Thanks to the tireless work of translators, readers around the world can enjoy Jane Austen's works in their native languages. But how does one even begin to translate her carefully crafted sentences? What unforeseen challenges and valuable insights arise in the process? In this episode, we ask Austen translators Keiko Parker and Maria Biajoli about their experiences—the good, the bad, and the je ne sais quoi.

Keiko Parker has been a JASNA member since 1981 and coordinated the 2007 Annual General Meeting in Vancouver. She has translated five Austen novels into Japanese—Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Persuasion, Mansfield Park, and Sense and Sensibility—and is currently working on Northanger Abbey. She has also been a breakout speaker at several AGMs and has published papers in Persuasions and Persuasions On-Line. 

Maria Biajoli is a professor of English at Federal University of Alfenas, Brazil, where she teaches English language and English literature, focusing on women writers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. She has presented at a number of JASNA's AGMs, including in 2023 in Denver, where she talked about translating Pride and Prejudice into Brazilian Portuguese. She has published papers about Austen in Persuasions, Persuasions On-Line, and other academic journals.

For a transcript and show notes, visit https://jasna.org/austen/podcast/ep16.

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Cassandra Austen, beloved sister to Jane, was a talented artist in her own right. At age 19, she illustrated Jane's satirical History of England with thirteen delightful ink-and-watercolor portraits. She continued to draw and paint throughout her life, most often copying from popular newspaper and magazine prints of the day. In this episode, Austen scholar Janine Barchas discusses her recent discovery of previously unidentified works by Cassandra and the underappreciated "art of copying," a talent Jane Austen gave her heroine Elinor Dashwood. Excitingly, there may still be pieces of Cassandra’s work out there, waiting to be discovered by you, the listener!

Images of Cassandra's drawings discussed in this episode are included in the transcript on our website:  https://jasna.org/austen/podcast/ep15.

A video version of this episode is also available on our YouTube Channel:
https://youtu.be/AzPfNIDt-6U

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Jane Austen pioneered and perfected quite a few literary techniques, and her novels mark a major turning point in modern English fiction. In this episode we chat with Collins Hemingway about Austen’s development as a writer and unpack the tools in her literary toolbox. Drawing on insights from his book Jane Austen and the Creation of Modern Fiction: Six Novels in “a Style Entirely New,” Collins shares his thoughts on her creative process, what she learned from novel to novel, and her mastery of innovative literary techniques.

For a transcript, show notes, and guest bio: https://jasna.org/austen/podcast/ep14

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It's Austen Chat's one-year anniversary!

Encouraging more people to read Jane Austen and gain a deeper understanding of her works and life is JASNA’s mission, and to celebrate our podcast birthday, we welcome not one but three guests to talk about reading Austen and the online event they organize each year: Jane Austen July.

BookTubers Katie Lumsden, host of the YouTube channel Books and Things, Marissa Schwartz, host of Blatantly Bookish, and Claudia Falcone, host of Spinster’s Library, are dedicated Janeites, which is why, for the past six years, they have been spearheading a month-long reading challenge all about Jane Austen. Every July, thousands of readers across the internet join them to read Jane Austen and Austen-related books, watch Austen adaptations, and discuss their experiences.

For a transcript, show notes, and guest bio: https://jasna.org/austen/podcast/ep13

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"The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." —Henry Tilney, Northanger Abbey

As an avid reader and a novelist herself, Jane Austen of course loved to read novels. But what else did she read, and what influence did it have on her writing? What books did she place in the hands of her characters, and what do their reading habits and choices say about them? Drawing from her forthcoming book, What Jane Austen's Characters Read (and Why), Professor Emerita Susan Allen Ford joins us in this episode to answer these questions and more. Susan is the editor of JASNA’s journals, Persuasions and Persuasions On-Line.

For a transcript, show notes, and guest bio:  https://jasna.org/austen/podcast/ep12

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The delicate tinkling of a pianoforte. The clash of cymbals. The soothing strains of a harp. Music in Austen film adaptations performs a variety of functions: it can set the scene, highlight a character’s personality, make us laugh, and make us sigh. In this episode, music maven Ruth Mudge joins us to discuss the soundtracks of four screen adaptations we know and love. A cellist, faculty member at the String Academy of Chicago, and assistant principal in the Elmhurst Symphony, Mudge also has her own podcast, World of Soundtracks, where she offers in-depth explorations of famous movie and TV soundtracks.

For a transcript, show notes, and guest bio:  https://jasna.org/austen/podcast/ep11

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Music clips included in this episode:

• "Pride and Prejudice"—Pride and Prejudice by Carl Davis, 1995
• "Dawn"—Pride and Prejudice (Music from the Motion Picture), music by Dario Marianelli and performed by Jean-Yves Thibaudet, 2005
• "Mrs. Darcy"—Pride and Prejudice (Music from the Motion Picture), music by Dario Marianelli and performed by Jean-Yves Thibaudet, 2005
• "Emma Woodhouse"—Emma (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), music by Isobel Waller-Bridge & David Schweitzer, 2020
• "Celery Root"—Emma: Music from the Miramax Motion Picture, music by Rachel Portman, 1996
• "Main Titles"—Emma: Music from the Miramax Motion Picture, music by Rachel Portman, 1996

During the Georgian era, gender differences in domestic goods became increasingly common. For example, a gentleman's writing desk was a sturdy, substantial piece of furniture, while a lady’s desk was a small, delicate writing table.  In this episode we sit down with art historian and museum curator Kristen Miller Zohn to discuss gender and the decorative arts in general, and how Austen’s references to consumer goods in her novels—from furniture and wallpaper to breakfast sets, muslin gowns, and toothpick cases—reveal important information about her characters. 

Read the transcript, show notes, and guest bio:  https://jasna.org/austen/podcast/ep10

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Professor Juliet McMaster, grande dame of Austen scholarship and one of the founding members of JASNA, joins us for a wide-ranging discussion about the genius that is Jane Austen. We touch on all six of her published novels, dip our toes in her teenage writings, and take a stroll down memory lane with Juliet as we chat about the early days of JASNA and how it's evolved over the past 45 years.

Read the transcript, show notes, and guest bio:  https://jasna.org/austen/podcast/ep9

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From roast mutton to white soup, pickled melon to Bath buns, Jane Austen and her characters enjoyed a variety of fascinating foods. To learn more about Georgian-era cuisine and culinary practices, we invited food historian Julienne Gehrer to guide us on a gastronomical journey through Austen's world. She provides glimpses into the daily life of our favorite author you won’t want to miss. Julienne has spoken and written on Jane Austen and food for more than a decade. Her most recent book brings the historic Martha Lloyd’s Household Book out from Jane’s kitchen and into our hands as an annotated facsimile version.

Read the transcript, show notes, and guest bio:  https://jasna.org/austen/podcast/ep8

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JASNA member Renata Dennis joins us to discuss the fascinating story of Dido Belle, a woman of color caught between two identities. Dido was the daughter of an enslaved woman and a British naval officer but was raised as a gentlewoman in the household of William Murray, Earl of Mansfield and Lord Chief Justice of the Court of the King's Bench. Until recently, she was lost to history.  Renata also shares her thoughts on Dido Belle as the inspiration for Jane Austen’s character Miss Lambe in Sanditon.

Transcript and show notes:  https://jasna.org/austen/podcast/ep7

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