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Virginie Girod raconte le destin de Jane Austen, écrivaine de l'amour et du mariage, dont les livres figurent toujours, deux siècles après sa mort, en bonne place dans nos bibliothèques.Issue de gentry, la petite noblesse anglaise, Jane Austen (1775-1817) se distingue des femmes de son milieu et de son temps par son refus de contracter un mariage sans amour. L'écrivaine retranscrit sa vision du mariage dans les nombreux romans qu'elle rédige. Elizabeth Bennet, l'héroïne d'Orgueil et préjugés, ne privilégie-t-elle pas, tout comme sa créatrice, les sentiments à la raison ? Mais dans la réalité, Jane Austen ne rencontre pas l'équivalent du fameux Darcy, l'époux fictif d'Elizabeth Bennet, et fera le choix du célibat. (rediffusion)Au Cœur de l'Histoire est un podcast Europe 1.- Présentation : Virginie Girod- Auteur du récit : Frédéric Pennel- Production : Armelle Thiberge- Réalisation : Clément Ibrahim- Diffusion : Estelle Lafont et Clara Leger- Composition du générique : Julien Tharaud- Visuel : Sidonie ManginBibliographie :- David Cecil, Un portrait de Jane Austen, PayotHébergé par Audiomeans. Visitez audiomeans.fr/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.
Greg Jenner is joined in Regency England by historian Dr Lucy Worsley and actor Sally Phillips to learn all about the life and works of literary legend Jane Austen on the 250th anniversary of her birth in December 1775.It is a truth universally acknowledged that Jane Austen is one of England's best-loved authors, and the creator of such indelible characters as Elizabeth Bennet, Mr Darcy, Emma Woodhouse and Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. Whether you have read one of her six books – Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Emma, Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park – or seen one of the many adaptations, most of us have some experience with Austen. But her life story and how it influenced her writing is perhaps less well-known. This episode explores her early life as the daughter of a rural clergyman, takes a peek inside the books a teenage Jane was reading, and delves into her romantic and familial relationships to see what shaped Austen into the formidable literary talent she was. And it asks a key question: was Jane Austen, who wrote such wonderful women characters, a feminist?This is a radio edit of the original podcast episode. For the full-length version, please look further back in the feed.Hosted by: Greg Jenner Research by: Clara Chamberlain and Charlotte Emily Edgeshaw Written by: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow, Emma Nagouse, and Greg Jenner Produced by: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow and Greg Jenner Audio Producer: Steve Hankey Production Coordinator: Ben Hollands Senior Producer: Emma Nagouse Executive Editor: Philip Sellars
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
There's an unfamiliar carriage pulling up the drive, and it's none other than Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Her ladyship is on a mission - to stop Elizabeth Bennet from marrying her nephew. Elizabeth is astonished, and then incensed, at such a visit, especially since she and Mr. Darcy are not engaged. Lady Catherine may not be used to brooking disappointment, but she may have met her match in Lizzy. As the two of them spar, let this classic moment from Pride and Prejudice help you take your mind away from your day and comfort you into a night of deep 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
In 1921, builders in the quiet Essex village of St Osyth unearthed a chilling sight: Two female skeletons. Buried deliberately. With iron rivets hammered into their knees and elbows - a brutal, centuries-old method used to stop a witch from rising from the grave. For a hundred years, villagers have whispered the same names: Ursula Kemp. Elizabeth Bennet. Two women hanged for witchcraft in 1582. But who were they really? In this episode of my Tudor True Crime series, I uncover the dark world behind the St Osyth witch trials, a story of neighbourly grudges, grief, superstition, and a magistrate hungry for fame. You'll discover: How a fallen-out friendship sparked a chain of accusations Why Ursula Kemp was both a healer… and feared How an eight-year-old boy was persuaded to testify against his mother The terrifying role of magistrate Brian Darcy, who wanted a sensational trial What really happened at the Chelmsford Assizes Why two women ended up at the gallows And whether the skeletons found in 1921 really belonged to them… This is not just a witchcraft story, it's a story about fear, power, and the dangerous consequences of a single accusation in Tudor England. If you'd like to explore more Tudor witch trials and the wider Essex witch-hunt, I've added related videos below. • The Essex Witches - https://youtu.be/hpmkvJyc6x8 • The Tudor Witch-hunter - https://youtu.be/E7fbjYHVeGU • Witchcraft in Tudor Times - https://youtu.be/4XqRVOnsvps If you enjoy deep dives into Tudor true crime, superstition, and the stories that get left in the dark, please like, subscribe, and ring the bell. Because Tudor history isn't just kings and queens… It's the shadows too. #TudorHistory #TrueCrime #WitchTrials #EssexWitches #StOsyth #UrsulaKemp #ElizabethBennet #DarkHistory #HistoryMystery #WitchcraftHistory #TudorTrueCrime #TheAnneBoleynFiles
Op 16 december is het 250 jaar geleden dat Jane Austen werd geboren. De zes romans die ze heeft nagelaten worden nog steeds gelezen, herlezen, verfilmd, en voor het toneel bewerkt. Ze is een van de weinige vrouwen die in de literaire canon is opgenomen. Wat is de aantrekkingskracht van haar oeuvre? Pride and Prejudice, vertaald als Trots en vooroordeel (we bespreken de vertaling door Jeske van der Velden en Elke Meiborg), is uitgegroeid een van de grote standaardwerken uit de Engelse literatuur. Het verhaal gaat over Elizabeth Bennet, een intelligente en pittige jongedame die graag zelf wil kiezen met wie ze trouwt. Wanneer ze door haar moeder wordt gekoppeld aan de rijke, maar hooghartige Mr Darcy, heeft ze haar oordeel over hem snel klaar. Ze worden toch verliefd, maar zijn allebei te trots om zich aan de ander te willen binden. Wanneer er andere huwelijkskandidaten voor Elizabeth opduiken is de vraag dan ook: wie wordt uiteindelijk de gelukkige? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
From a muddling Mr Darcy to Clueless diva Cher Horowitz, some of the most iconic characters in books, films and TV were conceived by Jane Austen — or based on her works. So, who was she, really? And what makes her classics... classic?
