TABLE OF CONTENTS

I.  THE PROJECT

• ABOUT US

II. COMICS

• COMICS: DEFINITION AND ETYMOLOGY
• HISTORY OF COMICS
• COMICS AROUND THE WORLD / DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MANGA AND COMICS
• CATEGORIES OF PRODUCTION. AUTEUR THEORY
• THE CREATION OF A COMIC BOOK: A TEAM PROJECT
• CARTOONING
• READING COMICS
• COMICS AND POLITICAL PROPAGANDA
• PHILOSOPHY OF/IN COMICS
• COMICS AND EDUCATION
• COMICS STUDIES WORLDWIDE
• THE STAGES OF SUPERHERO NARRATIVES
• FORMAL LIMITATIONS OF THE GENRE
• BIBLIOGRAPHY

III. FAN FICTION: "THE TWEED JACKET"

• PART 1
• PART 2

PHILOSOPHY OF/IN COMICS

Philosophical studies of comics have been generally written under the scope of two separable directions. An aesthetic interest in comics would specifically deal with the philosophy of comics: definitional, ontological and formal (cf. Meskin 1). On the other hand, there is also a pure pursuit of philosophical themes in comics. In his introduction to the book Comics as Philosophy, Jeff McLaughlin writes:

From the very outset, then, the form of comics – its language and how we understand it – is rife with philosophial quandaries. Once we start analyzing the contents of comics, we can face its theoretical concerns through its various storylines, narrative arcs, drawing styles, and commentary (xi)

 An example of philosophical aesthetics is Robert C. Harvey’s essay Describing and Discarding ‘Comics’ as an Impotent Act of Philosophical Rigor.  It is based on a comparision of critics who have attempted to define comics: what is comics? What comics distincitve? The primary principle which Harvey himself gives is the “visual-verbal blend” (cf. 22).

Aaron Meskin’s article The Philosophy of Comics is a good example of foray into “questions raised by the medium and the art form of comics” (1). Meskin addresses the ontological concern by saying that comics are typically, but not essentially, multiples. The mechanical reproduction of the art form is significant in so far as it distinguishes a comic book from the Bayeux Tapestry, an ancestor of comics not called comics (7).

Among many others, an illuminating example of philosophical themes in comics is provided by Jeremy Barris’s Plato, Spider-Man, and the Meaning of Life. He studies four interconnected themes in Plato’s dialogues and Spider-Man: the foregrounding of sexual aspects of life, the inadequate, shadowy dimensions of our lives, the self-trivializing humour, and the use of sensory images. (cf. 64). Last but not least, artist Ryan Dunlavey and writer Fred Van Lente authored a series called Action Philosophers! in which they (re)tell the lives of the greatest thinkers: from the Pre-Socratics, St. Thomas Aquinas to Karl Marx. 

WRITTEN BY EDUARD GHITA

EDITED BY ANTONIA GIRMACEA

FORMAL LIMITATIONS OF THE GENRE

How is meaning conveyed (differently) in a novel, poem, or painting? What does theater bring in? Or film? Or better said, what can be achieved in a comic book? “The content of the form”, as partly inherited from the New Critics, speaks for itself. Formally, there are a number of limitations which artists struggle to manage or transcend (cf. Duncan & Smith 119-120):

1.      Space limitations: Monthly comic books usually amount to twenty-two pages of story. Graphic novels can amount to hundreds of pages.

2.      Reproduction technologies. Paper quality has been improved over time. If first comic books were printed on newspaper-quality paper, contemporary comics can be printed on very glossy paper, allowing for an enhanced effect on the reader.

3.     Unrealistic images. Comics are two-dimensonal and lack the photo-realistic qualities of other visual storytelling media (film, theatre, television, games).

About one and the same “moment” in Watchmen, realized in the comic book and the movie respectively. Notice the realistic details and the choice of colors.

