My Own “Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict”

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I just finished reading Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler. It has a clever premise: A modern woman is cheated on by her fiance, numbs her pain with vodka and Jane Austen classics, and finds herself transported (via a form of New Age-like time travel) back to Jane Austen’s time. Alternating between questioning her sanity and trying to enlighten the supporting cast of characters with her modern views of women, all while trying to figure out how to get back to her modern life, she systematically shatters every romantic delusion I have about the regency period!

The book convicted me, so here are my own “confessions”:

1. I was actually a member of the JASNA (Jane Austen Society of North America) for several years and secretly, though proudly!, carried my membership card in my wallet.
2. I tried to talk my husband into going to the 2001 JASNA Annual General Meeting in Seattle as a trip to celebrate our ninth wedding anniversary. I envisioned days spent in stimulating conferences such as “Estimating Lace and Muslin: Dress and Fashion in Jane Austen and her World” and “Jane Austen and the Reconsigned Child: The True Identity of Fanny Price” and evenings spent waltzing (I have gained permission from the patronesses of Almacks!) and performing country dances while dressed in period costumes. Had it not been for 9-11 and my fear of flying in the aftermath, we might have went…and if we had, there may not have been a tenth anniversary! My husband may be of English ancestry and also long-suffering, but even he has a limit. And, I am pretty confident that making him wear skin tight knee-britches and a cravat while performing country dances exceeds it!
3. Once in a great while I am inexplicably drawn to the Jane Austen section of the book store with the hope of discovering some new novel she wrote that I had somehow never heard of…and, every time, I am actually a bit disappointed when I don’t find any.
4. I have high hopes of being good friends with Jane when I get to Heaven!
5. A few years ago I went outside to go sledding with my girls after a snow storm (ok…I confess, we don’t really have snow storms where I live…only about 3 inches or so had fallen). When I stepped outside, it was like being in a space movie with little black specks of debris floating back and forth in my field of vision. I have about 15 floaters in one eye and 5 or so in the other. It freaked me out and I went to the eye doctor to make sure my retna hadn’t torn. She referred me to a retna specialist for the following week. During the weekend before my appointment I was worried that I was going blind. What did I frantically read that weekend as “my last book” per se? I wish I could say it was the Bible, but I have to confess, it was Pride & Prejudice.
6. I have a secret wish to be kissed on the back of my hand…by Mr. Darcey.
7. I wish modern women still had the modesty and sexual morals that they had back then. When I see “modern women” of today, I often think what an outrage their clothing and behavior would have been during the regency period. Modern women have gained many rights, but IMHO, sadly they have lost their class and sometimes just seem silly, and even sad, now.
8. I wish I had all of the servants that regency women had…butlers, cooks, housekeepers, lady’s maids, footmen, etc. But, as my husband often reminds me, it was only the very wealthy who had all of that…the rest worked themselves to death just to squeak out a meager living.
9. If my last name hadn’t been the generic “Johnson,” I would have named one of my daughters Jane.
10. I didn’t want my romantic delusions of the regency period shattered!!!

Feel free to share any of your “Jane Austen addict” confessions!

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Filed under 2008, All Things Jane Austen, Books I Love! and Books that I love-not so much!

Tags: Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, Jane Austen, Jane Austen Society of North America, JASNA, Laurie Viera Rigler, regency england, regency period, women