Earsay is hosted by Ed Helms and Kal Penn as they dive into the world’s biggest audiobooks. This week, they deep dive into Audible’s immersive, full-cast adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Ed is joined by Jennie Garth (90210, I Choose Me podcast) to explore the audiobook’s lush sound design and standout performances from Marisa Abela, Harris Dickinson, Bill Nighy, and Glenn Close. Together, they unpack the enduring appeal of Austen’s classic romance, draw surprising connections between Elizabeth Bennet’s fierce independence and Garth’s iconic “I choose me” moment from 90210 and so much more. Whether you're an audiobook aficionado or just getting started, this is the book club your ears have been waiting for. Listen to Earsay: The Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club every other Thursday. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Earsay is hosted by Ed Helms and Kal Penn as they dive into the world’s biggest audiobooks. This week, they deep dive into Audible’s immersive, full-cast adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Ed is joined by Jennie Garth (90210, I Choose Me podcast) to explore the audiobook’s lush sound design and standout performances from Marisa Abela, Harris Dickinson, Bill Nighy, and Glenn Close. Together, they unpack the enduring appeal of Austen’s classic romance, draw surprising connections between Elizabeth Bennet’s fierce independence and Garth’s iconic “I choose me” moment from 90210 and so much more. Whether you're an audiobook aficionado or just getting started, this is the book club your ears have been waiting for. Listen to Earsay: The Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club every other Thursday. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Greg Jenner is joined in Regency England by historian Dr Lucy Worsley and actor Sally Phillips to learn all about the life and works of literary legend Jane Austen on the 250th anniversary of her birth in December 1775. It is a truth universally acknowledged that Austen is one of England's best-loved authors, and the creator of such indelible characters as Elizabeth Bennet, Mr Darcy, Emma Woodhouse and Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. Whether you have read one of her six books – Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Emma, Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park – or seen one of the many adaptations, most of us have some experience with Austen. But her life story and how it influenced her writing is perhaps less well-known. This episode explores her early life as the daughter of a rural clergyman, takes a peek inside the books a teenage Jane was reading, and delves into her romantic and familial relationships to see what shaped Austen into the formidable literary talent she was. And it asks a key question: was Jane Austen, who wrote such wonderful women characters, a feminist? If you're a fan of iconic authors, Regency romances and women succeeding in a man's world, you'll love our episode on Jane Austen. If you want more incredible women authors with Dr Lucy Worsley, check out our episode on Agatha Christie. For more from Sally Phillips, listen to our episode on Fairy Tales. And for more Regency romance, there's our episode on Georgian Courtship. You're Dead To Me is the comedy podcast that takes history seriously. Every episode, Greg Jenner brings together the best names in history and comedy to learn and laugh about the past. Hosted by: Greg Jenner Research by: Clara Chamberlain and Charlotte Emily Edgeshaw Written by: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow, Emma Nagouse, and Greg Jenner Produced by: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow and Greg Jenner Audio Producer: Steve Hankey Production Coordinator: Ben Hollands Senior Producer: Emma Nagouse Executive Editor: Philip Sellars
Join Ed Helms and Kal Penn as they dive into the world’s biggest audiobooks. Earsay kicks off with a deep dive into Audible’s immersive, full-cast adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Host Ed Helms is joined by Jennie Garth (90210, I Choose Me podcast) to explore the audiobook’s lush sound design and standout performances from Marisa Abela, Harris Dickinson, Bill Nighy, and Glenn Close. Together, they unpack the enduring appeal of Austen’s classic romance, draw surprising connections between Elizabeth Bennet’s fierce independence and Garth’s iconic “I choose me” moment from 90210 and so much more. Whether you're an audiobook aficionado or just getting started, this is the book club your ears have been waiting for. Listen to Earsay: The Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club starting Thursday, October 9th. New episodes drop every other week!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This is a preview of a brand-new audiobook from the Noiser Podcast Network. Join Dame Julie Andrews as she reads Jane Austen's most famous novel, Pride and Prejudice. Step into a world of humour, heartbreak, scandal and romance - all set in the rural landscapes of 19th-century England. You'll meet Elizabeth Bennet, the quick-witted heroine of the story, described by Austen herself to be “as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print.” Elizabeth will butt heads with Mr Darcy - a rich, handsome but prickly bachelor, with a mysterious past… Search ‘Jane Austen Stories' in your podcast app and hit follow for more episodes - available now. Or listen at noiser.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Prepare-se para ouvir sobre um dos maiores clássicos da literatura mundial! No episódio de hoje, faremos uma resenha completa de "Orgulho e Preconceito", a obra-prima atemporal de Jane Austen.Publicado em 1813, o romance nos transporta para a Inglaterra rural do século XIX e nos apresenta à família Bennet, composta por um pai espirituoso, uma mãe um tanto exagerada e suas cinco filhas em idade de se casar. A vida da família vira de cabeça para baixo com a chegada de dois jovens solteiros e, mais importante, ricos: o afável Sr. Bingley e seu amigo, o altivo e enigmático Sr. Darcy.Enquanto um romance floresce entre a bela e doce Jane Bennet e o Sr. Bingley, a espirituosa e inteligente Elizabeth Bennet desenvolve uma aversão instantânea pelo orgulhoso Sr. Darcy. O que se segue é uma deliciosa dança de erros, julgamentos precipitados e diálogos afiados. Entre bailes, visitas e cartas reveladoras, Elizabeth e Darcy são forçados a confrontar seus próprios preconceitos e o orgulho que os cega. Será que eles conseguirão superar as barreiras sociais e seus próprios defeitos para encontrar o amor verdadeiro?Mais do que uma simples história de amor, "Orgulho e Preconceito" é um retrato afiado da sociedade de sua época, e neste episódio vamos aprofundar essas questões. Jane Austen tece uma poderosa crítica social ao explorar o casamento como uma instituição movida por interesses financeiros e pela busca de estabilidade, uma vez que as opções para as mulheres eram extremamente limitadas. A trama é impulsionada pelo orgulho de classe do Sr. Darcy e pelo preconceito que Elizabeth nutre contra ele, refletindo as rígidas barreiras que separavam as pessoas. Através de sua heroína, a independente e inteligente Elizabeth Bennet, Austen desafia o papel tradicional da mulher, apresentando uma protagonista que valoriza a própria voz e o intelecto. Tudo isso é construído com uma ironia magistral, que expõe com humor e precisão a futilidade e as hipocrisias da aristocracia rural inglesa, tornando a obra um comentário social que permanece incrivelmente relevante.Junte-se a nós nesta viagem pela obra de Jane Austen e descubra por que "Orgulho e Preconceito" continua a encantar leitores há mais de 200 anos!Apresentação:Lívia LeãoEdição: Lívia LeãoEmail: lihnumlivro@hotmail.comInstagram: @liviamulderSubstack: @lihnumlivro
This is a preview of a brand-new audiobook from the Noiser Podcast Network. Join Dame Julie Andrews as she reads Jane Austen's most famous novel, Pride and Prejudice. Step into a world of humour, heartbreak, scandal and romance - all set in the rural landscapes of 19th-century England. You'll meet Elizabeth Bennet, the quick-witted heroine of the story, described by Austen herself to be “as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print.” Elizabeth will butt heads with Mr Darcy - a rich, handsome but prickly bachelor, with a mysterious past… Search ‘Jane Austen Stories' in your podcast app and hit follow for more episodes - available now. Or listen at noiser.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This is a preview of a brand-new audiobook from the Noiser Podcast Network. Join Dame Julie Andrews as she reads Jane Austen's most famous novel, Pride and Prejudice. Step into a world of humour, heartbreak, scandal and romance - all set in the rural landscapes of 19th-century England. You'll meet Elizabeth Bennet, the quick-witted heroine of the story, described by Austen herself to be “as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print.” Elizabeth will butt heads with Mr Darcy - a rich, handsome but prickly bachelor, with a mysterious past… Search ‘Jane Austen Stories' in your podcast app and hit follow for more episodes - available now. Or listen at noiser.