Le Salon Literary Discussions

The Oxford University whose website says: “The biggest obstacle to enjoying Shakespeare is that niggling sense that understanding the works is a kind of literary IQ test.” 

In this episode we’ll help you feel more prepared to face this “test” by looking at how to make it easier to read Shakespeare’s plays and giving you the answers to questions you’ve probably had about the man, the myth, and his works, including: What did he look like? Did he make up words? Why do we call him The Bard? Why is it bad luck to say “Macbeth” in a theatre?

And maybe most importantly: Why is Shakespeare still relevant?

We’ll even refresh your memory on his use of iambic pentameter (and why he uses measured AND unmeasured verse in some plays). Here’s an example of the emphasis when speaking a line from a Shakespeare play:

• So foul / and fair / a day / I have / not seen

[1:30] “First, I want to say it *is* challenging to read Shakespeare plays. Let’s all take a collective sigh of relief that we don’t have to pretend it isn’t.”

[10:04] “Rounding out his biography, you might be curious to know if there are any descendants that still bear the infamous playwright’s name."

[20:36] “And believe it or not, applying these modern lenses echo exactly what Shakespeare hoped to accomplish! He intended it to be problematic that Juliet is only 13 years old. He wants us to doubt that Romeo has fallen in love.”

More resources for you:

• See what books are on the virtual literary salon schedule.
• Follow me on Instagram @lesalonreads.
• Visit my website.

One of the ways to better understand Shakespeare’s plays is to look at the historical context he was writing in. In this episode, I’ll share how he wrote and performed for two different monarchs: Elizabeth I and James I (of England). Keep in mind that this was still a time when depending how a play was interpreted, performances could easily have been seen as treasonous. So, Shakespeare actually had to have a honed political antenna.

We’ll look closer at how real-life events—including witchcraft, gunpowder, treason, and plot—made their way into Shakespeare’s plays.

[4:18] “It is said that Elizabeth knew Shakespeare’s work quite well, enough to make requests of what was performed… and even ask for certain characters to have more stage time.”

[13:42] “So, in a way, Shakespeare’s play was also a piece of propaganda. Or was it simply a playwright who had to continue to make money and entertain a monarch with their own agenda?”

[18:09] “What is kind of eerie about the Gunpowder Plot, and I give full credit to James Shapiro for highlighting this for me (and now you), is that King James and parliament knew about the plot through an anonymous letter. Very similar to how King Lear begins.”

More resources for you:

• See what books are on the virtual literary salon schedule.
• Follow me on Instagram @lesalonreads.
• Visit my website.

I know that this season’s focus is going to have some people tune out immediately—but let me make the case as to why you might want to stick around.

Firstly, most of us know Shakespeare from our high school days. Let me assure you, this is NOT your high school Shakespeare! Secondly, looking at William Shakespeare is intimidating. I mean the guy has been popular for more than 400 years. Where do you even start? In this first episode I give you juicy gossip that could have used a 23andMe DNA test, show that Shakespeare could have been a business coach, and how we very nearly missed out on pop culture witches.

Sound different? My hope is that you’ll forget the mandatory readings urged on you in the classroom and start fresh with me in this series.

[11:49] “And with a royal court looking to him for entertainment… that’s where he found his inspiration as well!”

[13:29] “Oh yeah and there is definitely a class issue going on here. There is a struggle to believe that someone who wasn’t Oxford educated could capture the global imagination for generations.”

[18:12] “Because of this First Folio we continue to divide Shakespeare’s plays into comedies, histories, and tragedies.”

More resources for you:

• See what books are on the virtual literary salon schedule.
• Follow me on Instagram @lesalonreads.
• See the list of Shakespeare plays broken down by type.
• Use code podcastlove at checkout for 20% off your ticket to August’s online book discussion of Maggie O’Farrell’s latest novel, The Marriage Portrait

In this last episode of the series on the Brontës we’re finally looking at brother Branwell and I recommend some novels that interact with the Bronte’s works—from modern retellings to spin offs. You can see Branwell’s painting of his sisters here.

