In Walks a Woman

First, you should rush to read Sarah Waters’s The Paying Guests, a fantastic romance thriller set in 1922, post World War 1 England.  We don’t give spoilers, exactly, but the historical context we cover gives you some idea of events and situations that come up in the novel.  And the novel is wall-to-wall women’s issues:  society’s expectations of decorum, cooking, cleaning, birth control, wifely duties, sex, widowhood, spinsterhood, motherhood, and a fair amount about 1920's housekeeping.  Sonja helps us understand the economic state of the UK after WW1, women’s voting rights, early attempts at family planning, abortion law and practices, and whether there were laws about lesbians.   Along the way, we find out some people (not female people, mind you) once believed that robust menstruation was a sign of good health, and we learn that “servants don’t organize themselves,” while someone dramatic dons a dress made entirely of jewels.REFERENCESWe reference other IWAW episodes here:  S3E1 on Tristan & Iseult; S3E on Romeo & Juliet; and the reference to the “ritual death” is from our episode on Julie Ann Long’s The Perils of Pleasure. Sarah Waters has written several novels during her very successful career, and you can find out more about her at her website.The biography that Sonja mentions is Vera Britain’s Testament of Youth, which is still in print, and if you want an overview of her life, this article from The Guardian offers a quick insight.Marie Stopes’s 1918 work, Married Love, can be found at Project Gutenberg.Here’s a great essay about the fear that lesbians were taking over Britain after World War 1:  "The Cult of the Clitoris": Sexual Panics and the First World WarCheck out Maude Allen in her jewels-only dress as Salome.Here’s a 2024 article from The Guardian, that hits the high points of the Edith Thompson and Freddie Bywaters's Trial, plus how even a hundred years later, Edith’s heirs are trying to clear her name.  

Ernest Hemingway’s 1929 A Farewell to Arms is almost always captioned as a tragic romance.  Is it?  Tragic, yes.  Romance…debatable.  Is Frederick Henry a compelling romantic hero and Catherine Barkley an inspiring romantic heroine?  Join Sonja and Vanessa as they run through the text (SPOILER ALERT), and give their verdict on the love story.This show will also offer you a mini Hemingway bio, an explanation of his writing philosophy and style, and it highlights distinctions between warfare on the Western and Italian Fronts in World War 1.  Vanessa also shares an overview of feminist literary critics’ takes on Hemingway’s treatment of Catherine–both supportive and disapproving.Along the way, we discover how Catherine Barkley feels about rent-by-the-hour hotel rooms; we bump up against old-man-doctor theories, claiming the benefits of “good” alcohol during pregnancy, and stale Cheetos--of course--make a cameo. REFERENCES:Other Episodes of IWAW are mentioned:  the reference to Tristan and Iseult is explained in IWAW S3E1; the reference to Elly and Gaunt and Paul Fussell (author of The Great War and Modern Memory) are explained in our episode on Alice Winn’s novel, In Memoriam, IWAW S3E8; to learn more about Romeo as a romantic hero, check out our 3-part series on Romeo and Juliet that starts with IWAW S3E2; Colin Eversea is the hero of Julie Ann Long’s The Perils of Pleasure, covered in IWAW S3E7; and the reference to Esther in Sarah Water’s The Paying Guests links to our next show, that drops on Friday, 8/22/25.  Stay tuned!Here is a link to Ernest Hemingway’s essay, "The Art of the Short Story" from 1959.CORRECTION:  The quote from Hemingway in which he mentions raisin bread is actually from a 1954 TIME Magazine interview that can be found here.The audio of Hemingway's Nobel Prize Speech is a quick listen, in case you are interested, and it focuses mostly on the loneliness of a writer’s life.

