The Ritz has furnished the tea, Miramax the muffins.
The atmosphere is charged with anticipation and amused dread.
Understandably, this is how some members of the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA) prepare for the coming of the second Jane renaissance in little more than a decade. Will it be worthy of Austen? Or just an attempt to cash in on what member Margaret Sullivan calls the "Jane brand"?
Janeites, as they are known, acknowledge that imitation is the sincerest form of show business. But some wonder why, increasingly, the tributes to Austen, the social satirist minimalist in her address, arrive in the ribbons and furbelows of the romance movie and novel - when they are so much more than that.
Still, they are curious about all things Jane. For them, she is the most timeless, and therefore the most modern, of writers because her subject is the human heart. Her adherents range from NBA all-stars to university presidents.
Whether it is to the latest film (Becoming Jane, opening Friday), works of fan fiction (Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict), or Web journals (Sullivan's frisky AustenBlog), the Janeites flock. They are not birds of a feather, but most would agree with the first line of The Jane Austen Book Club (soon to be a major motion picture), "Each of us has a private Jane Austen."
As Herself put it: "Everybody likes to go their own way - to choose their own time and manner of devotion."
AustenBlog devotees pray for snark and spark. Orthodox Janeites pray for historical and textual accuracy. More liberal Janeites, such as JASNA's effervescent regional coordinator, Elizabeth Steele of Doylestown, pray for a movie, book or mini-series that captures Austen's wit and spirit. Clueless, the freewheeling 1995 update of Emma, is a particular favorite (there is widespread belief among Janeites that it would be Jane's choice for best adaptation).
