JASNA Greater Phoenix is a unique group of people, friends, who enjoy reading and discussing the works of Jane Austen. We also enjoy learning about and experiencing and some of the “past-times” Jane may have enjoyed. We are one of over 70 regional groups across the United States and Canada.

Members at a local JASNA meeting may discuss an Austen novel, hear a lecture about Austen or the Regency era, or enjoy a tea or Box Hill picnic. We celebrate Jane Austen’s birthday with a luncheon, tea, or special event. Other activities may include museum and garden tours, English country dancing, and Regency fashion shows. We also host special events such as scholarly conferences and galas which are open to the public.

January 2021 marked the beginning of our 10th year as a region. You are cordially invited to attend any of our events. Visitors are always welcome!

JASNA Greater Phoenix cordially invites you

to attend, via ZOOM, a study of

Cold Comfort Farm

Discussion facilitated by Dr. Holly Welker

Sunday, February 12, 2023

2:00 PM MST

R.s.v.p.: jasnaphx@gmail.com

Login information will be given with response.

Please respond by February 10.

Regency attire always admired, but never required.

Cold Comfort Farm (1932) by Stella Gibbons satirizes and rejects the gloomy fatalism of tragic English novels in favor of the happy endings Austen excelled at, an outcome hinted at by the novel’s epigraph from Mansfield Park: “Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery.” The main character, 19-year-old Flora Poste, hopes to write a novel as good as Persuasion when she is 53, and resolves to live the sort of life that will help her do that.

Austen is not merely a literary but a moral authority in the novel; Flora feels that she and Austen are similar in that they both like “everything to be tidy and pleasant and comfortable,” and Flora, who enjoys managing others’ lives every bit as much as Emma Woodhouse, musters the courage and wisdom to tackle and solve a particularly thorny problem after randomly opening Mansfield Park “to refresh her spirits.” Moreover a sentence Gibbons wrote in the novel is attributed to Austen in the 1995 film adaptation so that it can be spoken by the characters as a truth that should be universally acknowledged. Although not based on any of Austen’s plots, Cold Comfort Farm is a “light and bright and sparkling” novel indebted to Austen for its playfulness and wit.

Enjoy these images from the delightful Deluxe Edition from Penguin Classics (introduction by Lynn Truss.)

The 1995 film based on the novel is a delightful adaptation. Directed by John Schlesinger, and starring Kate Beckinsale as Flora Poste, it features a witty screenplay and a wonderful supporting cast. Readers may wish to view it to enhance their enjoyment of the book.

Read more about it here:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112701/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Or stream on Vudu (for a fee):

https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/details/Cold-Comfort-Farm/5328

Below is the official trailer:

Join JASNA Greater Phoenix for our Sixth Annual

Box Hill Picnic

Saturday, April 8, 2023

10:00 AM – 1:00 PM

Chaparral Park (south ramada)

5401 N. Hayden Road, Scottsdale 85250

Please pack your own picnic lunch and drinks.

 

R.s.v.p.: jasnaphx@gmail.com

on or before April 1.

Activities will include dining al fresco, delightful conversation,

and lawn and card games.

 

Regency attire always admired, but never required.

 

The Jane Austen Society of North America is dedicated to the enjoyment and appreciation of Jane Austen and her writing. The Greater Phoenix Region serves Phoenix and its surrounding areas.

The Jane Austen Society of North America is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and relies substantially for its funding on membership dues and contributions. Contributions to the JASNA-Greater Phoenix Region, a local chapter of the Society, are tax-deductible and are gratefully acknowledged with a receipt.