Sonja and Vanessa LOVE Alice Winn’s 2024 novel, In Memoriam, a moving love story of two soldiers fighting on the fabled Western Front in World War 1.  Winn nimbly weaves numerous, real historical events through the friends-to-lovers romance of two teens who fight bravely for their country but have to keep their love secret from that very government–on pain of death.Our goal in this episode is not to summarize or spoil the novel, but rather to act as a useful companion to the text.  You could listen to it before, during, or after reading the book. Most of us know more about WW2 than WW1, and when we encounter historical novels, we often wonder, “how much of this really happened?”  Our episode hopes to offer a larger historical context and flesh out some details that Winn mentions briefly in the narrative, character dialogue, and setting descriptions.   Can you read and enjoy this novel without knowing more about WW1?  ABSOLUTELY.  Winn never lets you feel lost or confused, but if you are a fellow historically-curious reader, we’ve done a little homework for you. So relax and enjoy the research! Along the way, Sonja politely describes how early 20th century European royalty were one big, um, family, followed shortly after by Vanessa explaining feathers as weapons. REFERENCES:Do yourself a huge favor and pick up a copy of Alice Winn’s In Memoriam.Paul Fussell’s The Great War and Modern Memory was a landmark study of the impact of World War 1 on our fundamental understanding of the world, of war, of trust in government, leading to the modern sense of alienation and fragmentation.George Orwell’s essay “Such, Such Were the Joys,” published posthumously in 1952 describes his youthful experience at an elite all-boys boarding school as a "world of force and fraud and secrecy." Is Gaunt “a Darcy”? refers to the main argument of Dr. Rachel Feder’s brilliant work, The Darcy Myth (IWAW covers it in Season 3, Episode 6)Margaret MacMillan's insightful essay, "The Rhyme of History: The Lessons of the Great War"  can be read hereThe history podcasts mentioned in the show are The Rest is History, History that Doesn’t Suck, and Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History series “Blueprint to Armageddon” that can be purchased directly from his site, dancarlin.comFURTHER READING SUGGESTIONS ON WW1:Now it Can Be Told by Philip Gibbs is a reporters description of WW1 after the war when he could finally tell what he really witnessed because government censorship (on all sides) made that impossible during the conflict. It can be purchased here.If you are curious how the war happened, Christopher Clark’s The Sleepwalkers is very accessible to the nonhistorian reader.Barbara Tuchman’s 1963 Pulitzer Prize-winning account, The Guns of August vividly portrays the sheer scale and violence of the opening of the war. 

Sonja and Vanessa dip into a wonderful historical romance novel by Julie Ann Long, The Perils of Pleasure, Book 1 of 11 in her marvelous Pennyroyal Green series.  We set up the first three chapters, but that’s just the premise of the book, and there are no spoilers.  We discuss the literary lineage of regency romance novels, like this one, both to Pride and Prejudice and even to Tristan & Iseult.   Sonja brings up some thought-provoking questions worth considering:  What is the specific appeal of “Regency” romances? Are there essential elements that any good romance novel must contain?  Is it disempowering to women to read romance novels?  Along the way, we find out that Jane Eyre and Elizabeth Bennet share a crucial life moment, Vanessa finally learns what a “plot moppet” is, and Sonja discovers that she needs to write a Regency, Amish, vampire romance novel.REFERENCESJulie Ann Long’s The Perils of Pleasure can be purchased here.Julie Ann Long has a website that gives a good sense of her whole (very impressive) body of work.A Natural History of the Romance Novel by Pamela Regis can be purchased here.  This was such a great resource!  If you love romance novels, you would find Regis’s study fascinating.  And check out the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books Website.  Savvy and fun!

