We’re talking about Regency history and retellings
A Black Regency reading list for Jane Austen fans
Hello friends,
We’re headed to New York City for a wonderful day of Jane Austen, with JASNA New York Region’s one-day conference “Everybody’s Jane Austen.”
The day will feature conversations about Jane Austen fandom, Austen in contemporary culture, and even a comedy performance by Tiny Dynamite and its Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged.
And this event has us thinking and talking this week about the Regency period - that amazing about-a-decade era that has captured the imagination of so many stories we love today, from romance novels and Bridgerton to historical scholarship by authors like Gretchen Gerzina, David Olusoga, and Devoney Looser, who keep unearthing more and more stories about the lives of Black residents of Britain in the 18th and 19th century, adding to historic works like the anonymously penned 18th century work The Woman of Colour and the works of Olaudah Equiano, Ignatius Sancho, and others writing from history.
So! We’re re-playing here some favorites, from a post we did about a year ago that many of you (hundreds of you) have not seen, and many more of you might have missed - and some of you, like me, might just want a refresher.
So our list of must-reads from Black Regency history, retellings, and adaptations follows - but it’s only a starter list. This is a category that just keeps growing - and there is so much more in the way of diverse retellings, adaptations, and scholarship from the 18th and 19th century appearing all the time, and as diverse casting in our retellings and adaptations expand our views of this era and in many ways reflect our history more accurately. So make sure you share with us what your favorite retelling, adaptation, or historic character or story is - let us know!
But before we get to our list - it already has an addition:
As many of you have obsessively followed, and rightly so, The Hallmark Channel ran a month of Jane Austen-themed movies in its Loveuary February celebration of love.
The most exciting film in that lineup was a brand new adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel Sense and Sensibility, produced by Tia A. Smith, who’s joining us this weekend at the JASNA “Everybody’s Jane Austen” event.
Smith is a rock star - or maybe we should say film star. She’s produced about 3500 hours of film and television - with 15 movies, 2 documentaries, 4 major awards shows, and 5 national commercial campaigns on her resume. She shows up and represents at some very impressive places, and sits on the national board of directors for both the Gospel Music Association and the Recording Academy, also known as the Grammys.
This weekend we’ll be chatting with Tia A. Smith and also long-time Janeite and JASNA director Renata Dennis, who also chairs JASNA’s diversity committee and has conducted research on the story of the 1808 novel The Woman of Colour (more on that below).
If you are able to get to NYC, come and see us in person. And if not, stay tuned - as we are planning to tape the conversation for a “live”-to-tape recording for the Austen Connection podcast. In which case all you have to do is sit tight, and the discussion will appear in your inbox.
A bit on the Hallmark adaptation of Sense and Sensibility - many of you know and love the 1995 Ang Lee adaptation. It’s a hard one to beat, and Ang Lee is a genius. But there are a few things that are delicious about this version that are not in other versions, namely: We get a lovely resolution for Marianne, whom we actually follow to Delaford, and get a tour from this film’s perfectly-cast Col. Brandon (I know we like Alan Rickman - but if Col. Brandon is a fave you won’t be disappointed in this one).
And there’s another delicious scene that usually happens off the page - both in the book and in every version (a reminder that our film adaptations don’t have to do it just like Austen did): the scene where terrible Lucy Steele notifies the Ferrars family that she’s in fact engaged to their precious Edward - and all hell breaks loose. This scene in the Hallmark version is prolonged and fabulous, chaotic fun.
The casting in this film is superb - the Dashwood sisters and Mrs. Dashwood are drop-dead gorgeous, and Little Margaret is the cutest ever. The men, including Willoughby, are as ridiculously impressive as they should be.
Producer Tia A. Smith worked on location with author Vanessa Riley - who is known to the Austen fandom for her meticulously researched retellings of Black Regency and historical figures and who served as a consultant for the film, which was partly shot in Bulgaria.
The settings, costumes, and locations, not to mention the cast - are luscious. And one of the most amazing parts of watching this adaptation for history buffs and scholars is going easter-egg hunting and finding so many gems in the background of the settings - such as a portrait of Dido Elizabeth Belle in the background of one scene.
