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Tuesday is the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth, so today I spoke to John Mullan, professor of English Literature at UCL, author of What Matters in Jane Austen. John and I talked about how Austen's fiction would have developed if she had not died young, the innovations of Persuasion, wealth inequality in Austen, slavery and theatricals in Mansfield Park, as well as Iris Murdoch, A.S. Byatt, Patricia Beer, the Dunciad, and the Booker Prize. This was an excellent episode. My thanks to John!TranscriptHenry Oliver (00:00)Today, I am talking to John Mullen. John is a professor of English literature at University College London, and he is the author of many splendid books, including How Novels Work and the Artful Dickens. I recommend the Artful Dickens to you all. But today we are talking about Jane Austen because it's going to be her birthday in a couple of days. And John wrote What Matters in Jane Austen, which is another book I recommend to you all. John, welcome.John Mullan (00:51)It's great to be here.Henry Oliver (00:53)What do you think would have happened to Austin's fiction if she had not died young?John Mullan (00:58)Ha ha! I've been waiting all this year to be asked that question from somebody truly perspicacious. ⁓ Because it's a question I often answer even though I'm not asked it, because it's a very interesting one, I think. And also, I think it's a bit, it's answerable a little bit because there was a certain trajectory to her career. I think it's very difficult to imagine what she would have written.John Mullan (01:28)But I think there are two things which are almost certain. The first is that she would have gone on writing and that she would have written a deal more novels. And then even the possibility that there has been in the past of her being overlooked or neglected would have been closed. ⁓ And secondly, and perhaps more significantly for her, I think she would have become well known.in her own lifetime. you know, partly that's because she was already being outed, as it were, you know, of course, as ⁓ you'll know, Henry, you know, she published all the novels that were published in her lifetime were published anonymously. So even people who were who were following her career and who bought a novel like Mansfield Park, which said on the title page by the author of Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, they knew they knew.John Mullan (02:26)were getting something by the same author, they wouldn't necessarily have known the author's name and I think that would have become, as it did with other authors who began anonymously, that would have disappeared and she would have become something of a literary celebrity I would suggest and then she would have met other authors and she'd have been invited to some London literary parties in effect and I think that would have been very interesting how that might have changed her writing.John Mullan (02:54)if it would have changed her writing as well as her life. She, like everybody else, would have met Coleridge. ⁓ I think that would have happened. She would have become a name in her own lifetime and that would have meant that her partial disappearance, I think, from sort of public consciousness in the 19th century wouldn't have happened.Henry Oliver (03:17)It's interesting to think, you know, if she had been, depending on how old she would have been, could she have read the Pickwick papers? How would she have reacted to that? Yes. Yeah. Nope.John Mullan (03:24)Ha ha ha ha ha!Yes, she would have been in her 60s, but that's not so old, speaking of somebody in their 60s. ⁓ Yes, it's a very interesting notion, isn't it? I mean, there would have been other things which happened after her premature demise, which she might have responded to. I think particularly there was a terrific fashion for before Dickens came along in the 1830s, there was a terrific fashion in the 1820s for what were called silver fork novels, which were novels of sort of high life of kind of the kind of people who knew Byron, but I mean as fictional characters. And we don't read them anymore, but they were they were quite sort of high quality, glossy products and people loved them. And I'm I like to think she might have reacted to that with her sort of with her disdain, think, her witty disdain for all aristocrats. know, nobody with a title is really any good in her novels, are they? And, you know, the nearest you get is Mr. Darcy, who is an Earl's nephew. And that's more of a problem for him than almost anything else. ⁓ She would surely have responded satirically to that fashion.Henry Oliver (04:28)Hahaha.Yes, and then we might have had a Hazlitt essay about her as well, which would have been all these lost gems. Yes. Are there ways in which persuasion was innovative that Emma was not?John Mullan (04:58)Yes, yes, yes, yes. I know, I know.⁓ gosh, all right, you're homing in on the real tricky ones. Okay, okay. ⁓ That Emma was not. Yes, I think so. I think it took, in its method, it took further what she had done in Emma.Henry Oliver (05:14)Ha ha.This is your exam today,John Mullan (05:36)which is that method of kind of we inhabit the consciousness of a character. And I I think of Jane Austen as a writer who is always reacting to her own last novel, as it were. And I think, you know, probably the Beatles were like that or Mozart was like that. think, you know, great artists often are like that, that at a certain stage, if what they're doing is so different from what everybody else has done before,they stop being influenced by anybody else. They just influence themselves. And so I think after Emma, Jane Austen had this extraordinary ⁓ method she perfected in that novel, this free indirect style of a third-person narration, which is filtered through the consciousness of a character who in Emma's case is self-deludedly wrong about almost everything. And it's...brilliantly tricksy and mischievous and elaborate use of that device which tricks even the reader quite often, certainly the first time reader. And then she got to persuasion and I think she is at least doing something new and different with that method which is there's Anne Elliot. Anne Elliot's a good person. Anne Elliot's judgment is very good. She's the most cultured and cultivated of Jane Austen's heroines. She is, as Jane Austen herself said about Anne Elliot, almost too good for me. And so what she does is she gives her a whole new vein of self-deception, which is the self-deception in the way of a good person who always wants to think things are worse than they are and who always, who, because suspicious of their own desires and motives sort of tamps them down and suppresses them. And we live in this extraordinary mind of this character who's often ignored, she's always overhearing conversations. Almost every dialogue in the novel seems to be something Anne overhears rather than takes part in. And the consciousness of a character whodoesn't want to acknowledge things in themselves which you and I might think were quite natural and reasonable and indeed in our psychotherapeutic age to be expressed from the rooftops. You still fancy this guy? Fine! Admit it to yourself. ⁓ No. So it's not repression actually, exactly. It's a sort of virtuous self-control somehow which I think lots of readers find rather masochistic about her. Henry Oliver (08:38)I find that book interesting because in Sense and Sensibility she's sort of opposed self-command with self-expression, but she doesn't do that in Persuasion. She says, no, no, I'm just going to be the courage of, no, self-command. know, Eleanor becomes the heroine.John Mullan (08:48)Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. But with the odd with the odd burst of Mariannes, I was watching the I thought execrable Netflix ⁓ persuasion done about two or three years ago ⁓ with the luminous Dakota Johnson as as you know, as Anne Elliot. You could not believe her bloom had faded one little bit, I think.John Mullan (09:23)And ⁓ I don't know if you saw it, but the modus operandi rather following the lead set by that film, The Favourite, which was set in Queen Anne's reign, but adopted the Demotic English of the 21st century. similarly, this adaptation, much influenced by Fleabag, decided to deal with the challenge of Jane Austen's dialogue by simply not using it, you know, and having her speak in a completely contemporary idiom. But there were just one or two lines, very, very few from the novel, that appeared. And when they appeared, they sort of cried through the screen at you. And one of them, slightly to qualify what you've just said, was a line I'd hardly noticed before. as it was one of the few Austin lines in the programme, in the film, I really noticed it. And it was much more Marianne than Eleanor. And that's when, I don't know if you remember, and Captain Wentworth, they're in Bath. So now they are sort of used to talking to each other. And Louisa Musgrove's done her recovering from injury and gone off and got engaged to Captain Benwick, Captain Benwick. So Wentworth's a free man. And Anne is aware, becoming aware that he may be still interested in her. And there's a card party, an evening party arranged by Sir Walter Elliot. And Captain Wentworth is given an invitation, even though they used to disapprove of him because he's now a naval hero and a rich man. And Captain Wentworth and Anna making slightly awkward conversation. And Captain Wentworth says, you did not used to like cards.I mean, he realizes what he said, because what he said is, remember you eight years ago. I remember we didn't have to do cards. We did snogging and music. That's what we did. But anyway, he did not used to like cards. And he suddenly realizes what a giveaway that is. And he says something like, but then time brings many changes. And she says, she cries out, I am not so much changed.Henry Oliver (11:23)Mm. Mm, yes, yes. Yep.Yes.Cries out, yeah.John Mullan (11:50)It's absolutely electric line and that's not Eleanor is it? That's not an Eleanor-ish line. ⁓ Eleanor would say indeed time evinces such dispositions in most extraordinary ways. She would say some Johnsonian thing wouldn't she? so I don't think it's quite a return to the same territory or the same kind of psychology.Henry Oliver (12:05)That's right. Yes, yes, yeah.No, that's interesting, yeah. One of the things that happens in Persuasion is that you get this impressionistic writing. So a bit like Mrs. Elliot talking while she picks strawberries. When Lady Russell comes into Bath, you get that wonderful scene of the noises and the sounds. Is this a sort of step forward in a way? And you can think of Austen as not an evolutionary missing link as such, but she's sort of halfway between Humphrey Clinker and Mr. Jangle.Is that something that she would have sort of developed?John Mullan (12:49)I think that's quite possible. haven't really thought about it before, but you're right. think there are these, ⁓ there are especially, they're impressionistic ⁓ passages which are tied up with Anne's emotions. And there's an absolutely, I think, short, simple, but extraordinarily original one when she meets him again after eight years. And it says something like, the room was full, full of people. Mary said something and you're in the blur of it. He said all that was right, you know, and she can't hear the words, she can't hear the words and you can't hear the words and you're inside and she's even, you're even sort of looking at the floor because she's looking at the floor and in Anne's sort of consciousness, often slightly fevered despite itself, you do exactly get this sort of, ⁓ for want of a better word, blur of impressions, which is entirely unlike, isn't it, Emma's sort of ⁓ drama of inner thought, which is always assertive, argumentative, perhaps self-correcting sometimes, but nothing if not confidently articulate.John Mullan (14:17)And with Anne, it's a blur of stuff. there is a sort of perhaps a kind of inklings of a stream of consciousness method there.Henry Oliver (14:27)I think so, yeah. Why is it that Flaubert and other writers get all the credit for what Jane Austen invented?John Mullan (14:35)Join my campaign, Henry. It is so vexing. It is vexing. sometimes thought, I sometimes have thought, but perhaps this is a little xenophobic of me, that the reason that Jane Austen is too little appreciated and read in France is because then they would have to admit that Flaubertdidn't do it first, you know. ⁓Henry Oliver (14:40)It's vexing, isn't it?John Mullan (15:04)I mean, I suppose there's an answer from literary history, which is simply for various reasons, ⁓ some of them to do with what became fashionable in literary fiction, as we would now call it. Jane Austen was not very widely read or known in the 19th century. So it wasn't as if, as it were, Tolstoy was reading Jane Austen and saying, this is not up to much. He wasn't. He was reading Elizabeth Gaskell.Jane Eyre ⁓ and tons of Dickens, tons, every single word Dickens published, of course. ⁓ So Jane Austen, know, to cite an example I've just referred to, I Charlotte Bronte knew nothing of Jane Austen until George Henry Lewis, George Eliot's partner, who is carrying the torch for Jane Austen, said, you really should read some. And that's why we have her famous letter saying, it's, you know, it's commonplace and foolish things she said. But so I think the first thing to establish is she was really not very widely read. So it wasn't that people were reading it and not getting it. It was which, you know, I think there's a little bit of that with Dickens. He was very widely read and people because of that almost didn't see how innovative he was, how extraordinarily experimental. It was too weird. But they still loved it as comic or melodramatic fiction. But I think Jane Austen simply wasn't very widely read until the late 19th century. So I don't know if Flaubert read her. I would say almost certainly not. Dickens owned a set of Jane Austen, but that was amongst 350 selecting volumes of the select British novelists. Probably he never read Jane Austen. Tolstoy and you know never did, you know I bet Dostoevsky didn't, any number of great writers didn't.Henry Oliver (17:09)I find it hard to believe that Dickens didn't read her.John Mullan (17:12)Well, I don't actually, I'm afraid, because I mean the one occasion that I know of in his surviving correspondence when she's mentioned is after the publication of Little Dorrit when ⁓ his great bosom friend Forster writes to him and says, Flora Finching, that must be Miss Bates. Yes. You must have been thinking of Miss Bates.John Mullan (17:41)And he didn't write it in a sort of, you plagiarist type way, I he was saying you've varied, it's a variation upon that character and Dickens we wrote back and we have his reply absolutely denying this. Unfortunately his denial doesn't make it clear whether he knew who Miss Bates was but hadn't it been influenced or whether he simply didn't know but what he doesn't… It's the one opportunity where he could have said, well, of course I've read Emma, but that's not my sort of thing. ⁓ of course I delight in Miss Bates, but I had no idea of thinking of her when I... He has every opportunity to say something about Jane Austen and he doesn't say anything about her. He just says, no.Henry Oliver (18:29)But doesn't he elsewhere deny having read Jane Eyre? And that's just like, no one believes you, Charles.John Mullan (18:32)Yes.Well, he may deny it, but he also elsewhere admits to it. Yeah.Henry Oliver (18:39)Okay, but you know, just because he doesn't come out with it.John Mullan (18:43)No, no, it's true, but he wouldn't have been singular and not reading Jane Austen. That's what I'm saying. Yes. So it's possible to ignore her innovativeness simply by not having read her. But I do think, I mean, briefly, that there is another thing as well, which is that really until the late 20th century almost, even though she'd become a wide, hugely famous, hugely widely read and staple of sort of A levels and undergraduate courses author, her real, ⁓ her sort of experiments with form were still very rarely acknowledged. And I mean, it was only really, I think in the sort of almost 1980s, really a lot in my working lifetime that people have started saying the kind of thing you were asking about now but hang on free and direct style no forget flow bear forget Henry James I mean they're terrific but actually this woman who never met an accomplished author in her life who had no literary exchanges with fellow writersShe did it at a little table in a house in Hampshire. Just did it.Henry Oliver (20:14)Was she a Tory or an Enlightenment Liberal or something else?John Mullan (20:19)⁓ well I think the likeliest, if I had to pin my colours to a mast, I think she would be a combination of the two things you said. I think she would have been an enlightenment Tory, as it were. So I think there is some evidence that ⁓ perhaps because also I think she was probably quite reasonably devout Anglican. So there is some evidence that… She might have been conservative with a small C, but I think she was also an enlightenment person. I think she and her, especially her father and at least a couple of her brothers, you know, would have sat around reading 18th century texts and having enlightened discussions and clearly they were, you know, and they had, it's perfect, you know, absolutely hard and fast evidence, for instance, that they would have been that they were sympathetic to the abolition of slavery, that they were ⁓ sceptics about the virtues of monarchical power and clear-eyed about its corruption, that they had no, Jane Austen, as I said at the beginning of this exchange, had no great respect or admiration for the aristocratic ruling class at all. ⁓ So there's aspects of her politics which aren't conservative with a big C anyway, but I think enlightened, think, I mean I, you know, I got into all this because I loved her novels, I've almost found out about her family inadvertently because you meet scary J-Night experts at Jane Austen Society of North America conferences and if you don't know about it, they look at scants. But it is all interesting and I think her family were rather terrific actually, her immediate family. I think they were enlightened, bookish, optimistic, optimistic people who didn't sit around moaning about the state of the country or their own, you know, not having been left enough money in exes will. And...I think that they were in the broadest sense enlightened people by the standard of their times and perhaps by any standards.Henry Oliver (22:42)Is Mansfield Park about slavery?John Mullan (22:45)Not at all, no. I don't think so. I don't think so. And I think, you know, the famous little passage, for it is only a passage in which Edmund and Fanny talk about the fact it's not a direct dialogue. They are having a dialogue about the fact that they had, but Fanny had this conversation or attempt at conversation ⁓ a day or two before. And until relatively recently, nobody much commented on that passage. It doesn't mean they didn't read it or understand it, but now I have not had an interview, a conversation, a dialogue involving Mansfield Park in the last, in living memory, which hasn't mentioned it, because it's so apparently responsive to our priorities, our needs and our interests. And there's nothing wrong with that. But I think it's a it's a parenthetic part of the novel. ⁓ And of course, there was this Edward Said article some decades ago, which became very widely known and widely read. And although I think Edward Said, you know, was a was a wonderful writer in many ways. ⁓I think he just completely misunderstands it ⁓ in a way that's rather strange for a literary critic because he says it sort of represents, you know, author's and a whole society's silence about this issue, the source of wealth for these people in provincial England being the enslavement of people the other side of the Atlantic. But of course, Jane Auster didn't have to put that bit in her novel, if she'd wanted really to remain silent, she wouldn't have put it in, would she? And the conversation is one where Edmund says, know, ⁓ you know, my father would have liked you to continue when you were asking about, yeah, and she says, but there was such terrible silence. And she's referring to the other Bertram siblings who indeed are, of course, heedless, selfish ⁓ young people who certainly will not want to know that their affluence is underwritten by, you know, the employment of slaves on a sugar plantation. But the implication, I think, of that passage is very clearly that Fanny would have, the reader of the time would have been expected to infer that Fanny shares the sympathies that Jane Austen, with her admiration, her love, she says, of Thomas Clarkson. The countries leading abolitionists would have had and that Edmund would also share them. And I think Edmund is saying something rather surprising, which I've always sort of wondered about, which is he's saying, my father would have liked to talk about it more. And what does that mean? Does that mean, my father's actually, he's one of these enlightened ones who's kind of, you know, freeing the slaves or does it mean, my father actually knows how to defend his corner? He would have beenYou know, he doesn't he doesn't feel threatened or worried about discussing it. It's not at all clear where Sir Thomas is in this, but I think it's pretty clear where Edmund and Fanny are.Henry Oliver (26:08)How seriously do you take the idea that we are supposed to disapprove of the family theatricals and that young ladies putting on plays at home is immoral?John Mullan (26:31)Well, I would, mean, perhaps I could quote what two students who were discussing exactly this issue said quite some time ago in a class where a seminar was running on Mansfield Park. And one of the students can't remember their names, I'm afraid. I can't remember their identities, so I'm safe to quote them. ⁓ They're now probably running PR companies or commercial solicitors. And one of them I would say a less perceptive student said, why the big deal about the amateur dramatics? I mean, what's Jane Austen's problem? And there was a pause and another student in the room who I would suggest was a bit more of an alpha student said, really, I'm surprised you asked that. I don't think I've ever read a novel in which I've seen characters behaving so badly as this.And I think that's the answer. The answer isn't that the amateur dramatics themselves are sort of wrong, because of course Jane Austen and her family did them. They indulged in them. ⁓ It's that it gives the opportunity, the license for appalling, mean truly appalling behaviour. I mean, Henry Crawford, you know, to cut to the chase on this, Henry Crawford is seducing a woman in front of her fiance and he enjoys it not just because he enjoys seducing women, that's what he does, but because it's in front of him and he gets an extra kick out of it. You know, he has himself after all already said earlier in the novel, oh, I much prefer an engaged woman, he has said to his sister and Mrs. Grant. Yes, of course he does. So he's doing that. Mariah and Julia are fighting over him. Mr. Rushworth, he's not behaving badly, he's just behaving like a silly arse. Mary Crawford, my goodness, what is she up to? She's up to using the amateur dramatics for her own kind of seductions whilst pretending to be sort of doing it almost unwillingly. I mean, it seems to me an elaborate, beautifully choreographed elaboration of the selfishness, sensuality and hypocrisy of almost everybody involved. And it's not because it's amateur dramatics, but amateur dramatics gives them the chance to behave so badly.Henry Oliver (29:26)Someone told me that Thomas Piketty says that Jane Austen depicts a society in which inequality of wealth is natural and morally justified. Is that true?John Mullan (29:29)Ha⁓Well, again, Thomas Piketty, I wish we had him here for a good old mud wrestle. ⁓ I would say that the problem with his analysis is the coupling of the two adjectives, natural and morally right. I think there is a strong argument that inequality is depicted as natural or at least inevitable, inescapable in Jane Austen's novels.but not morally right, as it were. In fact, not at all morally right. There is a certain, I think you could be exaggerated little and call it almost fatalism about that such inequalities. Do you remember Mr. Knightley says to Emma, in Emma, when he's admonishing her for her, you know, again, a different way, terribly bad behavior.Henry Oliver (30:38)At the picnic.John Mullan (30:39)At the picnic when she's humiliatedMiss Bates really and Mr Knightley says something like if she'd been your equal you know then it wouldn't have been so bad because she could have retaliated she could have come back but she's not and she says and he says something like I won't get the words exactly right but I can get quite close he says sinceher youth, she has sunk. And if she lives much longer, will sink further. And he doesn't say, ⁓ well, we must have a collection to do something about it, or we must have a revolution to do something about it, or if only the government would bring in better pensions, you know, he doesn't, he doesn't sort of rail against it as we feel obliged to. ⁓ He just accepts it as an inevitable part of what happens because of the bad luck of her birth, of the career that her father followed, of the fact that he died too early probably, of the fact that she herself never married and so on. That's the way it is. And Mr Knightley is, I think, a remarkably kind character, he's one of the kindest people in Jane Austen and he's always doing surreptitious kindnesses to people and you know he gives the Bates's stuff, things to eat and so on. He arranges for his carriage to carry them places but he accepts that that is the order of things. ⁓ But I, you know Henry, I don't know what you think, I think reading novels or literature perhaps more generally, but especially novels from the past, is when you're responding to your question to Mr. Piketty's quote, is quite a sort of, can be quite an interesting corrective to our own vanities, I think, because we, I mean, I'm not saying, you know, the poor are always with us, as it were, like Jesus, but... ⁓ You know, we are so ⁓ used to speaking and arguing as if any degree of poverty is in principle politically remediable, you know, and should be. And characters in Jane Austen don't think that way. And I don't think Jane Austen thought that way.Henry Oliver (33:16)Yes, yes. Yeah.The other thing I would say is that ⁓ the people who discuss Jane Austen publicly and write about her are usually middle class or on middle class incomes. And there's a kind of collective blindness to the fact that what we call Miss Bates poverty simply means that she's slipping out of the upper middle class and she will no longer have her maid.