If you like your literature with a side of pop culture, you’ll love what’s on the menu for today: Rachel Feder’s clever & informative study, The Darcy Myth: Jane Austen, Literary Heartthrobs, and the Monsters They Taught Us to Love (2023).  Let’s face it, whether or not we have read Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and whether we love or hate it, Lizzie and Mr. Darcy’s love story has had a massive influence on our culture, specifically in terms of how straight women view the “story” of love and envision their “ideal” guy.Sonja and Vanessa examine the main argument of Rachel Feder’s thoroughly entertaining exploration of our collective love for Mr. Darcy.  Feder asks an important question:  what effect has loving Mr. Darcy in fiction had on our real lives? Is Feder right that we might have taken the fantasy too far?  This episode is for you if you have ever met a woman (or been a woman…) who is dating a guy that everyone else thinks is a jerk, but YOU understand him, and YOU know he’ll change, and YOU are willing to do the work to transform him. If this sounds eerily familiar, then Rachel Feder’s insightful book might help you understand the psychology at work, and this episode will (hopefully) sell you on checking out or (better yet) buying The Darcy Myth.Along the way, Sonja and Vanessa brush up against the possibility that Longbourne is a haunted house, once again find themselves circling back to questions about female odysseys, and–quite innocently–find themselves porn adjacent. REFERENCESCheck out Rachel Feder's Website for a list of all her works, including her newest book, Taylor Swift By the Book:  The Literature Behind the Lyrics, from Fairy Tales to Tortured Poets (2024), co-authored with Tiffany TatreauMarriage: a History by Stephanie Coontz can be purchased here.For a deep dive into Jane Eyre, check out On Eyre, a special series from Hot and Bothered Podcast, hosted by Vanessa Zoltan & Lauren Sandler.The mention of virginity as a “fettish” is in Virginia Woolf’s collection of lectures, A Room of One’s Own, specifically in the section entitled, “If Shakespeare Had a Sister.” You can purchase the entire volume, or there are many pdf versions of the “If Shakespeare Had a Sister” section, like this one from the University of Minnesota @ Duluth.The mention of Clarissa and Pamela are to two novels by 18th century novelist, Samuel Richardson.  Our 5th episode of season 3 is actually about Pamela (1740), and if you’d rather not read it but would still like to know about it, you will find that episode very helpful and fun.  We have not read Clarissa…yet?...it’s about 1,500 pages, so no promises…

Sonja and Vanessa have read a 500 page novel for you (or a measly 400 pages, depending on which edition you read).  You’re welcome!  It’s about a 15 year old girl named Pamela, who is the most beautiful woman on earth (according to everyone in the novel), and she’s a servant girl who is “accomplished” (in Pride and Prejudice fashion…even to the extent that everyone marvels at how well she carves a chicken–now that’s an accomplished young lady, dear listeners).  Pamela finds herself the lust-and-later-love object of her decade-older employer, Mr. B—-, and there are comical cross-dressing scenes, hidden letters, mugged parsons, and our “poor, dear Pamela” jumps out of at least one window.Come along for this entertaining romp through this famous early novel that was the first English BEST SELLER in history, consider the ideas threading through it that are (sadly) still very much with us today, and the surprising prequel vibe it has for Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.  Jane Austen might have perfected the enemies-to-lovers plot…but she didn’t invent it, and here’s a book she for sure read.  See what you think!Along the way, we meet a “scribbling” woman (over a hundred years before Nathaniel Hawthorne coined the expression), link The Breakfast Club to 18th century literature, and Sonja and Vanessa wonder why they didn’t just call the podcast “Idle Sluts in the House.” REFERENCESDr. Octavia Cox, of Oxford University, has several wonderful educational videos about 18th century literature, and this one on the success of Pamela in 1740 is incredibly informative with helpful visuals.More information on Dr. Octavia Cox can be found here.Here is a picture of the original title page of Samuel Richardson’s novel, Pamela.Here is a picture of the original title page of Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe, 1722.Tate Museum's 4 Paintings by Joseph Highmore of scenes from Pamela, including Mr. B– disguised as a drunk maid sitting in a corner, spying on Pamela as she undresses.Gaze here upon the portrait of Samuel Richardson that Vanessa printed out and framed to have before us in the studio as the pod was recorded so we remembered to be kind to Sam.

