The life of Jane Franklin, sister of Benjamin, was told by Jill Lepore in Book of Ages. We discussed the incredibly hard life of this woman, who managed to live to the age of 81, while watching children, grandchildren, other family members, and her friends die around her. Her life of dedication to domestic life as contrasted to that of Benjamin's in the wide world provided our central topic of discussion: how and why to write such a life as hers, based on few documentary sources. We were intrigued by the way Jill Lepore was able to gather and shape Jane's life from the meager facts recounted in those sources. The contrast between Benjamin's life in the historical world with Jane's in the domestic world was balanced against Jane's unflagging desire for knowledge, teaching herself to read and write despite seemingly crushing domestic responsibilities and tragedies. We ended our discussion considering how history is written about great men from documents, but the history of the obscure (often women) may have to be written as fiction.
We will continue to review the titles on our list for consideration for upcoming discussions. Please let Kathryn, Helen, or anyone else in the group, if you have a favorite book you would like to share with your DES colleagues. As you can tell from the posts, we are interested in a wide range of fiction and non fiction. We enjoy our sessions thoroughly and always have room for more people and more insights.
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