⁓ It doesn't actually mean, she'll still be living on a lot more than a factory worker, who at that time would have been living on a lot more than an agricultural worker, and who would have been living on a lot more than someone in what we would think of as destitution, or someone who was necessitous or whatever. So there's a certain extent to which I actually think what Austin is very good at showing is the... ⁓ the dynamics of a newly commercial society. So at the same time that Miss Bates is sinking, ⁓ I forget his name, but the farmer, the nice farmer, Robert Martin, he's rising. And they all, all classes meet at the drapier and class distinctions are slightly blurred by the presence of nice fabric.John Mullan (34:24)Mr. Robert Martin. Henry Oliver (34:37)And if your income comes from turnips, that's fine. You can have the same material that Emma has. And Jane Austen knows that she lives in this world of buttons and bonnets and muslins and all these new ⁓ imports and innovations. And, you know, I think Persuasion is a very good novel. ⁓ to say to Piketty, well, there's nothing natural about wealth inequality and persuasion. And it's not Miss Bates who's sinking, it's the baronet. And all these admirals are coming up and he has that very funny line, doesn't he? You're at terrible risk in the Navy that you'd be cut by a man who your father would have cut his father. And so I think actually she's not a Piketty person, but she's very clear-eyed about... quote unquote, what capitalism is doing to wealth inequality. Yeah, yeah.John Mullan (35:26)Yes, she is indeed. Indeed.Clear-eyed, I think, is just the adjective. I mean, I suppose the nearest she gets to a description. Yeah, she writes about the classes that she knows from the inside, as it were. So one could complain, people have complained. She doesn't represent what it's like to be an agricultural worker, even though agricultural labour is going on all around the communities in which her novels are set.And I mean, I think that that's a sort of rather banal objection, but there's no denying it in a way. If you think a novelist has a duty, as it were, to cover the classes and to cover the occupations, then it's not a duty that Jane Austen at all perceived. However, there is quite, there is something like, not a representation of destitution as you get in Dickens.but a representation of something inching towards poverty in Mansfield Park, which is the famous, as if Jane Austen was showing you she could do this sort of thing, which is the whole Portsmouth episode, which describes with a degree of domestic detail she never uses anywhere else in her fiction. When she's with the more affluent people, the living conditions, the food, the sheer disgustingness and tawdryness of life in the lodgings in Portsmouth where the Price family live. And of course, in a way, it's not natural because ⁓ in their particular circumstances, Lieutenant Price is an alcoholic.They've got far too many children. ⁓ He's a useless, sweary-mouthed boozer ⁓ and also had the misfortune to be wounded. ⁓ And she, his wife, Fanny's mother, is a slattern. We get told she's a slattern. And it's not quite clear if that's a word in Fanny's head or if that's Jane Austen's word. And Jane Austen...Fanny even goes so far as to think if Mrs. Norris were in charge here, and Mrs. Norris is as it were, she's the biggest sadist in all Jane Austen's fiction. She's like sort Gestapo guard monquet. If Mrs. Norris were in charge, it wouldn't be so bad here, but it's terrible. And Jane Austen even, know, she describes the color of the milk, doesn't she? The blue moats floating in the milk.She dis- and it's all through Fanny's perception. And Fanny's lived in this rather loveless grand place. And now it's a great sort of, ⁓ it's a coup d'etat. She now makes Fanny yearn for the loveless grand place, you know, because of what you were saying really, Henry, because as I would say, she's such an unsentimental writer, you know, andyou sort of think, you know, there's going to be no temptation for her to say, to show Fanny back in the loving bosom of her family, realising what hollow hearted people those Bertrams are. You know, she even describes the mark, doesn't she, that Mr Price's head, his greasy hair is left on the wall. It's terrific. And it's not destitution, but it's something like a life which must be led by a great sort of rank of British people at the time and Jane Austen can give you that, she can.Henry Oliver (39:26)Yeah, yeah. That's another very Dickensian moment. I'm not going to push this little thesis of mine too far, but the grease on the chair. It's like Mr. Jaggers in his horse hair. Yes. That's right, that's right. ⁓ Virginia Woolf said that Jane Austen is the most difficult novelist to catch in the act of greatness. Is that true?John Mullan (39:34)Yes, yes, yes, it is these details that Dickens would have noticed of course. Yes.Yes.⁓ I think it is so true. think that Virginia Woolf, she was such a true, well, I think she was a wonderful critic, actually, generally. Yeah, I think she was a wonderful critic. you know, when I've had a couple of glasses of Rioja, I've been known to say, to shocked students, ⁓ because you don't drink Rioja with students very often nowadays, but it can happen. ⁓ But she was a greater critic than novelist, you know.Henry Oliver (39:54)Yeah.Best critic of the 20th century. Yes, yes. Yeah. And also greater than Emson and all these people who get the airtime. Yes, yes.John Mullan (40:20)You know.I know, I know, but that's perhaps because she didn't have a theory or an argument, you know, and the Seven Types, I know that's to her credit, but you know, the Seven Types of Ambiguity thing is a very strong sort of argument, even if...Henry Oliver (40:31)Much to her credit.But look, if the last library was on fire and I could only save one of them, I'd let all the other critics in the 20th century burn and I'd take the common reader, wouldn't you?John Mullan (40:47)Okay. Yes, I, well, I think I agree. think she's a wonderful critic and both stringent and open. I mean, it's an extraordinary way, you know, doesn't let anybody get away with anything, but on the other hand is genuinely ready to, to find something new to, to anyway. ⁓ the thing she said about Austin, she said lots of good things about Austin and most of them are good because they're true. And the thing about… Yes, so what I would, I think what she meant was something like this, that amongst the very greatest writers, so I don't know, Shakespeare or Milton or, you know, something like that, you could take almost a line, yes? You can take a line and it's already glowing with sort of radioactive brilliance, know, and ⁓ Jane Austen, the line itself, there are wonderful sentences.)Mr. Bennett was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humor, reserve and caprice that the experience of three and 20 years had been insufficient to make his wife understand his character. I mean, that's as good as anything in Hamlet, isn't it? So odd a mixture and there he is, the oddest mixture there's ever been. And you think he must exist, he must exist. But anyway, most lines in Jane Austen probably aren't like that and it's as if in order to ⁓ explain how brilliant she is and this is something you can do when you teach Jane Austen, makes her terrific to teach I think, you can look at any bit and if everybody's read the novel and remembers it you can look at any paragraph or almost any line of dialogue and see how wonderful it is because it will connect to so many other things. But out of context, if you see what I mean, it doesn't always have that glow of significance. And sometimes, you know, the sort of almost most innocuous phrases and lines actually have extraordinary dramatic complexity. but you've got to know what's gone on before, probably what goes on after, who's in the room listening, and so on. And so you can't just catch it, you have to explain it. ⁓ You can't just, as it were, it, as you might quote, you know, a sort of a great line of Wordsworth or something.Henry Oliver (43:49)Even the quotable bits, you know, the bit that gets used to explain free and direct style in Pride and Prejudice where she says ⁓ living in sight of their own warehouses. Even a line like that is just so much better when you've been reading the book and you know who is being ventriloquized.John Mullan (43:59)Well, my favourite one is from Pride and Prejudice is after she's read the letter Mr Darcy gives her explaining what Wickham is really like, really, for truth of their relationship and their history. And she interrogates herself. And then at the end, there's ⁓ a passage which is in a passage of narration, but which is certainly in going through Elizabeth's thoughts. And it ends, she had been blind, partial, prejudiced, absurd. And I just think it's, if you've got to know Elizabeth, you just know that that payoff adjective, absurd, that's the coup de grace. Because of course, finding other people absurd is her occupation. It's what makes her so delightful. And it's what makes us complicit with her.Henry Oliver (44:48)Yeah.That's right.John Mullan (45:05)She sees how ridiculous Sir William Lucas and her sister Mary, all these people, and now she has absurded herself, as it were. So blind partial prejudice, these are all repetitions of the same thought. But only Elizabeth would end the list absurd. I think it's just terrific. But you have to have read the book just to get that. That's a whole sentence.You have to have read the book to get the sentence, don't you?Henry Oliver (45:34)Yep, indeed. ⁓ Do we love Jane Austen too much so that her contemporaries are overshadowed and they're actually these other great writers knocking around at the same time and we don't give them their due? Or is she in fact, you know, the Shakespeare to their Christopher Marlowe or however you want to.John Mullan (45:55)I think she's the Shakespeare to their Thomas Kidd or no even that's the... Yes, okay, I'm afraid that you know there are two contradictory answers to that. Yes, it does lead us to be unfair to her contemporaries certainly because they're so much less good than her. So because they're so much less good than her in a way we're not being unfair. know, I mean... because I have the profession I have, I have read a lot of novels by her immediate predecessors. I mean, people like Fanny Burnie, for instance, and her contemporaries, people like Mariah Edgeworth. And ⁓ if Jane Austen hadn't existed, they would get more airtime, I think, yes? And some of them are both Burnie and Edgeworth, for instance. ⁓ highly intelligent women who had a much more sophisticated sort of intellectual and social life than Jane Austen ⁓ and conversed with men and women of ideas and put some of those ideas in their fiction and they both wrote quite sophisticated novels and they were both more popular than Jane Austen and they both, having them for the sort of carpers and complainers, they've got all sorts of things like Mariah Regworth has some working-class people and they have political stuff in their novels and they have feminist or anti-feminist stuff in their novels and they're much more satisfying to the person who's got an essay to write in a way because they've got the social issues of the day in there a bit, certainly Mariah Regworth a lot. ⁓ So if Jane Austen hadn't come along we would show them I think more, give them more time. However, you know, I don't want to say this in a destructive way, but in a certain way, all that they wrote isn't worth one paragraph of Jane Austen, you know, in a way. So we're not wrong. I suppose the interesting case is the case of a man actually, which is Walter Scott, who sort of does overlap with Jane Austen a bit, you know, and who has published what I can't remember, two, three, even four novels by the time she dies, and I think three, and she's aware of him as a poet and I think beginning to be aware of him as a novelist. And he's the prime example of somebody who was in his own day, but for a long time afterwards, regarded as a great novelist of his day. And he's just gone. He's really, you know, you can get his books in know, Penguin and Oxford classics in the shops. I mean, it's at least in good big book shops. And it's not that he's not available, but it's a very rare person who's read more than one or even read one. I don't know if you read lots of Scott, Henry.Henry Oliver (49:07)Well, I've read some Scott and I quite like it, but I was a reactionary in my youth and I have a little flame for the Jacobite cause deep in my heart. This cannot be said of almost anyone who is alive today. 1745 means nothing to most people. The problem is that he was writing about something that has just been sort of forgotten. And so the novels, know, when Waverly takes the knee in front of the old young old pretender, whichever it is, who cares anymore? you know?John Mullan (49:40)Well, yes, but it can't just be that because he also wrote novels about Elizabeth I and Robin Hood and, you know... ⁓Henry Oliver (49:46)I do think Ivanhoe could be more popular, yeah.John Mullan (49:49)Yeah, so it's not just that this and when he wrote, for instance, when he published Old Mortality, which I think is one of his finest novels, I mean, I've read probably 10 Scott novels at nine or 10, you know, so that's only half or something of his of his output. And I haven't read one for a long time, actually. Sorry, probably seven or eight years. He wrote about some things, which even when he wrote about and published about, readers of the time couldn't have much known or cared about. mean, old mortalities about the Covenant as wars in the borderlands of Scotland in the 17th century. I mean, all those people in London who were buying it, they couldn't give a damn about that. Really, really, they couldn't. I mean, they might have recognized the postures of religious fanaticism that he describes rather well.But even then only rather distantly, I think. So I think it's not quite that. I think it's not so much ignorance now of the particular bits of history he was drawn to. I think it's that in the 19th century, historical fiction had a huge status. And it was widely believed that history was the most dignified topic for fiction and so dignified, it's what made fiction serious. So all 19th century authors had a go at it. Dickens had a go at it a couple of times, didn't he? I think it's no, yes, yes, think even Barnaby Rudge is actually, it's not just a tale of two cities. Yes, a terrific book. But generally speaking, ⁓ most Victorian novelists who did it, ⁓ they are amongst, you know, nobodyHenry Oliver (51:22)Very successfully. ⁓ a great book, great book.John Mullan (51:43)I think reads Trollope's La Vendée, you know, people who love Hardy as I do, do not rush to the trumpet major. it was a genre everybody thought was the big thing, know, war and peace after all. And then it's prestige faded. I mean, it's...returned a little bit in some ways in a sort of Hillary man, Tellish sort of way, but it had a hugely inflated status, I think, in the 19th century and that helped Scott. And Scott did, know, Scott is good at history, he's good at battles, he's terrific at landscapes, you know, the big bow wow strain as he himself described it.Henry Oliver (52:32)Are you up for a sort of quick fire round about other things than Jane Austen?John Mullan (52:43)Yes, sure, try me.Henry Oliver (52:44)Have you used any LLMs and are they good at talking about literature?John Mullan (52:49)I don't even know what an LLM is. What is it? Henry Oliver (52:51)Chat GPT. ⁓ John Mullan (53:17)⁓ God, goodness gracious, it's the work of Satan.Absolutely, I've never used one in my life. And indeed, have colleagues who've used them just to sort of see what it's like so that might help us recognise it if students are using them. And I can't even bring myself to do that, I'm afraid. But we do as a...As a department in my university, we have made some use of them purely in order to give us an idea of what they're like, so to help us sort of...Henry Oliver (53:28)You personally don't feel professionally obliged to see what it can tell you. Okay, no, that's fine. John Mullan (53:32)No, sorry.Henry Oliver (53:33)What was it like being a Booker Prize judge?heady. It was actually rather heady. Everybody talks about how it's such a slog, all those books, which is true. But when you're the Booker Prize judge, at least when I did it, you were treated as if you were somebody who was rather important. And then as you know, and that lasts for about six months. And you're sort of sent around in taxes and give nice meals and that sort of thing. And sort of have to give press conferences when you choose the shortlist. and I'm afraid my vanity was tickled by all that. And then at the moment after you've made the decision, you disappear. And the person who wins becomes important. It's a natural thing, it's good. And you realize you're not important at all.Henry Oliver (54:24)You've been teaching in universities, I think, since the 1990s.John Mullan (54:29)Yes, no earlier I fear, even earlier.Henry Oliver (54:32)What are the big changes? Is the sort of media narrative correct or is it more complicated than that?John Mullan (54:38)Well, it is more complicated, but sometimes things are true even though the Daily Telegraph says they're true, to quote George Orwell. ⁓ you know, I mean, I think in Britain, are you asking about Britain or are you asking more generally? Because I have a much more depressing view of what's happened in America in humanities departments.Henry Oliver (54:45)Well, tell us about Britain, because I think one problem is that the American story becomes the British story in a way. So what's the British story?John Mullan (55:07)Yes, yes, think that's true.Well, I think the British story is that we were in danger of falling in with the American story. The main thing that has happened, that has had a clear effect, was the introduction in a serious way, however long ago it was, 13 years or something, of tuition fees. And that's really, in my department, in my subject, that's had a major change.and it wasn't clear at first, but it's become very clear now. So ⁓ it means that the, as it were, the stance of the teachers to the taught and the taught to the teachers, both of those have changed considerably. Not just in bad ways, that's the thing. It is complicated. So for instance, I mean, you could concentrate on the good side of things, which is, think, I don't know, were you a student of English literature once?Henry Oliver (55:49)Mm-hmm.I was, I was. 2005, long time ago.John Mullan (56:07)Yes. OK.Well, I think that's not that long ago. mean, probably the change is less extreme since your day than it is since my day. But compared to when I was a student, which was the end of the 70s, beginning of the 80s, I was an undergraduate. The degree of sort of professionalism and sobriety, responsibility and diligence amongst English literature academics has improved so much.You know, you generally speaking, literature academics, they are not a load of ⁓ drunken wastrels or sort of predatory seducers or lazy, work shy, ⁓ even if they love their own research, negligent teachers or a lot of the sort of the things which even at the time I recognise as the sort of bad behaviour aspects of some academics. Most of that's just gone. It's just gone. You cannot be like that because you've got everybody's your institution is totally geared up to sort of consumer feedback and and the students, especially if you're not in Oxford or Cambridge, the students are essentially paying your salaries in a very direct way. So there have been improvements actually. ⁓ those improvements were sort of by the advocates of tuition fees, I think, and they weren't completely wrong. However, there have also been some real downsides as well. ⁓ One is simply that the students complain all the time, you know, and in our day we had lots to complain about and we never complained. Now they have much less to complain about and they complain all the time. ⁓ So, and that seems to me to have sort of weakened the relationship of trust that there should be between academics and students. But also I would say more if not optimistically, at least stoically. I've been in this game for a long time and the waves of student fashion and indignation break on the shore and then another one comes along a few years later. And as a sort of manager in my department, because I'm head of my department, I've learned to sort of play the long game.And what everybody's hysterical about one moment, one year, they will have forgotten about two or three years later. So there has been a certain, you know, there was a, you know, what, what, you know, some conservative journalists would call kind of wokery. There has been some of that. But in a way, there's always been waves of that. And the job of academics is sort of to stand up to it. and in a of calm way. Tuition fees have made it more difficult to do that I think.Henry Oliver (59:40)Yeah. Did you know A.S. Byatt? What was she like?John Mullan (59:43)I did.⁓ Well...When you got to know her, you recognized that the rather sort of haughty almost and sometimes condescending apparently, ⁓ intellectual auteur was of course a bit of a front. Well, it wasn't a front, but actually she was quite a vulnerable person, quite a sensitive and easily upset person.I mean that as a sort of compliment, not easily upset in the sense that sort of her vanity, but actually she was quite a humanly sensitive person and quite woundable. And when I sort of got to know that aspect of her, know, unsurprisingly, I found myself liking her very much more and actually not worrying so much about the apparent sort of put downs of some other writers and things and also, you know, one could never have said this while she was alive even though she often talked about it. I think she was absolutely permanently scarred by the death of her son and I think that was a, you know, who was run over when he was what 11 years old or something. He may have been 10, he may have been 12, I've forgotten, but that sort of age. I just think she was I just think she was permanently lacerated by that. And whenever I met her, she always mentioned it somehow, if we were together for any length of time.Henry Oliver (1:01:27)What's your favourite Iris Murdoch novel?John Mullan (1:01:33)I was hoping you were going to say which is the most absurd Aris Murdoch novel. ⁓ No, you're an Aris Murdoch fan, are you? Henry Oliver (1:01:38)Very much so. You don't like her work?John Mullan (1:01:59)Okay. ⁓ no, it's, as you would say, Henry, more complicated than that. I sort of like it and find it absurd. It's true. I've only read, re-read in both cases, two in the last 10 years. And that'sThat's not to my credit. And both times I thought, this is so silly. I reread the C to C and I reread a severed head. And I just found them both so silly. ⁓ I was almost, you know, I almost lost my patience with them. But I should try another. What did I used to like? Did I rather like an accidental man? I fear I did.Did I rather like the bell, which is surely ridiculous. I fear I did. Which one should I like the most?Henry Oliver (1:02:38)I like The Sea, the Sea very much. ⁓ I think The Good Apprentice is a great book. There are these, so after The Sea, the Sea, she moves into her quote unquote late phase and people don't like it, but I do like it. So The Good Apprentice and The Philosopher's Pupil I think are good books, very good books.John Mullan (1:02:40)I've not read that one, I'm afraid. Yes, I stopped at the sea to sea. I, you know, once upon a time, I'm a bit wary of it and my experience of rereading A Severed Head rather confirmed me in my wariness because rereading, if I were to reread Myris Murdoch, I'm essentially returning to my 18 year old self because I read lots of Myris Murdoch when I was 17, 18, 19 and I thought she was deep as anything. and to me she was the deep living British novelist. And I think I wasn't alone ⁓ and I feel a little bit chastened by your advocacy of her because I've also gone along with the ⁓ general readership who've slightly decided to ditch Irish Murdoch. her stock market price has sunk hugely ⁓ since her death. But perhaps that's unfair to her, I don't know. I've gone a bit, I'll try again, because I recently have reread two or three early Margaret Drabble novels and found them excellent, really excellent. And thought, ⁓ actually, I wasn't wrong to like these when I was a teenager. ⁓Henry Oliver (1:04:11)The Millstone is a great book.John Mullan (1:04:22)⁓ yes and actually yes I reread that, I reread the Garrick year, the Millstone's terrific I agree, the the Garrick year is also excellent and Jerusalem the Golden, I reread all three of them and and and thought they were very good. So so you're recommending the Philosopher's Apprentice. I'm yeah I'm conflating yes okay.Henry Oliver (1:04:31)first rate. The Good Apprentice and the Philosopher's Pupil. Yeah, yeah. I do agree with you about A Severed Head. I think that book's crazy. What do you like about Patricia Beer's poetry?John Mullan (1:04:56)⁓ I'm not sure I am a great fan of Patricia Beer's poetry really. I got the job of right, what? Yes, yes, because I was asked to and I said, I've read some of her poetry, but you know, why me? And the editor said, because we can't find anybody else to do it. So that's why I did it. And it's true that I came.Henry Oliver (1:05:02)Well, you wrote her... You wrote her dictionary of national... Yes.John Mullan (1:05:23)I came to quite like it and admire some of it because in order to write the article I read everything she'd ever published. But that was a while ago now, Henry, and I'm not sure it puts me in a position to recommend her.Henry Oliver (1:05:35)Fair enough.Why is the Dunciad the greatest unread poem in English?John Mullan (1:05:41)Is it the greatest unread one? Yes, probably, yes, yes, I think it is. Okay, it's great because, first of all, great, then unread. It's great because, well, Alexander Poet is one of the handful of poetic geniuses ever, in my opinion, in the writing in English. Absolutely genius, top shelf. ⁓Henry Oliver (1:05:46)Well, you said that once, yes.Mm-hmm. Yes, yes, yes. Top shelf, yeah.John Mullan (1:06:09)And even his most accessible poetry, however, is relatively inaccessible to today's readers, sort of needs to be taught, or at least you have to introduce people to. Even the Rape of the Lock, which is a pure delight and the nearest thing to an ABBA song he ever wrote, is pretty scary with its just densely packed elusiveness and...Henry Oliver (1:06:27)YouJohn Mullan (1:06:38)You know, and as an A level examiner once said to me, we don't set Pope for A level because it's full of irony and irony is unfair to candidates. ⁓ Which is true enough. ⁓ So Pope's already difficult. ⁓ Poetry of another age, poetry which all depends on ideas of word choice and as I said, literary allusion and The Dunciad is his most compacted, elusive, dense, complicated and bookish poems of a writer who's already dense and compact and bookish and elusive. And the Dunceyad delights in parodying, as I'm sure you know, all the sort of habits of scholarly emendation and encrustation, which turn what should be easy to approach works of literature into sort of, you know, heaps of pedantic commentary. And he parodies all that with delight. But I mean, that's quite a hard ask, isn't it? And ⁓ yeah, and I just and I think everything about the poem means that it's something you can only ever imagine coming to it through an English literature course, actually. I think it is possible to do that. I came to it through being taught it very well and, you know, through because I was committed for three years to study English literature, but it's almost inconceivable that somebody could just sort of pick it up in a bookshop and think, ⁓ this is rather good fun. I'll buy this.Henry Oliver (1:08:26)Can we end with one quick question about Jane Austen since it's her birthday? A lot of people come to her books later. A lot of people love it when they're young, but a lot of people start to love it in their 20s or 30s. And yet these novels are about being young. What's going on there?John Mullan (1:08:29)Sure, sure.Yes.I fear, no not I fear, I think that what you describe is true of many things, not just Jane Austen. You know, that there's a wonderful passage in J.M. Coetzee's novel Disgrace where the reprehensible protagonist is teaching Wordsworth's Prelude.to a group of 19 and 20 year olds. And he adores it. He's in his mid fifties. And he, whilst he's talking, is thinking different things. And what he's thinking is something that I often think actually about certain works I teach, particularly Jane Austen, which is this book is all about being young, but the young find it tedious. Only the aging.You know, youth is wasted on the young, as it were. Only the aging really get its brilliance about the experience of being young. And I think that's a sort of pattern in quite a lot of literature. So, you know, take Northanger Abbey. That seems to me to be a sort of disly teenage book in a way.It's everything and everybody's in a hurry. Everybody's in a whirl. Catherine's in a whirl all the time. She's 17 years old. And it seems to me a delightfully teenage-like book. And if you've read lots of earlier novels, mostly by women, about girls in their, you know, nice girls in their teens trying to find a husband, you know, you realize that sort ofextraordinary magical gift of sort Jane Austen's speed and sprightliness. You know, somebody said to me recently, ⁓ when Elizabeth Bennet sort of walks, but she doesn't walk, she sort of half runs across the fields. You know, not only is it socially speaking, no heroine before her would have done it, but the sort of the sprightliness with which it's described putsthe sort of ploddingness of all fiction before her to shame. And there's something like that in Northanger Abbey. It's about youthfulness and it takes on some of the qualities of the youthfulness of its heroine. know, her wonderful oscillations between folly and real insight. You know, how much she says this thing. I think to marry for money is wicked. Whoa. And you think,Well, Jane Austen doesn't exactly think that. She doesn't think Charlotte Lucas is wicked, surely. But when Catherine says that, there's something wonderful about it. There is something wonderful. You know, only a 17 year old could say it, but she does. And but I appreciate that now in my 60s. I don't think I appreciated it when I was in my teens.Henry Oliver (1:11:55)That's a lovely place to end. John Mullen, thank you very much.John Mullan (1:11:58)Thanks, it's been a delight, a delight. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.commonreader.co.uk/subscribe

