Emma’s “London Season,” 1816
Among the fascinating insights in Emma’s diary, are the “delights” of a London Season. I picked out some of the festivities mentioned in the Season during 1816 to write about — and to records as a YouTube video. It’s also a video I’ve uploaded to my Amazon page. The text originally published in JASNA News.
Some Highlights:
- Soirees & Concerts
- attending Drury Lane (and Jane Austen writing about Kean)
- painting with Margaret Meen (tutor to Queen Charlotte and the princesses)
- the Antient Music concert series
- teas & parties
- Grand Party at No. 5 Portland Place [inactive link; site taken down]
- wedding of Princess Charlotte of Wales to Prince Leopold
- Cosi fan tutte, with Madame Fodor
Now on Kindle = Two Teens in the Time of Austen: Random Jottings, 2008-2013
Smith&GoslingThe biography A Memoir of Jane Austen, compiled by her nephew James Edward Austen Leigh, was first published in 1870 (2nd edition on google.books). In 1911, daughter Mary Augusta Austen Leigh wrote down Edward’s own life history. Two Teens in the Time of Austen dramatizes events in the lives of Edward’s beloved wife Emma Smith (1801-1876) and her friend and sister-in-law Mary Gosling (1800-1842).
It is Emma’s eventual connection to the Austens of Steventon which gives this project its very name! (The fact that the diaries of both girls begin in the period that saw Austen’s publications, doesn’t hurt either.) Celebrate with me five years of uncovering the lives of the Smiths & Goslings. You can even “click to Look Inside“. Lightly edited, and highly rearranged, “Random Jottings” (estimated at 170 pages) serves as an introduction to the world of my Two Teens from posts published since the start of their blog.
For a limited time, “Random Jottings“ also includes the opening pages of their biography (volume 1, Two Teens in the Time of Austen) and *all new* images of Mary and Emma. Available only at Amazon [Amazon.co.uk; Amazon.ca; Amazon.de (alas, not auf deutsch)]
UPDATE: since Kindles don’t (yet) allow for image zooming, the two pedigrees:
Visit my NEW “Authors” Page
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
News ! * NEWS !! * NEWS !!!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I spent last evening “building” an “author’s page” on Amazon.com!
Photos are up, a couple of videos will be there by the time you read this. Having written articles for journals and magazines, I can, of course, only “claim” those items up for sale at Amazon. That currently includes:
- the upcoming — projected publication, November 2013 — edited volume of Jane Austen and the Arts; my chapter entitled “A ‘Reputation for Accomplishment’: Marianne Dashwood and Emma Woodhouse as Artistic Performers”; you can see the Table of Contents (TOC) at Rowman. Am rather peeved that my name is slightly incorrect: it should read Kelly M. McDonald. Have to see what I can do about that. Unfortunately, it has rather proliferated already – even Amazon (which I have worked to CHANGE) had “misplaced” my middle initial.
- the essay from Persuasions (No. 30; 2008), “Derbyshires Corresponding: Elizabeth Bennet and the Austen Tour of 1833,” I have actually blogged about before. In July 2009, in a post called JUST TOO INCREDIBLE, I mused as to WHY Amazon had a digital copy of this for sale! (There are other Persuasions articles that have suffered the same fate.) I don’t see a penny of their $9.95 download cost. But worst: the editorial board of Persuasions loved the article so much that they made it available — for FREE — online at JASNA.org! If I say so myself, this is a delightful essay: Using Emma’s diary and an 1833 letter, Elizabeth Bennet’s tour of Derbyshire — a turning point in her story — comes to life.
What will you see soon on this AUTHOR PAGE?
My Kindle book, Two Teens in the Time of Austen: Random Jottings, 2008-2013.
This is a newly-edited, and highly-rearranged, presentation of blog posts from the past six years. I think readers will find it a useful “introduction” to the major dramatis personae of my SMITH & GOSLING family.
I’ve created the cover, uploaded the content, and filled out most of the forms. I’ve let it cool, a bit; changed my mind about a few former choices; and need to REVIEW it all before it goes live.
I invite readers to SIGN UP for my “new releases” –>
you’ll see the link right at the top right of the page when you visit.
If this Kindle experience pleases me, I may release some shorter pieces, written but, having never found quite the right publishing venue, kept to one side. Being deep in the midst of research I really have only these small pieces to present, even though I’d love to put a book out there!
Just TOO incredible…
Well, I always wanted to have a publication listed on Amazon.com – but a listing for my most recent article in JASNA’s Persuasions — that’s going a bit too far. Although published in the journal, JASNA put the article online — free to all! So why is Amazon listing this as an eDocument for the price of $9.95???
If I got even a slice of the $9.95 maybe I wouldn’t mind so much.
See the listing yourself: Amazon. Am I flattered, or just annoyed?? (and, no, the ‘surviving and thriving as a collegiate debate coach’ isn’t mine. is there really another author with my name and even my middle initial??)
To get “Derbyshires Corresponding” for free see JASNA (any and all comments welcome!) And if anyone really wants to spend ten bucks, I’ve got a research trip I’m saving for… all contributions welcome to that too.
Two Teens in the Time of Austen 