4.      Limited control of the reader. The artist’s use of layout can influence, but not control, reading behaviour. A reader can view panels and pages in any order and for any duration.

5.      The page as a unit of composition: the reader can be controlled whenever s/he turns the pages because a pause occurs.

Expanding further on this formal issue, one can associate panels on a page with lines in a stanza. When a page ends and the reader is expected to move on to the next, the effect is similar to a fully-parsed stanza. In both scenarios, one is faced with the power of imposed fragmentation in interpretation. In Schleiermacher’s hermeneutics (via his hermeneutic circle) this is noticeably rendered in the part-whole relation. The understanding of the page relies on the understanding of its panels in as much as the understanding of the each individual panel is dependent on the page. So is the relation between one page and the comic book as a whole.

6.      Selected moments. Creators have to select significant frozen fragments of action (“moments of prime action”)

This implies that each encapsulation is an act of essentialized meaning, of snapping a significant still image out of  many other abandoned alternatives. In-between two consecutive encapsulation there are many “absent” panels to be imagined by the reader. 

 

7.      Interdependence of words and pictures. Visually oriented-people tend to look at pictures for a longer time than text-oriented people and vice versa

8.      Artistic skill. What can be depicted is limited by the skill of the artists.

9.      The serial aesthetic. Serialized editions can lead to repetitive actions of the protagonist.

Here is an example of such an opinion, posted on a forum.

“I found this article to be really depressingly true. The stagnant and repetitive nature of Batman comics has utterly killed my interest in the character, and this article articulates that so elegantly.” (Holmes)

Then, we are sent to the page by means of a hyperlink. 6 Ways Bruce Wayne Has Ruined Contemporary Comics. Dante R. Maddox writes:

Even if you buy the idea that Batman was barely a man when he started fighting crime, how old is Alfred? Commissioner Gordon?  Characters, who were obviously over 40 when the story began, are still running around without an AARP card. DC spent so long ignoring this worsening issue that the fact that Batman seemed to be able to resist the aging process despite having the most dangerous job in human existence that it became something of an inside joke, or even worse a point of pride. Frank Miller wrote once in the 25^th Anniversary edition of The Dark Knight Returns that his motivation for writing the story was the personal issue he had with the fact that Bruce Wayne was perpetually 35 years old.

WRITTEN BY EDUARD GHITA

EDITED BY ANTONIA GIRMACEA

THE STAGES OF SUPERHERO NARRATIVES

In War, Politics and Superheroes: Ethics and Propaganda in Comics and Films, Marc DiPaolo believes that superhero narratives which span for decades, typically undergo four stages. 

In the first stage, the creator puts in a lot of effort into his character, adding his political and cultural beliefs. The process is not done for material reasons. In the second stage, the creator stops writing for his character. DiPaulo lists a number of reasons: the creator becomes disenchanted with his character, he retires or dies, or he is financially dissatisfied. Consequently, the publisher takes control of the character.

While the publisher tries to mimic the style of the original creator, the new version of the character does not live up to its original and the fans become dissatisfied. As a result, in the third stage, the publishers hire a new writer who provides a "disconstructionist take on the character"  (31). The new view is particularly destructive for the character, so, after the phase ends, the publishers are at a loss as to what direction the character is heading. Consequently, in the fourth stage, the publisher hires fan-writers: 

who grew up reading the characters and know by heart all of the adventures produced during stages one through three, and have a complete vision of the character as it was originally intended to be, as it was massmarketed to parents and children, and as it was psychoanalyzed, killed, and dissected during the 1980s (32).

The fourth stage is, according to DiPaolo, particularly divisive. The narratives which result are "either adored or loathed" (32). The revised version of Batman is, according to the author, seen as a success (comics, animated series, film adaptations), due to its heightened realism. On the other hand, "the stage four versions of Spider-Man [...] were embraced by the public at large, but were too post-modern and sly in their tone to appeal to a small, hardcore base of fans, who [...] enjoy  only the adventures [...] produced in stage one" (32). 