Anne and Captain Wentworth have declared their love for each other, and who can be in doubt of what followed? The two are to be married, and the friends and family around them all react to the news in their own characteristic ways. But all that matters to Anne is that she is happy at last; warm, content, and secure in her new role as a sailor's wife. As Anne Elliot and Captain Frederick Wentworth's story finally comes to a close, let it help you bring your own day to a close, and move into a night of warm and blissful sleep.-----Welcome to the Jane Austen Bedtime Stories podcast! Each episode is a section of a classic Jane Austen novel, read in soothing tones and set to calming music to help you fall asleep.With everything that is going on in the world, we find comfort in the familiar. For so many of us, Jane Austen's works are like a warm hug. So snuggle up under the covers and let the comforting words of Jane Austen lull you into sleep.-----Show your appreciation for the pod! Support the podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bedtimestoriespodcast.net/support⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -----Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/janeaustenbedtimepod/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠-----Music ["Reverie"] by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. – www.scottbuckley.com.au

Such a letter as Captain Wentworth's is not soon to be recovered from. But Anne is trying her best, and with a little effort, she finds herself walking together with Captain Wentworth as he escorts her back to Camden Place. At last, eight years of resentments, misunderstandings, and broken hearts are cleared away, and the two lovers are finally free to declare their true feelings to one another. Settle in and snuggle up under your covers as Anne and Captain Wentworth affirm their love, and let the warmth of their affection comfort you as you drift into an evening of soft and gentle sleep.-----Welcome to the Jane Austen Bedtime Stories podcast! Each episode is a section of a classic Jane Austen novel, read in soothing tones and set to calming music to help you fall asleep.With everything that is going on in the world, we find comfort in the familiar. For so many of us, Jane Austen's works are like a warm hug. So snuggle up under the covers and let the comforting words of Jane Austen lull you into sleep.-----Show your appreciation for the pod! Support the podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bedtimestoriespodcast.net/support⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -----Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/janeaustenbedtimepod/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠-----Music ["Reverie"] by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. – www.scottbuckley.com.au