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Orgullo y Prejuicio es una joya literaria que trasciende sutiempo, ofreciendo una exploración atemporal de las complejidades del amor, la moral y la sociedad. Jane Austen, con su aguda ironía y su profundo entendimiento de la naturaleza humana, crea en Elizabeth Bennet y Fitzwilliam Darcy dos personajes que encarnan la lucha universal por superar los defectos personales y encontrar la felicidad en un mundo regido por normas rígidas. La novela no solo es una historia romántica, sino un comentario social que desafía las jerarquías de clase y género con una sutileza que sigue siendo relevante. Su estilo elegante, sus diálogos vibrantes y su capacidad para equilibrar humor y profundidad hacen de esta obra un clásico imprescindible. Invito a los Lunares a sumergirse en esta narración, que no solo entretiene, sino que invita a reflexionar sobre nuestras propias percepciones, prejuicios y posibilidades de cambio. Leer Orgullo y Prejuicio es descubrir por qué Jane Austen sigue siendo una de las voces más perdurables de la literatura universal."Crónicas Lunares di Sun" es un podcast cultural presentado por Irving Sun, que abarca una variedad de temas, desde la literatura y análisis de libros hasta discusiones sobre actualidad y personajes históricos. Se difunde en múltiples plataformas como Ivoox, Apple Podcast, Spotify y YouTube, donde también ofrece contenido en video, incluyendo reflexiones sobre temas como la meditación y la filosofía teosófica. Los episodios exploran textos y conceptos complejos, buscando fomentar la reflexión y el autoconocimiento entre su audiencia, los "Lunares", quienes pueden interactuar y apoyar el programa a través de comentarios, redes sociales y donaciones. AVISO LEGAL: Los cuentos, poemas, fragmentos de novelas, ensayos y todo contenido literario que aparece en Crónicas Lunares di Sun podrían estar protegidos por derecho de autor (copyright). Si por alguna razón los propietarios no están conformes con el uso de ellos por favor escribirnos al correo electrónico cronicaslunares.sun@hotmail.com y nos encargaremos de borrarlo inmediatamente. Si te gusta lo que escuchas y deseas apoyarnos puedes dejar tu donación en PayPal, ahí nos encuentras como @IrvingSun https://paypal.me/IrvingSun?country.x=MX&locale.x=es_XC Síguenos en: Telegram: Crónicas Lunares di Sun Crónicas Lunares di Sun - YouTube https://t.me/joinchat/QFjDxu9fqR8uf3eR https://www.facebook.com/cronicalunar/?modal=admin_todo_tour Crónicas Lunares (@cronicaslunares.sun) • Fotos y videos de Instagram https://twitter.com/isun_g1 https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy9lODVmOWY0L3BvZGNhc3QvcnNz https://open.spotify.com/show/4x2gFdKw3FeoaAORteQomp https://mx.ivoox.com/es/s_p2_759303_1.html https://tunein.com/user/gnivrinavi/favorites
This week on the KPL Podcast, we're joined by special guest Andrew Kuhlman to talk about Austen's Pride—the dazzling new musical now playing at the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center. In this imaginative reworking of Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen herself takes center stage, embarking on a journey of self-discovery. As the iconic romance between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy unfolds in a fresh light, Austen uncovers surprising truths about her characters—and herself. RecommendationsSandstorm by James Rollins (book1 of Sigma Series)
Jane Austen (1775 - 1817)Translated by José Jordán de Urríes y Azara (1868 - 1932)Orgullo y prejuicio (en inglés, Pride and Prejudice), publicada por primera vez el 28 de enero de 1813 como una obra anónima, es la más famosa de las novelas de Jane Austen y una de las primeras comedias románticas en la historia de la novela. Su primera frase es, además, una de las más famosas en la literatura inglesa: «Es una verdad mundialmente reconocida que un hombre soltero, poseedor de una gran fortuna, necesita una esposa». Es una novela de desarrollo personal, en la que las dos figuras principales, Elizabeth Bennet y Fitzwilliam Darcy, cada uno a su manera y, no obstante, de forma muy parecida, deben madurar para superar algunas crisis y aprender de sus errores para poder encarar el futuro en común, superando el orgullo de clase de Darcy y los prejuicios de Elizabeth hacia él. Summary by Phileas Fogg.Genre(s): Literary Fiction, RomanceLanguage: Spanish
Book Vs. Movie: For Pride Month1813's “Pride and Prejudice” Vs. 2022's "Fire Island"June is Pride Month worldwide, and the Margos are excited to celebrate with some of the best LGBTQIA-centric books and movies. One highlight is the 2022 film *Fire Island*, directed by Andrew Ahn and written by Joel Kim Booster. This clever and heartfelt adaptation reimagines Jane Austen's *Pride and Prejudice*. Set during a weeklong summer vacation on the iconic queer retreat of Fire Island, the story follows a close-knit group of gay friends as they navigate romance, class, and identity. Joel Kim Booster plays Noah, a modern-day Elizabeth Bennet figure, while Bowen Yang portrays Howie, who is loosely based on Jane Bennet. The aloof and wealthy Will, played by Conrad Ricamora, serves as the counterpart to Mr. Darcy.Between the classic Austen book and the modern, gay-friendly film, which did we prefer? Have a listen to find out!In this episode, the Margos discuss:The sheer number of Pride Month books we have covered and how they have changed over the last ten yearsThe history of Austen and Fire Island. The differences between the book & movie. The cast includes: Joel Kim Booster (Noah), Bowen Yang (Howie), Conrad Ricamora (Will), James Scully (Charlie), Margaret Cho (Mr. & Mrs. Bennet), Matt Rogers (Luke), and Nick Adams as Cooper. Clips Featured:“Marisa Tomei”Fire Island (2022 trailer) “I'm a doctor.”“The dance off scene”Music by Jay WadleyFollow us on the socials!Join our Patreon page “Book Vs. Movie podcast”You can find us on Facebook at Book Vs. Movie Podcast GroupInstagram: Book Versus Movie @bookversusmoviebookversusmoviepodcast@gmail.com Margo D's Blog: Brooklynfitchick.comMargo D's Instagram “Brooklyn Fit Chick”Margo D's TikTok Margo D's YouTube: @MargoDonohueMargo P's Instagram: @shesnachomama Margo P's Blog: coloniabook.comMargo P's YouTube Channel: @shesnachomamaOur logo was designed by Madeleine Gainey/Studio 39 Marketing Follow on Instagram @Studio39Marketing & @musicalmadeleine
Book Vs. Movie: For Pride Month1813's “Pride and Prejudice” Vs. 2022's "Fire Island"June is Pride Month worldwide, and the Margos are excited to celebrate with some of the best LGBTQIA-centric books and movies. One highlight is the 2022 film *Fire Island*, directed by Andrew Ahn and written by Joel Kim Booster. This clever and heartfelt adaptation reimagines Jane Austen's *Pride and Prejudice*. Set during a weeklong summer vacation on the iconic queer retreat of Fire Island, the story follows a close-knit group of gay friends as they navigate romance, class, and identity. Joel Kim Booster plays Noah, a modern-day Elizabeth Bennet figure, while Bowen Yang portrays Howie, who is loosely based on Jane Bennet. The aloof and wealthy Will, played by Conrad Ricamora, serves as the counterpart to Mr. Darcy.Between the classic Austen book and the modern, gay-friendly film, which did we prefer? Have a listen to find out!In this episode, the Margos discuss:The sheer number of Pride Month books we have covered and how they have changed over the last ten yearsThe history of Austen and Fire Island. The differences between the book & movie. The cast includes: Joel Kim Booster (Noah), Bowen Yang (Howie), Conrad Ricamora (Will), James Scully (Charlie), Margaret Cho (Mr. & Mrs. Bennet), Matt Rogers (Luke), and Nick Adams as Cooper. Clips Featured:“Marisa Tomei”Fire Island (2022 trailer) “I'm a doctor.”“The dance off scene”Music by Jay WadleyFollow us on the socials!Join our Patreon page “Book Vs. Movie podcast”You can find us on Facebook at Book Vs. Movie Podcast GroupInstagram: Book Versus Movie @bookversusmoviebookversusmoviepodcast@gmail.com Margo D's Blog: Brooklynfitchick.comMargo D's Instagram “Brooklyn Fit Chick”Margo D's TikTok Margo D's YouTube: @MargoDonohueMargo P's Instagram: @shesnachomama Margo P's Blog: coloniabook.comMargo P's YouTube Channel: @shesnachomamaOur logo was designed by Madeleine Gainey/Studio 39 Marketing Follow on Instagram @Studio39Marketing & @musicalmadeleine
Summary of Pride and Prejudice in English and French.English Version. By Jane AustenPublished: 1813 Genre: Romance, Social CommentarySet in early 19th-century England, Pride and Prejudice follows Elizabeth Bennet, a witty and independent young woman, as she navigates issues of class, marriage, and morality. Elizabeth is the second of five daughters in a middle-class family with little wealth and no male heir, making marriage a practical necessity for financial security.When the wealthy and reserved Mr. Darcy enters her social circle, Elizabeth initially finds him proud and disagreeable. Their relationship is marked by mutual misunderstandings and social pressures. However, as both characters confront their own flaws—Elizabeth's prejudice and Darcy's pride—they grow and change, ultimately realizing their deep love and respect for one another.Austen uses sharp dialogue and keen social observation to critique the rigid class structure of her time. The novel champions individual merit and personal integrity over social status and wealth.French Version.Résumé de Orgueil et Préjugés Par Jane AustenPublié en : 1813 Genre : Roman d'amour, satire socialeSitué dans l'Angleterre du début du XIXe siècle, Orgueil et Préjugés suit Elizabeth Bennet, une jeune femme vive et indépendante, confrontée aux enjeux du mariage, des classes sociales et de la morale. Deuxième d'une fratrie de cinq filles dans une famille de la petite noblesse sans héritier mâle, Elizabeth vit dans un contexte où le mariage est souvent le seul moyen d'assurer sa sécurité financière.Elle fait la connaissance de M. Darcy, un homme riche, réservé et apparemment hautain. Dès leur première rencontre, Elizabeth le juge orgueilleux, tandis que lui la considère peu convenable selon les normes sociales de son rang. Leur relation est marquée par des malentendus et des jugements erronés. Cependant, chacun finit par reconnaître ses propres erreurs : Elizabeth son préjugé, et Darcy son orgueil. Grâce à cette évolution personnelle, ils apprennent à s'estimer mutuellement et tombent amoureux.À travers un style plein d'esprit et une observation fine des mœurs de son époque, Jane Austen critique la rigidité des classes sociales et valorise l'amour sincère, le respect et l'intégrité personnelle plutôt que la richesse ou le statut.This was a LitBits Podcast for Tale Teller Club Publishing www.taletellerclub.com