This episode focuses on acts 3-5 of Romeo and Juliet. Our spotlight is on Juliet because, when you read the original play, it’s hard not to think that Juliet DESERVES more of the spotlight than most directors share with her.  Hear about many moments and lines that often don’t make it into productions of the play or feature films.  What does that do to our perception of Juliet?  Doesn’t it, inevitably, distort her?  In Acts 3-5, Juliet lies, shows her strong acting skills, reasons out strategies, longs to have sex with Romeo for about 30 lines, makes jokes (some of them naughty) while in tears and fools her mother, demonstrates clear understanding of theological tenants, and displays masterful rhetorical skills in evading detection with her fiance, Paris.  Is this the Juliet you think you’ve seen on stage and screen?  If not, you’ll enjoy the inside view we offer into the full scope of Juliet’s talents, and you might be tempted to ask this: Is it okay to cut all or most of Juliet’s lines?  Along the way, we talk to daggers, we defend the human rights of drug dealers, and we find out that Juliet actually wakes up to discover THREE dead men around her tomb.  We are using the Yale Press version of Romeo and Juliet, editor Burton Raffel, 2004. 2014 Live Production of Romeo and Juliet starring Condala Rashad as Juliet and Orlando Bloom as Juliet. 

In this second episode in the series, Sonja and Vanessa travel through the play, keeping a sharp eye on Juliet.  Is Juliet as demure as many stage performances make her seem?  Romeo makes the first move at the party, but by the end of the night, is he the one in charge of the relationship?  And let’s really consider what’s said in the famously “romantic” balcony scene…how much of it really fits the term “romantic”?  The answers to many of these questions will likely surprise you.Along the way, we learn about the joys of nursing--including a clever trick for weaning your baby--and we let Mercutio school us on why you hope a fairy, dashing about in an empty hazelnut-shell carriage, does not make her way into your bedroom at night. We are using the Yale Press version of Romeo and Juliet, editor Burton Raffel, 2004.

To watch the courtly love story in action, Romeo and Juliet seems like the best place to start.In the first of a 3-part series, Sonja and Vanessa offer helpful historical and literary foundations that help us read/understand the play.  Learn about original source material, Renaissance Italian government, marriage practices, and why, in William Shakespeare’s acting company, Juliet would have been played by a young man.  After explaining why all shirts that say “Shakespeare was a plagiarist” should be burned, Vanessa offers some insights on how Shakespeare made the story very much his own…so much so that it is–far and away–the most read/performed/known version of the story.If you read the play in high school or if you have never read it, this break down of the play will remind you of what you forgot–and might even explain some things you never knew.  Keep in mind that Romeo and Juliet is the Shakespeare play with the most sexual references of any of his plays…and many American high schools teach censored/abbreviated versions, so you might find out the play was a little different than you thought.  Along the way, we find out that the original Juliet has a very original way to end her life, someone is famous for having cold hands, and men have fun, pointing pointy objects around. REFERENCES:We are using the Yale Press version of Romeo and Juliet, editor Burton Raffel, 2004. Vanessa is on the search for the original article she read years ago arguing that boy players were used on the English Renaissance stage not because it was illegal for women to perform, but rather because of the male guild system. If you want to check out Luigi da Porto's 1540 version of Romeo and Juliet, this is an easy to read online copy (Italian and English parallel texts, no less).If you are interested in learning more from world-renowned Shakespeare scholar, Stephen Greenblatt, you could start with his famed volume, Renaissance Self Fashioning that is a classic in the field of Early Modern studies both in terms of history and literary criticism.  He also has a wonderfully accessible biography of Shakespeare, Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare.For the story on how two of Shakespeare’s friends saved many of his plays from being lost, seven years after his death, this is a highly-readable, relatively brief story of their work to gather the quarto editions of the plays, publish the plays, and how the Folger Library in DC would not exist if not for the First Folio:  The Book of William: How Shakespeare's First Folio Conquered the World by Paul Collins

