Members Meeting - March 20 2010
Literary Opinions
Emma shared her review of Austentatious, a musical spoof (written in part by a Calgarian) about a ego-drenched theatre group staging Pride and Prejudice. Others had this to say:
“Possibly the greatest I have ever seen! Forget Elizabeth and Zombies, I am now all for seeing the Bennett sisters run away to the sea with Red Wickham!”
“Didn’t appreciate the miss-mash of egos cavorting under the name of Jane Austen - so there!!”
“Unless you take your Jane Austen seriously, you will enjoy the madcap pantomime antics on stage. The ending is Austen, though: the nicest characters end up together.”
“Hilarious! The more you know about Jane Austen and other literary lights, the more the jokes work. My favourite moments were Jane Austen coming to haunt the cast and the Hollywood-type director being astonished that a book has been produced from the DVD so quickly!”
For even more literary explorations, two invited speakers addressed our group.
Catherine Spencer related her persistent efforts in writing a novel, Good Intentions. inspired by Jane Austen and finding an agent willing to help her publish a work true to the tone and morals of the age. The audience was supportive and discussed publishing options.
Amy Stafford delighted us with her analysis of the bad girls in Jane Austen's novels. Fools, Flirts and Floozies was an illustrated romp through the questionable morals and brains of many secondary characters, with a few nods to some heroines.