Tea at Trianon: Jane Austen Literary Festival

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, March 18, 2013

Jane Austen Literary Festival

In Old Mandeville.

Old Mandeville will feel a lot like Olde England when the Jane Austen Literary Festival unveils its annual celebration of Regency style and literary sensibility March 9-10. The festival mixes books and bonnets, contests and conversation, lectures and laughs — and even includes a dance in period costume.

“We keep things fun, and that keeps people interested,” said Kerri Blache, who helped to found the event in 2008. “The panel discussions and talks about Austen’s era are quite interesting, but we also have events that appeal to anyone who likes to dress up in costume.”

Costumes are not required, but they do add an extra element to the Austen Festival. Blache estimates that in 2012 about 60 percent of festgoers wore Regency garb.

“You won’t see people dressed in recycled Carnival costumes,” Blache said. “A lot of research and hand-sewing goes into these costumes. The idea is to take a trip back in time, to get a feel for Jane Austen’s era.” (Read entire post.)

Sassy Countess said...: This is wonderful. I was the only to dress up in the 1990's. Now, everyone is doing it!; March 18, 2013 at 1:10:00 AM EDT
julygirl said...: Good to know that a classy novelists like Jane is still appreciated in this day and age of murky literature.; March 18, 2013 at 5:56:00 PM EDT