Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA)

June 11, 2019

Our June meeting is always accompanied by a refreshment of strawberry shortcake along with coffee and tea.  It’s an opportunity for our group to celebrate the summer ahead and share one more companionable time with our fellow Janeites before we break until October.  The presenter for this meeting was Mary Field.  Mary had read an interesting style of Jane Austen sequel in an imaginary obituary for Charlotte Collins entitled “Extract from the Hertfordshire Gazette, June 1876”.  This piece was posted on the ‘Jane Austen World’ website and is a product of the imagination of Andrew Capes. 

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The obituary imagines that Charlotte lived a long life dying at 92 years of age.  She had become the grand dame of Hertfordshire but true to her character as set out by Jane Austen, she was kind and benevolent to the end.

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Some of the marriages Andrew Capes depicts seem somewhat hard to believe on the surface however as our group discovered in the discussion that ensued, the modern reader must factor into the equation the economic, social and political environment in which these characters lived.

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We encourage you to visit the ‘Jane Austen World’ website to review the obituary for yourself.

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Along with a reading of the obituary Mary developed a chart depicting the relationships described therein and their connection to the original characters in Pride and Prejudice.

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Another reference used by the presenter was “Master Key to the Rich Ladies Treasure”.  This reference document lists all the rich ladies in the kingdom along with their titles and the size of their fortunes. 

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Click on the links below to read the presentation and to the accompanying chart.