It's a new morning and Anne is with the Musgroves, this time in the company of Mrs. Croft, Captain Harville, and Captain Wentworth. While Anne and Captain Harville have a lively conversation about whether men or women are more constant in love, Captain Wentworth is occupied with intensely writing a letter in the corner of the room. As the two men depart, Anne is amazed to find that the letter Captain Wentworth has been writing is to her, and it is declaring the constancy of his love for her. Captain Wentworth may be half agony, half hope, but you will be all relaxation, as this week's story helps you into a night of constant and peaceful sleep. -----Welcome to the Jane Austen Bedtime Stories podcast! Each episode is a section of a classic Jane Austen novel, read in soothing tones and set to calming music to help you fall asleep.With everything that is going on in the world, we find comfort in the familiar. For so many of us, Jane Austen's works are like a warm hug. So snuggle up under the covers and let the comforting words of Jane Austen lull you into sleep.-----Show your appreciation for the pod! Support the podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bedtimestoriespodcast.net/support⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -----Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/janeaustenbedtimepod/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠-----Music ["Reverie"] by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. – www.scottbuckley.com.au

Anne joins Charles and Mary in going to meet the Musgroves, happy to feel the familial warmth from them that she so sorely misses at home. Their hotel is full of hustle and bustle, with guests coming and going, including Captain Wentworth. Anne's wish of conversing with him is cut short by Mary spotting Mrs. Clay and Mr. Elliot together outside, which puzzles Anne, as Mr. Elliot was supposed to be out of town. But the thought is soon replaced by a more pressing one, as Elizabeth invites them all to a party at the Elliot home tomorrow night, and all Anne can think about is whether Captain Wentworth will attend. Anne and Captain Wentworth are finally getting closer once again, and as they do, let them help you get closer to a peaceful night of warm and restful sleep.-----Welcome to the Jane Austen Bedtime Stories podcast! Each episode is a section of a classic Jane Austen novel, read in soothing tones and set to calming music to help you fall asleep.With everything that is going on in the world, we find comfort in the familiar. For so many of us, Jane Austen's works are like a warm hug. So snuggle up under the covers and let the comforting words of Jane Austen lull you into sleep.-----Show your appreciation for the pod! Support the podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bedtimestoriespodcast.net/support⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -----Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/janeaustenbedtimepod/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠-----Music ["Reverie"] by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. – www.scottbuckley.com.au

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, an Englishwoman whose family moves in order to lower their expenses, by renting their home to an Admiral and his wife. Austen began writing Persuasion in 1815, during a period of declining health, yet the novel's style shows a maturity and restraint distinct from her earlier works. Many readers have noted its quieter, more autumnal tone—reflecting themes of second chances, endurance, and the slow rekindling of love. It was published posthumously along with Northanger Abbey, and stands today as one of her most poignant achievements. In the last episode, Anne is thrilled to sense Captain Wentworth's rekindled interest in her at the concert. Mr. Elliot's vying interest in her apparently leaves Wentworth to storm out early in vexation, and leaves Anne in astonishment. — read by 'V' — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duty to one's family and to one's heart is on the line as final declarations of intent and love are made. A letter slipped covertly into a palm features a renewed declaration of constant, undying love. Air is cleared and the pride that kept lovers apart is thrown away; both parties feel that in finding their way to each other, they are happier than they deserve. Lady Russell comes to terms with Anne choosing for herself whilst Elizabeth's remains on the marriage market. Mrs Clay's designs on Sir Walter are foiled, yet both she and Mr Elliot may still get all they desire, just not at the expense of another's happiness. Captain Wentworth seeks to assist Mrs Smith in regaining much of what her husband had been tricked out of, and she and Anne remain fast friends. Our narrator concludes how love and honour will always win the day, remarking on the virtues of the Naval profession.  This episode covers Chapters 23 and 24 of Jane Austen's Persuasion.We hope you enjoyed this episode of Ballarat National Theatre's adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion and will join us each week until all the episodes have been released. This production is directed and narrated by Liana Emmerson, with Sarah Barlow as assistant director for sound design and composition.This episode features the voices of:Alix Roberts as Anne ElliotJack Emond as Captain Frederick WentworthShannon Nicholls as Captain HarvilleClare Hamer as Mrs MusgroveEmil Freund as Charles MusgroveJoanna Lippold as Mrs CroftThis podcast features original compositions within the chapters by Sarah Barlow, Liana Emmerson and Helen Gibson.This podcast was produced by Ballarat National Theatre on the lands of our traditional custodians the Wadawurrung people. Further sound production and cast recordings were made in the lands of the Wotherong, Wurundjeri, Woi-wurrung, and Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation and the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation. Ballarat National Theatre acknowledges and pays respect to the traditional custodians and to their leaders, past and present. This podcast was made possible because of the financial contributions of the following patrons: Aparajita Raychaudhury, Josh Illichmann, Elaine Tso, Tessa Braun, Sean Rundell, Brianna Cook, Shelley Barnes, Xuan-Trang Nguyen, Sue Skewes, Sarah Macgregor, Lynne Gibbs and Rod Skewes. Thank you from the director for supporting access to technology that allowed this podcast to be made.This podcast was possible because of collaborative support for recording and music performance from Ballarat Grammar Academy: Sound and Performance. It is also supported by grant funding from the City of Ballarat.Let us know you're listening with a message!Find us on social media to stay in touch with us!Visit our website www.bnt.org.auFind us on Instagram @balnattheatreFollow us on Facebook: Ballarat National Theatre IncShop merch on Threadless https://ballaratnationaltheatre.threadless.com/

After reconnecting with Captain Wentworth at the concert, Anne is on cloud nine. But things are about to turn in a very different direction, thanks to some revelations from Anne's old friend Mrs. Smith. You see, Mrs. Smith has heard through the grapevine that Anne and Mr. Elliot are getting close - but once she realizes that Anne has no intention of marrying Mr. Elliot, Mrs. Smith is compelled to reveal the truth about her acquaintance with him. It's a truth so long and sordid that today's story is only the first half of the tale. Pull up your covers and rest your head on your pillow as you let Mrs. Smith's revelations fill your mind and help you into a night of gentle and relaxing slumber.-----Welcome to the Jane Austen Bedtime Stories podcast! Each episode is a section of a classic Jane Austen novel, read in soothing tones and set to calming music to help you fall asleep.With everything that is going on in the world, we find comfort in the familiar. For so many of us, Jane Austen's works are like a warm hug. So snuggle up under the covers and let the comforting words of Jane Austen lull you into sleep.-----Show your appreciation for the pod! Support the podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bedtimestoriespodcast.net/support⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -----Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/janeaustenbedtimepod/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠-----Music ["Reverie"] by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. – www.scottbuckley.com.au