It looks like the filming and the experience of this film was wonderful - and we’ll get the behind-the-scenes stories from Tia A. Smith and bring them back to you via the podcast.
And in the meantime - the film is now streaming on Amazon. So check it out if you haven’t already, let us know what you think, and join us for future discussions with producer Tia A. Smith and Renata Dennis on this and much more.
So without further ado, here’s our re-play of a reading and watching list on Regency history, diverse retellings, and adaptations - with a nod to Jane Austen & Co. and the Jane Austen Summer Program which provided a jumping-off point for this list, as noted below.
Happy reading, watching, and talking!
A Black Regency history and beyond reading list
The Austen Connection - March 5, 2023
[W]ith huge appreciation and round of applause for the Jane Austen Summer program (JASP) and its continuous conversations and insights, we’re lifting up and picking up from their inspiration today to show the many amazing Black writers of the Regency and beyond, Austen-adjacent reads and retellings, and contemporary creators lifting up Black lives and stories. …
We’re making this a listicle with comments, but check out Heather King’s full article for the Jane Austen Summer Program for more context and the complete list.
Their compilation begins with the historical category, and it’s a great thing to see all of these books in one place. From Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko (1688), to the Letters of Ignatius Sancho (1782), Ottobah Cugoano’s Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the Commerce of the Human Species (1787), and The Interesting Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789). King writes that these authors were part of a group known as The Sons of Africa and all of this - including all of these wonderful links - are included in the article for the Jane Austen Summer Program. King also recommends this new book on the life of Sancho, which looks like a great read.
If you’re interested in conversation about Black writers and Black lives from the Georgian and Victorian eras in Britain, our podcast conversation with author Gretchen Gerzina, author of Black England and Britain’s Black Past, was a huge introduction to this topic for us, and Gerzina mentioned in that conversation that Ignatius Sancho is one of her favorite figures from 18th century Black Britain.
And Gerzina’s conversation first introduced us to the work of David Olusoga, whose scholarship and public humanities projects are probably very well known to our British and BBC-listening friends, but are a treat in store for many of us - check out Black and British: A Forgotten History, and also the beautiful BBC documentary Africa and Britain: A Forgotten History, available to view on BBC Select, and featuring a gorgeous score by British-Nigerian “Doctor Who” composer Segun Akinola. Akinola’s suspenseful, moving compositions render the simple acts of reparations, gatherings, and collective stories of this public-humanities documentary-project triumphant. Check out the soundtrack and just see what it does for your Sunday.
American readers may be excited to find the poet Phillis Wheatley on the JASP list - Wheatley published a book of poetry in England in 1773, when New England publishers failed to invest in her work. According to this fascinating conversation with Boston University’s Joseph Rezek as part of the Jane Austen & Co. speakers series, Phillis Wheatley was one of the best-known women globally in the 18th century and was an early published African-American writer. It’s amazing to think that this African-American woman journeyed to England and met with famous abolitionists like Granville Sharp just a few years before Jane Austen was born. It shows that Black lives and activism and ideas were in full circulation in the world that Austen was growing up in, and in which she was writing books like Mansfield Park, where heroine Fanny Price asks her uncle about the slave trade and is met with “dead silence!” - but it’s not really dead silence, is it? Not when we’re still talking about it and exmaining it 209 years later.
The Woman of Colour is another great read under the historical section in the JASP compilation - it’s an anonymous tale dated at 1808, chronicling an adventurous story of a biracial heiress who journeys from her home in Jamaica to England to meet her groom. This is a great read alongside any of Austen’s novels - and a great read on its own, especially for anyone interested in Regency stories.
What is fantastic about this compilation is the mixture of historic reads with contemporary retellings - we’re here for it.
And in the contemporary section, the JASP list includes some of our favorites, and others that had been on our list that we had not grabbed from the library yet (we have now), including:
Marlon James! We were excited to see James on this list, as we were tempted to think we the only ones to notice that James, author of the Dark Star Trilogy, is in some ways influenced by Austen - we happened to hear him on an episode of the BBC Radio 4’s Open Book program talking about his Austen fandom. James also directly tackles the experience of Regency- and colonial-era Jamaican women in his novel The Book of Night Women.
