Austen & Eden

The biggest problem with Jane Austen is that she is too easy. For serious thinkers, her writing is almost dismissed before it is considered. Even non-Austen fans think they have her neatly categorized. She is a little too cloyingly domestic. Safe. Familiar. Chick flicks.

But familiarity is a camouflage. Because the surface is easily digestible, the deeper content is lost on many of us.

For that reason, we will start by clearing up a couple of common misconceptions about Jane Austen, as well as introducing the Austen & Eden podcast!

Show Notes

Summary

In the first episode of Austen and Eden, hosts Noelle McEachran and Erin Farley introduce themselves, explain who the podcast is for, and explain why it pairs Jane Austen with the Garden of Eden. They then take on three misconceptions about Austen: that she wrote small, domestic "girly" stories; that she wrote nostalgic, sentimental stories; and that she was a secular feminist author.

Chapters

• 00:00 Welcome to Austen and Eden
• 00:22 Noelle introduces herself
• 02:46 Erin introduces herself
• 03:53 Who this podcast is for
• 05:40 Why "Austen and Eden"?
• 07:35 Death before the fall: Adam, Eve, and the Eden "fairy tale"
• 09:55 Today's topic: what kind of stories did Jane Austen really write?
• 11:30 Misconception #1: She wrote small, domestic, "girly" stories
• 15:54 Writing small as a deliberate artistic choice (Stuart Tave)
• 19:50 Charlotte Brontë and Sir Walter Scott on Austen
• 22:08 Exile, small worlds, and tending the garden
• 25:00 Misconception #2: She wrote nostalgic, sentimental stories (the "brand problem")
• 29:20 Misconception #3: She was a secular feminist author
• 33:29 Was Jane Austen a Christian?
• 36:40 Wrap-up and what's next

Key takeaways

• Austen's stories are easy to read and feel familiar, and that makes it easy to underestimate how much she packs into them.
• Writing within small limits was a mature, deliberate choice of quality over scope, not a sign that she "thought small," as Stuart Tave points out.
• Austen condemns sentimentalism in her work. The bonnets and teacups were just everyday life in her time, not nostalgia.
• Her books celebrate the right kind of male authority and the different callings of men and women, which doesn't fit the "secular feminist" label.
• She was a committed Christian who showed her faith through storytelling patterns and symbolism rather than preaching.

Links and resources

• Noelle's website: noellemceachran.com
• Stuart Tave, Jane Austen commentator quoted in this episode

Books mentioned

Jane Austen

• Pride and Prejudice
• Sense and Sensibility
• Mansfield Park
• Northanger Abbey (an upcoming deep dive)
• Jane Austen's book of prayers

About Jane Austen

• The Parson's Daughter, a historian's account of Austen's faith
• The Spirituality of Jane Austen

Other works and authors

• Shakespeare
• Homer, the Odyssey
• Dante, Inferno
• Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment
• Charlotte Brontë
• Sir Walter Scott
• C.S. Lewis
• Harry Potter