Frank and Thomas dive into Pride and Prejudice (2005) with a surprising amount of insight. After catching a recent theatrical re-release of the Jane Austen adaptation, the hosts unpack its romantic tension, cinematography, performances, and themes of societal expectations. Along the way, they reflect on Keira Knightley's breakout role, Matthew Macfadyen's modern take on Mr. Darcy, and how 19th-century courtship still hits in 2025. With some help from Frank's wife and linked video essays, they make sense of the story's deeper layers—reluctantly, but respectfully. Timestamps and Topics: 00:00:00 Welcome and Thomas's reluctant movie pick 00:00:41 The theatrical re-release and first impressions 00:01:17 Breakdown of the plot, scene by scene 00:04:47 What this movie says about power, class, and gender 00:06:50 The Mr. Bennet and Elizabeth dynamic 00:09:15 Mr. Darcy's character and casting impact 00:14:32 Understanding the dialog and social codes 00:17:12 Cinematography and standout shots 00:20:26 The iconic rain scene and its symbolism 00:24:23 Keira Knightley's performance and casting 00:26:18 Star-studded supporting cast 00:27:06 Comparing both proposals as visual storytelling 00:29:44 Does the movie feel too rushed? 00:33:03 Trivia: red flags, fake book titles, and bad eyesight 00:36:00 Final thoughts and star ratings 00:37:04 Next movie pick revealed: Galaxy Quest Key Takeaways: Pride & Prejudice (2005) is a well-crafted adaptation that, despite not being made for everyone, earns respect for its care and attention to detail. Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen bring depth to iconic characters, especially through subtext and physical acting. Joe Wright's direction is subtle but powerful, using natural lighting, one-shot sequences, and thoughtful framing. The story critiques societal norms by centering a woman (Elizabeth Bennet) who refuses to play by the rules. The movie has become a beloved comfort film, especially for those drawn to emotionally charged slow-burn romances. Quotes:
It is a truth universally acknowledged that there's never a bad time to revisit Jane Austen's most beloved novel. In this first of our new Friday Favorites series, we make our way back to the very beginning of Pride and Prejudice, and meet the Bennets as they learn that Netherfield Park is let at last, and by a man of a good fortune. Elizabeth Bennet may not be handsome enough to tempt Mr. Darcy, but the first three chapters of Pride and Prejudice are more than tolerable as a companion to comfort you as you transition from your day into an evening of rest and relaxation.-----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
PopaHALLics #141 "Sing Me a Song"A folk duo's pricey gig for one rich prerson. A utopian paradise hiding a dark secret. A serial killer tale: Is it real true-crime or made-up horror? And who IS Kate's favorite Mr. Darcy in "Pride & Prejudice"?Theaters:"The Ballad of Walllis Island," written by Tim Key and Tom Basden and directed by James Griffiths. An eccentric lottery winner (Key) recruits his favorite musical duo (Basden and Carey Mulligan) to play a private concert on his remote island home in this British comedy/drama. But old feelings and tensions threaten his dream gig.Streaming:"Paradise," Hulu. In this political thriller set in an underground bunker after a doomsday event, a Secret Service agent (Sterling K. Brown) comes under suspicion of killing the President of the United States (James Marsden) "Slow Horses," Apple TV.+ In the riveting third season of this spy thriller, the MI5 rejects at Slough House must find the abducted Catherine Standish (Saskia Reeves) and a sensitive file. All six episodes of the fourth season about the search for a London bomber are available."Pride and Prejudice" (2005), available on Netflix, Prime, Apple TV+, etc. Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyn star in Jane Austen's classic tale of the turbulent relationship between Elizabeth Bennet, the daughter of a country gentleman, and Fitzwilliam Darcy, a rich aristocratic landowner. Books:"Chasing the Boogeyman," by Richard Chizmar. The author narrates, first-person, how a serial killer terrorized his small Maryland hometown. But is this gripping story true crime or horror fiction? Compelling, creative, and scary."Lady MacBeth," by Ava Reid. In this reimagining of Shakespeare's most famous villainess, the Lady has a voice, a past, and witchy powers she needs to survive her husband, a Scottish brute, and his hostile court.The John Milton thriller series, by Mark Dawson. One of the world's deadliest assassins tries to give it up and help people as a way of making amends to those he killed. The British government who "created" him wants him dead. Jack Reacher fans will find a lot to like in this series (24-some books)."Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead," by Olga Tokarczuk. An eccentric recluse on the Czech/Polish border becomes convinced she knows why dead bodies keep turning up around her. Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.Music:PopaHALLics #141 Playlist (Wallis Island) features the folky music of the film "The Ballad of Wallis Island."Click through the links above to wat
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has supported Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock’s view that Australia is in a strong position to handle the impact of Donald Trump’s US tariffs; A helicopter crashed into the Hudson River, killing all six people on board after it broke apart midair; Australia’s youngest convicted murderer is back in custody just weeks after being released under strict supervision; Great news for Pride and Prejudice fans: Netflix has just announced its new Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. The Quicky is the easiest and most enjoyable way to get across the news every day. And it’s delivered straight to your ears in a daily podcast so you can listen whenever you want, wherever you want...at the gym, on the train, in the playground or at night while you're making dinner. Support independent women's media CREDITS Host/Producer: Tahli Blackman Audio Producer: Lu Hill Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
In this episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts Alisha Searcy and Helen Baxendale celebrate the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth with Dr. Paula Byrne, Lady Bate, a distinguished biographer and literary critic. Dr. Byrne explores the key influences that shaped Austen's life, the major themes of her novels, and the enduring relevance of heroines like Elizabeth Bennet and […]
Welcome back to Morgan Hasn't Seen with Jeannine Brice & Morgan Robinson!!Step into springtime and revel in the Regency era this March on Morgan Hasn't Seen as Jeannine is introducing Morgan to the world of Jane Austen adaptations!The series finale couldn't have been anything else; the most famous literary work in the western world, a truly timeless romance, and a very cinematic adaptation of the story of Elizabeth Bennet & Mr Darcy as Jeannine and Morgan talk PRIDE & PREJUDICE (2005) starring Keira Knightley & Matthew Macfadyen!Our YouTube Channel for all our regular videos:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvACMX8jX1qQ5ClrGW53vowDonate:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ItsAWonderful1Join our Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/ItsAWonderful1IT'S A WONDERFUL PODCAST STORE:https://www.teepublic.com/user/g9designSub to the feed and download now on all major podcast platforms and be sure to rate, review and SHARE AROUND!!Keep up with us on (X) Twitter:Podcast:https://twitter.com/ItsAWonderful1Morgan:https://twitter.com/Th3PurpleDonJeannine:https://twitter.com/JeannineDaBean_Keep being wonderful!!
In this episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts Alisha Searcy and Helen Baxendale celebrate the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth with Dr. Paula Byrne, Lady Bate, a distinguished biographer and literary critic. Dr. Byrne explores the key influences that shaped Austen's life, the major themes of her novels, and the enduring relevance of heroines like Elizabeth Bennet and Elinor Dashwood. She also shares insights from her books The Real Jane Austen and The Genius of Jane Austen, shedding light on Austen's love of theater and the lasting appeal of her works in Hollywood. She offers a deeper appreciation of Austen's literary brilliance and her impact on literature and culture as we celebrate Women's History Month. In closing, Dr. Byrne reads a passage from her book, The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things.