WRITTEN AND EDITED BY ANTONIA GIRMACEA

COMICS AND POLITICAL PROPAGANDA

In War, Politics and Superheroes: Ethics and Propaganda in Comics and Film, one of the main arguments made by its author, Marc DiPaolo, is that the superheros featured in comics or TV shows frequently influence "American public opinion and U.S. government policy" (1). According to DiPaolo, since the terrorist attacks of September 11, comics have become more popular, particularly "superhero narratives" (1). He cites superheroes such as Wonder Woman and Spider Man as examples of characters who encourage views on anti-establishment. 

Mark Millar, the author of famous comics such as Wanted and Kick-Ass, echoes DiPaolo's views, by stating that superhero comics are "at their most popular and evocative when they respond to particularly turbulent political times, especially those marred by war and social unrest" (1). DiPaolo then goes on to expand on Millar's views, by citing World War II, the Vietnam War, and the war in Iraq as periods when comics enjoyed an increased level of popularity. Superheroes such as Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman first appeared during "the Great Depression and World War II era" (2), whereas Spiderman, the Fantastic Four, X-men, Iron Man, and the Hulk, were created in the sixties. 

DiPaulo also adds that Reagan's administration was one of the main causes why, during the eighties, the stories of the previously mentioned superheroes were "all radically revamped; their serialized stories began anew with a retelling of their origin stories set in the present of the 1980s" (2). He also adds that the heroism of these characters was largely "defined either in support of, or in opposition to, Ronald Reagan's America" (2).

DiPaolo states that comic books "have always been political, and have taken stands on controversial issues such as the death penalty, abortion, gay rights, and the environment" (11). He gives an example of an issue of Captain America fro 1941, in which Jewish writers opted to depict Hitler as a supervillain, "before the U.S. had entered World War II" (11).

One of the most well known examples of the way in which comics and politics intersect is represented by the introduction of Tony Stark in 1963, "who built his first, crude Iron Man battle-suit as a means of escaping from a Communist prison camp in South Vietnam" (12). This choice of location coincides with the Vietnam War, which was taking place at the time. The 2008 movie adaptation of Iron Man, starring Robert Downey Jr., changes the location to Afghanistan and introduces a terrorist group holding Tony Stark captive, to mirror the current political climate.

According to DiPaolo, "politically themed superhero adventures tend to fall into three different categories: establishment, anti-establishment, and colonial" (12). In the establishment narrative, the superhero aims at protecting the government and the citizens from villains (Batman, Iron Man, Captain America). The anti-establishment narrative, on the other hand, puts the superhero against the evil and corrupt government (Wonder Woman, X-men). Finally, the colonial category sees the hero as a traveler to a space seen as being uncivilized, in order to make use of its natural resources or to civilize it (Indiana Jones). 

It should be noted that the characters' political views are often a reflection of the views held by the writers. Therefore, DiPaolo states that it is possible for the same character to have a liberal ideology while portrayed by one writer, and then shift to a conservative ideology when the writer changes. An example would be Green Arrow, a "Robin Hood-like" (14) figure, first seen as a "Marxist revolutionary figure" (14) and later on as more moderate in his views, when the first writer was succeeded by others. The changes in ideology are often accounted due to America's social context, or simply due to the fact that "the character is going through a phase" (14).

