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Reading group letters | Dear Miss Emma

9/3/2015

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The Set Up:

As a romance writer, I thought it would be fun to write a letter to Emma Woodhouse asking her for advice with my novel since she is a matchmaker with a very fanciful imagination. My novel is a paranormal contemporary time travel romance back into Regency England. One of the challenges was making it understood by Emma so that she could assist me.  Here is the letter I crafted.

The Letter:

My Dear Emma,

I have long admired your expertise in matchmaking. As your dear friend at Donwell Abbey, you confided to me your matchmaking schemes before your marriage to Mr. Knightly. I am astonished at your cleverness. You boasted to me of your matchmaking skills and that they are a matter of joy to you.  I realize that you are naturally gifted in conjuring love matches. A true imaginist as the novelist, Jane Austen, would say. You have orchestrated so many of them beginning with the marriage of your former governess, Miss Taylor to Mr. Weston.

I know that your matchmaking is more than fortune telling or a lucky guess. Perhaps you can divulge your talent. When we sat together after the picnic at Box Hill, I was overcome by your excellent matchmaking plans. Now I am burning with impatience to know the secrets to your success. You see, I have fancied myself writing a novel. Remember how fun it was discussing the adventures of Evelina by the author, Miss Burney? How our hearts pounded in terror at The Mysteries of Udolpho by Mrs. Radcliffe!

With high spirits, I have begun my own matchmaking novel with Gothic overtones, but alas, I am vexed at my efforts and require your assistance. You have excellent tastes! And a most romantic imagination! My heroine, Serena, has such a sweet countenance but she is also an ambitious bluestocking. What virtues shall I give her? My hero, Myles, is a bewitching bachelor. A handsome man but a bit of rake. What manners shall I give him?

During the high point of my tale, my characters attend a masquerade ball with haunting music 
where gossip is the game and calling cards the prize. During a lull in the dancing, Serena escapes to the library and becomes lost in the great castle. Myles finds her whereupon they are chased through the dark passages by villainous apparitions. 

Although my hero and heroine have sensible feelings towards each other, I need them to develop a tenderness for each other and reach a finer understanding so that they may have their own happy ending and be united in wedlock. You are skilled with observing every look and word which betrays the heart. What contrivances shall I use for them to cherish a most tender affection for each other?

Help me to imagine their courtship. Where should the marriage proposal take place? Should it be prefaced by a letter or a poem?  Or, foreshadowed by a charade or some other word play? What clues shall I provide for my characters to discover a delicacy of feeling?

Should the engagement be long or short? What about the wedding? Should it be a fashionable one during the morning in a church? Or, a very private one at night, perhaps in a drawing room by means of a special license?  Or, a country wedding? Or perhaps something scandalous, like an elopement to Gretna Green?

I beg of you, please, be sincere with me. Persuade me of the right way to fasten an arrangement of the heart. I await your quick discernment.

Yours ever,
Miss Vonnie Alto
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Reading group letters | Mrs. Gardiner to Georgianna

7/28/2015

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This is the next in the series of posting letters that members wrote and shared during the most recent reading group. The reading group theme was to write letters to or by the Jane Austen character of their choice. 

Enjoy, and please check out the rest of the letters!

The letter below is in PDF format. If you are unable to view it within this browser, then please download the file provided here on the right.
Letter from Mrs Gardiner to Georgianna
File Size: 48 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File


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Reading group letters | Lizzy to Jane

7/27/2015

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This is the next in the series of posting letters that members wrote and shared during the most recent reading group. The reading group theme was to write letters to or by the Jane Austen character of their choice. 

Enjoy, and please check out the rest of the letters!

Dearest Jane,

I have had the most incredible news from Lady Anne Fitzwilliam. It seems our cousin Mr. Collins has followed in Lady Catherine’s footsteps almost literally. On making his daily visit to Rosings he chose to enter by the main portico which was being reconstructed after the dreadful accident of  Lady Catherine. As he entered, he engaged the workmen to ensure they were doing what he considered a proper restoration and in doing so failed to notice that the steps had not yet been mended. Being neither agile or alert accelerated his demise as he tripped and struck his head on the top step at the exact same spot  where his former patroness died.

Do you realize that upon his demise and himself having only two daughters, that the last of father’s male line has been terminated? This means, and I have checked with Uncle Gardiner, that upon Father’s passing, the entitlement now falls upon the eldest female in his line. In other words, to you dear Jane. Father can now rest easy in the thought that you will inherit Longborne and thus be able to provide for our younger sisters.  

Love,
Lizzy

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Reading group letters | Letter from Anne De Burg Fitzwilliam to Mr. & Mrs. Darcy, one year after final events in the novel P&P

7/26/2015

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This is the next in the series of posting letters that members wrote and shared during the most recent reading group. The reading group theme was to write letters to or by the Jane Austen character of their choice. 

Enjoy, and please check out the rest of the letters!