Captain Wentworth is in Bath. There's plenty of things going on around Anne, but this is the only thing that matters, and the only one that she can think about. After running into Captain Wentworth at a shop, Anne's mind is full of thoughts of him - When will she see him in Bath? How has he changed since Uppercross and Louisa Musgrove? How will Lady Russell react when she sees him again? Will he be at the upcoming concert evening? Now that Anne and Captain Wentworth are in proximity once more, she can't help but think of him, and as she does, let her thoughts soothe your mind and ease you into a night of restful slumber.-----Welcome to the Jane Austen Bedtime Stories podcast! Each episode is a section of a classic Jane Austen novel, read in soothing tones and set to calming music to help you fall asleep.With everything that is going on in the world, we find comfort in the familiar. For so many of us, Jane Austen's works are like a warm hug. So snuggle up under the covers and let the comforting words of Jane Austen lull you into sleep.-----Show your appreciation for the pod! Support the podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bedtimestoriespodcast.net/support⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -----Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/janeaustenbedtimepod/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠-----Music ["Reverie"] by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. – www.scottbuckley.com.au

Anne has been in Bath for a month, and is missing news from her family and friends at Uppercross. Luckily, a letter has arrived from Mary with big news: Louisa Musgrove and Captain Benwick are engaged! Anne can scarcely believe it. Moreover, the letter arrives with compliments from Admiral and Mrs. Croft. That's right, the Crofts are in Bath, and that means that Captain Wentworth is soon to follow. Just when Anne was getting comfortable, her surroundings are unsettled again. Luckily for you, her story of unsettledness is just the thing to help you get more settled, as you snuggle under your covers and into a night of gentle sleep. -----Welcome to the Jane Austen Bedtime Stories podcast! Each episode is a section of a classic Jane Austen novel, read in soothing tones and set to calming music to help you fall asleep.With everything that is going on in the world, we find comfort in the familiar. For so many of us, Jane Austen's works are like a warm hug. So snuggle up under the covers and let the comforting words of Jane Austen lull you into sleep.-----Show your appreciation for the pod! Support the podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bedtimestoriespodcast.net/support⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -----Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/janeaustenbedtimepod/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠-----Music ["Reverie"] by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. – www.scottbuckley.com.au

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, an Englishwoman whose family moves in order to lower their expenses, by renting their home to an Admiral and his wife. In the last episode, Anne unexpectedly encounters Admiral Croft while walking alone in Bath. She finds him cheerfully absorbed in critiquing a print of a ridiculous-looking boat in a shop window. They walk together, the Admiral talking freely and humorously about mutual acquaintances and life in Bath. Once they reach a quieter street, he shares surprising news: Louisa Musgrove is to marry Captain Benwick—not Captain Wentworth, as everyone had assumed. Anne is stunned but conceals her reaction. She expresses hopes that Captain Wentworth isn't wounded by the match or by his friend's involvement. The Admiral reassures her that Wentworth's letter conveyed no bitterness and that he wishes the couple happiness. Still, Anne senses more complexity beneath the surface.Shortly afterward, Anne, while waiting out a light rain in a shop with her relatives, unexpectedly sees Captain Wentworth walking down Milsom Street. The shock is overwhelming. She tries to compose herself, only to see him enter the same shop moments later. Their meeting is awkward and emotionally charged. He seems flustered and speaks to her with visible discomfort—very unlike his previously composed manner. They exchange brief, formal conversation, but Anne is left deeply affected by his presence and the unresolved feelings between them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The second day of the party's visit to Lyme is going swimmingly: early morning walks by the sea, and even a chance encounter between Anne and a well-bred gentleman, who seems to be her cousin and heir to Kellynch Hall, Mr. Elliot. But it all comes to a shattering halt as Louisa Musgrove's jump from the Cobb steps ends in a critical injury. Anne steps up to lead the group's response, and Captain Wentworth can't help but notice, and admire. It's an emotional roller coaster of a day, and as the group goes through the highs and lows, let their story fill your mind and help you forget your day, as you sink into another night of peaceful slumber.-----Welcome to the Jane Austen Bedtime Stories podcast! Each episode is a section of a classic Jane Austen novel, read in soothing tones and set to calming music to help you fall asleep.With everything that is going on in the world, we find comfort in the familiar. For so many of us, Jane Austen's works are like a warm hug. So snuggle up under the covers and let the comforting words of Jane Austen lull you into sleep.-----Show your appreciation for the pod! Support the podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bedtimestoriespodcast.net/support⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -----Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/janeaustenbedtimepod/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠-----Music ["Reverie"] by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. – www.scottbuckley.com.au

Anne is ready to end her time at Uppercross and return to Lady Russell, when a scheme arises that she simply can't refuse - a trip to Lyme. Yes, Captain Wentworth, Henrietta, Louisa, Charles, Mary, and Anne are all on their way to the seaside to make their acquaintance with Captain Wentworth's old friends from the Navy. The party gets to know Captain and Mrs. Harville, as well as Captain Benwick, who connects with Anne over loss and poetry. It's all bittersweet for Anne, who can't help but think what might have been. As our protagonists explore a new locale, let the change of scenery serve as a backdrop for your own change from a busy day into another night of restorative sleep.-----Welcome to the Jane Austen Bedtime Stories podcast! Each episode is a section of a classic Jane Austen novel, read in soothing tones and set to calming music to help you fall asleep.With everything that is going on in the world, we find comfort in the familiar. For so many of us, Jane Austen's works are like a warm hug. So snuggle up under the covers and let the comforting words of Jane Austen lull you into sleep.-----Show your appreciation for the pod! Support the podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bedtimestoriespodcast.net/support⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -----Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/janeaustenbedtimepod/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠-----Music ["Reverie"] by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. – www.scottbuckley.com.au

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, an Englishwoman whose family moves in order to lower their expenses, by renting their home to an Admiral and his wife. In the last episode, Anne is stunned to learn of Louisa Musgrove's sudden engagement to Captain Benwick. The pairing seems unlikely—Louisa being lively and high-spirited, Benwick reserved and mournful—but Anne quickly attributes their attachment to circumstance: close proximity and shared vulnerability. Reflecting on it, Anne concludes their union makes sense and could bring mutual happiness. Anne also feels an unspoken joy at the idea that Captain Wentworth is now free—though she barely dares to examine those feelings. Meanwhile, Sir Walter and Elizabeth are indifferent to the news, concerned only with social status, and reluctant to associate with the Crofts. Anne, in contrast, finds quiet joy in observing Admiral and Mrs. Croft's warm, equal companionship. A chance meeting with the Admiral in a print shop reveals his usual charm and humor, further endearing him to Anne. — read by 'V' — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Musgrove sisters and Captain Wentworth are getting closer, but Anne isn't convinced anyone is in love yet, on either side. When all of them - the Musgrove sisters, Captain Wentworth, Mary and Charles, and Anne - embark on a long walk together, it's the perfect opportunity for Anne to observe how they interact. Soon, they're at Winthrop, and Charles Hayter is back in the mix with Henrietta, leaving Captain Wentworth and Louisa together, and Anne the only uncoupled member of the group. But uncoupled doesn't mean unnoticed, and when the Crofts offer to take one of the party home in their gig, it's the tired Anne who is helped by Captain Wentworth into the carriage. As she rests, Anne is left to contemplate the pleasure and pain her former lover's warm and amiable heart. Let her restful thoughts be your companion this evening, as this week's story helps you drift gently into a night of soft and restful sleep.-----Welcome to the Jane Austen Bedtime Stories podcast! Each episode is a section of a classic Jane Austen novel, read in soothing tones and set to calming music to help you fall asleep.With everything that is going on in the world, we find comfort in the familiar. For so many of us, Jane Austen's works are like a warm hug. So snuggle up under the covers and let the comforting words of Jane Austen lull you into sleep.-----Show your appreciation for the pod! Support the podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bedtimestoriespodcast.net/support⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -----Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/janeaustenbedtimepod/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠-----Music ["Reverie"] by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. – www.scottbuckley.com.au

Captain Wentworth soon becomes a fixture at Uppercross, and a favorite with Henrietta and Louisa Musgrove. It's delightful for everyone, except Anne, who would rather not be asked to referee conversations between Charles and Mary about which Musgrove sister Captain Wentworth likes best. But unbeknownst to Captain Wentworth, there's a rival for Henrietta's affection - her cousin Charles Hayter, a curate, who has just returned from two weeks away to find Henrietta utterly besotted. And amidst it all, Captain Wentworth can't help himself from showing kindness to Anne, like helping her handle her troublesome young nephew. Entanglements are forming, and Anne is left to observe it all from the outside. Join her as an observer with this week's story, as it helps you fall into another night peaceful slumber.-----Welcome to the Jane Austen Bedtime Stories podcast! Each episode is a section of a classic Jane Austen novel, read in soothing tones and set to calming music to help you fall asleep.With everything that is going on in the world, we find comfort in the familiar. For so many of us, Jane Austen's works are like a warm hug. So snuggle up under the covers and let the comforting words of Jane Austen lull you into sleep.-----Show your appreciation for the pod! Support the podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bedtimestoriespodcast.net/support⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -----Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/janeaustenbedtimepod/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠-----Music ["Reverie"] by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. – www.scottbuckley.com.au

Now that Captain Wentworth is residing in the neighborhood, his presence is unavoidable, and he and Anne are repeatedly in the same circle. There's a civil cordiality between the two, but nothing more. But his lively manners and stories of life on the high seas are quickly making him a favorite, especially with the two young Miss Musgroves, Henrietta and Louisa. Anne is happy to remain in the background, though Captain Wentworth's cold politeness is difficult for her to bear. But bear it she must, and as she does, let Anne's patience soothe you and help you drift into a night of gentle and relaxing sleep.-----Welcome to the Jane Austen Bedtime Stories podcast! Each episode is a section of a classic Jane Austen novel, read in soothing tones and set to calming music to help you fall asleep.With everything that is going on in the world, we find comfort in the familiar. For so many of us, Jane Austen's works are like a warm hug. So snuggle up under the covers and let the comforting words of Jane Austen lull you into sleep.-----Show your appreciation for the pod! Support the podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bedtimestoriespodcast.net/support⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -----Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/janeaustenbedtimepod/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠-----Music ["Reverie"] by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. – www.scottbuckley.com.au

It's official: Captain Wentworth is at Kellynch. Conveniently for Anne, her nephew's sprained collar bone offers the perfect excuse for her to stay back when Captain Wentworth calls at Uppercross. But she can't avoid him forever, and a surprise morning visit to Uppercross Cottage brings them back together after nearly eight years apart. Captain Wentworth is in the country with a mind for marriage, but not to Anne Elliot - in fact, he found her "so altered that he should not have known her again." The words linger with Anne long after his short visit is over. As she reflects, let her thoughts fill your mind and help you forget your day as you fall into another night of peaceful slumber.-----Welcome to the Jane Austen Bedtime Stories podcast! Each episode is a section of a classic Jane Austen novel, read in soothing tones and set to calming music to help you fall asleep.With everything that is going on in the world, we find comfort in the familiar. For so many of us, Jane Austen's works are like a warm hug. So snuggle up under the covers and let the comforting words of Jane Austen lull you into sleep.-----Show your appreciation for the pod! Support the podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bedtimestoriespodcast.net/support⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -----Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/janeaustenbedtimepod/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠-----Music ["Reverie"] by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. – www.scottbuckley.com.au

Anne is getting comfortable at Uppercross, which means lots of time with the Musgroves, and they're all very grateful to have Anne as a go-between and sounding board for their various complaints about each other - especially Mary and Mrs. Musgrove. Meanwhile, the Crofts have arrived at Kellynch. Upon meeting them, Anne learns that Captain Wentworth is on his way to Kellynch too. It's very trying for Anne's nerves, but she needs to find a way to relax. As she does, let the latest chapter in her story help you relax, as you end your day and find your way into a night of restorative slumber.-----Welcome to the Jane Austen Bedtime Stories podcast! Each episode is a section of a classic Jane Austen novel, read in soothing tones and set to calming music to help you fall asleep.With everything that is going on in the world, we find comfort in the familiar. For so many of us, Jane Austen's works are like a warm hug. So snuggle up under the covers and let the comforting words of Jane Austen lull you into sleep.-----Show your appreciation for the pod! Support the podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bedtimestoriespodcast.net/support⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ -----Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/janeaustenbedtimepod/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠-----Music ["Reverie"] by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. – www.scottbuckley.com.au

Anne can't get it out of her mind that he may soon be returning to Kellynch, and he is none other than Captain Frederick Wentworth. Seven years ago, the two were engaged, but Anne was persuaded by her dear Lady Russell to end the engagement. Now, Captain Wentworth has made his fortune in the Navy, and may soon be back in Anne's orbit, and Anne needs a great many strolls to calm her nerves. Her reflections on the past will help you calm your own nerves, as this week's story carries you away from your day and into another night of soft and restful slumber.-----Welcome to the Jane Austen Bedtime Stories podcast! Each episode is a section of a classic Jane Austen novel, read in soothing tones and set to calming music to help you fall asleep.With everything that is going on in the world, we find comfort in the familiar. For so many of us, Jane Austen's works are like a warm hug. So snuggle up under the covers and let the comforting words of Jane Austen lull you into sleep.-----Show your appreciation for the pod! Support the podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://bedtimestoriespodcast.net/support⁠⁠⁠⁠ -----Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/janeaustenbedtimepod/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠-----Music ["Reverie"] by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. – www.scottbuckley.com.au

In this episode, we talk about Lyme, the connection between Anne and Captain Benwick, whether these chapters make us wonder if Anne will end up with someone other than Captain Wentworth, and Louisa's fall from the steps.The characters we discuss are Captains Harville and Benwick. In the historical section, Ellen talks about romantic poetry, and for popular culture Harriet discusses the 2022 Netflix film adaptation of Persuasion.Things we mention:General discussion:Janet Todd and Antje Blank [Editors], The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austen: Persuasion (2006)Samuel Johnson, The Rambler (periodical, published 1750-1752)Dr John GregoryHester ChaponeStairs on the CobbThe stairs closest to the shore (used in the 1971 adaptation)The middle set of stairs, known as ‘Granny's teeth' (used in the 1995 adaptation)The third set of stairs (used in the 2007 and 2022 adaptations)Google map of the steps on the Cobb For a list of references in the Historical and Popular culture sections, see this episode on our website.    

