Events & Classes > Collins Gallery > Lit Chicks: Verbal and Visual Satire in the Age of Jane Austen
Lit Chicks: Verbal and Visual Satire in the Age of Jane Austen
Location, time
- Collins Gallery
- 3rd Floor, Central Library
- 801 S.W. 10th Avenue
- Portland, OR
- September 25–November 7, 2010
- Monday: 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
- Tuesday & Wednesday: 10 a.m.–8 p.m.
- Thursday–Saturday: 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
- Sunday: noon–5 p.m.
About the exhibition
The beginning of 19th century England marked a flowering of literature by women writers, culminating in the sharp social satires of Jane Austen (1775–1817). The creator of such works as Pride and Prejudice, Emma and Northanger Abbey was inspired by a century of women writers who preceded her, including Frances Burney, Maria Edgeworth, Elizabeth Inchbald and Charlotte Smith. Austen, in turn, set the stage for a new kind of novel, one set in contemporary times in which character development and social satire was preeminent.
This exhibition puts Jane Austen and women writers of her time in context by displaying manuscript letters and first editions of plays, poetry, and early epistolary "novels" written by Austen's predecessors, as well as first editions of novels by Austen and women writers who were inspired by her. Women's periodicals of the day, items from Regency-period life, and later Austen editions and biographies add to the context.
The visual ironies of the period were captured in the caricatures of James Gillray (1757–1815) and Thomas Rowlandson (1756–1827), who chronicled British political, social, literary, religious and moral foibles of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The original caricatures in this exhibition satirize women’s reading habits, manners, dancing, card playing, tea drinking, singing, and other pursuits of Jane Austen’s time.
From the collections of Paula L. Stepankowsky, Marian LaBeck and James Petts, this exhibition is mounted to coincide with the annual general meetings of the Jane Austen Society of North America and The Burney Society, October 28–31, in Portland.
Related event
Reception
- Thursday, October 28, 4:30–6 p.m.
Please join us for a brief talk by Paula L. Stepankowsky about how the collection exhibited helps put Jane Austen and her times in context. Refreshments will be served.