Kto się lubi, ten się czubi. To przysłowie właściwie wystarczyłoby do streszczenia fabuły „Dumy i uprzedzenia”. Ale i w klasycznej powieści Jane Austen, i w ekranizacji Joe Wrighta z 2005 roku liczy się także tło społeczne. Elizabeth Bennet przyszło się zakochać w panu Darcym w niesprawiedliwym świecie. Film można teraz oglądać na Netflixie. Autorka: Anna Konieczyńska Artykuł przeczytasz pod linkiem: https://www.vogue.pl/a/romantyczny-film-duma-i-uprzedzenie-z-keira-knightley-to-jedna-z-najlepszych-ekranizacji-powiesci-jane-austen
Pour la Saint-Valentin, Virginie Girod raconte le destin de Jane Austen, écrivaine de l'amour et du mariage, dont les livres figurent toujours, deux siècles après sa mort, en bonne place dans nos bibliothèques. Issue de gentry, la petite noblesse anglaise, Jane Austen (1775-1817) se distingue des femmes de son milieu et de son temps par son refus de contracter un mariage sans amour. L'écrivaine retranscrit sa vision du mariage dans les nombreux romans qu'elle rédige. Elizabeth Bennet, l'héroïne d'Orgueil et préjugés, ne privilégie-t-elle pas, tout comme sa créatrice, les sentiments à la raison ? Mais dans la réalité, Jane Austen ne rencontre pas l'équivalent du fameux Darcy, l'époux fictif d'Elizabeth Bennet, et fera le choix du célibat.
For everyone who's ever looked at their parenting journey and thought "This is... not what I expected" - this one's for you. Bonus points if you're currently listening to this while hiding in the bathroom for five minutes of peace! Quick question - ever had one of those moments where you're just living your life, and suddenly you find yourself crying over a scrapbook in a random Airbnb while having an existential parenting epiphany? No? Just me? Cool cool cool...
Preparing For Tuesday's Cunnilingus Class.By Quinn_McMullen. Listen to the Podcast at Steamy Stories.Story RecapI'm Dan, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering. I needed two general education requirements to complete my degree, at a university in the Chicago area. It's a cold January, on campus. I was able to enroll in an English literature class and Dr. Martin's Sociology 369 Human Sexuality course, for the second semester.On the first day of class, we learned about male and female orgasms. Dr. Martin allowed students to submit a standard analysis and reading notes or to provide an alternative assignment. The first alternative assignment was to masturbate either alone or with an observer and report on our experience.Hannah, a coed was sitting in class next to me. I asked to be her partner. While we were trying to get comfortable with one another, we ended up having sex.DinnerAs I sat with Hannah at dinner, I had so many questions I wanted to ask her, but she started off.She looked me in the eye, "So you're what? Twenty two? Twenty three?"Twenty two.""I'm twenty one. So, I have to say that I am not normally that aggressive. I don't know what came over me.""I thought it was wonderful."Hannah nodded, "I'm sure you did, but I'm not sure what happened. I had every intention in the world of sitting there with you, reading until dinner. And then." She averted her gaze, then looked back into my eyes, "Then I just wanted you. I can't explain it. I've never started anything with a guy before. It has always been the guy coming on to me.""I really didn't mind. It was definitely a gift. Guys often leave a gal frustrated because they can't work up the nerve to initiate things. Especially when the gal is as gorgeous as you.”Hannah reached out and touched my hand, "Ah, thanks! Dan, it's okay. I guess I'm just trying to understand my actions. It was so out of character for me.""Maybe you're comfortable with me. I hope, anyway?"She laughed, "Undoubtedly. You're a really nice guy." She released my hand, "No, more than that. I know we just met, but I feel like you care about me as a person. I just hope that by being the initiator, I haven't made you not like me.""Hannah, I would never think that. You are self-confident, that's all. You're very respectful and sensitive. You weren't pushy at all.""See, that's the thing. I've never really been all that self-confident. Certainly not when it comes to sex.""How much sex have you,” I stopped myself. “I'm sorry. That's not polite for me to ask.”"No, I'm okay with talking to you about it. There was my date for the senior prom. Spring semester freshman year I had a boyfriend for a couple of weeks. Probably had sex two or three times with him. Sophomore year I had sex a couple of more times. Once over the summer. Once with Jeff last semester. Altogether, I've probably had sex less than ten times in my entire life. Not counting Sterling.”“Sterling?” I was puzzled.“Sterling is my chrome vibrator.” Hannah explained. “Until today, only Sterling could reliably bring me to orgasms. Today was the first time someone not named Sterling, gave me an orgasm. How about you?""I wouldn't say that I'm promiscuous, but I've had sex a lot more than that. It was always in a relationship. Let's see, I've been intimate with five girlfriends. This was the first time I had sex with someone on the first day I met them.""Same here. I hope you didn't mind.""Do I in any way look like I didn't have the time of my life? Not at all. It was amazing. Maybe it was a desire to try out some of the things we learned in class."Hannah smiled, "Well you tried out something you learned. Did you rub my g spot?""Yeah. It was all wrinkly." I added. “Nothing like a good hands-on lab project.”"I was already cumming and then that sent me into orbit. Holy shit." Hannah exclaimed."As an observer, that was pretty cool. I obviously ‘pressed your button', right?” I gloated."Observer? Dan, you did that to me. You were my lover. Come to think of it, you propped me up so you could screw me like that dildo in the film.""I did." I proudly admitted."That was quite creative." She marveled."Thanks." I grinned.We ate in silence for several minutes. It wasn't the least bit awkward though.Hannah stopped eating, "Normally I would try to fill silence. I don't feel like I have to. It's like we're two old married people that are completely comfortable with each other."I stopped eating, "You're right. I don't know very much about you, but it's like I've known you a long time."She nodded and continued eating. Another minute of silence passed.I reached out and touched her hand, "Do you believe in fate?""I haven't given it much thought." She wondered where this was going."I mean, what are the odds that I would have to sit next to you, you would ask me to be your partner, and we would hit it off so well?""Look it, Dan. I'm not a religious person. I'm sure there is a perfectly good probability that that would happen."I nodded, "Okay, but the odds are not that high.""That two random college students sitting next to one another would become friends, partners, and lovers? It think they are very high. That those two people would be you and me, that's just the universe rolling the dice." She squelched my sentimentality.She was right, but the thought was disappointing. I pulled my hand back.Hannah grabbed my hand, "Dan, I feel like I just burst a bubble on you.""Yeah. Maybe. A little. I had the thought that maybe someone was looking out for us and;""If it makes you feel any better, “ she interrupted; “I could very well be wrong. I agree that it is very cool that you sat down next to me. Whatever force in the universe made that happen, I'm very grateful. Done eating?""Yeah."The LibraryTo avoid temptation, we agreed to study together in the library. About nine we headed to Hannah's room. The cold and wind had eased a bit, making it easier to talk.Once outside, Hannah took my hand, "How should we decide who goes first?""I don't have a problem going first."Hannah laughed, "I'm kind of excited. I've never seen a guy get himself off.""I guess that's a reason Dr. Miller said we could have an observer."I held the door for her when we got to her dorm. Inside her room I took off my jacket.Hannah stopped to watch me, "This feels very clinical again. Could I undress you?""Sure."Hannah came over to me and put her hands behind my neck, "Maybe some mood-setting would help too." She went on tip-toe and kissed me, "Yes. That's what we need." She turned on her stereo. In a couple seconds, Simple Minds was playing ‘Don't you Forget About Me'.She pulled me to her bed, sat down, and pulled me down with her, "Much better."We lay side-by-side, exploring each other's mouth. I finally pulled her on top of me so I could hold her ass cheeks. She seems to love having her ass caressed.After several minutes of necking I spoke into her mouth, "I think I'm ready.""I feel something." She said with a horny wink. Her mix tape was now playing Rick Astley, singing ‘Never Gunna Give You Up'. I'm guessing this was Hannah's mood music for when she pleasured herself. But that was her business. I just decided to enjoy the moment.Hannah rolled off me and I stood up. I pulled my shirt off and dropped my jeans, standing there in my partially tented boxers."Ready?"She