Jane Austen in the Welty Garden: A Mini Film Series

The Eudora Welty House and Garden, the Mississippi Region of the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA), and Crossroads Film Society are partnering to present a third and final mini-film series featuring the cinematic adaptation of Jane Austen’s work or screening strongly linked with Austen or her work. Welt scholars are aware that Austen was one of Welty’s favorite novelists; Welty wrote and commented extensively on Austen’s fiction and the impact she had on Welty’s own writing.

There are excellent adaptations and modern films inspired by Austen’s novels that easily support a third and final season: Austen’s last novel, Persuasion, is being celebrated by Austen fans everywhere this year as 2018 is the bicentennial anniversary of its publication and there are two excellent film adaptations; the 1995 BBC adaption will be screened. Also selected is Belle, a 2013 film featuring a mixed race female protagonist who lives with a family connected to characters found in Austen’s novel Mansfield Park, and Austenland, a hilarious 2013 parody of contemporary Jane Austen fandom.

Austen scholar and biographer, Dr. Carolyn Brown, will lead and facilitate conversations around various themes before each film.