The Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA) AGM is happening this Hallowe’en weekend in Portland, Oregon, and I’m a little sad that I’m not there, as I’ve gone to the AGM nearly every year for more than a decade. However, I’m looking forward to reading conference papers about Northanger Abbey when Persuasions and Persuasions On-line are published, and in the meantime, I have a couple of JASNA events on the east coast to look forward to in the next few weeks.

JASNA Nova Scotia is delighted to be hosting Alistair Duckworth, Professor Emeritus at the University of Florida, and author of The Improvement of the Estate: A Study of Jane Austen’s Novels, on Friday, November 19th. His lecture on “Landscape and the Picturesque in Jane Austen’s Novels” is co-sponsored by the Department of English at Dalhousie University, and will take place at 3:45 pm in Room 1198 of the Marion McCain Building, 6135 University Avenue in Halifax, NS.

A few days before that, on Sunday, November 14th, I’m going to visit JASNA Massachusetts and give a lecture of my own, called “Everything She Ever Wanted: Marriage and Power in the Novels of Jane Austen and Edith Wharton.” It’s mainly about Lady Susan and The Custom of the Country. I can’t wait to see old friends, and make new ones, on this trip. My talk is at 2:00 pm at Wheelock College, Brookline Campus, 43 Hawes Street, Brookline, MA.