Jane Austen Society of North America, Southwest (JASNA-SW)

--posted by Laurie.

This was the title and theme of JASNA-SW's Spring Meeting, and our lunchtime activity was very much on topic.

We asked each table to consider three questions.

The first question was, “What modern writer writes most like Jane Austen?”

The second question was, “What would you say to a teenage boy to explain why PRIDE AND PREJUDICE is worth reading?”

And the third question was “If, as Maureen Dowd of the New York Times suggested, Barack Obama is Mr. Darcy, which public figure today is most like Mr. Collins? Mr. Bingley? Caroline Bingley? Mr. Bennet? Jane Bennet? Charlotte Lucas? Elizabeth Bennet? Or maybe you have another idea of who Mr. Darcy is?

Everyone could write his or her own response, or work together at the table. After writing, each table chose a volunteer to come up to the microphone to read that table’s answers during dessert.

Here is a compilation of all tables' answers. A number next to an answer indicates how many times the answer came up. Comments in parentheses are what some tables added by way of explanation for some of their choices.

I apologize for any errors or omissions; I had a hard time deciphering some of the handwritten pages:

What modern writer writes most like Jane Austen?

Reginald Hill
P.D. James
Elizabeth George
Anne Tyler (2)
Patrick O'Brian
Stephanie Barron
Barbara Pym (3) (one table said "small canvas, readable," [and something about the church; can't read the handwriting])
J.K. Rowling
John Updike (2)(one table said "social issues, marriages")
Syrie James (3)
Margaret Mitchell
David Lodge (2) (one table said "writer of comic novels")
Laurie Colwin
Zadie Smith
Nick Hornby (2)
Georgette Heyer
Elizabeth Bowen
Karen Joy Fowler
Laurie Viera Rigler
F. Scott Fitzgerald ("economics; interested in rich people and how to become one; inability to get ahead without marrying someone rich")
Candace Bushnell
scriptwriter for Frasier
Angela Therkel
Olive Ann Burns
Willa Cather
Sinclair Lewis
Maeve Binchy
Thornton Wilder
John Steinbeck
Elizabeth Aston
Diana Birchall ("She's funnier!")
Susan Howatch ("Absolute truths")
Alexander McCall Smith

What would you say to a teenage boy to persuade him that PRIDE AND PREJUDICE is worth reading?

"You'll meet the love of your life."
"It's good for meeting girls."
"There are good characters."
"There's humor and irony."
"Lizzie is the ideal woman."
As Lynn Batten said, "You will meet people like these characters."
"Society, sarcasm."
"There's sex and violence."
"Lizzie is hot."
"It'll make you a chick magnet."
"Think Keira Knightley."
"Being able to quote from or reference PRIDE AND PREJUDICE can get you girls."
"You'll be able to see how women want to be treated (paid attention to, sought after, and admired)."
"It's a manual on how to attract a young woman."
"You'll learn about economics and its impact on marriage."
Do the same thing, in effect with CLUELESS--show him how to emulate Darcy, flirt, dangling cat-and-mouse game that sex is play, without a big macho image.
Threaten him with a lot of questions in an exam.
English teacher should read first five chapters aloud--together.
"If you want to get along with women, read P&P." ("This is why I joined the group.")
Have a drama club portray the action.
"Absolutely do not read this book."
Watch the movie first for background knowledge, then say, "The book is better."
"Score points with or impress girls."

What public figures are most like characters in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE?

Lady Catherine:
Rush Limbaugh (because so many kowtow to him.)
Barack Obama

Fanny Dashwood:
Dick Cheney

Mr. Collins:
George W. Bush (2)
Rush Limbaugh
Dan Quayle?
Chris Matthews
James Dobson of Focus on Family
Joe Biden
Antonio Villaraigosa

Mr. Bingley:
Tim Geithner
Joe Biden
Colin Powell (because he got talked into things)
Robert Kennedy, Jr.
Tony Blair
Dennis Kucinich
young Hugh Grant

Caroline Bingley:
Rush Limbaugh
Anne Coulter (4)
Nancy Pelosi
Janice Dickinson

Mr. Bennet:
George H.W. Bush (2) (one table said "didn't attend to his kids while they were growing up")
John Edwards
David Souter
Andy Rooney
Robert Osborne, TCM host
Jon Stewart of The Daily Show
Paris Hilton's father

Elizabeth Bennet:
Michelle Obama (4) (one table said "rejected Barack originally as a geek, fell in love with him. Smart, quick on her feet, speaks her mind")
Julia Roberts

Mr. Darcy:
Barack Obama (5) (one table said he was Darcy at the end of the book)
Paul Newman
Prince William (2)
George Clooney (2)
Rahm Emanuel
John F. Kennedy, Jr.
Hugh Jackman
Ann Coulter
John Kerry

Jane Bennet:
Valerie Jarrett (2)
Laura Bush (2)
Caroline Kennedy (2)

Mr. Wickham:
John Edwards (2)
Elliot Spitzer (2)
Prince Harry
George Clooney?

Charlotte Lucas:
Hillary Clinton (3) (one table said "willing to compromise and adjust and lower expectations--pragmatic")
Laura Bush (2)

Please leave your own ideas for answers as a comment to this blog post!/b>