smiled and I let my boxers fall to my ankles, flipping them across the room with a flick of my foot. I slowly stroked my tumescent cock.Hannah stood up, "I think I promised to let you see me naked to help get you aroused.""You did." I recalled."Why don't you sit on the bed and let me give you something to get aroused about."I climbed up to the headboard and placed a pillow behind my back. Hannah began a little bump and grind strip tease. I pulled on my cock to firm it up. By now her mix tape was playing Tears for Fears, singing ‘Everybody Wants To Rule the World' with its sultry beat.She turned away from me and pulled her shirt off. She swiveled her jean-clad hips, then kicked off her shoes. Hannah loved to dance and it's clear she was very good at it. Somehow her socks went flying. She stepped up onto the bed and stood above me, one leg on either side.She placed her hands on the wall to balance herself and then placed her foot on my cock, "Let me rub that for you."I wouldn't call it rubbing, but she did move her foot up and down on my shaft. It wasn't exactly effective and soon she was back standing on the floor. She turned away and dropped her jeans to the floor. Hannah flipped them aside with her foot, then climbed back up on the bed. Standing above me in her bra and panties was more arousing. She stepped forward so that her crotch was inches from my face.I leaned forward, pressed my nose into her crotch, and took a deep breath, "God, you smell good." Her pheromones made a beeline to my cock.Hannah stepped back on the floor and removed her bra and panties, "Sorry, I'm not very creative with a strip tease.""I appreciate the creativity" I encouraged her."Thanks. How about if I just stand here in all my nakedness?""That works."I was rock hard now and it was easy to stroke myself. I was thinking I needed some lube when Hannah crawled up on the bed and got very close to my cock.She smiled, "I'm observing."I laughed.Hannah ran her hand down my thigh, "Perhaps you should position yourself so that I can see your asshole. I need to know if it contracts when you cum.""Oh. Okay."I slouched down at her headboard. I placed my feet so that my legs were spread out and knees bent; and she had a good view of my anus. She was kneeling in front of me. I licked my stroke hand to provide some lubrication. Now her stereo was playing A-Ha. The cut was ‘Take On Me'.Hannah said, "I can provide some saliva." She leaned forward dribbled some spit on the head of my cock.I smiled, "That's helpful.""But probably not enough." She grabbed my stroke hand and placed her mouth on my cock, sucking away."I think that defeats the purpose of the assignment."She came off for a moment, "I don't care."Hannah soon had my entire shaft wet with saliva. She stroked me with her hands while sucking and churning the head in her mouth. The stereo filled the room with ‘Shout' from Tears For Fears. When I groaned my appreciation, I felt her finger at my ass. I think she had her juices on her finger because she slipped right in. She found my prostate."Oh god, Hannah. Hannah. Cumming. I'm cumming." The stereo rumbled; “Shout, shout, let it all out”.Everything sped up, her mouth, her fingers rubbing in my ass. I grabbed my knees and pulled my legs toward me. The point of no return approached and my world narrowed to my cock and ass. My body started quaking uncontrollably. Hannah's eyes were locked in on mine as she swallowed everything I shot. I threw my head back as my orgasm continued. All I could feel was her fingers rubbing my prostate and her mouth on my cock, churning, sucking, licking. I tried to say something, but a croaking sound came out.
"Elizabeth Bennet embarks on a dangerous journey in an effort to obsess over becoming a bird." Is this the same Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice? Why does she want to become a bird? And how on earth does Harlem factor in? Our guest MB Mooney is here to help us figure out! Find his work on his YA fantasy book "Shield of the King," or on his YouTube channel, "Great Stories Change the World." And our links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/somebodywritethis Facebook: https://facebook.com/somebodywritethis Twitter: https://twitter.com/writethispod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/writethispod/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SomebodyWriteThis
The ‘Austenmania' craze of the mid-90s kicked off with the BBC's production of ‘Pride and Prejudice', which first aired on 24th September, 1995. Now primarily remembered for Colin Firth's ‘wet shirt' scene, Andrew Davies's ‘sexed up' adaptation also starred Firth's real-life squeeze Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet, and was the first serialisation of the novel to be filmed on location, with picturesque country estates providing a ‘property porn' backdrop to the plot's central romance. In this episode, the Retrospectors reveal how Firth later tried to distance himself from the fetishisation of his role as Mr Darcy; explain the part rat urine played in filming the iconic bathing scene; and discover how this sensationally popular miniseries sparked interest in erotic adaptations of Austen's work… Further Reading: ‘Pride and Prejudice at 20: The scene that changed everything' (BBC Culture, 2015): https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20150922-pride-and-prejudice-at-20-the-scene-that-changed-everything ‘Books, Bras and Bridget Jones: reading adaptations of Pride and Prejudice - by Olivia Murphy' (University of Sydney): https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/229392346.pdf ‘The Lake Scene (Colin Firth Strips Off)' (BBC, 1995): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hasKmDr1yrA Love the show? Support us! Join
Send me a message. What do you think about the book/podPride and Prejudice by Jane Austen chapter 47, narrated by Isaac BirchallSubscribe on YT or Join the Book Club on Patreon and support me as an independent creator :Dhttps://ko-fi.com/theessentialreadshttps://www.patreon.com/theessentialreadshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfOFfvo05ElM96CmfsGsu3g/joinSUMMARY:Elizabeth, and her Uncle and Aunt discuss nothing but Lydia's running off with Wickham on the way back to Longborne. Her uncle and aunt believe that Wickham must indeed intend to marry Lydia, and any thoughts against that would only paint him to be the evilest person who exists. Once they get back to Longborne, the are greeted by the whole family besides Mr Bennet who has already headed to London to find his daughter. Jane and Elizabeth discuss the whole affair, and Elizabeth laments that they didn't tell the whole town about Wickham's past. Jane thinks it was for the best that they didn't, but does agree that Lydia probably wouldn't have run off if she knew his past. Mrs Bennet is distraught, and begs her brother to go to London to find Mr Bennet, and force him to have Wickham marry Lydia. He promises his sister as much, and says that he will set off the next morning for the city. Jane and Elizabeth retreat to their room, and Elizabeth asks her to relate everything that happened since Mr Forster came to Longborne, and what her father's plans were in London. Support the showThank you so much for listening, if you want to support the me go to any of these links :)*Social*INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/theessentialreadsTWITTER: http://twitter.com/IsaacBirchallvoKo-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/theessentialreads
Send me a message. What do you think about the book/podPride and Prejudice by Jane Austen chapter 46, narrated by Isaac BirchallSubscribe on YT or Join the Book Club on Patreon and support me as an independent creator :Dhttps://ko-fi.com/theessentialreadshttps://www.patreon.com/theessentialreadshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfOFfvo05ElM96CmfsGsu3g/joinSUMMARY:Elizabeth finally, after a wait of several days, receives not 1 but 2 letters from Jane; one had been mislabelled and lost in the post. The letters reveal that a disaster has struck, Lydia, her younger sister has run off from Brighton and her hosts, Mr and Mrs Forster, with Mr Wickham! The whole family is distraught, and Mr Forster came to Longborne after looking throughout London for the couple. Jane wants nothing more than for Elizabeth to come home and help support the family, while her father and Mr Forster go off again to look for the girl and officer. Elizabeth runs off to try and find her uncle and aunt but upon opening the door, finds Mr Darcy being let in by a servant. Darcy believes Elizabeth ill, and soon after explaining why she is running, Elizabeth collapses. Darcy sends the servant to look for Mr and Mrs Gardiner and takes care of Elizabeth while she explains the whole story through tears. Darcy is deeply concerned, and Elizabth feels a deep connection and affection for him while he paces the room thinking. Soon before the servant arrives with Elizabeth's family, Darcy relieves himself, and Elizabeth can't help but sadly feel that this may be the last time they could see each other. When her uncle and aunt arrive, they immediately set to packing their affairs, and leaving the county to head back down south.Support the showThank you so much for listening, if you want to support the me go to any of these links :)*Social*INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/theessentialreadsTWITTER: http://twitter.com/IsaacBirchallvoKo-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/theessentialreads
