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Ellen and Harriet are a mother and daughter who have been talking about Jane Austen together since Harriet was first old enough to read her. In this podcast, we will be doing a close reading of the books.In each episode, we will look at a few chapters. As well as talking about anything that strikes us in the chapters, we will also pick a favourite sentence, have a discussion about one of the characters, and then Ellen will give a social historian perspective about some element of the nineteenth century that seems pertinent, and Harriet will talk about the chapters in pop culture adaptations of the book.
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In this bonus mini-episode, Harriet has a discussion with three of the co-creators of webseries Rational Creatures. This series, based on Persuasion, started in 2019, but then had to go on a long and unexpected hiatus due to the global pandemic. Just as Jane Austen used her books to shed light on social issues of her time, RATIONAL CREATURES reflects the world around us now by including complex female characters, happy queer stories, mental and chronic illness, and a bisexual Latina lea...
You probably noticed that in the last few episodes of our Persuasion season, Ellen had reduced her role in the podcast. This was because her health had begun to decline. I'm very sad to say that she passed away this week, after a short stay in hospital. At this stage, I have not made any decision about whether it will be possible to continue the podcast without her, or if so, who else might join it. I do know that she was very pleased that we were able to complete Persuasion.
In our final episode on Persuasion, we talk about how much more satisfactory this is than the original ending, the purpose of the discussion between Mrs Croft and Mrs Musgrove, the conversation between Anne and Captain Harville, Wentworth’s letter, his feeling that he had a moral obligation to marry Louisa and the wrap-up of the story. The character we discuss is Anne Elliot. In the historical section, Michael talks about the British Navy at the end of, and after, the Napoleonic Wars, and for...
In this episode we look at the published version of Chapter 22. We talk about how proactive Anne is in these final chapters, the arrival of Charles, Mary and the Musgrove clan, Louisa’s change in personality, how the Musgroves all want Anne to be with them, and the first time Wentworth actually refers to the time he and Anne were together. The characters we discuss is are Charles and Mary Musgrove. In the historical section, Michael talks about the shooting, and for popular culture Harriet lo...
In this much-delayed episode (recorded months ago, but stuck in editing limbo), we look at Chapter 21, and the original version of Chapter 22, which Jane Austen rewrote before publication to become the Chapters 22 and 23 we now have. This cancelled chapter is available in many modern editions of the book. We talk about Mrs Smith’s infodump about Mr Elliot, her change in tone, her patronising attitude towards Nurse Rooke, how in the cancelled chapter Anne was more of an observer (compared to t...
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