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, an Englishwoman whose family moves in order to lower their expenses, by renting their home to an Admiral and his wife. In the last episode, concluding chapter 16, Mr. Elliot continues his frequent visits to Camden Place, charming Sir Walter and Elizabeth with his polished manners and apparent desire to reconnect with the family. Lady Russell, once indifferent to him, now views him as a highly suitable match for Anne. Anne, however, remains cautious. Though she acknowledges Mr. Elliot's attentiveness and refinement, she is not fully at ease with his motives. His flattery feels calculated, and she senses a lack of emotional sincerity. She compares his composed charm with the deeper, more genuine feeling she once shared with Captain Wentworth. As Mr. Elliot's admiration grows more obvious, Anne is left feeling both flattered and wary of his true intentions. — read by 'V' — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we talk about how how Jane Austen tells us about the feelings of Anne and Captain Wentworth, and how the narrator captures Anne's emotions; the building up of the relationship between Charles and Mary, and their reaction to Little Charles' accident; Mrs Musgrove's feelings about her son; and Mrs Croft's travels.The character we discuss is Captain Wentworth. In the historical section, Harriet's partner Michael talks about the Navy, and for popular culture both Harriet and Michael discuss 1995 BBC film adaptation of Persuasion.Things we mention:General discussion:Janet Todd and Antje Blank [Editors], The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austen: Persuasion (2006)Character discussion:First Impressions podcast, ‘Ep 17: Persuading Kristin to Like Persuasion‘, 22 January 2017.Historical discussion:Security to Merchant Ships Act 1707 (6 Ann. c. 65), generally known as the Cruisers and Convoys Act 1708Distribution of prize money: see table on our websitePopular culture discussion:BBC Film, Persuasion (1995) – starring Amanda Root and Ciarán HindsWatch on YouTubeStairs on the Cobb (photo)Louisa's fall (this YouTube video shows the same scene from four different adaptations of Persuasion)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 Christoph Willibald Gluck, Orfeo ed Euridice. File from IMSLP.Extract from Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major. File originally from Musopen.

Bath is a buzz with the gossip of an impending proposal, but the future bride appears unaware, instead being focused on the arrival of her past paramour. Anne's family continues to make social faux pas by ignoring the newly arrived Captain Wentworth, in a reigniting of conditions that caused Anne to break their engagement eight years prior. Mrs Smith has heard the gossip around town and cryptically comments to Anne on her perception of the impact on their renewed friendship. Italian Opera provides an opportunity for dueling suitors to attempt to gain Anne's attention and despite her best efforts, her attentions are dominated not by her heart, but by her sense of duty. When will she put herself first? This episode covers chapters 19 and 20 of Jane Austen's Persuasion.We hope you enjoyed this episode of Ballarat National Theatre's adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion and will join us each week until all the episodes have been released. This production is directed and narrated by Liana Emmerson, with Sarah Barlow as assistant director for sound design and composition.This episode features the voices of:Alix Roberts as Anne ElliotJack Emond as Captain Frederick WentworthTimothy Corrigan as Mr ElliotNicholas Barker-Pendree as Sir Walter ElliotHelen Gibson as Elizabeth ElliotMiriam Wood as Lady RussellJane Gaylor as Lady DalrymplePhilippa Elder as Mrs SmithThis podcast features original compositions within the chapters by Sarah Barlow, Liana Emmerson and Helen Gibson.This podcast was produced by Ballarat National Theatre on the lands of our traditional custodians the Wadawurrung people. Further sound production and cast recordings were made in the lands of the Wotherong, Wurundjeri, Woi-wurrung, and Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation and the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation. Ballarat National Theatre acknowledges and pays respect to the traditional custodians and to their leaders, past and present. This podcast was made possible because of the financial contributions of the following patrons: Aparajita Raychaudhury, Josh Illichmann, Elaine Tso, Tessa Braun, Sean Rundell, Brianna Cook, Shelley Barnes, Xuan-Trang Nguyen, Sue Skewes, Sarah Macgregor, Lynne Gibbs and Rod Skewes. Thank you from the director for supporting access to technology that allowed this podcast to be made.This podcast was possible because of collaborative support for recording and music performance from Ballarat Grammar Academy: Sound and Performance. It is also supported by grant funding from the City of Ballarat.Let us know you're listening with a message!Find us on social media to stay in touch with us!Visit our website www.bnt.org.auFind us on Instagram @balnattheatreFollow us on Facebook: Ballarat National Theatre IncShop merch on Threadless https://ballaratnationaltheatre.threadless.com/

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, an Englishwoman whose family moves in order to lower their expenses, by renting their home to an Admiral and his wife. We will pick up early in Chapter 13, where we left off in the last episode. This chapter is also the start of the second volume, or half, of “Persuasion”. Anne Elliot is reunited with Lady Russell, her confidante and mentor. Lady Russell remains keenly interested in Anne's prospects and happiness, though her advice in the past led to Anne breaking off her engagement with Captain Wentworth. — read by 'V' — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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, an Englishwoman whose family moves in order to lower their expenses, by renting their home to an Admiral and his wife.  In the last episode, the off-season tourists to the beach town of Lyme are surprised to learn that the mysterious gentleman they passed by was not only a cousin to Anne and Mary Elliot, but was the heir to their family fortune. Later, a tragic accident occurs suddenly after Louisa playfully falls from a ledge, expecting to be caught by Captain Wentworth. The situation is sudden and terrible, and each individual in the group shows their ability (or inability) to handle the emergency with grace. Anne's steadiness and calm particularly shines. Louisa is alive but unresponsive, and it is decided that she will stay at the Harville's, in their care, while she recovers. — read by 'V' — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's the day of the concert! Anne and Wentworth finally get a chance to talk. Anne is CERTAIN that Wentworth loves her, Mr. Elliot makes his intentions clear, Captain Wentworth is JEALOUS, and Molly is shipping Elliot and Anne.Topics discussed include some clarification on marriage rules, the possibility of recovering from a broken heart, whomst Elliot's friend might be, why Elliot's proposal is a surprise, and whether Anne would accept if Wentworth proposed now.Glossary of Terms and Phrases:contiguous (adj.): next or together in sequence.Glossary of People, Places, and Things: Revenge of the Sith Opera House, the Bolshoi, Curb Your EnthusiasmPatron Study Questions:Avi: In this chapter Wentworth offers Anne his umbrella. Do you think this is something he would have done earlier in the book? What does that signify about Wentworth and his own journey? Ghenet: What do you think Anne and Wentworth's conversation (about Lyme, about Benwick and Louisa etc) tells us about what he's feeling (not just what Anne thinks he's feeling - is she a reliable narrator in this moment?)Becca's Study Questions: Topics discussed include what would change is Wentworth professed his love to Anne, Sir Walter's opinion of Wentworth, how Elliot has heard of Anne before and whether he knew she was coming to Bath, and whose team we're on.Funniest Quote: “Yes, yes, I see you are. I see you know nothing of the matter. You have only knowledge enough of the language to translate at sight these inverted, transposed, curtailed Italian lines, into clear, comprehensible, elegant English. You need not say anything more of your ignorance. Here is complete proof.”Questions Moving Forward: Why did Elliot come to Bath? If Wentworth proposed to Anne now, would she accept?Who wins the chapters? Mr. ElliotNext Episode: Volume 2 Chapter 9Our show art was created by Torrence Browne, and our audio is produced by Graham Cook. For bios and transcripts, check out our website at podandprejudice.com. Pod and Prejudice is transcribed by speechdocs.com. To support the show, check out our Patreon!Instagram: @podandprejudiceTwitter: @podandprejudiceFacebook: Pod and PrejudiceYoutube: Pod and PrejudiceMerch store: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/pod-and-prejudice?ref_id=23216

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, an Englishwoman whose family moves in order to lower their expenses, by renting their home to an Admiral and his wife. In the last episode, the off-season tourists to the beach town of Lyme become acquainted with Captain Wentworth's friends, Captain and Mrs. Harville along with Captain Benwick. At a dinner party, Anne spends the evening chatting about poetry and literature with the melancholic Captain Benwick. The next day, a gentleman stranger seems captivated with Anne's fine looks, which seemed to have regained their earlier charms amidst the fresh air and change of scene. In the last chapter, and in the coming episode, there is mention of the “cobb” that tourists visit in Lyme. The cobb is a real-life harbor wall originally constructed in ancient times to act as a breakwater to protect the ships and the town. To this day, no one knows for sure when it was originally constructed, or why it is called the Cobb. We will pick up within chapter twelve. — read by 'V' — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CHANGE AUDIO FILE BEFORE PUBLISHINGAnne's time in Bath is improved by the discovery that an old school friend, Mrs Smith (nee Hamilton), lives in town, however, she is shocked at her old friend's living situation, a consequence of extravagance and the early death of her husband. Despite her lower station in life, Anne chooses to regularly visit her friend, eschewing more socially acceptable invitations, much to the chagrin of her social climbing family. Lady Russell forms an opinion of Mr Elliot's intentions yet Anne remains unconvinced. An engagement is announced from Lyme bringing joy and hope. The Crofts appear at Bath, providing renewed opportunities to discuss Captain Wentworth. Will the Croft's presence bring him back into Anne's circle? If so, will he notice her, or be distracted by the many young women of Bath eagerly awaiting his suit? This episode covers chapters 17 and 18 of Jane Austen's Persuasion.We hope you enjoyed this episode of Ballarat National Theatre's adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion and will join us each week until all the episodes have been released. This production is directed and narrated by Liana Emmerson, with Sarah Barlow as assistant director for sound design and composition.This episode features the voices of:Alix Roberts as Anne ElliotNicholas Barker-Pendree as Sir Walter ElliotHelen Gibson as Elizabeth ElliotBreanna Geer as Mary MusgroveMiriam Wood as Lady RussellTim Murphy as Admiral CroftPhilippa Elder as Mrs SmithThis podcast features original compositions within the chapters by Sarah Barlow, Liana Emmerson and Helen Gibson.This podcast was produced by Ballarat National Theatre on the lands of our traditional custodians the Wadawurrung people. Further sound production and cast recordings were made in the lands of the Wotherong, Wurundjeri, Woi-wurrung, and Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation and the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation. Ballarat National Theatre acknowledges and pays respect to the traditional custodians and to their leaders, past and present. This podcast was made possible because of the financial contributions of the following patrons: Aparajita Raychaudhury, Josh Illichmann, Elaine Tso, Tessa Braun, Sean Rundell, Brianna Cook, Shelley Barnes, Xuan-Trang Nguyen, Sue Skewes, Sarah Macgregor, Lynne Gibbs and Rod Skewes. Thank you from the director for supporting access to technology that allowed this podcast to be made.This podcast was possible because of collaborative support for recording and music performance from Ballarat Grammar Academy: Sound and Performance. It is also supported by grant funding from the City of Ballarat.Let us know you're listening with a message!Find us on social media to stay in touch with us!Visit our website www.bnt.org.auFind us on Instagram @balnattheatreFollow us on Facebook: Ballarat National Theatre IncShop merch on Threadless https://ballaratnationaltheatre.threadless.com/

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, an Englishwoman whose family moves in order to lower their expenses and reduce their debt, by renting their home to an Admiral and his wife. In the last episode, Anne finally extricates herself from the long, awkward walk through the countryside by hitching a ride with Captain Wentworth's parents, who happen to pass by in their carriage. Anne starts to look forward to meeting back up with Lady Russell after her two month stay with her sister, and moving on with her life. We will pick up our story where the group of young people went to visit the scenic town of Lyme on a lark, where Captain Wentworth has old friends. — read by 'V' — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anne is in Bath, and surprise, surprise, so is Captain Wentworth. Everyone has fortuitously converged at Molland's, and we're here to break down the momentous occasion. If you have ever run into your ex at the confectionery shop, this episode is for you. You can find us online at https://www.thethingaboutausten.com and follow us on Instagram @TheThingAboutAusten and on Twitter @Austen_Things. You can email us at TheThingAboutAusten@gmail.com and head over to https://www.redbubble.com/people/aboutausten/shop to check out podcast related merch.