If you haven’t yet read Anne’s novel Agnes Grey, or you’re due for a revisit, sign up for the August 2023 virtual discussion on this book. Click here to sign up and don’t forget to use code podcastlove to get 20% off your ticket to participate in the discussion—it’s better than a book club!

[10:52] “Recent years have opened up a more sympathetic understanding of Branwell, perhaps due to our wider conversations about mental health and addiction.”

[16:10] “It seems there is still a gap to be filled with reference to Anne and her two novels Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall."

[18:26] “Without many female writing role models, the women of the nineteenth century who picked up their pen often had to hide their creative depths in their own personal ‘attics’, maintaining established and expected ideas of femininity on the outside.”

Books mentioned in this episode:

• Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
• Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
• The Life of Charlotte Brontë by Elizabeth Gaskell
• The Infernal World of Branwell Brontë by Daphne du Maurier
• Jamaica Inn; My Cousin Rachel; Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
• Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
• Emma by Charlotte Brontë and Another Lady
• Emma Brown by Clare Boyland
• Mr. Rochester by Sarah Shoemaker
• Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye
• The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell
• Nelly Dean by Alison Case
• The Heights by Juliet Bell
• Ill Will and Walk the Invisible by Michael Stewart
• The Mad Women in the Attic by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar

More resources for you:

• Sign up to participate in the virtual discussion on Anne’s Agnes Grey. It's better than a book club.
• Follow me on Instagram @lesalonreads.
• Visit my website.

A super juicy look at how Charlotte Brontë negatively influenced the popularity of her sister’s works and how we remember them today. Did Charlotte believe she was acting with her sister’s best interest when it came to their legacies? Or did she have ambitions of being the Brontë sibling we remember the most?

• Don’t forget to register for the August 2023 virtual discussion on Anne’s novel Agnes Grey. Click here to sign up and don’t forget to use code podcastlove to get 20% off your ticket to participate in the discussion.

[8:24] “After the death of both Emily and Anne, Charlotte took the step to reach out to her publisher proposing she edit a new edition of her sisters’ works.”

[17:25] “In her Biographical Notes on the Pseudonymous Bells, she went even further, hinting that it was the toxic and difficult novel that brought about Anne’s demise.”

[23:24] “It has also led many scholars, and Emily and Anne fans, curious (and maybe even furious) to wonder if Charlotte went so far as to destroy other sources or even draft manuscripts.”

Books mentioned in this episode:

• Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
• Biographical Notes on the Pseudonymous and the preface to Wuthering Heights.
• Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
• The Professor by Charlotte Brontë
• Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
• Read some of Emily’s poetry online.
• The Life of Charlotte Bronte by Elizabeth Gaskell

More resources for you:

• Sign up to participate in the virtual discussion on Anne’s Agnes Grey. It's better than a book club.
• Follow me on Instagram @lesalonreads.
• Visit my website.

Today’s episode is all about the most well-known Brontë sister: Charlotte. While her presence has been felt in the other episodes, here we’ll look more closely at her personal life and her novels. If you’re a fan of the novel Jane Eyre, you might want to read my blog post about the fairy tale elements or listen to the episode titled Modern Gothic from my last podcast series.

[4:40] “It would be in this city on the continent, far away from home, that Charlotte would find an infatuation worthy to make into a plot.”

[14:34] “While a more public life kept her busy, Charlotte never seemed comfortable in the limelight and very often came across as awkward."

[19:34] “… we can’t just look at Charlotte as the naïve champion for her sister’s publications, but as a force that altered their (and subsequently our) memories of them.”

Books mentioned in this episode:

• The Professor by Charlotte Brontë
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
• The Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell
• Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
• Villette by Charlotte Brontë
• Shirley, A Tale by Charlotte Brontë
• Vanity Fair by William Thackeray
• Emma by Jane Austen
• Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

More resources for you:

• See what books are on the virtual literary salon schedule. It's the book club you've always dreamt of joining!
• Follow me on Instagram @lesalonreads.
• Visit my website.

Hear how Anne Brontë, the youngest child in the family, has been cast as the lesser-known talent in popular culture (although undeservedly so!). In August we’re bringing Anne into the light by reading and talking about her novel Agnes Grey. Click here to sign up for the discussion and don’t forget to use code podcastlove to get 20% off your ticket.

