This year’s Jane Austen Summer Program is examining Austen’s "Mansfield Park" in conversation with Shakespeare’s "All’s Well That Ends Well" and "King Lear." We are seeking presenters for the “Film and Afterlives” panel (adaptation medium open!). Those presenting on films are encouraged to include clips in their presentation; those presenting other media are similarly encouraged to help the audience “see” what they’re comparing – book covers can be a good way to illustrate.

Possible approaches might consider:

Jane Smiley’s novel "1,000 Acres" as a way into thinking about issues of the paternal power (and its abuse) in "Mansfield Park" and "King Lear";

the love-struck orphan Helen in "All’s Well" serves as a provocative counter point to Fanny Price – how does Fanny’s final victory compare to Helen’s trials to win her Bertram?

How do modern adaptations (whether explicitly so like "1,000 Acres" or implicitly like Patricia Rozema’s 1999 adaptation of "Mansfield Park") talk back to the adapted texts?

What issues of performance v. authenticity arise across this collection of texts and their descendants?

Both Austen and Shakespeare enjoy robust afterlives as authors but also as literary figures fictionalized in multiple ways.  To what extent does Austen "adapt" Shakespeare as a figure for her purposes in "Mansfield Park"?  How might Austen or Shakespeare be characters in adaptations of their own work?

Please submit your proposal for a 15-minute presentation by April 21, 2022.

The Jane Austen Summer Program is June 16-19, 2022, in Carrboro/Chapel Hill, N.C. For more information about the program, visit janeaustensummer.org.