What if romantic love is just a story we made up? Looking back at the origins of courtly love, it looks like we might have.  Sonja takes us back to the Middle Ages and explains how, in an attempt to control a particular problem, society might have created a story that still echoes today.  This is the story that, on one hand, animates beloved romcoms, while on the other hand, forges die-hard Valentine’s Day haters.  As an illustration of this story in action, Sonja takes Vanessa through a wonderful retelling of one of literature’s most influential courtly love stories:  the tale of Tristan and Iseult.  If you’ve ever wondered why society seems to put such a high value on romantic love or have sensed something dark and unsettling lurking in the storyline, then you’ll be interested to hear how it all got started.  Along the way, we find out that all boats should have harps in their First Aid kids, boots are handy for storing body parts, and sometimes your ex and your wife have the same name.  Because of the wildness of the Tristan and Iseult tale, this will be the first Explicit episode of In Walks a Woman, so if you are listening with kiddos in the backseat, you might wait until you drop them off at school.  REFERENCES:The Romance of Tristan & Iseult by J. Bedier & translated by Hilaire Belloc can be purchased here.Love in the Western World by Denis de Rougemont can be purchased here new or here used.

If you’ve ever felt you should read Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel, Frankenstein, but shortly after starting, found your resolve fading…this is the episode for you!  Sonja commandingly takes the literary wheel and unpacks this intricate novel by illuminating its structure, major themes, and fills in some of the philosophical underpinnings that Shelley explores.  Aside from sharing some childhood Goethe trauma, Vanessa just puts up her feet and enjoys the show.  You, too, will love having the novel broken down for you, whether you have read it, hope to read it, or read it and hope to understand it better.   At the dawn of the 1800’s, Frankenstein was conceived and executed by a ferociously bright young woman (18 years old when she starts writing it and 19 when she finishes) and her literary creation has rippled beyond her native England to the entire world as a symbol of the dangers of science, thoughtless creation, the importance of community…and our concept of the monstrous both in body and in deed.  Victor “births” a creature–just to see if he can–and his egotistical deed haunts the creature, Victor’s family and friends, and himself, unto death.Along the way, get some tips on how to read by spying on a family in their cottage home, travel to the uninhabited Arctic looking for a bff, learn how convenient it is to have a beautiful 1st cousin willing to marry you, and marvel at how a self-obsessed young man manages to destroy everyone he loves. Regardless of the huge historical and cultural influence, Shelley’s novel is a great story!In the Show Notes this week, find links to several overviews of writers, ideas, and other novels that Sonja and Vanessa touch on as they explore Frankenstein.  REFERENCES:Link to National Theater Production of Frankenstein with Benedict Cumberbatch as the MonsterThere are many good editions of the 1818 edition of Frankenstein, and we were using the Broadview Press edition that is available for purchase through the publisher or second hand on many used book websites.  In addition to the text, it contains several very helpful critical articles and helps one understand the influence of Mary Shelley’s two literary parents on her work.Here is an overview of the Romantic Period from Eastern Connecticut State University that covers the main ideas and notes key writers of both poetry and prose that can give you a good sense of who else to read if you are interested in this time period.Thought Co article on Gothic Literature would be a good starting point if you hear the word “gothic” and are not sure what it means. If you want an intro to the ideas of Edmund Burke, you might start here on the Great Thinkers website.We also mentioned Harriet Lerner’s renowned classic, The Dance of Anger.  This and Lerner’s other insightful works are available through the Harriet Lerner Website.  So worth checking out!This Smithsonian article explains Galvanism, in case you want to create your own monster (Frankenstein is referenced in this article), or if–as Sonja noted–you just want to animate a noodle.  (We all have different goals in life.) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy offers an overview of Rousseau’s life and explains how he develops his theory that humanity is basically good but corrupted by society.  Other Works Mentioned:  The links here are to our favorite local bookstore, The Raven Bookstore in Lawrence Kansas, and they can ship anywhere!  Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Tarzan of the Apes and Johann Wolfgang von Geothe’s The Sorrows of Young WertherThe Royal Society of Chemistry has a quick overview of the principles of alchemy here.  If you end up making gold out of lead, please do send us a nugget to support the podcast.

