oscuri segreti. Mentre la razionale Elinor si innamora di Edward Ferris, come nell'originale, l'istintiva Marianne è contesa tra il damerino Willoughby e il deforme Colonnello Brandon. Le sorelle riusciranno a superare l'ostilità dei familiari e trovare l'amore, o resteranno preda dei tentacoli di bestie orrende, sempre pronte a catturarle?

Resta da chiedersi perché, in un'operazione che definire trash è poco, la Quirk Books abbia preso di mira proprio Jane Austen, scrittrice certo romantica, ma che nei suoi libri non ha risparmiato critiche alla società maschilista inglese dei suoi tempi. Il romanzo sarà ufficialmente in vendita il prossimo 15 settembre, ma è già possibile il pre-ordine sui principali siti specializzati. Per chi proprio non riesce a trattenere l'acquolina, rimandiamo al book trailer qui sotto, con l'avvertenza che i mostri sono sempre in agguato...


De gustibus...

http://www.fantascienza.com/magazine/notiz...-mostri-marini/

LETTERATURA: JANE AUSTEN MORI' DI TUBERCOLOSI, RICERCA ESCLUDE MORBO DI ADDISON

Londra, 1 dic. - (Adnkronos) - La scrittrice inglese Jane Austen (1775-1817) mori' molto probabilmente di tubercolosi piuttosto che del morbo di Addison, come si era creduto finora. La specialista britannica Katherine White, ricercatrice dell'Addison's Disease Self Help Group, sostiene, in uno studio pubblicato sul periodico scientifico ''Medical Humanities'' e anticipato dalla stampa londinese, che l'autrice del romanzo ''Orgoglio e pregiudizio'' fu vittima della tubercolosi bovina, contratta bevendo latte non pastorizzato. Nelle lettere della Austen, spiega White, sono descritti dalla scrittrice sintomi che appaiono quasi tutti del tutto estranei alla confusione mentale, ai dolori generali diffusi su tutto il corpo e alla perdita di peso subiti invece da chi e' affetto dal morbo di Addison.

Questa malattia, ricorda White, e' la forma primitiva di insufficienza corticosurrenale cronica che deriva da una severa riduzione, a carattere permanente e irreversibile, della increzione degli ormoni elaborati dal corticosurrene. Il morbo di Addison colpisce prevalentemente gli adulti tra 30 e 50 anni e soprattutto donne, vittime di crisi surrenali che provocano forti dolori accompagnata da confusione mentale.

http://www.adnkronos.com/IGN/News/Cultura/...4058600612.html

03-12-09
LETTERATURA: DOPO QUASI 2 SECOLI SCOPERTE CAUSE MORTE DI JANE AUSTEN

(ASCA) - Roma, 3 dic - Secondo la verita' ufficiale, la scrittrice inglese Jane Austen, autrice di ''Orgoglio e Pregiudizio'', mori' a causa di una rara malattia denominata morbo di Addison. Ma secondo Katherine White, ricercatrice dell'Addison Disease Self Help Group, che ha studiato il contenuto di alcune lettere spedite dalla Austen alla famiglia e agli amici, nel contenuto di questa posta non si possono ravvisare i sintomi della sindrome di Addison. A pubblicare i risultati dello studio e' il periodico scientifico ''Medical Humanities''.

''La mia capacita' di ragionare e' sempre chiara e non ho nessun dolore'', aveva scritto la scrittrice due mesi prima di morire. Mentre la sindrome di Addison secondo la White causa ''dei mal di testa martellanti e ci si sente come se si fosse sempre ubriachi''. Non solo, la Austen appena 48 ore prima di morire aveva scritto alla sorella una poesia comica di 24 righe. Impresa che le sarebbe stata impossibile se avesse avuto il morbo. Per cui secondo gli esperti, e' piu' probabile che la morte sia stata causata dalla tubercolosi bovina, piu' facile da contrarre dato che in quel periodo si beveva del latte non pastorizzato.

A fare la prima diagnosi, nel 1964, era stato il medico Zachary Cope da cui la White ha preso spunto per cominciare le sue ricerche. Ma l'esperta non e' l'unica ad aver sollevato dei dubbi sulla questione. Nel 1997, infatti, la biografa Claire Tomalin aveva imputato la morte precoce della letterata ad un linfoma, ma nessuno dei sintomi di questa malattia e' presente negli ultimi scritti della donna.

Mentre il biografo John Halperin dice che qualsiasi malattia abbia contratto la Austen, i sintomi hanno lasciato delle tracce sulle sue opere. Perche', anche se nel finale dell'ultimo romanzo della scrittrice, l'eroina sposa l'uomo che ama in realta' l'autrice voleva scrivere diversamente e questo cambio improvviso di idea farebbe pensare ad una malattia, che come la sindrome di Addison, porta a degli squilibri mentali.