This episode is only covering one chapter because this chapter brings the DRAMA. We meet a new man who draws our attention the fact that Anne is hot, Louisa jumps down a flight of stairs and gets a severe concussion, and Wentworth shows that he trusts Anne.Topics discussed include Cape Cod, the way Wentworth came to the rescue for Benwick, Chekhov's Cobb, Joan and the lawn mower, Mary's pettiness, and Anne as Eponine.Glossary of Terms and Phrases:stiles (n): an arrangement of steps that allows people but not animals to climb over a fence or wall.Glossary of People, Places, and Things: Mad Men, Les Miserables, Hamilton, Friends, the SeagullPatron Study Questions:Emily: We have two instances in this chapter of Captain Wentworth voluntarily rushing to deliver upsetting news. What does it tell us about his character that he takes on this duty?Ghenet: What are your thoughts on Captain Benwick and Cousin Elliot? Why do you think they're doing for the story at this point?Avi: The scene at the Cobb is, justifiably, one of the most famous in Persuasion. What does this show about Anne's character and what does this show about how everyone, particularly Wentworth, really feel about Anne when all pretensions and conventions are stripped away?Becca's Study Questions: Topics discussed include Mr. Elliot's reaction to Anne, Anne's transformation, the accident and what it does to the story, what it teaches us about the characters, the difference between persuadable characters and resolute characters, and Anne's separation from the rest of the party.Pod and Prejudice is sponsored this week by Laurence King Publishing. Check out their Jane Austen board games, card games, playing cards and puzzles! UK listeners can check them out at www.laurenceking.com, and US listeners can check them out at us.laurenceking.com.Funniest Quote: “I wish,” said Henrietta, very well pleased with her companion, “I wish Lady Russell lived at Uppercross, and were intimate with Dr. Shirley. I have always heard of Lady Russell as a woman of the greatest influence with everybody! I always look upon her as able to persuade a person to anything! I am afraid of her, as I have told you before, quite afraid of her, because she is so very clever; but I respect her amazingly, and wish we had such a neighbor at Uppercross.”Questions Moving Forward: Will the storylines be splintered from here on out?Who wins the chapters? Anne

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, an Englishwoman whose family moves in order to lower their expenses and reduce their debt, by renting their home to an Admiral and his wife.  In the last episode, we find Anne obliged to go on what should be a very awkward walk through the countryside with her sister Mary, their cousins Henrietta and Louisa, her brother-in-law Charles, and Captain Wentworth. We observe the degree to which Captain Wentworth prizes conviction and loyalty in a woman in reaction to how Anne had allowed herself to be persuaded against him eight years earlier. Their long walk seems random but when they reach the grounds of the cousin's relation's The Hayter's home, Henrietta and Charles go in to visit while the rest of the party stay out in the woods to enjoy the fresh air. Anne rests quietly while the others go walking around. She accidentally ends up privy to a conversation between Louisa and Captain Wentworth where Louisa gives the captain an example of her sister being indecisive towards her old lover Charles Hayter, and the captain uses this as an example of what he most abhors. We will pick up in this private conversation.  — read by 'V' — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, Anne and Wentworth are thrown together in a variety of awkward situations, and we discover a love quadrangle. Topics discussed include the devastation of not being able to read your favorite book again for the first time, military superstitions, Hayter the hater, how much we love the Crofts, an abundance of Charleses, and Anne's deeply held beliefs.Glossary of Terms and Phrases:assizes (n): a court which formerly sat at intervals in each county of England and Wales to administer the civil and criminal law. freehold (n): permanent and absolute tenure of land or property with freedom to dispose of it at will.frigate (n): a warshiprizz (n): style, charm, or attractiveness; the ability to attract a romantic or sexual partner.Glossary of People, Places, and Things: Little Women (2019), Pirates of the Caribbean, Adele, the Napoleonic Wars, Gilmore Girls, Friends, HOT TO GO!, Taylor Swift, Renee Rapp, Heartstopper, Chappell Roan, Olivia RodrigoPatron Study Questions:Ghenet: What song - Taylor or otherwise - is on repeat on Anne's Sad Girl™️ playlist?Emily: Hearing Mrs Croft's account of her life as a captain's wife, how do you think Anne would have changed over the eight years if she had been married to captain Wentworth instead of the eight years that she instead spent living with her family?Hannah: How much of the narration do you think is Anne's internal dialog? Is it all Jane Austen from her rocking chair or a mix of both?Hannah: Do you think Captain Wentworth is in love with one of the Musgrove sisters?Becca's Study Questions: Topics discussed include Wentworth's character and how he feels about Anne, how he feels about women, and the differences between the Musgroves' and Elliots' stances on marriage.Funniest Quote: "Mrs Musgrove had not a word to say in dissent; she could not accuse herself of having ever called them anything in the whole course of her life."Questions Moving Forward: Which sister does Wentworth like better? Who likes him more? How long will Wentworth stay?Who wins the chapters? Mrs. CroftOur show art was created by Torrence Browne, and our audio is produced by Graham Cook. For bios and transcripts, check out our website at podandprejudice.com. Pod and Prejudice is transcribed by speechdocs.com. To support the show, check out our Patreon!Instagram: @podandprejudiceTwitter: @podandprejudiceFacebook: Pod and PrejudiceYoutube: Pod and PrejudiceMerch store: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/pod-and-prejudice?ref_id=23216

Tonight, for Snoozecast's 900th episode, 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, an Englishwoman whose family moves in order to lower their expenses and reduce their debt, by renting their home to an Admiral and his wife. In the last episode, we learn just how much of an eligible and desirable bachelor Captain Wentworth has become. The world of women has opened to him, even as the number of suitors seems to have dwindled for Anne with time. Meanwhile, a cousin and Henrietta's suitor named Charles Hayter is dismayed to find upon returning from a trip that his sweetheart's affections appear to have shifted towards Captain Wentworth. — read by 'V' — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today's chapters, Mary and Charles Musgrove complain to Anne, the Crofts move in to Kellynch Hall, we learn the tale of Poor Richard, Lil C gets injured, and Captain Wentworth comes to visit. Topics discussed include the ranks of British nobility, our high school math classes, internal panic, Wentworth's band of misfit boys, and Wentworth's intentions to marry.Glossary of Terms and Phrases:Gadding (v): go around from one place to another, in the pursuit of pleasure or entertainment.Glossary of People, Places, and Things: Kesha, Am I Okay?, Dakota Johnson, The Notebook, happier, Arrested Development, Schitt's Creek, Jojo SiwaPatron Study Questions:Emily: Anne has very few confidantes in the book so far - how does that change how we learn about her and her hopes?Kat: This book is often described as Austen's more deep or perhaps more serious work, but it is also incredibly funny! What do you think about the balance between the intense pining and heartache and humour in these chapters? We don't have many sassy/witty lines like the ones in P&P, instead we have Jane Austen in her rocking chair painting a hilarious picture for us and I love it!Ghenet: First impressions of Captain Wentworth?Becca's Study Questions: Topics discussed include how Jane teaches us about Anne, the role of the Crofts, the last eight years, what Wentworth wants, and whether Anne is of feeble character.Funniest Quote: One of the least agreeable circumstances of her residence there was her being treated with too much confidence by all parties, and being too much in the secret of the complaints of each house. Known to have some influence with her sister, she was continually requested, or at least receiving hints to exert it, beyond what was practicable. “I wish you could persuade Mary not to be always fancying herself ill,” was Charles's language; and, in an unhappy mood, thus spoke Mary: “I do believe if Charles were to see me dying, he would not think there was anything the matter with me. I am sure, Anne, if you would, you might persuade him that I really am very ill—a great deal worse than I ever own.”Questions Moving Forward: Does Captain Wentworth want to marry a Musgrove daughter?Who wins the chapters? Captain WentworthOur show art was created by Torrence Browne, and our audio is produced by Graham Cook. For bios and transcripts, check out our website at podandprejudice.com. Pod and Prejudice is transcribed by speechdocs.com. To support the show, check out our Patreon!Instagram: @podandprejudiceTwitter: @podandprejudiceFacebook: Pod and PrejudiceYoutube: Pod and PrejudiceMerch store: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/pod-and-prejudice?ref_id=23216

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. In the last episode, Anne hears from her sister Mary that Captain Wentworth remarked that he felt Anne was so changed he would not have recognized her. This deeply mortifies Anne, though she admits it to be true. Captain Wentworth, still bitter over their past, shows no desire to renew their acquaintance despite frequent social interactions. His focus is now on finding a suitable marriage, excluding Anne from his considerations, though he still has some lingering unresolved feelings. We pick up in the middle of a conversation between Captain Wentworth, his sister and her husband, Mrs. and Admiral Croft and the Musgrove family regarding the Captain's naval experiences. — read by 'V' — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. In the last episode, Anne Elliott is distressed by the frequent mention of Captain Wentworth, whom she realizes is the same man she once knew years ago. She steels herself for his arrival in the area, aware that she must learn to cope with his presence. The Musgroves, grateful for the care Captain Wentworth showed to their deceased son, are eager to meet him. Anne faces an emotional trial when Captain Wentworth arrives and quickly earns the admiration of the Musgrove family. However, Anne narrowly avoids meeting him due to a child's accident, which consumes her attention. Despite the child's recovery, Anne remains tense about seeing Wentworth. The Musgroves' praise of him deepens her turmoil, as she navigates her complex feelings and memories. When Anne finally sees Captain Wentworth briefly, she struggles with the realization that their long separation has not lessened her emotional response to him, despite her attempts at rationalizing the passage of time and the changes it brings. — read by 'V' — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Whilst her sister and brother-in-law remain in Lyme, Anne visits her friend and mentor, Lady Russell. Despite a strained start, the women are able to converse more freely, with Anne revealing her suspicious that Captain Wentworth is attached to Louisa Musgrove. A visit by the duo to the tenants of Kellynch Hall reminds Anne of what her father's hubris has lost them, and she is also informed that Captain Wentworth has been speaking of her. The return of Mary and her family to Uppercross fills the house with light and laughter, a stark contrast to before where the cloud of Louisa's injury cast a pall over the whole party. A letter from her sister Elizabeth alerts Anne to the presence of Mr Elliot, the cousin to whom she became reacquainted at Lyme, in Bath, where he has regained his place within the family. Lady Russell and Anne determine their presence will be much better served in Bath. What intrigues await them there – and how will this affect Anne?This episode covers chapters 13 and 14 of Jane Austen's Persuasion.We hope you enjoyed this episode of Ballarat National Theatre's adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion and will join us each week until all the episodes have been released. This production is directed and narrated by Liana Emmerson, with Sarah Barlow as assistant director for sound design and composition.This episode features the voices of:Alix Roberts as Anne ElliotTim Murphy as Admiral CroftBreanna Geer as Mary MusgroveEmil Freund as Charles MusgroveMiriam Wood as Lady RussellClare Hamer as Mrs MusgroveBarry Kay as Mr MusgroveThis podcast features original compositions within the chapters by Sarah Barlow, Liana Emmerson and Helen Gibson.This podcast was produced by Ballarat National Theatre on the lands of our traditional custodians the Wadawurrung people. Further sound production and cast recordings were made in the lands of the Wotherong, Wurundjeri, Woi-wurrung, and Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation and the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation. Ballarat National Theatre acknowledges and pays respect to the traditional custodians and to their leaders, past and present. This podcast was made possible because of the financial contributions of the following patrons: Aparajita Raychaudhury, Josh Illichmann, Elaine Tso, Tessa Braun, Sean Rundell, Brianna Cook, Shelley Barnes, Xuan-Trang Nguyen, Sue Skewes, Sarah Macgregor, Lynne Gibbs and Rod Skewes. Thank you from the director for supporting access to technology that allowed this podcast to be made.This podcast was possible because of collaborative support for recording and music performance from Ballarat Grammar Academy: Sound and Performance. It is also supported by grant funding from the City of Ballarat.Let us know you're listening with a message!Find us on social media to stay in touch with us!Visit our website www.bnt.org.auFind us on Instagram @balnattheatreFollow us on Facebook: Ballarat National Theatre IncShop merch on Threadless https://ballaratnationaltheatre.threadless.com/

Competition does wonders for reflecting on what might have been as Wentworth observes another man noticing Anne. The Elliot's cousin, and heir to Kellynch Hall, has coincidentally arrived in Lyme and is staying at the same hotel as the Uppercross party. Having previously rejected the Baronetage, and a family plan to engage him to Anne's sister Elizabeth, his estrangement from the Elliot's is still raw for Anne. However, opportunities arise for conversation and clearing of air. Girlish tomfoolery results in injury and the ever-noble Captain Wentworth reflects on his culpability in seeking Anne's counsel; yet his demeanour is staid. How different this man is from the Wentworth Anne knew all those years earlier! Could she ever have loved THIS Wentworth?This episode covers Chapter 12 of Jane Austen's Persuasion.We hope you enjoyed this episode of Ballarat National Theatre's adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion and will join us each week until all the episodes have been released. This production is directed and narrated by Liana Emmerson, with Sarah Barlow as assistant director for sound design and composition.This episode features the voices of:Alix Roberts as Anne ElliotJack Emond as Captain Frederick WentworthBreanna Geer as Mary MusgroveEmil Freund as Charles MusgroveCasey Bohan as Louisa MusgroveEleanor Golding as Henrietta MusgroveNicholas Barker-Pendree as Male ServantThis podcast features original compositions within the chapters by Sarah Barlow, Liana Emmerson and Helen Gibson which has been mastered by Charli Hughes.This podcast was produced by Ballarat National Theatre on the lands of our traditional custodians the Wadawurrung people. Further sound production and cast recordings were made in the lands of the Wotherong, Wurundjeri, Woi-wurrung, and Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation and the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation. Ballarat National Theatre acknowledges and pays respect to the traditional custodians and to their leaders, past and present. This podcast was made possible because of the financial contributions of the following patrons: Aparajita Raychaudhury, Josh Illichmann, Elaine Tso, Tessa Braun, Sean Rundell, Brianna Cook, Shelley Barnes, Xuan-Trang Nguyen, Sue Skewes, Sarah Macgregor, Lynne Gibbs and Rod Skewes. Thank you from the director for supporting access to technology that allowed this podcast to be made.This podcast was possible because of collaborative support for recording and music performance from Ballarat Grammar Academy: Sound and Performance. It is also supported by grant funding from the City of Ballarat.Let us know you're listening with a message!Find us on social media to stay in touch with us!Visit our website www.bnt.org.auFind us on Instagram @balnattheatreFollow us on Facebook: Ballarat National Theatre IncShop merch on Threadless https://ballaratnationaltheatre.threadless.com/

