Yesterday I went to my very first meeting of the Jane Austen Society of Melbourne.
The entrance to the building where the meetings are held.
The members were mostly women (obviously) with an average age of about 65. But I was expecting that and I found an interesting mix of people there with many similar interests, including one very well read woman who told me the Dickens society meets at the same location on a Friday night. Definitely something to think about.
The speaker for the meeting was Professor Deirdre Coleman, Robert Wallace Chair of English at the University of Melbourne. Her talk was really interesting and of obvious relevant for me as she spoke about the theme of anti-slavery that flows through Mansfield Park. This seemed to be the first time some had heard about this, but it nicely complimented what I'd learnt from the last group read on www.pemberley.com of Mansfield Park, which also focussed on how widely read and abolitionist in views Jane Austen was.
I hope the future meetings are as good and I look forward to the next one in a few months time.
No comments:
Post a Comment