Monday 16 December 2013

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JANE AUSTEN! AUSTEN IN BOSTON

Austen in Boston has been existence since April 2010. We meet once a month (or occasionally more) to discuss Jane Austen, Jane Austen Fan Fiction, and sometimes authors/books that have nothing to do with Jane Austen! We meet in various locations in the Boston area. We have met on a harbor island (Civil War fort for "Gone with the Wind"), various parks from Easton to Salem, an Abbey twice, the World's End(a park in Hingham), we throw a wicked good Christmas/Jane Austen birthday bash, and local coffeehouses/restaurants. Some members attend JASNA MA meetings.   



From one of our founding members:
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a world without Jane Austen is in want of an authoress who can properly represent the joining, nay the marriage of the heart and head of a man and a woman. How they meet, converse, hate, loathe, grow and change. How they dance, thrust and parry, bantering their way into love and marriage. And a world without Jane would mean a world without Darcy...God forbid!




Another one:
My existence would be very dull indeed without Jane. Various friendships, enriching conversations, and events wouldn't happen without Jane.



Some shorts comments:

Right now if anyone were to ask me how I'd feel if there was no Jane, I'd say I'd be walking around ignorant, thinking the Twilight books are the absolute height of literature.
Her: No Jane? No Jane, you say, Sir?!
Him: Yes, my dear.
Her: An outrage! A travesty!........why...whatever shall I do?

From a new member of the bookclub:
Jane is my homegirl. She’s the friend I go to when I’m having a bad day. She’s the person I want to spend time at a bar with, checking out all the eligible men, she’s the girl I go to when I have time to kill on my commute home. Jane is my friend across time and page.
That’s why I started Drunk Austen on Facebook. If Jane were alive today, she’d be our friend. We’d talk about guys and books and get drunk on Friday nights together. And it wouldn’t matter that we didn’t have a Mr. Darcy in our lives, because we’d have him on the page and screen. Drunk Austen celebrates the Jane that was, and the Jane that might have been.
For me, Jane’s books were always an escape. In good times or bad, I knew that Catherine Morland would still be gossiping with Isabella, Elizabeth would always laugh off Darcy’s slights with Charlotte, and Eleanor would bite her tongue in front of Lucy every time. Like good characters should, Jane’s protagonists became our friends, and in loving her characters, we came to love Jane. It’s a universal tie between Janeites, and it’s what makes communities like Drunk Austen so popular. We’re barely six months old and our fanbase grows every day.
Our mutual love for Jane’s books is a powerful thing. But it pales in comparison for the love we bear Jane herself.
Happy Birthday Jane, I’ll do a shot for you.

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6 comments:

Kirk said...

Thx for posting this!!

Maria Grazia said...

Thanks to you for taking part!

Jo's Daughter said...

The Christmas/Jane Birthday bash sounds fun!

Monica said...

Well, I am never drunk, but I would love to join you on one of those Friday nights with Jane and drink with you ;-)

Sophia Rose said...

Your book group sounds like a lot of fun. Thanks for sharing!

Lúthien84 said...

Agree, no Jane means no Darcy, Wentworth and all the characters I come to love. It would be boring world.