Another Austen Connection favorite that makes the JASP list is Vanessa Riley’s Island Queen, which retells the life of colonial-era Caribbean entrepreneur Dorothy Kirwan Thomas. Vanessa Riley spoke with us about the research and writing of this novel on this episode of the Austen Connection podcast.
A contemporary work that is a completely new one for us is: The Age of Phillis, a novel in verse exploring the life and art of Phillis Wheatley, by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers. This is one to check out!
Four contemporary retellings that help celebrate Black history and also women’s history also find their way onto the JASP list, including one author who has been on the Austen Connection podcast: Nikki Payne who talked with us on this episode about her novel Pride and Protest, and also Ibi Zoboi’s Pride, Jo Baker’s Longbourn, and Hildie McQueen’s Regency in Color series.
Another thing we loved about the JASP compilation is that it goes well beyond the reading scene, and suggests viewing - hooray for including screen dramas as “texts” - with titles that celebrate and honor Black History Month as well as women’s history, including dramas like the film Belle, based on the life of Dido Elizabeth Belle, an 18th century biracial heiress who lived and was raised on the estate of the influential Lord Mansfield. The film Chevalier and the PBS series Sanditon also get a mention.
Sanditon, based on the fragment of Austen’s very last novel that she was unable to complete before dying, reminds us that Austen actually wrote a Black heiress, the character of Georgiana Lambe, into her last novel - and the PBS writers are attempting to give us the narrative that Austen wasn’t able to finish. It’s a wonderful reminder that not only was Austen surrounded by debates about colonialisim, oppression, liberty, and the slave trade - but she was directly interested in these conversations and was making a dramatic contribution to the dialogue by creating her “precious” heiress, Miss Lambe, perhaps the wealthiest and most intriguing character in all of Austen.
Two additional podcast guests on the Austen Connection who have helped us understand race, the Regency, and Austen retellings are Professor Danielle Christmas, who co-hosted Jane Austen & Co.’s marvelous Race and the Regency discussion series, and Damianne Scott, Austen scholar and educator and convener of the popular Black Girl Loves Jane Facebook group. Enjoy the conversations!
Big applause to Heather King and the Jane Austen Summer Program for this amazing list compiling historic and contemporary Austen-adjacent reads. We’ll continue the engagement with all of these discussions on Black history, women’s history, and how Austen’s stories connect to us today and connect us to each other, here at the Austen Connection.
Alright, friends, thanks for reading and let us know: Which of these have you read or watched? And do you teach - many of you do, I know - The Woman of Colour and/or other titles along with Austen titles? Have you enjoyed any of the Hallmark Loveuary films including the Sense and Sensibility adaptation?
Share what you’re reading, watching and listening to these days - and see more links and cool stuff to check out, below.
In the meantime, have a beautiful day - full of history, diversity, conversation, and joy,
Yours truly,
Plain Jane
Even more cool links and community
Jane Austen & Co. and the Jane Austen Summer Program host a range of programs and discussions about all things Austen-adjacent - check it all out here.
This original post was based on JASP’s blog by Heather King and their list of best Austen-adjacent Black History Month reads.
Here’s their talk with Professor Joseph Rezek on Phillis Wheatley.
Here’s JASNA board member Renata Dennis on the life of Regency-era heiress Dido Elizabeth Belle, on the JASNA podcast Austen Chat.
David Olusoga’s BBC series: This trailer on its own is a wonderful watch - but the series is a revelation in pubic history, community engagement, and journalism:
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Gretchen Gerzina’s website and her BBC program on Britain’s Black Past
Here’s more conversation on Dido Belle and Mansfield Park’s Fanny Price.
Check out the marvelous Reclaiming Jane podcast, Lauren Wethers and Emily Davis-Hale.
If you enjoyed this post, feel free to share it!
Looking forward to the new Sense and Sensibility.
But would a Black adaptation of Mansfield Park be even more potent? As Sir Thomas actually owns a plantation in Antigua?