Another interesting aspect is the way in which comics were used to criticize the Bush administration. DiPaolo mentions Superman comics as being the first monthly periodicals to openly state their dissatisfaction:

On the eve of George W. Bush’s real world installation into the White House, writer Jeph Loeb crafted a story in which Superman villain and amoral robber baron Lex Luthor is elected President of the United States in the fictional world of the DC Universe. When asked by a fan why anyone in their right mind would vote for Lex Luthor—the lunatic who dropped a nuclear bomb on California in the first Superman film as part of an elaborate plan to make a billion dollars on a real estate swindle—Loeb replied, “This is almost too easy ... who’s president now?” (26)

Finally, DiPaolo offers an interesting piece of advice regarding the way in which politics operates within a comic book:

In understanding how political symbolism and subtext work in superhero stories, it is important to be aware that the politics of a given storyteller and the politics of the individual fan often determine how that story is received. It is also important to be aware of industry trends, and the life cycles of long-lasting fictional characters that have changed over time, not only because of historical trends, shifting fan bases, and the idiosyncrasies of individual storytellers, but also for marketing reasons. (30)

WRITTEN BY ANTONIA GIRMACEA
EDITED BY MADALINA BORCAU

"THE TWEED JACKET" 2/2

After skipping the rest of the panels for the day, Lizzy finally made her appearance at the conference dinner.

She had changed into another Chanel suit, a simple black pair of trousers, a white jacket, and a blue shirt underneath it. Her accessories were the same, except she’d left the Philip Treacy hat at the hotel.

As she stepped inside the busy restaurant, she was greeted by Carlotta Lucas, one of the professors attending the conference, and a close acquaintance of hers.

“You’ll never guess what happened after you left, Lizzie,” she said. “Professor Dashwood fainted.”

Lizzie couldn’t suppress a gasp.

“It must be because of the flu,” Carlotta explained. “Professor Brandon is with her at the hospital.”

“That’s very nice of him,” Lizzy remarked.

“He is a nice man,” Carlotta mused. “I can’t say the same for Professor Darcy, though. When I heard how he attacked you today I was appalled. We all were.”

Lizzie smiled, relieved that everyone agreed with her. “He is an arrogant and hateful man. Is he here?”

Carlotta nodded. “He may be hateful, but he’s hungry.”

“Professor Bennet,” Emmaline Woodhouse greeted her. “I would like to apologize for today. I simply did not expect this to happen.”

“Of course,” Lizzy assured the woman, unwilling to discuss the topic anymore.

“She won’t need to interact with him again,” Charlotta said. “Mary Dashwood was supposed to sit next to me, so you can take her place, Lizzie.”

She saw Emmaline open her mouth, and wondered if the woman was going to reject the arrangement. Instead, Professor Woodhouse shrugged. “That would be the best, I think,” she said.

The dinner was considerably more enjoyable. To Lizzie’s relief, Professor Darcy had been seated far away from her, at a different table, so she didn’t have to speak with him for the rest of the evening. She did, however, have to deal with his scrutinizing gaze on occasion, which she opted to return with equal distaste.

Near the end of the dinner it started raining cats and dogs. As the restaurant was merely ten minutes away, the professors all went in pairs with those who had been wise enough to bring umbrellas with them. Having left the hotel in a hurry, Lizzie was trying to find someone to help her.

Carlotta had already left with Professor Collins, who had kindly offered to take her back. She could not see Emmaline anywhere, and most of the people she knew from before the conference had already paired up with someone they had befriended while she had been gone from the conference.

The whole situation was ridiculous and reminiscent of a school field trip.

“Do you need any help?” she heard Professor Darcy speak from behind her.

She didn’t bother to turn around. “I am perfectly fine.”

“The restaurant is going to close soon and you still have no way to get to the hotel,” he pointed out.

“I’ll phone a taxi,” Lizzie said with a shrug.

She heard him sigh. “You can’t phone a taxi to drive you for two minutes,” he told her. “I have an umbrella. I can take you to the hotel.”

Placing a hand on her hip she turned around. “Why would you help me anyway?” she asked him. “Especially after you tried to humiliate me today.”

“I didn’t –”

“It was a personal attack,” she exclaimed. “How is that not humiliating?”

“How can I remain silent when I see someone speak about something they don’t believe in?” he countered. “You say you don’t believe in classes. You want people to try and live according to More’s principles, yet you wouldn’t do the same.”

“And you try to make people believe that your views are right by insulting me.”

