Jane Austen's Men by Helen Amy

As a continued part of celebrating Austen's 250th year, let us read about and discuss the real men that influenced our most esteemed author. As well as the men she created using society, satire, and sagacity.

No matter which Austen hero is your favourite, they all have touched our hearts in some way or another and have been the basis for comparisons for generations. We usually tend to focus on one novel at a time. But here is our chance to finally compare and contrast all the men with spoilers amok!

Description from StoryGraph:

The society in which Jane Austen lived and set her novels was a patriarchal one. Men ran the country nationally and locally, and had professional or business careers. Women were relegated to the subservient roles of wife, mother and housekeeper.

What was it like to be a man in late Georgian and Regency England? How did Jane Austen, who lived in a predominantly male household, portray her male characters? How much inspiration did she draw from real men?

{Those of us who know her story at the end of her life must suppose the author means before her life in Chawton, where her household consisted almost solely of women}

This book explores the lives of the men in Jane's life, her relationship with them, how typical they were of men of their time and the impact they had on her life and writing. It also considers how accurately the novels portray the lives of men and what they reveal of their author's views on the relationship between the sexes and the male domination of society.

Please have your RSVP updated by Wednesday, July 9th, as we would like to make sure that we tell the restaurant the correct number of attendees.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

** Please keep in mind, when we are having meetings in person and are indoors, and not via zoom or outside, your RSVP is very important. If you cannot make an event, please kindly remember to adjust your status so that people on our waiting list can be notified that there is a spot for them. **

**You all were so great last year, so I thank you for continuing to update your RSVPs. I will still be still taking attendance this year. So just as a reminder, repeated no-shows will be bumped to the waitlist so as not to take up one of our limited spaces. But maybe moved day of, if the meeting is not full.**