Send me a message. What do you think about the book/podPride and Prejudice by Jane Austen chapter 45, narrated by Isaac BirchallSubscribe on YT or Join the Book Club on Patreon and support me as an independent creator :Dhttps://ko-fi.com/theessentialreadshttps://www.patreon.com/theessentialreadshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfOFfvo05ElM96CmfsGsu3g/joinSUMMARY:Elizabeth and Mrs Gardiner head to Pemberly and they enter the saloon where they are met by Miss Darcy, the woman she lives with in London, Miss Bingley, and Mrs Hurst. Miss Darcy is still very embarrassed by the whole situation. Miss Bingley and Mrs Hurst treat Elizabeth and Mrs Gardiner coldly. Mrs Gardiner and Mrs Ansley start the conversation after a long awkward pause. During their conversations Elizabeth realises that she cannot talk to Miss Darcy without being eyed by Miss Bingley. The servants bring some food into the room, and it eases the situation a little. Elizabeth feels that she would like Mr Darcy to be there, but on his entering the room, changes her mind. With Darcy now in the room, Miss Bingley watches every movement he makes. Elizabeth feels that Darcy wants his sister to get to know her as soon as possible. Miss Bingley notices this, and to silence Elizabeth she brings up the local militia, not knowing that Mr Wickham is so closely involved with Miss Darcy, thus silencing her. Elizabeth reacts well to the comment, and this causes Darcy to watch Elizabeth even more closely and favourably. Eventually Elizabeth and Mrs Gardiner leave, and after escorting them to their carriage, Darcy is hounded by Miss Bennet with snarky remarks about Elizabeth, hoping to find out how he truly feels about her.Support the showThank you so much for listening, if you want to support the me go to any of these links :)*Social*INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/theessentialreadsTWITTER: http://twitter.com/IsaacBirchallvoKo-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/theessentialreads
Send me a message. What do you think about the book/podPride and Prejudice by Jane Austen chapter 44, narrated by Isaac BirchallSubscribe on YT or Join the Book Club on Patreon and support me as an independent creator :Dhttps://ko-fi.com/theessentialreadshttps://www.patreon.com/theessentialreadshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfOFfvo05ElM96CmfsGsu3g/joinSUMMARY:Elizabeth is set to meet Darcy's sister, and as soon as she sees Darcy's carriage, she runs to tell her aunt and uncle that they are here. Elizabeth is afraid that Darcy has talked her up too much to his sister, but it seems that Miss Darcy is very shy and embarrassed to be there. Darcy informs Elizabeth that Mr Bingley will also be joining them and before she can react, the door opens. Bingley is as wonderful as ever, and he asks about her family in a very genuine way. She is uncertain if Bingley is still in love with her sister, but he is nonetheless kind. When Bingley and the Darcy's leave, they invite Elizabeth and her family to dine with them before they leave the county. Bingley is very please with the plan, and Elizabeth hopes that Bingley's happiness comes from his wanting to ask about Jane. Elizabeth spends the rest of the evening thinking about Mr Darcy, and wondering about how he feels. Does he still love her? Has he forgiven her for how she rejected him? She finished the evening believing that he must still love her, and she starts to feel tender towards him too. The following day, they head to Pemberly in the morning, and Mr GardinerSupport the showThank you so much for listening, if you want to support the me go to any of these links :)*Social*INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/theessentialreadsTWITTER: http://twitter.com/IsaacBirchallvoKo-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/theessentialreads
Send me a message. What do you think about the book/podPride and Prejudice by Jane Austen chapter 43, narrated by Isaac BirchallSubscribe on YT or Join the Book Club on Patreon and support me as an independent creator :Dhttps://ko-fi.com/theessentialreadshttps://www.patreon.com/theessentialreadshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfOFfvo05ElM96CmfsGsu3g/joinSUMMARY:Elizabeth and her aunt and uncle head to Pemberly. It is surrounded by woods and valleys, and the house itself is beautiful, but not obnoxious. When exit their carriage, Elizabeth starts to fear that Darcy would actually be there. The maid starts to give them a tour of the house, starting in the late Mr Darcy's room, which is adorned with portraits of people involved in his life, Wickham included. Elizabeth's aunt and uncle pile questions onto the maid and she is more than happy to answer to everything, and she talks gladly about the wonderful acts of service that Darcy does for his servants. Everything that they all believed Darcy to be fall away as the maid continues to praise Darcy through the rest of the tour. They go all throughout the house and Elizabeth spends much time staring at a large portrait of Darcy. They leave the house for a walk of the grounds with the gardener and just when they start off they see Mr Darcy, come home early. He comes over to them and seems to Elizabeth to be completely changed. How on earth the man before her could be the Mr Darcy she had known before his letter? She doubts that he could still be in love with her after her awful rejection of him, but why else would be he so kind to her. Darcy leaves them to their walk, and thoughts of Darcy's change. After they turn to head back to their carriage, Elizabeth sees Darcy advancing towards them. He immediately asks her to introduce him to her uncle and aunt and invites Elizabeth to meet his sister on the following day.The Loved One'How far would you go to find the person who means the most to you in all the...Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the showThank you so much for listening, if you want to support the me go to any of these links :)*Social*INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/theessentialreadsTWITTER: http://twitter.com/IsaacBirchallvoKo-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/theessentialreads
Send me a message. What do you think about the book/podPride and Prejudice by Jane Austen chapter 42, narrated by Isaac BirchallSubscribe on YT or Join the Book Club on Patreon and support me as an independent creator :Dhttps://ko-fi.com/theessentialreadshttps://www.patreon.com/theessentialreadshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfOFfvo05ElM96CmfsGsu3g/joinSUMMARY:Time passes after Lydia's departure, and eventually Kitty gets better. Lydia sends letters to her mother, saying that she is visiting libraries and is spending time with Mr and Mrs Forster with the officers, and sends letters to her sister Kitty, saying far more interesting things with a lot of hidden details. Elizabeth isn't feeling amazing, and the thoughts of her northern tour with her aunt and uncle keep her morale above water. Her aunt however writes saying that her work is preventing them from coming at the expected time, and that their tour is also going to have to be cut short, meaning that they should only really be able to go as far north as Derbyshire… Eventually her family arrives, and they set off for the North with Elizabeth. When they get to Derbyshire, they explore the area where Mrs Gardiner used to live, Lambton, only 5 miles from Pemberly. Both of the Gardiners wish to visit the grounds and ask Elizabeth if she would go there. After asking the chambermaid if Darcy would be there and finding out he wouldn't, she agrees to go.Support the Show.Thank you so much for listening, if you want to support the me go to any of these links :)*Social*INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/theessentialreadsTWITTER: http://twitter.com/IsaacBirchallvoKo-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/theessentialreads
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Today, we will discuss the famous book "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen. This story takes us back to a time of good manners, love, and society in the 19th century. Get the transcript on my website: Speakenglishpodcast.com/podcast "Pride and Prejudice" is about the Bennet family, especially Elizabeth Bennet, the second-oldest daughter. This story happened when finding a good husband or wife was very important. Mrs. Bennet, Elizabeth's mother, really wants to find wealthy husbands for her five daughters.