“I am not saying that your views are wrong or right,” he cried out. “I’m saying that you shouldn’t behave hypocritically.”

“Oh, so I’m a hypocrite now?” Lizzie scoffed.

He pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. “There’s no need to scream,” he said. “You’ll get us kicked out and then you’ll be forced to walk back with me.”

“You started it!”

***

“I told you we would get kicked out,” Professor Darcy said as they walked back to the hotel under his umbrella.

“Stop gloating.”

He let out a sigh. “I am merely stating the facts.”

Lizzie shuddered. “You provoked me.”

“You’re cold,” he pointed out and stopped in front of a closed shop.

Handing her his umbrella, he proceeded to take off his tweed jacket. “Take my coat or you’ll end up like Mary Dashwood.”

She shook her head. “I don’t need it,” she protested, yet he didn’t listen as he set the jacket on her shoulders.

Taking back the umbrella, he left her with no choice but to put it on. As much as she hated to admit it, the jacket was warm.

“Thank you, I guess,” she said as they continued walking back to the hotel.

For a few minutes they walked in complete silence, until Professor Darcy spoke again. “I am sorry for insulting you. You are right. I should not have tried to embarrass you like that.”

Surprised, she looked up at him, trying to find out if he was lying to her or not.

“I am not lying,” he said, as if reading her thoughts. “It’s not my business how you behave in your personal life and it was in poor taste to bring it up.”

“T-thank you,” she stuttered, still taken aback by the sudden apology.

“I realize that you have the right to separate your personal and professional life as you see fit.”

Lizzie couldn’t suppress a smile. “That’s very kind of you,” she told him. “Though you really are right about practicing what you’re preaching.”

His eyebrows lifted. “Please tell me you’re not going to start living like the people in your experiment, Professor Bennet.”

“Oh no,” she chuckled, realizing that he was teasing her. “I don’t think I could, to be honest,” she said. “But I think that my paper will suffer some modifications before it is published.”

As they went inside the hotel she turned around and added: “And please call me Lizzie.”

***

When Lizzie and Will sat down in the conference room together, much to everyone’s shock and disbelief, the two couldn’t help but laugh at the sight.

“They look like they’ve seen a ghost,” Lizzie remarked.

“They’re probably wondering if we’ve staged all the arguments,” Will told her.

“Yes,” Lizzie added. “They probably think this was all for another experiment I’m concocting.”

“It would be an interesting topic, you know,” he pointed out.

“I can already see it: Conference Clashes: A Social Study. My father would be amused by the whole thing.”

He glanced at his watch. “Is he coming to the conference?”

Lizzie shrugged. “Seeing as he’s supposed to present in five minutes, I think I might have to read his paper for him,” he said. “He called me this morning saying his flight got delayed.”

“Oh, Professor Bennet,” Emmaline Woodhouse approached them. “Please tell me your father is coming.”

“If he’s not,” Will chipped in. “Maybe Lizzie and I will put together a debate.”

Seeing the woman blanch, Lizzie gave her a weak smile. “I have the paper with me and I can read it in his place,” she said. “I know it sounds terrible but–”

 “I have arrived,” someone boomed.

The relief on Emmaline’s face was visible when she saw Professor Bennet, the father, enter the room.

“I came straight from the airport,” the man said as he got on stage, with two large suitcases as proof. His grey shoulder length hair billowed in the breeze of the air conditioner.

He placed the pieces of luggage on the table next to the video projector. “Please excuse my attire,” he motioned towards his white and blue floral shirt, brown shorts, large sunglasses, and flip flops. “But I was determined to come and talk to you all about cultural memory.”

He looked at the people sitting in the first row, waving at Lizzie and giving Darcy a friendly greeting.

Then he turned to Professor Woodhouse. “You may introduce me now, dear.”