Good witches and ever-loyal Kansans, Sonja and Vanessa, consider a fresh reading of the widely acknowledged “American Fairy Tale,” The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.  Written in 1900 by L. Frank Baum, and later made into an internationally-influential and dearly-beloved film in 1939, we ask what message Dorothy’s story sends to female viewers/readers.  Let’s start with this interesting aspect: Dorothy is on an odyssey (as our discussions in IWAW Season 1 suggest), but she sure doesn’t want to be on it!  Dorothy Gale almost instantly aches to return to bleak Kansas, her home, and entertains very little curiosity for the magical land in which she finds herself. In essence, Dorothy falls into an adventure with--noticeably--no sense of adventure. Why? She keeps saying there’s no place like home, but is that the same as saying home is a good place?Vanessa tries valiantly to convince Sonja that we might even have a motherhood theme at work in a novel with no moms.  Does she succeed? Tune in for a fresh perspective, provocative questions, and a great appreciation for this rich story that we never tire of, truly in the way of fairy tales.  It’s worth noting that while J. R. Tolkien purposely created an English epic and mythology, L. Frank Baum just wanted to make a fun story for children with no moralizing purpose…and the result was a tale that has organically become THE American fairy tale.  If you’ve ever wondered how the book and movie differ, would like to know more about the man who made every convenience store in Kansas sell Oz merch, you’ll love this episode.  Plus, if you’re up for looking at a classic novel and movie in a new way, thinking about stories that say things maybe they did not intend–and maybe we were not expecting–then this is a great episode for you.  Like it or not, the Oz story has shaped our lives, and it’s fascinating to reflect on how it has shaped us.  REFERENCES:In Walks a Woman podcast  is proud to record at the Lawrence Public Library, in Lawrence, Kansas.If you are interested in a beautifully-illustrated edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, check out the Centennial Edition in paperback by the University of Kansas Press.For more information on the 1893 Columbian World Fair in Chicago with the “white city” that inspired the Emerald City, check out this article with photos from the Chicago Architecture Center.If you doubt that admiration for Baum and Oz are still alive in the 21st century, check out the International Wizard of Oz Club.For more information on L. Frank Baum’s mother-in-law, Matilda Gage, check out this great Smithsonian article:  "The Feminist Who Inspired the Witches of Oz".Link to prints of the Land of Oz Map, as described in the show.Check out this cool article on W.W. Denslow's Illustrations for the first edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from 1900, with many sample illustrations.

Sonja and Vanessa consider TV moms who inspired American women in the 80’s and 90’s.  Given the warm response to our pop culture episode in our first season (S1E10: “Madonna, Maggie, Diana, Cyndi & Sinead–Gen X Heroines”), we were excited to review some fictional moms from our youth. Clair Huxtable of the Cosby Show, demonstrated how to raise five children, while looking fashionable and gorgeous, exuding educated elegance, wit, and feminist passion.  Rosanne Conner, tutored us in unapologetic snark for Reagan era policies that left her working-class family forgotten in the dust.  Rosanne raises 3 kids on part time jobs with intelligence, savvy, and resilience that lets laughter ring out defiantly in her home–every single day. Finally, the most long-lasting TV mom, Marge Simpson, in a nutshell, probably deserves sainthood. Marge is both a satire and a loving salute to pearl-wearing housewives of yesteryear.  Let’s just say that June Cleaver never faced the challenges Marge does.  What other TV mom can hold a candle to Marge’s 36-season (and counting) optimism, ingenuity, and long-suffering patience?  We look at all three characters as mothers whose stories partly shaped what we hoped we’d be as mothers.  Why did they make an impression on us? What did their stories leave us expecting when we were expecting?  And were these stories on the mark?  Were any parts of the stories ultimately misleading or unhelpful?  As we pursue these queries, Sonja shares a secret about bra burning, and Vanessa (tries) to sing the Enjoli commercial song.  REFERENCES:NPR's Fresh Air Interview about the documentary We Need to Talk about CosbyArticle from Slate in 2014 about Clair Huxtable:  The Other Huxtable Effect 2018 Article about Rosanne in Meanjin Online:  When Capitalism Saves Us from Ourselves

