Mrs. Elton's Pearls: Simulating Superiority in Jane Austen's Emma

Pearls! Mrs. Elton! Queen Elizabeth I! Oh, my! Join me as I explore the history of pearls and their use in Jane Austen's Emma to display the class conflicts over symbols of excellence. I first gave this talk in D.C. in October 2016 at the Jane Austen Society of North America Annual General Meeting, later for the JASNA-Greater Louisville Region, and for the JASNA-Indianapolis region. I SO enjoyed researching for this talk because it combines my obsessions with Jane Austen's novels, her time period, historical fashions, and gemstones! Here is a link to my article that arose from this research, and all of my citations: http://jasna.org/publications/persuas...