February Not Fiction Book Discussions

In Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin by Jill Lepore, Lepore reminds us that Benjamin Franklin's autobiography serves as an "allegory about America: the story of a man as the story of a nation." Ben rose from poverty to become an educated, independent man of the world. One could argue that his gender was the essential element in his success. As a man, Ben had access to an education and to work that allowed him to continue his studies and to travel. His sister Jane, as a woman, did not have access to an education. She was expected to become a mother and a homemaker. Although Jane loved to read and learned to write, she did not leave an extensive written record of her life because, as a woman, she had little time to write, and, as a person of modest means, her few writings were not considered worth preserving. Jane did write a small book that recorded the major events of a mother's life, a Book of Ages that noted the births and deaths of her children and other family members. She also wrote years of letters to her brother recording her opinions about her life and times, but decades of these letters have been lost. Lepore suggests that Jane's life is also an allegory: "it explains what it means to write history not from what survives but from what is lost."

Jane Franklin's story helps us to understand the historical record in a new light. How we understand our nation's history depends upon whose history we are able to read and remember. And because that written and preserved history is largely that of our founding fathers, we could easily lose sight of the fact that our founding mothers, ordinary women like Jane Franklin, also helped to shape our values and traditions.

Because Jane did not leave many written remains, Lepore has created what New York Times critic Dwight Garner calls "an elegant write-around." Is she successful in bringing Jane and her times to life? Do you think, given other historical circumstances, Jane Franklin could have been as famous as her brother? How have women's lives and the value we place upon them changed since Jane's times? How would America's history be different if the lives and opinions of women like Jane had been considered valuable all along?

We hope you will join the discussion: Tuesday, February 4, at 6:30 p.m. at Main Library; Thursday, February 20, at 11:00 a.m. at West Ashley Branch Library; and here on the blog.