Please consider attending this exciting event next month. Direct questions to Dr. Robin Hammerman of Stevens Institute of Technology (rhammerm@stevens.edu).
AUSTEN AND BYRON: TOGETHER AGAIN
Thursday, April 21, 2016
4:00 to 9:00 P.M.
Drew University Library, in collaboration with the Jane Austen Society of North America/New York Metropolitan Region and the Byron Society of America, invites you to continue the exploration of this most elegant pairing of antipodal Romantic writers at the Drew University Library, home of the Byron Society Collection. This mini-conference will continue the conversation begun at the 2008 “Austen and Byron: Together at Last” conference held in New York City.
For both specialists and general readers of Austen and Byron, the occasion celebrates this year’s multiple focus within Romantic circles on the signal year of 1816—the year Byron’s Childe Harold III was published and Austen began writing Persuasion. From a general conversation on Persuasion to a special lecture by noted Romanticist Rachel Brownstein of Brooklyn College, this mini-conference will also radiate out to touch on conflicting forces in “The Spirit of the Age” that Austen and Byron clearly represent in the Regency years 1812-1818. Byronists and Janeites will likewise enjoy a special showcase of selected items from Drew University Library’s Byron Society Collection and items from the splendid Jane Austen Collection on loan for this occasion from Goucher College Special Collections & Archives. Specially conducted tours of the United Methodist Archives and History Center, home of Drew University Library Special Collections will complement the day’s events.
Program
4:00-4:15 p.m. Welcome (Chris Anderson, Head of Special Collections and University Archives, and Marsha Manns, Co-Founder of the Byron Society Collection.
4:14-5:30 p.m. Discussion led by Robert Ready, Dean of the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies, on Austen’s Persuasion. Selected materials from the Byron Society Collection and the Austen collection at Goucher will be available for examination by discussion participants.
5:30-6:00 p.m. Coffee/tea/cake break and viewing of special exhibition of related materials from
Drew’s Byron Society Collection and Goucher’s Austen materials on loan for the event.
6:00-7:00 p.m. Lecture by Rachel Brownstein, Brooklyn College.
“Austen and Byron: Literary Taste and Judgment”
Rachel M. Brownstein has taught at the City University of New York since 1973. She is the author of three books: Becoming a Heroine: Reading about Women in Novels (1982),Tragic Muse: Rachel of the Comedie-Francaise (1995), and Why Jane Austen? (2011).
7:15-9:00 p.m. Substantial wine and hors d’oeuvre reception and tours of the Special Collection Library.
All events take place in the United Methodist Archives Building.
Participants may register for the entire—or selected portions—of the event.
Please visit the event webpage: www.drew.edu/library/special-collections/austen_and_byron
Transportation to the Drew campus for those travelling between New York/Penn Station and Madison train station via. New Jersey Transit will be provided by shuttle bus according to the following schedule:
Trains arriving to Madison from NY Penn Station will be met by shuttle bus to transport attendees to the Drew campus at 3:33 pm and at 5:35 pm. The bus to transport attendees to the Madison train station from Drew will depart at 8:30 pm for the 8:54 train to NY Penn Station.