Jane Austen's Bad Girls

So I read this really interesting little discussion of Jane Austen's bad girls. What struck me about these articles is that often Jane Austen's bad girls are bad for pursuing sex outside of marriage, which automatically makes them bad (and, you'll notice, are always punished for, both by society and by the men who sleep with them.) And, really, that's something I honestly can't get behind.

In Honor of Jane Austen

Jane Austen died on July 18, 1817, and in honor of that, Tony, who often comments on this blog, posted photos of things connected to her, like her home, the Jane Austen Center in Bath and the places that showed up in her writing. What a nice tribute. Some of the photos, like those of the coast, are absolutely stunning.

The Archive of David Foster Wallace

Newsweek has an article about David Foster Wallace's archive, which is in Texas.  I haven't ever even read any Wallace, but now I really want to read him and explore this archive.  I've never really looked through the extra bits of author's before, but it sounds like the sort of thing I would like to do.  It sounds like treasure hunting, but better, because the finds are literary and historical in nature.
Maybe someday the archive will go online, like Jane Austen's recent stuff?  One can only hope. 

Manuscript Reading

Tony over at London Calling has this great post discussing how the Bodleian Library is going to be posting Jane Austen's manuscripts online.
The only possible sour thing about this is, of course, reading Austen's handwriting.  It may be perfectly legible, but anyone who is a historian of a non-modern era knows that manuscript reading can be a chore if the writer was sloppy.  I've never seen Austen's manuscripts before, so I have no idea what it's going to look like, but hopefully it doesn't make me think of 17th century Jesuits.  That stuff will give you a headache three words in.  Hopefully Austen is as purposeful in her handwriting as she is in her prose. 

Super Extreme Mega History Heroes

Sometimes, even your teachers manage to surprise you.

This morning, I found this video waiting for me in my inbox from my feminism professor. Even though it's true that she is a huge Bronte sisters fan, this is not exactly her style. But I love it. It makes me smile.
"Girls can't write books, ha ha ha!" Lol. I love the idea of boys and girls enacting feminist narratives.
Also, brontesaurus. The only thing I'm a little bothered by is the lace on the dinosaur. I feel like it needs an old school cameo pin too.
My one disappointment when it comes to this professor was not taking her Jane Austen class last year. I think one of my seminars was at the same time, and I didn't want to give that up because I didn't know her and had no idea if she was going to teach a good class. Turns out the feminism class was awesome. I would have almost certainly enjoyed her Austen class.