"So educational!"

[altariel]

On Saturday, katlinel and I went the Rereading Georgette Heyer conference at Lucy Cavendish College, and very good it was too. Apparently - and remarkably, to my mind - it is the first conference to be devoted to Heyer's works. I think there were around 80 of us in attendance, and the conference organizers had sadly had to close bookings.

The highlight of the day for me was the short talk given by Jennifer Kloester, author of Georgette Heyer's Regency World, who has spent the last few years researching a new biography of Heyer. She spoke with great knowledge about and empathy for her subject, and I think it's going to be a first-rate book.

I thoroughly enjoyed Sam Rayner's paper on the changes in cover design, from the elegant hardback covers to later, more lurid papers promising excitement, adventure and really wild things! This paper also revealed how Heyer seems to have shifted category from being perceived as an historical to a romance writer over time: many of the attendees had picked up their mother's copies, but a handful said it was their fathers who had read Heyer.

I also very much liked Sarah Annes Brown's paper "Lady of Quality and Homosexual Panic", which used Kosofsky Sedgwick to look at the anxieties about lesbianism that surround Ancilla Trent's relationship to her cousin Miss Fowler, her sister-in-law Amabel, and her young protegee, Lucilla. When I read the book last month, I was puzzled as to why the relationship between Lucilla and Ninian seems to fade away towards the end: however, as Sarah Brown noted, anxieties about lesbianism disappear as soon as Carleton puts in an appearance. So Lucilla has served her plot purpose.

We rather sweetly ended on a very fannish note: a songvid to "Holding out for a Hero" using clips from recent film and TV adaptions of Austen, Gaskell, Bronte, etc. Unfortunately, I can only find a version without audio on YouTube, there seems to have been some copyright complaint over the song.

Comments

[owlfish]

I'm so glad you went and reported back! I was very tempted but postponed long enough that it sold out first, thus making up my mind for me.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

A lovely day, with very good papers. I hope there's another, and that you can make it. And do keep an eye out for the biography: she was a terrific speaker and has found/used a vaster amount of archive material than the previous biographer was able to.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm sad to have missed that. A new biography would be good -- the one I have by Jane Aiken Hodge isn't very elucidating.

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

That sounds wonderful! I have to admit from what I have read, I don;t think I'd care for her personally, but that never stopped me loving an author's work...

I loved those original hardback covers, they were so unique and fitting for the comedies of manners she wrote.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

This paper also revealed how Heyer seems to have shifted category from being perceived as an historical to a romance writer over time: many of the attendees had picked up their mother's copies, but a handful said it was their fathers who had read Heyer.

That might explain why my mother, who was very keen on historical novels, didn't much care for Georgette Heyer. She liked romance, but it needed to be surrounded with plenty of history.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Kloester has had access to a much vaster amount of archive material than Aiken Hodge. She was a terrific speaker, and I hope it's going to be a first-rate book.

[lame-pegasus.livejournal.com]

This video isn't bad either (and I'm a huge Queen-fan, which is a bonus, of course):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1AsqAl4fHM

My all-time favorite book by Georgette Heyer is and always will be These Old Shades.

[shezan.livejournal.com]

That sounds excellent, I really regretted not being able to attend. Will there be publications?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Oh, I wish you'd made it, that would have been lovely! There was mention of the possibility of publishing conference proceedings, I'll post here if there's more news. Definitely look out for Kloester's book, though, which will hopefully be out next year.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Aha, very interesting. Heyer also published some "straight" historicals (and detective novels), but they weren't as well received, as far as I can make out.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that! Mmm, Richard Armitage... My favourite Austen adaptation is the 1990s one of Persuasion (see icon).

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I suspect I wouldn't have liked her much personally either - but then, as you say, TS Eliot!

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

It might well be that my mother never came across any of Heyer's "straight" historicals. I generally bought her books for her Christmas and birthday presents, so got to known her tastes pretty well. Among her favourite writers were Jean Plaidy (but she didn't like the ones that she wrote under the pen name of Victoria Holt, which I understand had more romance and less history), Philippa Gregory and Cynthis Harrod-Eagles (the Morland Dynasty series).

And quite unexceptionable!

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

*doez fakts at you* It was Annis Wychwood's relationships with Miss Fowler, her companion, Annis' sister-in-law Amabel, and Lucilla. Ancilla is in The Nonesuch.

I went looking for the video as well and only found the no audio version alas.

Thank you again for a splendid weekend treat!

Re: And quite unexceptionable!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Darn those pesky fakts! Yes, of course it's Annis Wychwood - we even discussed her surname as evidence! Stupid branez!

I'm glad you enjoyed the day, and thank you for coming *hugs you*