Dear Darcy and Elizabeth,

Thank you for your kind inquiry after my health.  I feel yet unsettled by my mother’s untimely, grotesque demise. The moment of her horrible accident is forever locked in my heart, and the memory haunts me.  Indeed, these many weeks since her funeral I still dread receiving expressions of condolence, for the kind words arouse a terrifying spectacle of Lady Catherine’s death.

Suddenly I see my mother before me as she steps from the great front portico of Rosings. I shiver watching her cross the steps just when a thunderous crack splits the grand stone balcony above the portico;  it sways, then crashes down upon her, her desperate scream swallowed up in silence and dust.  She is entombed before my eyes---her beloved Rosings hurls her down into the shadowy realm of death.

Had I not my dear Colonel at my side, I should be overcome, quite unable to rise again.  He is the best, wisest, and finest of husbands.  And now the world acknowledges him the master of Rosings and all it encompasses. We are happy and look forward to quiet, peaceful days ahead.

I remain as always your affectionate cousin,
Anne De Burg Fitzwilliam
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Reading group letters | Emma to Isabella

7/25/2015

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This is the next in the series of posting letters that members wrote and shared during the most recent reading group. The reading group theme was to write letters to or by the Jane Austen character of their choice. 

Enjoy, and check back tomorrow for the next letter! You can also check out the rest of the letters!

Mrs. John Knightley
Brunswick Square
London
Hartfield
Highbury
12 July 1814
My dearest Isabella,

Your letter was a very agreeable surprise to me today, and I have taken a long sheet of paper to show my gratitude.  We so enjoyed our visit with you and John in London.  It was lovely to see the children.  They have grown so, and are terribly clever!  Everything was so very gay in Town, dining at the Watsons, and everything in such style, not to mention our evenings at Almack’s and strolling in Vauxhall Gardens, but it is a joy to be settled comfortably back home at Hartfield.  We had a dreadful storm of wind during our absence, which has done a great deal of mischief among our roses. And that is not all ~ our summer house has also blown down.  George assures me it will be put to rights before our ball in a fortnight.  The evenings have been so warm that I am certain it will be wanted. I look forward with great impatience to our ball.  I will wear my new green muslin, which I bought in Town and am having made up this week.  It will have the style of sleeves I admired in one of the shops on High Street, which you may remember, with the pleats and small buttons.  Mrs. Weston called on Wednesday, and we drank tea together for the first time since I returned home.  I was able to hear all that was interesting of Frank and Jane Churchill.  They are expecting another addition to their family this winter ~ at this rate they will soon catch up to you and John!  Mrs. Cole called this morning and left invitations to join them at a card party on Thursday evening.  We will be a small and rather quiet group as Miss Bates is unable to attend.  I am already looking forward to your visit at Michaelmas; and indeed I am now laying in a stock of intelligence to pour out on you as my share of conversation.  When next you make a trip to Twinings please let me know.  

I want to try a new tea I have heard about from Mrs. Elton with jasmine blossoms in it.  I hope you will bring a packet to me when you visit. George sends his love to all, and father wishes to remind you to be sure to wear your shawl when you go out of an evening. There is a sore-throat very much about this summer. I cannot write any more now, but trust I have written enough to make you very happy, and therefore may safely conclude.

Yours very affectionately,
     Emma
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Reading group letters | Letter from Harriet to Robert Martin

7/24/2015

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This is the next in the series of posting letters that members wrote and shared during the most recent reading group. The reading group theme was to write letters to or by the Jane Austen character of their choice. 

Enjoy, and check back tomorrow for the next letter! You can also click to check out the rest of the letters!

The Second Letter from Harriet Smith to Robert Martin (and the reason he proposed a second time.)

My Dear Robert,

      I feel it is necessary to write to you just one more time. I was persuaded to make my first response to your letter short and to the point. I can’t tell you how difficult that was for me at the time, and now I feel I must explain myself to you. For days now, I have felt sick with worry that I have caused you unhappiness. I cannot imagine what your mother and sisters must think of me. I can’t bear the thought of any of you thinking ill of me. My hope is that with this explanation, you will all be able to forgive me for my recent actions.

      First of all, the letter you wrote to me was a very good letter, according to my particular friend, and I was quite happy to receive it at first. In time, my friend persuaded me that your love could not be true, as you had not even begun reading The Romance of the Forest, as I had suggested many weeks ago. I told her how you had gone three miles round one day just to bring me walnuts and that you have always been so obliging and good-humored, but this did not seem to alter her opinion of you. In addition, she made it clear that if I were to marry you, she would not be able to remain my particular friend. We would no longer be able to visit each other in our respective homes. She also said that there is another gentleman who apparently feels much as you do towards me. My friend thinks that he would make an ideal husband for me. I can’t imagine this could be so, but I feel that my friend is much more experienced in this area than I am, and that I must heed her advice. This friend does me great honor in her attentions, and I feel quite sure that I must do what she deems best for my future.