 Emmaline scrambled to get the microphone from one of the technicians. “Oh, of course,” she said. “Professor Bennet is the leading scholar in cultural memory. He currently teaches Anglo-Saxon History and Religious Cultural and Intellectual History at Cambridge University, where his daughter is also based. Professor Bennet is also the founder of the Anglo-Saxon Cultual Memory Society and he is an honorary member of the Celtic Society. He is the author of the New History of the Anglo-Saxons, The Cultural Memory of Anglo-Saxons, and of the History of Histories of Anglo-Saxons, among many renowned publications. Please join me in welcoming Professor Bennet.”

After the audience’s tumultuous applause, Professor Bennet began his presentation: “As I look at you all in this room, I can’t help but think and wonder what you’re all doing here.”

The listeners laughed good-heartedly, clearly having asked themselves the same question multiple times.

“After all,” he said. “None of you are specialized in cultural memory. And I would know.”  

He cleared his throat. “But have no fear. I am here to tell you all there is to know.”

***

The moment Fran Price had been waiting for all her life had arrived. Here she was, standing in the same room as the famous Professor Bennet, paying attention to every word he said, furiously scribbling in her notebook. She noted all the important names Professor Bennet had mentioned: Sigmund Freud, Lord Byron, Napoleon Bonaparte, and many others. She also underlined words and scribbled possible questions, waiting for her moment to strike and impress.

“Oh arr”, she muttered to herself. ‘This be me moment of glory now’.

Shortly before the keynote speech, she’d snuck two bottles of cider in the bathroom and drunk them  as she’d been nervous about the prospect of actually interacting with her hero in the academic world.

The cider was making her feel particularly bold at the moment.

“Thank you so much Professor Bennet for the light-shedding presentation,” Emmaline Woodhouse said. “I am sure there are many questions from –”

  

Fran raised her hand. She heard a groan, this time coming from the front of the room, but she ignored it.

“P-Professor B-Bennet,” Fran stood up wobbling. “Your talk was groundbreaking. I-I enjoyed it i-immensely. I am your biggest fan.”

“That’s nice, girl,” the man in question said. “Now get on with the question.”

“Y-yes,” she stammered. “You mentioned Freud in your speech a-and I was wondering what you think of his use o-of pseudonyms in his cases.”

Professor Bennet scratched his head. “I don’t really understand what this has to do with my talk.”

“W-well you mentioned F-Freud,” Fran insisted. “And I’ve read about him.”

“My dear child,” the man said with a gentle tone, as if talking to a child, “It’s really nice that you like to read, but rather than asking pointless questions, I’d rather you not ask any at all.”

“B-but….”

“Next question, please,” Professor Bennet cut her off. “Ah, yes Darcy, ask away,” the man continued. “And wipe that lipstick stain my daughter left on your neck, that’s a good chap.”

***

Fran Price wasn’t going to let an angry old man in a floral shirt ruin her day. She cleared her throat and faced the people who were attending the panel she was presenting in. Carlotta Lucas, the person who was in charge of moderating the discussion, signalled for her to start.

“The culture of cultural memory is culturally determined by culture,” Fran began. “As culturally determined, culture acculturates itself by a process of cultural renewal. The culturality of cultural removal is another aspect culturally determined by culture.”

As she continued reading her paper, Fran could feel her confidence multiply by a thousand. She’d spent weeks editing this particular piece and she was sure it would be a success.

“That’s my undergraduate paper,” she heard someone cry out from across the room.

Fran lifted her head, her flushed cheeks visible to the entire room.

“That’s my undergraduate paper,” the same person whom she knew as Harriet Smythe, her classmate from university, repeated. “You plagiarized me,” she exclaimed.

“No, no,” Fran tried to defend herself. “I swear I didn’t.”

“I would recognize that paper anywhere,” Harriet insister. Her nose was scrunched, visibly showing her disapproval. “It’s the paper I wrote for Professor Weston’s course when I was drunk.”

Fran gulped. She should have done a better job at editing it.