Kenneth Burman, esperto di endocrinologia del Washington Hospital Center, trova la tesi della White plausibile anche se fare un'analisi retrospettiva e' difficile e come scriveva la stessa Austen molto raramente si capisce a pieno la verita' legata alla comunicazione umana ''di rado accade che qualcosa non sia un po' celata o un po' sbagliata''.

La scrittrice inglese, esponente del pre-romanticismo, e' nata a Steventon il 16 dicembre 1775 ed e' morta a Winchester il 18 luglio 1817 all'eta' di soli 42 anni, fra le sue opere si ricordano: Ragione e sentimento, Orgoglio e pregiudizio, Mansfield Park, Emma, L'abbazia di Northanger, Persuasione.

red/mcc/ss

http://www.asca.it/news-LETTERATURA__DOPO_...79303-ORA-.html

The Real Jane Austen by Paula Byrne

Jane’s World
‘The Real Jane Austen,’ by Paula Byrne
By MAXWELL CARTER
Published: February 15, 2013

“And, after all, we have lives enough of Jane Austen.” This verdict, delivered by Virginia Woolf at Cambridge in 1928, should give any Austen biographer pause. Yet Austen’s appeal has proved irresistible. Since Woolf’s pronouncement, countless editions, studies and adaptations of her novels have appeared. Her 160 extant letters have been frequently collected, most notably by R. W. Chapman (in 1932 and 1952) and by the mother of all Janeites, Deirdre Le Faye (in 1995 and 2011). Recent biographies similarly abound, varying in aim and quality: Lord David Cecil’s elegant and unassuming “portrait” in 1978; Park Honan’s scrupulous “cradle-to-grave” history in 1987; Claire Tomalin’s brisk, superlative “life” and David Nokes’s lengthier, more imaginative account, both in 1997. (Carol Shields’s regrettable hash, published in 2001, is perhaps best forgotten.) Austen’s Hampshire plot was small enough to begin with; has any ground been left unbroken?

n “The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things,” Paula Byrne trades rigid chronology for an object-based approach, conjuring the author’s world through chapters on “thematic” articles like an East Indian shawl, an ivory miniature and crimson velvet cushions. As with many worthy experiments, the results are mixed; some sections are vividly persuasive, others cursory or too speculative.

On the face of it, Jane Austen’s life makes for dull reading. She never met the great personages of her day, went abroad or married. She died young — but not too young — attended by loved ones. And the documentary evidence isn’t at all satisfying: Austen’s maddeningly circumspect sister, Cassandra, her closest companion, burned a majority of their correspondence, leaving unbridgeable gaps in our understanding of Austen’s life. (Would that her tedious favorite, Samuel Richardson, had expunged thousands of his fictional letters instead.) Nor is Austen’s literary record any more revealing: she wrote in stolen moments and published anonymously. The prosaic family version of her life — shaped largely by her brother Henry in his eulogistic preface to “Persuasion” and “Northanger Abbey” — was thus for many years definitive.

In this telling, Jane was serenely happy in girlhood; scribbled witty, unobjectionable juvenilia; settled uneventfully in the gladsome family bosom; wrote for private amusement in maturity; and was finally, reluctantly, prevailed upon to publish in 1811 — her memorable characters drawn from “nature,” never “individuals” — six years before her untimely death. According to her epitaph, composed by her eldest brother, James, she was to be mourned chiefly for her piety. Her creative efforts weren’t mentioned.

Byrne rightly sets little store by this picture — finding it too “discreet,” “decorous” and “reticent.” (To say nothing of Henry’s glib opening: “Short and easy will be the task of the mere biographer.”) Jane had unpleasant, even dangerous early school experiences; wrote wickedly funny, rude and violent childhood stories; lived on often mean familial gratuity; never enjoyed satisfying romantic love; was abruptly uprooted at 26; and sought to see her work in print — her mature writing almost certainly blending “observation” with “imagination” — long before the military publisher Thomas Egerton halfheartedly agreed to take on “Sense and Sensibility.”

Even so, Byrne’s own sources don’t always convince. Are we really to believe — as Austen’s impetuous niece Anna related more than 80 years after the fact — that 6-year-old Jane once dragged her 3-year-old brother, Charles, six miles to greet her father and sister’s return? To Byrne the episode “may suggest that she was bold and unafraid to take the lead.” To me, she might as soon have jogged to Bath on her family’s relocation in 1801.

Yet “The Real Jane Austen” is excellent elsewhere, particularly on the dissonant topics of theater and slavery. Austen’s “eclectic” dramatic tastes and keen participation in amateur theatricals (playing Sheridan’s viperish Mrs. Candour “with great spirit”) are skillfully brought to the fore, affirming her girlish delight in the form and its substantial influence on her dialogue and narrative design, namely the pivotal set piece in “Mansfield Park.” Byrne’s section on slavery (introduced with an eloquent description of Lord Mansfield’s adopted daughters’ portrait, once thought to be by Zoffany) is better still, establishing links between Austen’s protagonists and contemporary figures, her pointed references and contemporary events, which highlight her supposedly oblivious fiction’s sharp views on the slave trade.

