Reading Jane Austen

This is an apology for the ongoing non-appearance of Episode 8. It is fully recorded (as is Episode 9), but I haven't finished the editing, as I have completely overcommitted myself until mid-July.
I am doing a presentation for the Jane Austen Society of Australia conference, and also for Virtual JaneCon, plus I am on the judging panel for the Educational Publishing Awards Australia.
So, to quote Prince Humperdink in The Princess Bride - I'm swamped!
But I'm really keen to finish editing the episode, as it's the one in which we talk about Henry Crawford. So I will get to it - I promise!

Links:
Jane Austen Society of Australia - https://jasa.com.au/
Virtual JaneCon 2022 - https://virtualjanecon.com/virtualjanecon-2022/

In this episode, we read Chapters 26 to 30 of Mansfield Park. We talk about Fanny’s preparations for the ball, the amber cross, her emotion reactions after Edmund gives her the chain, her post-ball meeting with Mary, and the scene where Henry tells Mary he plans to marry Fanny.

We discuss Lady Bertram, then Ellen talks about what is meant by being ‘out’, and Harriet follows this with some information about balls and dancing. Harriet also talks about how adaptations and modernisations treat these chapters. 

Things we mention: 

General and character discussion:

• John Wiltshire [Editor], The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austen: Mansfield Park (2005)
• Helena Kelly, Jane Austen, the Secret Radical (2016) [sees the amber cross and chain as a metaphor for slavery and Christianity]
• Jillian Heydt-Stevenson, Jane Austen’s Unbecoming Conjunctions: Subversive Laughter, Embodied History (2005) [sees the amber cross, chain and necklace as a sexual metaphor]
• The topaz crosses that belonged to Jane and Cassandra Austen:
  
  Credit: Jane Austen’s House Museum, photography by Peter Smith
• Adrian Dickens, Jewels of the Regency (2022 – YouTube video of presentation to the Jane Austen Society of Australia)
• Sheila Kaye-Smith and G.B. Stern, Talking of Jane Austen (1943) 
• The Daily Knightley (2021) [podcast]
• John Sutherland, Can Jane Eyre be happy?(2000)
• William Hogarth, The Painter and his Pug (1745)
  
  
• The Regency novels of Georgette Heyer (1902-1974)

Historical discussion:

• Tea with Cassiane YouTube videos about Regency dancing
  • 5 Things That Jane Austen Films Always Get Wrong About the Dancing (2020)
  • A Regency Dancer Analyzes Jane Austen’s Ballroom Scenes (2021)
  • A Regency Dancer Reads Jane Austen Part 2 (Mansfield Park, Sense and Sensibility, and The Watsons) (2022)

Popular culture discussion:

• Adaptations:
  • BBC, Mansfield Park (1983) – starring Sylvestra Le Touzel and Nicholas Farrell (6 episodes)
  • Miramax, Mansfield Park (1999) – starring Frances O’Connor and Jonny Lee Miller
  • ITV, Mansfield Park (2007) – starring Billie Piper and Blake Ritson
• Modernisations:
  • YouTube, Foot in the Door Theatre, From Mansfield With Love (2014-2015)

 For a list of music used, see this episode on our website.  

In this episode, we read Chapters 22 to 25 of Mansfield Park. We talk about the friendship between Fanny and Mary, the tension between Mary and Edmund, Henry’s plan to make Fanny fall in love with him (and Mary’s reaction), William’s view of Fanny, the tour de force of Chapter 25 (the Speculation chapter), and Ellen’s articulation of why she cares about what happens to Fanny.

We discuss Dr and Mrs Grant, then Harriet’s partner Michael talks about the navy, with a focus on the process of passing from midshipman to lieutenant. Harriet talks about how adaptations and modernisations treat these chapters.