      You must know that I have always been excessively fond of you, your sisters, and your entire family. I will always be grateful to them for all they have done for me. I will miss everyone, especially the little Welch cow, as I feel such a strong connection to her, and always thought of her as “my” special cow. Please tell your sisters that I will be very sorry to miss drinking tea with them in the summer house in your garden at Abbey-Mill next year. I am so grateful for their friendship and for their past kindnesses. I hope that you all can find it within your hearts to forgive me.

Always,
Harriett
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Reading group letters | Kitty Weston to Amazon.com

7/23/2015

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Fountain pen
For the next few days, we will be posting letters that members wrote and shared during the most recent reading group. The reading group theme was to write letters to or by the Jane Austen character of their choice. 

Enjoy, and please check back tomorrow for the next letter!


Dear Amazon.com,

     I have been looking all over the internet for a time transport portal machine like the one I saw used in the movie, Lost in Austen. I am desperate to have an adventure like that of my own. My bathroom is similar to the one in the movie with a nice large wall in the tub area to use as my portal. I also have Wi-Fi, although the connection is not always too good. If you can be of any help in this area, please reply to me as soon as possible. If anyone can help me, you can! 

     The truth is, I have been in love with Mr. Darcy for years now and my biological clock is ticking. I deserve a chance to win the heart of this amazing man. I would be much better able to fit into the early 19th century than the character, Amanda Price, in the movie. She was, honestly, a mess! I would at least dress the part before stepping through the portal. I have also been told that I have “bright eyes,” so am hopeful of making a love connection with my Mr. Darcy once there. I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Sincerely,
Kitty Weston


Dear Miss Weston,

     I am sorry to have to be the bearer of bad news, but the machine you speak of is actually not in existence. It is a fictional device, and was invented by the writer of the movie to create an entertaining chain of events. It did not really happen, and it will very likely never happen. I recommend the following novels for your perusal. They can all be purchased at Amazon.com. 
  • Me without You by Ralph Lazar and Lisa Swerling
  • Women Who Love Too Much by Robin Norwood
  • Get Out of Your Own Way: Overcoming Self-Defeating Behavior by Mark Goulston and Philip Goldberg
  • Lost in Austen by Emma Campbell Webster. I highly recommend this interactive novel. Perhaps this will help you to come the closest to making your dreams come true. 

Sincerely,
Mr. Dashwood
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Jane Austen's collection of critical feedback

6/26/2014

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Picture
This link comes from member Debbie Guyol and is really interesting! The title of the article is called "Jane Austen's Collection of Critical Feedback From Her (Sometimes Harsh) Friends and Family" and is online here at http://alturl.com/ycvje.

This is a transcript of JA's personal compilation of various readers' opinions of Mansfield Park. The manuscript of the same for Emma is also linked in the article, but not transcribed. Fascinating!

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Remembering Jane Austen

7/18/2013

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Painting of Jane Austen writing letters
It is a sad day, the anniversary of Jane Austen's death, on July 18, 1817. To commemorate the day -- and summer season -- The Telegraph has compiled excerpts from Jane Austen's letters that mention weather, including this bit from an 1808 letter to Cassandra:

We breakfasted in the library this morning for the first time, and most of the party have been complaining all day of the heat; but Louisa and I feel alike as to weather, and are cool and comfortable.

You can read more here in this online article, at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/10187956/Jane-Austen-anniversary-everybody-has-talked-of-the-heat.html 

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January meeting info -- 'Jane's Greatest Hits'

1/6/2013

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Picture
Searchable title on Amazon.com
For our January 13 meeting, let's pretend we're putting together the ultimate condensed version of Jane's letters. We don't need to include all the stuff about Mrs. H. visiting and the cost of muslin or meat; we do want witty comments on balls, marriages, children, literature (including JA's own), etc. There are also references to family dramas and deaths. We can use entire letters if warranted, but in most cases snippets will be enough. Let's see what we can create!

Feel free to read all the letters and select the bits from each you think merit a place in JANE'S GREATEST HITS, but we've gone through them for you and picked out the ones we find the most entertaining or interesting or productive of excellent quotes. The numbers refer to the Deirdre Le Faye collection of Jane Austen's Letters (3rd edition, 1997).

1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 24, 27, 34, 36, 41, 45, 50, 59, 60, 61, 62, 66, 68D, 68(A), 71, 77, 78, 79, 81, 82, 85, 86, 89, 90, 94, 103, 104, 107, 108, 109, 113, 114, 118, 129, 132(D), 138(D), 146, 148, 151, 153, 155, 158.

Happy New Year and Happy Reading!
Debbie Guyol and Bill Boyd

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JASNA Oregon & SW Washington Region

Welcome to the web site of the JASNA Oregon & SW Washington Region, a friendly and active group dedicated to the appreciation of Jane Austen's life and works.

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