Byrne’s attitude toward Austen is understandably sympathetic. Still, her merits are occasionally oversold. Dubiously casting Austen in the role of child prodigy, Byrne compares the 12-year-old Jane, then engaged in “burlesques” and “parodies,” to Mozart. And some of the details Byrne deploys seem superfluous. Is Austen’s second cousin’s irregular teething strictly relevant? Her mother’s “excessive” diarrhea? Grisly 18th-century punishments for buggery in the Royal Navy? Byrne’s preliminary explications can also be disruptive, their generalizing manner taking us out of Austen’s orbit rather than in.

The constraints Austen’s patchy epistolary history place on the biographer, even one as sensitive to the lacunae as Byrne, put one in mind of the considerable intrinsic difficulties of the “letter” genre itself. Sadly, Austen “left no intimate diaries or revelatory notebooks.” One fears that an hour alone with her, more than virtually any other “modern” novelist, would obviate shelves of well-meaning conjecture. In this light, Byrne’s method is an effective alternative, its incisive conclusions mitigating stretches weakened by enigmatic silences or doubtful claims. At times, we almost succeed in glimpsing her cagey subject, of whom, Byrne maintains, only one “incontestably authentic” image exists, rendered in Cassandra’s diffident hand. What, then, did Austen look like? We can only guess; she’s been sketched from the back.


Maxwell Carter is an associate vice president and a specialist in Impressionist and modern art at Christie’s.

Source: www.nytimes.com/2013/02/17/books/re...gewanted=2&_r=0

Quanto c'è costato non avere una nostra Jane Austen

di - MARIA FRANCO

Due secoli fa, nel 1813, avvenne uno di quegli eventi che hanno segnato
la storia d’Europa. Con la battaglia di Lipsia, la cosiddetta battaglia delle Nazioni, andò in frantumi il potere napoleonico e il sistema di alleanze che l’imperatore aveva costruito intorno alla Francia.

Non avrei timore a scommettere che – esclusi quelli del mestiere, storici, professori, studenti alle soglie di un esame – non molti altri, oggi, a relativa domanda a bruciapelo, riuscirebbero a ricordarsi di Lipsia, della battaglia e delle sue conseguenze.

Fatti importanti, certo, di quelli che tragedia dopo tragedia e conquista dopo conquista, ci hanno portato al mondo in cui viviamo, ma che non fanno più parte del nostro immaginario: sono accaduti: punto.

Nello stesso anno, il 28 gennaio del 1813, venne pubblicato Orgoglio e pregiudizio. L’aveva scritto una giovane donna della provincia inglese nel salottino di casa, nascondendo i fogli al cigolare della porta che annunciava l’andirivieni delle tante persone di famiglia e dei loro ospiti: senza disperdere il silenzio perfetto in cui dalla sua mente Elizabeth Bennet (come le successive sue eroine, l’Emma del romanzo omonimo, l’Anna di Persuasione) si è trasferita su quelle pagine.

Orgoglio e pregiudizio continua a stare nelle librerie di tutte le città del mondo, ad entrare in milioni di case. Chi non l’ha letto, ha visto qualche film o fiction che lo mette in scena e/o altri film e fiction che ad esso si richiamano. Quando, non molto tempo tempo fa, Repubblica fece un’indagine sul libro che più prende al cuore le lettrici, Jane Austen ha stravinto. Personalmente, se mai dovessi trovarmi nell’incresciosa situazione di poter salvare solo uno dei romanzi della mia libreria, avrei il disagio di dover scegliere tra Emma ed Orgoglio e pregiudizio (alla fine, conserverei il secondo), ma nessun dubbio, appunto, sull’autore.

Autore – certo – perché la Austen è sì, come ha scritto Virginia Woolf, “l’artista più perfetta tra le donne”, ma è una che sta tranquillamente nell’olimpo degli autori di tutti i tempo, a pari dei più grandi. Ancora oggi, nel nostro immaginario collettivo.

Intorno al 1813, la Calabria viveva – tanto per cambiare – una fase convulsa. Eravamo agli sgoccioli (quasi) del periodo murattiano. Nel 1810, per tre mesi, il Regno era stato governato dalle alture di Piale, frazione di Villa San Giovanni ( Murat, giunto a Scilla per tentare la conquista della Sicilia, fece costruire, il forte di Piale e quelli di Torre Cavallo e Altafiumara). C’erano stati i tentativi dei Borboni di rientrare in Calabria. Non mancava il banditismo.

Tutte cose dimenticate. Cose “da uomini”: dimenticabili, in fondo. Ma c'è stato un dramma dalle lunghe e serie conseguenze, mai abbastanza denunciato. E' che è mancato un "libro di donne", di quelli indimenticabili. Nessuna Giovanna Foti o Francesca Laganà che, scrivendo in Calabria di Ciccilledda, Mariuzza, Raziina, abbia tracciato un nostro segno indelebile nella storia d'Europa (e non solo).

Fonte: http://www.zoomsud.it/commenti/46165-quant...ane-austen.html