Things we mention: 

General and character discussion:

• John Wiltshire [Editor], The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austen: Mansfield Park (2005)
• Pam Perkins, “A Subdued Gaiety: The Comedy of Mansfield Park“, Nineteenth-Century Literature, Vol. 48, No. 1 (Jun., 1993).
• Sheila Kaye-Smith and G.B. Stern, Talking of Jane Austen (1943) 
• Barbara Pym, Excellent Women (1952) 
• Mary Grant Bruce, Back to Billabong (1921) [NB Goodreads has put up a quite misleading cover illustration.]
• Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (1847)
• Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist (1838)
• Charles Dickens, David Copperfield (1850) 
• Kate Douglas Wiggin, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1903) 
• L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables (1908)
• Eleanor H. Porter, Pollyanna (1913)
• J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997)
• Frances Burney (Burneyesque heroine)
• Elizabeth Goudge, Henrietta’s House (1942)

Historical discussion:

• Brian Southam, Jane Austen and the Navy (2003) 
• Samantha Cavell, Playing at command: midshipmen and quarterdeck boys in the Royal Navy, 1793-1815 (2006) [Master’s thesis] and A Social History of Midshipmen and Quarterdeck Boys in the Royal Navy, 1761-1831 (2010) [Ph.D. thesis]

 For a list of other references and music used, see this episode on our website.   

In this episode, we read Chapters 17 to 21 of Mansfield Park. We talk about Fanny’s moral trajectory during the theatricals, Mary’s casual acceptance of Henry’s behaviour with Maria, the cliffhanger ending of Volume 1 in the first edition, and Fanny’s question to Sir Thomas about the slave trade (with Harriet’s theory as to why she asked it).

We talk about Sir Thomas, first considering how he is presented in the text, and then how we reconcile this with the fact that his estate in Antigua is worked by enslaved people. Ellen looks at the clergy, including the presentation of livings, pluralism and absenteeism, and the career path for the clergy. Harriet talks about the popular culture versions.

Things we mention: 

General and character discussion:

• John Wiltshire [Editor], The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austen: Mansfield Park (2005)
• Sheila Kaye-Smith and G.B. Stern, Talking of Jane Austen (1943) 
• Edward Said, Culture and Imperialism (1993)
• Lona Manning, In Defense of Sir Thomas (2021)
• Octavia Cox, Which is the worst marriage in Jane Austen’s novels? (2021 – YouTube video)
• HBO, The Sopranos (1999-2007 – television series)

Historical discussion:

• Susannah Fullerton, Susannah Fullerton’s Best Books about Jane Austen (2021 – YouTube video)
• Irene Collins, Jane Austen and the Clergy (2002)

Popular culture discussion:

• Adaptations:
  • BBC, Mansfield Park (1983) – starring Sylvestra Le Touzel and Nicholas Farrell (6 episodes)
  • Miramax, Mansfield Park (1999) – starring Frances O’Connor and Jonny Lee Miller
  • ITV, Mansfield Park (2007) – starring Billie Piper and Blake Ritson
• Modernisations:
  • YouTube, Foot in the Door Theatre, From Mansfield With Love (2014-2015)

Creative commons music used:

• Extract from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sonata No. 12 in F Major, ii. Adagio.
• Extract from Joseph Haydn, Piano Sonata No. 38. Performance by Ivan Ilić, recorded in Manchester in December, 2006. File originally from IMSLP.
• Extract from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sonata No. 13 in B-Flat Major, iii. Allegretto Grazioso. File originally from Musopen.
• Extract from George Frideric Handel, Suite I, No. 2 in F Major, ii. Allegro. File originally from Musopen.
• Extract from Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Sonata&

In this episode, we read Chapters 12 to 16 of Mansfield Park. We talk about why Fanny refuses to act, why Edmund agrees to join in, the sheer amount of comedy in the scenes of the theatricals, and the Cinderella aspect of the plot.

We talk about Tom Bertram, and then Ellen looks at theatre in the Regency period, and why Fanny and Edmund disapprove of the the theatricals. Harriet talks about the popular culture versions, including some modernisations and a variation that she hasn’t looked at before.