[6:43] “Unfortunately, this would turn out disastrous as both siblings would return home in 1845 when her brother had been dismissed for ‘making love to his employer’s wife.’”

[15:16] “In the preface to the second edition, Anne responded by arguing that women could write as boldly as men.”

[17:24] “It isn’t clear if she hoped the sea air would provide some relief from her ailments or if she foresaw her death and hoped to visit a happy place one last time.”

Books mentioned in this episode:

• The Graduate by Charles Webb
• Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Action Bell
• Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
• The Professor by Charlotte Brontë
• The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

More resources for you:

• Sign up to participate in the virtual discussion on Anne’s Agnes Grey. It's better than a book club.
• Follow me on Instagram @lesalonreads.
• Visit my website.

I’m so excited to share my love of Emily Brontë with you by diving into what she might have been like during her lifetime. While we only have a few surviving writings by her, including her single novel Wuthering Heights, from these tidbits Emily has often been cast as the wild child of the Brontë family. Once you’ve listened to today’s episode, you might want to watch Kate Bush’s music video for her song “Wuthering Heights.”

[2:59] “One of the family servants described her as preferring the company of pets to people and that she had ‘the eyes of a half-tamed creature.’”

[11:17] “What we do know for sure is that Emily was so angry at Charlotte for this intrusion into her privacy that she didn’t speak to her sister for days.”

[13:20] “But often Hollywood only portrays 16 of the novel’s 34 chapters, leaving out a whole lot of plot!”

Books mentioned in this episode:

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• The Poems of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell

More resources for you:

• See what books are on the virtual literary salon schedule. It's the book club you've always dreamt of joining!
• Follow me on Instagram @lesalonreads.
• Visit my website.

Welcome back to the Le Salon Literary Discussions podcast! In this series we are talking all about the Brontës. Chances are you’ve heard of the novel Jane Eyre and maybe even Wuthering Heights, but over the next six episodes we’re going to look at the women behind these lasting novels—sisters Charlotte, Emily, and Anne—and their legacy. In this first episode we’re tracing their early family life and writings but also exploring the myth around these siblings as secluded literary geniuses.

[2:54] “That’s right: the famous last name that would become known to readers centuries later, Brontë, was NOT Patrick’s original last name.”

[10:41] “In a letter, Charlotte writes that ‘we did not like to declare ourselves women, because… we had a vague impression that authoresses are liable to be looked on with prejudice.’”

[12:02] “There is something gendered about this myth. The words “untaught” and “naïve” lend themselves specifically to women of the era. It reinforces the idea that the sisters produced excellent art despite their limitations.”

Books mentioned in this episode:

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
• The Cottage in the Woods by Patrick Brontë
• The Maid of Killarney by Patrick Brontë
• Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell

More resources for you:

• See what books are on the virtual literary salon schedule.
• Follow me on Instagram @lesalonreads.
• Visit my website.

In today’s last episode on the English Gothic novel, we’re tying up loose ends by looking at more women writers in the genre (in chronological order) and how racialized communities have turned Colonial Gothic on its head. All while continuing to demonstrate how the early tropes are still being used (and manipulated) today!

🌟 Don’t want it to be over? Sign up for one of the upcoming virtual literary salons (it’s the book club you’ve always dreamed of!): literarysalon.ca/virtual.

[2:00] “I want to instead highlight women writers and racialized communities and how Gothic has given them a genre to explore their histories, traumas, and feelings.”

[4:17] “But what cannot be missed in Dacre’s work, is the strong and sexual female characters throughout. She challenged established gender roles and boundaries in her work, and for that alone, Zofloya is worth a read.”

[14:06] “Wide Sargasso Sea is part of a tradition of bringing those with mental illness, those off stage, those people of colour, into the main storyline. And more and more modern authors are using the Gothic to do the same.”

Books mentioned in this episode:

• Because there are so many mentioned in the section on women Gothic writers, get the full list in this blog post.
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
• Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• “The Yellow Wall-Paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gillman
• Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith

Connect with Marisa:

• See what books are on the virtual literary salon schedule.
• Follow me on Instagram @lesalonreads and Twitter @lesalonreads.
• Visit my website.