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. In the last episode, Anne Elliot visits Uppercross and is struck by the stark contrast between the concerns of the Musgroves and those of her family at Kellynch Hall. Despite the short distance between the two places, the conversations and interests at Uppercross revolve around local and everyday matters like hunting, household management, and social gatherings, rather than the weighty and publicized affairs of Kellynch. Anne learns a humbling lesson about her own insignificance outside her familiar circle and resolves to integrate herself into Uppercross life, finding solace in the genuine sympathy of her friend Lady Russell. Anne's stay at Uppercross proves manageable, as she gets along with her sister Mary, enjoys the company of her nephews, and recognizes Charles Musgrove's amiable nature, despite his lack of intellectual zeal. She often acts as a mediator between her sister and the Musgroves, trying to balance their complaints and grievances. Anne's spirits are lifted by the change of scenery and subjects, and the visit of the Crofts, the new tenants of Kellynch Hall, stirs her emotions as they mention Captain Wentworth, a significant figure from her past. — read by 'V' — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mary's inability to read the room continues as she invites herself on a walk with the Musgrove girls, Anne and Captain Wentworth. Louisa is a terrible flirt and her impropriety leads to idle and potentially damaging gossip being revealed to Captain Wentworth about Anne. An opportunity to visit the stunning seaside town of Lyme provides a much needed intermission to the somewhat claustrophobic environment of Mary and Charles' home at Uppercross. There, Anne finds she is able to be of assistance to a grieving man, which finally provides her with a sense of accomplishment.This episode covers chapters 10 and 11 of Jane Austen's Persuasion. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Ballarat National Theatre's adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion and will join us each week until all the episodes have been released. This production is directed and narrated by Liana Emmerson, with Sarah Barlow as assistant director for sound design and composition.This episode features the voices of:Alix Roberts as Anne ElliotJack Emond as Captain Frederick WentworthTim Murphy as Admiral CroftJoanna Lippold as Mrs CroftBreanna Geer as Mary MusgroveEmil Freund as Charles MusgroveCasey Bohan as Louisa MusgroveThis podcast features original compositions within the chapters by Sarah Barlow, Liana Emmerson and Helen Gibson.This podcast was produced by Ballarat National Theatre on the lands of our traditional custodians the Wadawurrung people. Further sound production and cast recordings were made in the lands of the Wotherong, Wurundjeri, Woi-wurrung, and Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation and the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation. Ballarat National Theatre acknowledges and pays respect to the traditional custodians and to their leaders, past and present. This podcast was made possible because of the financial contributions of the following patrons: Aparajita Raychaudhury, Josh Illichmann, Elaine Tso, Tessa Braun, Sean Rundell, Brianna Cook, Shelley Barnes, Xuan-Trang Nguyen, Sue Skewes, Sarah Macgregor, Lynne Gibbs and Rod Skewes. Thank you from the director for supporting access to technology that allowed this podcast to be made.This podcast was possible because of collaborative support for recording and music performance from Ballarat Grammar Academy: Sound and Performance. It is also supported by grant funding from the City of Ballarat.Let us know you're listening with a message!Find us on social media to stay in touch with us!Visit our website www.bnt.org.auFind us on Instagram @balnattheatreFollow us on Facebook: Ballarat National Theatre IncShop merch on Threadless https://ballaratnationaltheatre.threadless.com/

Anne Elliot has just received a very important letter, and we are all overcome. This episode we're joined by guest Margaret H. Willison of Not Sorry Productions as we unpack Captain Wentworth's letter to Anne, aka the letter to end all letters. If you have ever been half agony, half hope, this episode is for you. Thank you so much to Margaret for joining us for this discussion! You can follow her on Instagram @MrsFridayNext and subscribe to her newsletter at twobossydames.substack.com. You can learn more about everything mentioned by Margaret at the following links: Taylor Swift Pilgrimage in November: bit.ly/capetaylor2024; The Common Ground Newsletter: bit.ly/cgpnews; Future Austen-themed classes: instagram.com/therompod; Upcoming Patron Saint workshop: bit.ly/nathaliesaints2024 You can find us online at https://www.thethingaboutausten.com and follow us on Instagram @TheThingAboutAusten and on Twitter @Austen_Things. You can also email us at TheThingAboutAusten@gmail.com. We have merch! Check out https://www.redbubble.com/people/aboutausten/shop to see the current offerings.

The tension in the air whenever Anne and Captain Wentworth are in each other's presence could be cut with a knife, not that anyone else is paying attention to Anne. All the ladies are enamoured by him and hope that he will pursue a suit for one of them. Alas other men currently pursuing the Musgrove girls are put out at this supposed new competition. Wentworth finally notices Anne, coming to her rescue from the rambunctious actions of her nephew. Why does this affect Anne so? We hope you enjoyed this episode of Ballarat National Theatre's adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion and will join us each week until all the episodes have been released. This production is directed and narrated by Liana Emmerson, with Sarah Barlow as assistant director for sound design and composition. This episode features the voices of:Alix Roberts as Anne ElliotJack Emond as Captain Frederick WentworthTim Murphy as Admiral CroftJoanna Lippold as Mrs CroftBreanna Geer as Mary MusgroveEmil Freund as Charles MusgroveCasey Bohan as Louisa MusgroveEleanor Golding as Henrietta MusgroveBarry Kay as Mr MusgroveEmil Freund as Charles HayterThis podcast features original compositions within the chapters by Sarah Barlow, Liana Emmerson and Helen Gibson, mastered by Charlie Hughes.This podcast was produced by Ballarat National Theatre on the lands of our traditional custodians, the Wadawurrung people. Further sound production and cast recordings were made in the lands of the Wotherong, Wurundjeri, Woi-wurrung, and Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation and the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation. Ballarat National Theatre acknowledges and pays respect to the traditional custodians and to their leaders, past and present. This podcast was made possible because of the financial contributions of the following patrons: Aparajita Raychaudhury, Josh Illichmann, Elaine Tso, Tessa Braun, Sean Rundell, Brianna Cook, Shelley Barnes, Xuan-Trang Nguyen, Sue Skewes, Sarah Macgregor, Lynne Gibbs and Rod Skewes.Thank you from the director for supporting access to technology that allowed this podcast to be made.This podcast was possible because of collaborative support for recording and music performance from Ballarat Grammar Academy: Sound and Performance. It is also supported by grant funding from the City of Ballarat.Let us know you're listening with a message!To celebrate the launch of our new Jane Austen audiobook podcast of Persuasion with our first fans, we're giving away an iTunes voucher to 4 lucky fans who leave us a review on Apple or a Q&A reply on our Spotify episodes. To enter, take a screenshot of your review or episode reply and submit it to us via the competition page which you will find on our website www.bnt.org.au/podcasts by May 20. T&Cs on our website.Find us on social media to stay in touch with us!Visit our website www.bnt.org.auFind us on Instagram @balnattheatreFollow us on Facebook: Ballarat National Theatre IncShop merch on Threadless https://ballaratnationaltheatre.threadless.com/

Anne enjoys the refreshing company of her new friends, whilst observing her sister and her husband, Charles' somewhat disorderly domesticity and, as usual, being overlooked other than to assist in resolving disputes. The dashing Captain Wentworth arrives to visit his sister, the new tenant of Kellynch Hall, resulting in he and Anne meeting for the first time since the dissolution of their engagement. How does his renewed presence impact Anne – and is the love they once shared truly extinguished? Can he ever forgive her for the events of eight years prior?This episode covers chapters 6 and 7 of Jane Austen's Persuasion.We hope you enjoyed this episode of Ballarat National Theatre's adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion and will join us each week until all the episodes have been released. This production is directed and narrated by Liana Emmerson, with Sarah Barlow as assistant director for sound design and composition.This episode features the voices of:Alix Roberts as Anne ElliotJack Emond as Captain Frederick WentworthTim Murphy as Admiral CroftJoanna Lippold as Mrs CroftBreanna Geer as Mary MusgroveEmil Freund as Charles MusgroveCasey Bohan as Louisa MusgroveEleanor Golding as Henrietta MusgroveBarry Kay as Mr MusgroveClare Hamer as Mrs MusgroveThis podcast features original compositions within the chapters by Sarah Barlow, Liana Emmerson and Helen Gibson mastered by Charlie Hughes.This podcast was produced by Ballarat National Theatre on the lands of our traditional custodians the Wadawurrung people. Further sound production and cast recordings were made in the lands of the Wotherong, Wurundjeri, Woi-wurrung, and Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation and the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation. Ballarat National Theatre acknowledges and pays respect to the traditional custodians and to their leaders, past and present. This podcast was made possible because of the financial contributions of the following patrons: Aparajita Raychaudhury, Josh Illichmann, Elaine Tso, Tessa Braun, Sean Rundell, Brianna Cook, Shelley Barnes, Xuan-Trang Nguyen, Sue Skewes, Sarah Macgregor, Lynne Gibbs and Rod Skewes. Thank you from the director for supporting access to technology that allowed this podcast to be made.This podcast was possible because of collaborative support for recording and music performance from Ballarat Grammar Academy: Sound and Performance. It is also supported by grant funding from the City of Ballarat.Find us on social media to stay in touch with us!Visit our website www.bnt.org.auFind us on Instagram @balnattheatreFollow us on Facebook: Ballarat National Theatre IncShop merch on Threadless https://ballaratnationaltheatre.threadless.com/

Inspired by recent events, Anne looks back over the last few years, recalling how she once wished to marry the dashing Captain Wentworth yet was persuaded to give him up, resulting in his self-imposed exile. Time has provided Anne with wisdom over the event, particularly as she is still unattached. Anne's youngest sister Mary reports feeling poorly and requests Anne's company prior to journeying on to Bath. Whilst visiting her sister has its challenges, Anne makes some good-humoured new acquaintances.This episode includes chapters 4 and 5 of Jane Austen's Persuasion.We hope you enjoyed this episode of Ballarat National Theatre's adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion and will join us each week until all the episodes have been released. This production is directed and narrated by Liana Emmerson, with Sarah Barlow as assistant director for sound design and composition. This episode features the voices of:Alix Roberts as Anne ElliotNicholas Barker-Pendree as Sir Walter ElliotJodie Mattingley  as Mrs ClayFred Preston as Mr ShepherdBreanna Geer as Mary Musgrove (nee Elliot)This podcast features original compositions within the chapters by Sarah Barlow, Liana Emmerson and Helen Gibson.This podcast was produced by Ballarat National Theatre on the lands of our traditional custodians the Wadawurrung people. Further sound production and cast recordings were made in the lands of the Wotherong, Wurundjeri, Woi-wurrung, and Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation and the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation. Ballarat National Theatre acknowledges and pays respect to the traditional custodians and to their leaders, past and present. This podcast was made possible because of the financial contributions of the following patrons: Aparajita Raychaudhury, Josh Illichmann, Elaine Tso, Tessa Braun, Sean Rundell, Brianna Cook, Shelley Barnes, Xuan-Trang Nguyen, Sue Skewes, Sarah Macgregor, Lynne Gibbs and Rod Skewes. Thank you from the director for supporting access to technology that allowed this podcast to be made.This podcast was possible because of collaborative support for recording and music performance from Ballarat Grammar Academy: Sound and Performance. It is also supported by grant funding from the City of Ballarat.Find us on social media to stay in touch with us!Visit our website www.bnt.org.auFind us on Instagram @balnattheatreFollow us on Facebook: Ballarat National Theatre IncShop merch on Threadless https://ballaratnationaltheatre.threadless.com/

We are diving deep into the captivating world of Jane Austen's male characters! Joining me is Sophie Andrews, also known as Laughing With Lizzie. Together, we embark on a journey of introspection, exploring the virtues and complexities of Austen's gentlemen. From Mr. Knightley's steadfast evolution to Mr. Darcy's lessons in social finesse, we compare Captain Wentworth's resilience to Colonel Brandon's patience and put Henry Crawford on trial. Our conversation sheds light on love, duty, and character development, resonating across Austen's novels.Join the conversation on Instagram and share your thoughts, we'd love to hear from you! Where can you find Sophie?Instagram: @laughingwithlizzieBook: Be more Jane & Be your own HeroineBlog: http://laughingwithlizzie.blogspot.com/Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCfVhOxVmayHjm4O9qGbCMbABBC Documentary 'My Friend Jane': https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08ywkjv Support the showWhere can you find your host (Izzy)? Website: www.whattheausten.com Podcast Instagram: @whattheaustenPersonal Instagram: @izzy_meakinYoutube: What the Austen? Podcast

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. In the last episode, Sir Walter Elliot considers a Navy tenant for Kellynch Hall, dismissing the idea due to his disdain for the Navy's influence on social status and appearance. However, flattery sways him. Mr. Shepherd, his advisor, proposes Admiral Croft, emphasizing his respectability and lack of children. Despite initial reservations, Sir Walter agrees due to the Admiral's suitable social standing. Meanwhile, Anne Elliot's unresolved feelings for Captain Wentworth resurface. Seven years ago, Anne's engagement to Captain Wentworth was thwarted by familial pressure and societal expectations, particularly from Lady Russell. Heartbroken but obedient, Anne acquiesced, sacrificing her own happiness for perceived social propriety. We will pick up towards the end of chapter 4. — read by 'V' — Sign up for Snoozecast+ to get expanded, ad-free access by going to snoozecast.com/plus! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Jane Austen's last complete novel, which was published just before Christmas in 1817, five months after her death. It is the story of Anne Elliot, now 27 and (so we are told), losing her bloom, and of her feelings for Captain Wentworth who she was engaged to, 8 years before – an engagement she broke off under pressure from her father and godmother. When Wentworth, by chance, comes back into Anne Elliot's life, he is still angry with her and neither she nor Austen's readers can know whether it is now too late for their thwarted love to have a second chance. The image above is from a 1995 BBC adaptation of the novel, with Amanda Root and Ciarán Hinds With Karen O'Brien Vice-Chancellor of Durham University Fiona Stafford Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford And Paddy Bullard Associate Professor of English Literature and Book History at the University of Reading Producer: Simon Tillotson

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Jane Austen's last complete novel, which was published just before Christmas in 1817, five months after her death. It is the story of Anne Elliot, now 27 and (so we are told), losing her bloom, and of her feelings for Captain Wentworth who she was engaged to, 8 years before – an engagement she broke off under pressure from her father and godmother. When Wentworth, by chance, comes back into Anne Elliot's life, he is still angry with her and neither she nor Austen's readers can know whether it is now too late for their thwarted love to have a second chance. The image above is from a 1995 BBC adaptation of the novel, with Amanda Root and Ciarán Hinds With Karen O'Brien Vice-Chancellor of Durham University Fiona Stafford Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford And Paddy Bullard Associate Professor of English Literature and Book History at the University of Reading Producer: Simon Tillotson