“You plagiarized me,” Harried said again. “How could you?”

“This is outrageous,” she heard Professor Woodhouse exclaim. “Professor Price, you have no shame.”

“Something must be done,” Carlotta Lucas spoke up.

“I will sue you,” Harriet threatened. “Who knows how many papers you’ve plagiarized before mine,” she added before turning to Professor Lucas. “I demand an investigation.”

“I’ve only done it three times,” Fran defended herself.

“You have no morals and no work ethic,” Harriet accused her. “This will not remain unpunished.”

Carlotta nodded. “I completely agree. I will not allow plagiarism to be rewarded.”

***

Emmaline Woodhouse had expected her matchmaking efforts to work: Professor Brandon was nursing Professor Dashwood back to health, while Professor Lizzie Bennet had found a suitable partner in William Darcy.

After saying goodbye to Professor Bennet (the father), who had to catch a flight to Nepal, and after dealing with the plagiarism scandal, Emmaline was now ready to deliver her presentation.

She looked at Professor Knightley, who was about to introduce her. Maybe it was time to play matchmaker for herself after this conference. “Professor Woodhouse,” he began, “is one of the leading scholars in Adaptation Studies, and one of my dearest colleagues here at the University of Southern Bath.”

He gave her a wide smile and she returned it. After this conference she would make sure she was the only dearest colleague.

“Professor Woodhouse is the author of The Great Expectations in Adapting Charles Dickens on Screen, Techniques in the Stage Adaptations of Hamlet, and Twelfth Fright: Bakhtinian Thought in Titus Andronicus. Please join me in welcoming the incomparable Professor Emmaline Woodhouse.”

“Oh, thank you George for the wonderful introduction,” Emmaline said. “The paper I will present today has been nine years in the making and I have called it Modern Adaptations of Jane Austen’s Emma.”

She paused for dramatic effect. “I envisioned this project as a sort of experiment and I spent quite a long time thinking of who should take part in it,” she continued. “My first subjects were my dear colleagues the Tilneys. At the time, some of you knew them as Professor Harry Tilney and Professor Ekaterina Morland. As I looked at them, I couldn’t help but think what would happen if I made my own adaptation of Emma to bring these two together.”

Emmaline regarded the audience with a satisfied smile. “My adaptation was a success,” she told them, “and so were all the other adaptations I have worked on during all the annual conferences dedicated to cultural memory in this university. This one included.”

She heard someone gasp, but continued nonetheless. “Now I think it is time to end matchmaking career. I have gained sufficient information to compare the ways in which my adaptations have differed from the source material.”

“And,” Emmaline added with a playful tone, as she made eye contact with Professor Knightley, “I think it is also time I play matchmaker on myself.”

Turning her attention to the audience, she continued: “This conference has been a modern adaptation of my favourite Jane Austen novel. Now, let me tell you the riveting conclusions which resulted from my adaptation.”

***

      “That was a light-shedding presentation,” Will exclaimed after the conference ended. “Don’t you think so, Lizzie?”

     

     A soft laugh escaped her lips. “Yes, I would say Emmaline Woodhouse succeeded with all her adaptations.”

    

   They were standing in the parking lot, both clearly reluctant to say goodbye.

        

      “We don’t live so far from each other,” she remarked.

      

      The implication didn’t escape him. “Yes,” Will agreed. “Professor Woodhouse seems to have planned it all very well.”

    “I am certain she did not anticipate the plagiarism scandal,” Lizzie pointed out. “But I am glad it will be handled. I think we can both at least agree on that, if not on anything else.”

         

      Will nodded. “Speaking of plans,” he said. “I’m going to spend the week at my estate in Derbyshire.”

        “Is this an invitation?” she asked, though she knew the answer already. “I’m driving then.”

FIN

WRITTEN BY: ANTONIA GIRMACEA
ILLUSTRATIONS AND EDITING BY: MADALINA BORCAU