In our second half of Shirley Jackson’s biography,* we pick up in 1939 when Shirley is about to marry Stanley, and for a full portrait of Stanley, you’ll absolutely want to check out S2E7 “The Very Haunted Life of Shirley Jackson.”  Again, as we highlight in the show notes for the previous episode, this episode is only made possible by the scholarship of Jackson biographer, Ruth Franklin. We have drawn primarily on Franklin’s 2016 biography of Shirley Jackson, A Very Haunted Life, and we highly recommend it as thorough, thoughtful, and engaging.  If you love Jackson or if you are interested in what 1950’s life was like for women and female artists, get your hands on Franklin’s marvelous book! In this episode, for Jackson, children and books start coming along at about equal intervals in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, and then we really get to see a woman writing full time, while also being an attentive mother, a loyal wife + maid, cook, and laundress.  Hear about how Jackson manages this challenge admirably, in a time when neither her husband, nor her parents, nor her society offered her any physical or emotional support.  As they review Shirley Jackson’s adult life with a focus on motherhood, Sonja and Vanessa pause to give special attention to Jackson’s 1953 family memoir, Life Among the Savages, about raising her 4 children.  It’s brilliant.  Add to that, it’s hard not to marvel at a writer who masters nonfiction humor writing AND also writes fictional horror at a level that makes her one of Stephen King’s greatest influences. Jackson’s Life Among the Savages takes us on a jolly journey through 1950’s America, where parenting requires ashtrays and no child car seats.  Shirley Jackson’s life was short, and packed into it are all the forces arrayed against mid-century American women–the constraints of maintaining a home, the unquestioned deference to husbands, the constant pressure to be feminine and slim, all alongside a very human desire to pursue what your mind and spirit need… and if that need happens to be writing, in the 1950’s, you probably have to wait for your husband to allow you a turn at the typewriter.   *CORRECTION: In this episode, Vanessa says that Jackson was not physically well enough to attend the Haunting of Hill House movie premier, but what she should have said is that Jackson did attend, but just barely, and Stanley had to accompany her. Apologies for this factual inaccuracy.REFERENCES:Ruth Franklin's biography:  A Very Haunted LifeGoodreads Review of Life Among the Savages

Shirley Jackson, one of America’s greatest writers, was also a mother of 4 children in the 1950’s, and she worked from home writing, cooking, writing, nursing sick kids, writing, doing laundry, writing, shopping, writing, going to parent-teacher conferences, and also taking care of her husband Stanley, who was a legendary college professor but who was so incapable of adulting that his two daughters had to come take care of him after Shirley died because he didn’t even know how to make himself a cup of coffee.We bring you this episode in large part thanks to the careful, thorough, and passionate scholarship of biographer Ruth Franklin and her brilliantly-written 2016 biography, Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life.  We knew we had to include Shirley Jackson in our season on motherhood because of how much Shirley’s own mother impacted her life and what a heroic feat of organization, love, hard work, and humor she brought to the act of birthing and raising 4 children while birthing and seeing to publication over 200 short stories, 2 best-selling memoirs, and 6 novels.  Within those works lie some of the most probing studies of female characters trying to literally maintain their sanity–with varying degrees of success–in a society that wants them to be college-educated housewives who work like unpaid servants but who do it all cheerfully in high heels and wearing pearls.  Part 1 covers Jackson’s life from her birth in 1916 to the late 1930’s, in her college years when she meets Stanley Hyman who will be both her greatest champion and the source of her deep sense of abandonment.  Along the way, Sonja and Vanessa brush up against Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, Karl Marx’s Das Kapital, L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and the happily-very-rarely used term, “transcendental groin.”  REFERENCES:Ruth Franklin's Shirley Jackson: A Very Haunted LifeA brief overview of Betty Friedan's life & main argument of The Feminine Mystique (1963)Ruth Franklin’s biography of Jackson contains several of Jackson’s cartoons, but this Washington Post article also includes a couple showing Jackson’s satirization of her lounging husband, in the midst of her non-stop work as a full-time homemaker & writer who, eventually, made more money than he did.  Ruth Franklin’s scholarship goes far beyond her 2016 biography of Jackson:  check out Ruth Franklin's Website!