Things we mention: 

General and character discussion:

• John Wiltshire [Editor], The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austen: Mansfield Park (2005)
• Lionel Trilling, “Mansfield Park“, Partisan Review 21 (September-October 1954): 492-511. Also published in Encounter, September 1954: 9-19.
• Sheila Kaye-Smith and G.B. Stern, Talking of Jane Austen (1943) 

Historical discussion:

• Chuck Hudson, ‘Theatre in Georgian England’ (2015)
• Elizabeth Inchbald, Lovers’s Vows [full text on Project Gutenberg] (1798)
• Deirdre Le Faye [Editor], Jane Austen’s Letters (1995)
• Lionel Trilling, “Mansfield Park“, Partisan Review 21 (September-October 1954): 492-511. Also published in Encounter, September 1954: 9-19.
• Claudia L. Johnson and Clara Tuite, 30 Great Myths about Jane Austen (2020)

Popular culture discussion:

• Adaptations:
  • BBC, Mansfield Park (1983) – starring Sylvestra Le Touzel and Nicholas Farrell (6 episodes)
  • Miramax, Mansfield Park (1999) – starring Frances O’Connor and Jonny Lee Miller
  • ITV, Mansfield Park (2007) – starring Billie Piper and Blake Ritson
• Modernisations:
  • Westerly Films, Allagash Films, Metropolitan (1990) – starring Carolyn Farina and Edward Clements
  • YouTube, Foot in the Door Theatre, From Mansfield With Love (2014-2015)
  • D.E. Stevenson, Celia’s House (1943)
  • John Mullan, Live at the Hay Festival (2014) [YouTube] – referred to in the discussion of Celia’s House
• Variations:
  • Lona Manning, A Contrary Wind(2017), A Marriage of Attachment (2018) and A Different Kind of Woman (2020)

 For a list of music used, see this episode on our website.  

In this episode, we read Chapters 8 to 11 of Mansfield Park. We revisit the issue of how Jane Austen opposes Fanny and Mary, and look at the flirting techniques of Mary and Henry, Fanny’s expectations of Edmund, whether there is symbolism in the scene at the ha-ha, and Mary’s criticism of Dr Grant.

The characters we talk about are Maria and Julia, and then Ellen looks at the idea of improvement of estates – and what a ha-ha is. Harriet’s discussion of the popular culture versions is a bit shorter than usual, owing to the fact that two of the adaptations completely omit the Sotherton section.

 For a list of references and other links, plus photographs of ha-has, see this episode on our website. 

In this episode, we read Chapters 4 to 7 of Mansfield Park. We talk about the character-revealing scenes, how the presentation of Fanny may make some readers dislike her, why Maria became engaged to Mr Rushworth, and Henry Crawford’s behaviour.

We discuss the character of Mary Crawford – who is perhaps almost as divisive as Fanny Price – and then Ellen talks about baronets, Members of Parliament, and the idea of ‘interest’. Harriet considers how the three adaptations, and two of the modernisations, present these chapters. 

Things we mention: 

General and character discussion:

• John Wiltshire [Editor], The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austen: Mansfield Park (2005)
• Lionel Trilling, “Mansfield Park“, Partisan Review 21 (September-October 1954): 492-511. Also published in Encounter, September 1954: 9-19.
• Sheila Kaye-Smith and G.B. Stern, Talking of Jane Austen (1943) and More Talk of Jane Austen (1950)
• John Mullan, Live at the Hay Festival (2014) [YouTube]
• Kingsley Amis, “What Became of Jane Austen?”, The Spectator, 4 October 1957 – republished in What Became of Jane Austen? And Other Questions (1970)
• The Daily Knightley (2021) [podcast] 

Popular culture discussion:

• Adaptations:
  • BBC, Mansfield Park (1983) – starring Sylvestra Le Touzel and Nicholas Farrell (6 episodes)
  • Miramax, Mansfield Park (1999) – starring Frances O’Connor and Jonny Lee Miller
  • ITV, Mansfield Park (2007) – starring Billie Piper and Blake Ritson
• Modernisations:
  • YouTube, Foot in the Door Theatre, From Mansfield With Love (2014-2015)
  • D.E. Stevenson, Celia’s House (1943)

Creative commons music used: 

• Extract from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sonata No. 12 in F Major, ii. Adagio.
• Extract from Joseph Haydn, Piano Sonata No. 38. Performance by Ivan Ilić, recorded in Manchester in December, 2006. File originally from IMSLP.
• Extract from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sonata No. 13 in B-Flat Major, iii. Allegretto Grazioso. File originally from Musopen.
• Extract from George Frideric Handel, Suite I, No. 2 in F Major, ii. Allegro. File originally from Musopen. 
• Extract from Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major. File originally from Musopen. 

