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The CSC Eagle Newspaper – Chadron, NE
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Lindsey Ferguson, junior of Springview, pauses for a moment during her reading from "Pride and Prejudice" during the Monday-night event. — Photo by T.J. Thomson
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The Best of Jane

Spike Jordan
Lindsey Ferguson, junior of Springview, pauses for a moment during her reading from "Pride and Prejudice" during the Monday-night event. — Photo by T.J. Thomson
Lindsey Ferguson, junior of Springview, pauses for a moment during her reading from “Pride and Prejudice” during the Monday-night event. — Photo by T.J. Thomson

Jane Austen’s novel “Pride and Prejudice” has captured the imaginations of many over the years since it was published on January 28, 1813. It has been described as one of the most loved books in literature.

Set in early Nineteenth century England, “Pride and Prejudice” follows main character Elizabeth Bennet, chronicling her struggles through morality, marriage, and a host of other concerns in the period’s “landed gentry” society.

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of its publishing, the Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center and Chadron State College’s chapter of the Sigma Tau Delta International English Honors Society hosted “Austen-tatious,” an event that honored the works of Jane Austen on Monday evening.

The night began in the Sandoz Center Atrium with an introduction from center director, Sarah Polak.

“We don’t have any copies of Austen’s books in our collection here at the Sandoz Center,” Polak said, “but it’s likely that Mari Sandoz read and drew inspiration from them.”

As members of Sigma Tau Delta performed readings from the novel, center staff offered refreshments and handed out trinkets acquired through the North American Jane Austen Society.

Napkins decorated with Austen’s portrait adorned the refreshment tabled, and Sandoz Center staff treated participants to “I’d rather be at Pemberley” stickers and “Pride and Prejudice”-themed buttons.

Participants then nibbled on English scones and sipped tea while watching one of two film adaptations of Austen’s novels; “Emma,” featuring Gwyneth Paltrow, and “Pride and Prejudice,” featuring Keira Knightley, were also shown afterward.

Polak said the center had been planning the event in conjunction with Sigma Tau Delta for more than three months, and that most of the refreshments were period specific to when the book was originally published.

To quote Caroline Bingley, the snobbish antagonist in the book,
“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! one of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.”

Miss Bingley made the statement while pining for the affections of the rich and successful Mr. Darcy, but the statement holds on its own out of context.