Snoozecast

Tonight, we shall read the next part to “Persuasion”, the last novel fully completed by Jane Austen, and published in 1817.

The story concerns Anne Elliot, a twenty-seven year old Englishwoman, whose family moves in order to lower their expenses and reduce their debt, by renting their home to an Admiral and his wife. The novel was well-received at it’s debut, but its greater fame came decades later, and continues to this day.

In the first episode, we read chapter 1, in which we meet Sir Walter Elliot, a 54-year-old man of distinct ancestry, and his three daughters. The father prides himself on his good looks and family lineage.

His eldest daughter, who most resembles him in personality and looks, is named Elizabeth. At 29 she is unmarried but attractive. His youngest daughter, Mary, has married a respectable local man. And then there is the middle child- Anne. She is also unmarried like Elizabeth, but at 27 years old has grown less attractive with age. Sir Walter feels that Anne is inferior to her sisters and often overlooks her.

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Tonight, we’ll read the opening to “Mr. Midshipman Easy,” an 1836 novel by Frederick Marryat, a retired captain in the Royal Navy. The novel is set during the Napoleonic Wars, in which Marryat himself served with distinction. This episode first aired in February of 2021.

At fourteen, the naive Jack Easy leaves the luxury of his family estate in England and sails into a world of adventure aboard the sloop of war HMS Harpy. At first, Jack finds it hard to bear the discipline of naval life and is always getting himself into trouble. But soon he is bravely taming a band of mutinous seamen as the Harpy chases Spanish ships on the Mediterranean.

This episode is dedicated to our many listeners who have requested Roald Dahl stories. Alas, he is not in the public domain yet for us to read. However, this particular author was listed as a literary influence on Dahl.

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Tonight, we’ll read an excerpt from “American Notes” a travelogue written by Charles Dickens detailing his trip from the year 1842. While there he acted as a critical observer of North American society, almost as if returning a status report on their progress. Having arrived in Boston, he travelled as far south as Richmond, Virginia, as far west as St. Louis, Missouri and as far north as Quebec, Canada. The city he liked best on his trip? Boston.

The inspiration for this episode came from our recent “Helen Keller” episode. Her autobiography references a story within another section of tonight’s book as inspiring Helen’s mother to seek out specialized education for her daughter.

Dickens’s American journey was also an inspiration for his novel “Martin Chuzzlewit”. If you’ve been listening to our “Woodcraft” series of episodes lately, you may have heard mention of how the Woodcraft author named one of his famous hand-crafted canoes after a Chuzzlewit character.

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Tonight, we’ll read the next part to “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea,” a classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne.

In the last episode, Aronnax accompanies Nemo on an expedition at night without lanterns or anyone else. The two walk in darkness toward a red light for a couple miles before they climb up a platform of man-made stones and pillars. Aronnax realizes that the mountain they are climbing is a volcano, still emitting lava. They are visiting the fabled underwater ruins of Atlantis. The two men contemplate the scene and the history while the moon rises, before returning to the Nautilus as the sun rises.

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Tonight, we’ll read the opening to “Around the World in 80 Days,” a novel by Jules Verne published in 1872.

In this story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employed French valet Passepartout attempt to circumnavigate the world in 80 days on a 20-thousand pound wager ( over two million pounds now) set by his friends. It is one of Verne's most acclaimed works. 

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Tonight, we’ll read an excerpt from “The Story of My Life” written by Helen Keller and published in 1903. The book details her early life, and especially her education.

Helen Keller was an American author, disability rights advocate, political activist and lecturer. Born in Alabama, she lost her sight and her hearing after a bout of illness when she was still a baby. She had limited communicative capability as a little girl. Her mother became inspired after reading a travelogue from Charles Dickens that described a similar girl being educated. This led the family on a quest to find such education for their daughter. Finally, at the age of seven, Helen met her first teacher and life-long companion Anne Sullivan. Sullivan taught Keller language, including reading and writing. Keller later became the first deafblind person in the United States to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.

In 1920, Helen Keller helped to found the American Civil Liberties Union. She traveled to over 40 countries with Sullivan, making several trips to Japan and becoming a favorite of the Japanese people. Keller met every U.S. president of her time, and was friends with many famous figures, including Alexander Graham Bell, Charlie Chaplin and Mark Twain.

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Tonight, we’ll read the twelfth chapter to “Anne of Green Gables” the classic 1908 novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery. This chapter is titled “A Solemn Vow and Promise”.

In the last episode, titled “Anne’s Impressions of Sunday-School”, Marilla shows Anne the new dresses she has made for her, all of which are embarrassingly unfashionable. The next day, Anne goes to church and Sunday school alone, wearing one of her new ugly dresses. On the way, she picks a bunch of flowers and decorates her otherwise plain hat with them, an eccentric adornment meant to make up for the dress, but that causes other churchgoers to scoff.

After church, Anne reports to Marilla that the service did not impress her. She says that the whole experience was quite unimaginative. Anne was able to survive the boring morning only by daydreaming. Marilla scolds Anne for her inattention at church but inwardly agrees with her. Although she never articulates her own criticisms of the minister and the Sunday school teacher, she, like Anne, has always felt that the church service is rather uninspiring.

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Tonight, we’ll read “The Maiden of the Mist” or “Anne of Geierstein”, by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1829. It is set mainly in Switzerland, shortly after the Battle of Tewkesbury in the 1400s. This episode originally aired in January of 2021.

In this story, two exiles are on a secret mission to the court of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, hoping to gain his help in regaining the English crown from Edward IV. The two Englishmen get into difficulties in the Swiss mountains. They meet Countess Anne and her family, who are involved in the politics of the newly independent Swiss Confederation and plan to confront Charles with complaints about his conduct towards the Swiss nation.

This book is part of a long series called The Waverley Novels. For nearly a century, they were among the most popular and widely read novels in Europe. Because Scott did not publicly acknowledge authorship until later, the series takes its name from Waverley, the first novel of the series released.

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Tonight, for our 801st episode, we’ll read a Snoozecast original sleep story, inspired by the classic fairy tale “The Princess and the Pea”.

First published by H.C. Andersen in 1835, the tale features a princess who is tested to become wife to a lonely prince.

At under 400 words long, it is triflingly short. Yet though it be small, it has served as the inspiration for many culturally popular works. The story was adapted to the musical stage in 1959 as Once Upon a Mattress, with comedian Carol Burnett playing the play's heroine, Princess Winnifred the Woebegone. The musical was revived in 1997 with Sarah Jessica Parker in the role. The story has been adapted into three films as well a television production starring Liza Minelli.

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Tonight, we’ll read the second chapter to “Good Wives” written by Louisa May Alcott. This is also known as the second half of the “Little Women” novel. Originally, Alcott had it published as a second book but in later publishings the two were combined.

If you haven’t listened to the first part to the book, you can search in your podcast player for “Snoozecast Presents: Little Women”. You will find a standalone series available so that you can refresh your memory or start from the very beginning if you’d like.

Our last episode opens after three years have passed since the conclusion of “Little Women”. Meg is about to get married. The war has ended, and Mr. March and Mr. Brooke have returned home. In the meantime, Meg has learned more about keeping house, and Amy has taken over Jo’s job caring for Aunt March. Jo has continued to write stories for the newspaper, while Laurie has passed the years at college.

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