This is a bit of an in-between episode. About two months ago, when we were getting ready to record Episode 2, Ellen came down with a bad virus – not COVID, but recovery has been a slow process. We’re just about to start recording again, but it means there’s going to be more of a gap before Episode 2, and probably between the other episodes as well, since we don’t have any edited and ready to go in advance. 

To fill in the space before Episode 2, we’ve put together some of the bits we had to edit out of Episode 1. It’s a bit disjointed, but we hope you enjoy it.

 Creative commons music used: 

• Extract from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sonata No. 12 in F Major, ii. Adagio.
• Extract from Joseph Haydn, Piano Sonata No. 38. Performance by Ivan Ilić, recorded in Manchester in December, 2006. File originally from IMSLP.
• Extract from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sonata No. 13 in B-Flat Major, iii. Allegretto Grazioso. File originally from Musopen.
• Extract from George Frideric Handel, Suite I, No. 2 in F Major, ii. Allegro. File originally from Musopen.
• Extract from Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major. File originally from Musopen.

In this episode, we read the first three chapters of Mansfield Park. We give a brief publishing history, and talk about how the opening chapters really prepare the way for the rest of the book, with all of the characters and relationships being set up, how the three Miss Wards come from a not dissimilar background from Pride and Prejudice’s Miss Gardiners (Mrs Bennet and Mrs Phillips), and how the novel’s themes of education and principle are introduced. The character we talk about is Mrs Norris.

In a longer than usual historical segment, Ellen talks about the historical background to Sir Thomas’s estate in Antigua, and the extent to which all members of the gentry were complicit in slavery. We follow this up with a conversation on how discussions of slavery are now part of the discourse on Mansfield Park. Harriet identifies four different approaches:

• People who can’t read the book because of the connection with slavery
• People who feel that perhaps the estate in Antigua did not use enslaved people
• People who feel that the novel is about slavery – and, specifically, that it is an abolitionist novel
• People who feel that slavery is part of the context of the novel – one of the aspects of Jane Austen’s society that today we find abhorrent – but it is not a focus. We need to be open to discussing the novel in a post-colonial light, but that does not mean the novel is about slavery. 

We would like to thank Damianne Scott, who runs the Facebook page Black Girl Loves Jane, for reviewing the historical segment for us, and providing feedback.

To finish the episode, Harriet gives an overview of various popular culture versions of Mansfield Park.

For a list of references and other links, see this episode on our website.

In this episode, we read the final chapters of Sense and Sensibility. We talk about Elinor being the ‘moral spokesperson’ for the book, why Marianne marries Colonel Brandon, how Edward is less dashing than both Willoughby and Brandon, the social and financial gap between Elinor and Marianne after their marriages, and Lucy’s marriage to Robert. We also revisit the sense vs sensibility concept, and how the novel is both flawed and wonderful.

 We discuss the character of Elinor, then Ellen talks about art, music and writing, and Harriet takes a final look at the popular culture versions. 

Things we mention:

References:

•  Marjorie Theobauld, Knowing Women: Origins of Women’s Education in Nineteenth-Century Australia (1996) 
• Claire Tomalin, Jane Austen: A Life (1997)
• Robert Chapman [Editor], Jane Austen’s Letters to her Sister Cassandra and Others (1969)

Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century women writers:

• Married/de facto
  • Mary Brunton (1778–1818): Self-Control (1810)
  • Fanny Burney (1752–1840): Cecilia (1782 – written before she was married), Camilla (1796 – written after she was married) 
  • Anna Barbauld (1743–1825)
  • Martha Sherwood (1775–1851): The Fairchild Family (1818)
  • Mary Shelley (1797–1851)
  • Margaret Gatty (1809–1873)
  • Elizabeth Gaskell (1810–1865)
  • Anna Lefroy (1793–1872)
  • George Eliot (1793–1872) 
•  Single
  • Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855) 
  • Emily Brontë (1818–1848) 
  • Anne Brontë (1820–1849) 
  • Maria Edgeworth (1768–1849): Belinda (1801)
  • Hannah More (1745–1833): Coelebs in Search of a Wife (1808) 
  • Susan Ferrier (1782–1854) 

Read more: Adaptations of the book, Modernisations of the book, Creative Commons music used.