Send me a message. What do you think about the book/podPride and Prejudice by Jane Austen chapter 41, narrated by Isaac BirchallSubscribe on YT or Join the Book Club on Patreon and support me as an independent creator :Dhttps://ko-fi.com/theessentialreadshttps://www.patreon.com/theessentialreadshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfOFfvo05ElM96CmfsGsu3g/joinSUMMARY:The last week of the regiment's stay in Meryton has come, and everyone in the town is depressed with the exception of Lizzy and Jane. Kitty and Lydia are the most distraught of all. Mrs Bennet recommends that the family goes to Brighton to be by the sea, and close to the regiment's new post. Lydia soon receives an invitation to join Mr and Mrs Forster in Brighton with them and the regiment, which rejuvenates her and vexes Kitty. Elizabeth is mortified by this invitation and goes to her father to advise him to not allow her to go. Mr Bennet deems that Lydia should go, that she should make an embarrassment of herself so that she can be put properly in her place. The final evening comes before the regiment should depart and Mr Wickham and Lizzy talk for one final time before she hopes to be rid of him forever. He asks her about her time in Rosings and Lizzy immediately tells him that she spent plenty of time with Colonel Fitzwilliam and Mr Darcy, mentioning that Mr Darcy's demeanour improves over time; Wickham is shocked by everything Lizzy has to say.Support the Show.Thank you so much for listening, if you want to support the me go to any of these links :)*Social*INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/theessentialreadsTWITTER: http://twitter.com/IsaacBirchallvoKo-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/theessentialreads
Send me a message. What do you think about the book/podPride and Prejudice by Jane Austen chapter 40, narrated by Isaac BirchallSubscribe on YT or Join the Book Club on Patreon and support me as an independent creator :Dhttps://ko-fi.com/theessentialreadshttps://www.patreon.com/theessentialreadshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfOFfvo05ElM96CmfsGsu3g/joinSUMMARY:Jane and Elizabeth finally have time to talk, and Elizabeth tells Jane about Darcy's proposal, and the whole Wickham Drama. At first Jane is shocked, and then she feels slightly sorry for Darcy for how brutally her sister rejected him. The two sisters then talk of Wickham's behaviour, and Jane tries constantly to save both of the men, Elizabeth however tries to tell her that there is indeed one “Bad Guy”. Jane is really shocked by the whole situation and to save her from further shock, Elizabeth hides the parts about Mr Bennet from her.Mrs Bennet asks Elizabeth about the Collins' and asks how they keep their house and how often they talk about one day owning Longborne house…Support the Show.Thank you so much for listening, if you want to support the me go to any of these links :)*Social*INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/theessentialreadsTWITTER: http://twitter.com/IsaacBirchallvoKo-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/theessentialreads
Send me a message. What do you think about the book/podPride and Prejudice by Jane Austen chapter 39, narrated by Isaac BirchallSubscribe on YT or Join the Book Club on Patreon and support me as an independent creator :Dhttps://ko-fi.com/theessentialreadshttps://www.patreon.com/theessentialreadshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfOFfvo05ElM96CmfsGsu3g/joinSUMMARY:Elizabeth, and Jane finally make it back to Meryton, where they are joined by Mary and Lydia in the inn for luncheon. The Girls are just as superficial as ever, having spent all of their money on clothes and though “inviting” Elizabeth and Jane to lunch, asking them to pay because of their purchases. The girls also tell Elizabeth and Jane that the militia are leaving the area in two weeks to be stationed in Brighton. The girls wish to convince their parents to take them to Brighton for a holiday and their mother actually seems to like the idea. After lunch, they head back to Longborne where they are finally greeted by their parents for the first time in 6 weeks. They are glad to see their children, and Mrs Bennet is very pleased to see that Jane is still beautiful. Support the Show.Thank you so much for listening, if you want to support the me go to any of these links :)*Social*INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/theessentialreadsTWITTER: http://twitter.com/IsaacBirchallvoKo-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/theessentialreads
Send me a message. What do you think about the book/podPride and Prejudice by Jane Austen chapter 38, narrated by Isaac BirchallSubscribe on YT or Join the Book Club on Patreon and support me as an independent creator :Dhttps://ko-fi.com/theessentialreadshttps://www.patreon.com/theessentialreadshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfOFfvo05ElM96CmfsGsu3g/joinSUMMARY:Mr Collins and Elizabeth meet and breakfast together before saying the final farewells. Mr Collins, as usual, is over the top in his thanks, and Elizabeth is quite taken aback by his praise and doesn't quite know what to say apart from reciprocating his thanks. Charlotte soon comes too to say goodbye to Elizabeth, and soon enough the carriage is called to take Mary and Elizabeth back to Meryton. In the carriage, Mary remarks on the wonderful time they had in the area, and what wonderful things they will have to tell their family and friends; Elizabeth agrees, and also adds, in her head, that she too has many things to conceal. Support the Show.Thank you so much for listening, if you want to support the me go to any of these links :)*Social*INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/theessentialreadsTWITTER: http://twitter.com/IsaacBirchallvoKo-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/theessentialreads
The authors of Emma of 83rd Street are BACK with Elizabeth of East Hampton! In this summery modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet is an East Hampton townie whose life is thrown into disarray when Manhattanites Will and Charlie settle in for the season. Topics discussed include local vs. tourist vibes, surfing, characters and plot lines that were updated, MLMs, education in Austen, the women's agency, the cameo of all cameos, Jane's fandoms, and sister love stories.Elizabeth of East Hampton is on sale now, so go get your copy from your favorite local bookstore or any of the major ones! And follow Audrey and Emily on Instagram at @audrey.and.emily. Glossary of People, Places, and Things: Barbie, Marrying Mr. Darcy, Mrs. Wickham, Doctor WhoNext Episode: Persuasion Chapters 8-9Our 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
Send me a message. What do you think about the book/podPride and Prejudice by Jane Austen chapter 36, narrated by Isaac BirchallSupport me as an independent creator:https://ko-fi.com/theessentialreadshttps://www.patreon.com/theessentialreadshttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfOFfvo05ElM96CmfsGsu3g/joinSUMMARY:Elizabeth reflects on Darcy's letter. Her emotions while reading are all over the place. She reads the letter in parts, first reading of Jane and Bingley. She disregards what Darcy initially states about their relationship and takes no time to take in the meaning behind Darcy's words before starting on the next sentence. When she gets to the parts on Wickham she is at first shocked, exclaiming “This Can't Be.” She closes the letter and leaves it unfinished while trying to walk away. She can't resist however and rereads the part on Wickham. Her second read provides her with a lot more insight to Darcy's story, and greatly opens her mind on the terrible character of Mr Wickham, beginning to think again about how Wickham presented himself to the society of Hertfordshire. Coming to the realisation that what Darcy had to say about Wickham must be true, she rereads the part of the letter on Jane. Slowly taking in every line and trying to understand their meaning, she thinks back on Jane's actual behaviour towards Bingley, and remembering something that Charlotte said, comes to agree that Jane wasn't as outwardly in Love with Bingley as she believed. Darcy's comments about her family are like ice in her veins, and the thought that it was because of her family that Bingley could have been removed and not Jane hurts like nothing ever before. Elizabeth cries out that everything she has known about herself has been false, she has been blinded by her Pride and her Prejudice against him. After 2 hours Elizabeth thinks that she should head home and tries to set her face right so that none of the Collins' can guess that she might not be fine. On her arrival, she is informed that both of the Darcy's had been at the cottage to visit Elizabeth and give them their leave. Support the Show.Thank you so much for listening, if you want to support the me go to any of these links :)*Social*SHOPIFY: https://the-essential-reads.myshopify.com/INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/theessentialreadsTWITTER: http://twitter.com/IsaacBirchallvoKo-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/theessentialreads
Chapter 1:Summary of Book Pride and prejudice"Pride and Prejudice," a novel by Jane Austen first published in 1813, is a romantic story set in the early 19th century in rural England. It centers on the Bennett family, particularly the second eldest daughter, Elizabeth. The main plot revolves around the complex relationship between Elizabeth and the wealthy, aloof Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy.The story begins with the arrival of a wealthy and eligible bachelor, Mr. Charles Bingley, in the neighborhood, exciting the local families, including the Bennetts, who have five unmarried daughters. Mr. Bingley soon takes a liking to the eldest Bennett daughter, Jane. Meanwhile, Mr. Darcy initially appears proud and dismissive, particularly towards Elizabeth, whose lively spirit and sharp wit contrast with his more reserved nature.Central to the novel is the theme of misjudgments and the difficulties of understanding someone's true character. Both Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy make poor judgments about each other and those around them. Elizabeth's prejudice against Darcy stems from her initial perceptions and is fueled by misleading information, while Darcy's pride in his social status leads him initially to scorn the environment of the Bennett family.As the story unfolds, various family and social dramas emerge, including scandalous elopements, failed proposals, and misinterpreted intentions. Both Elizabeth and Darcy undergo personal growth. Elizabeth recognizes her predisposition to hastily judge others, while Darcy becomes more self-aware and learns humility, ultimately shedding his veneer of pride.Their mutual evolution paves the way for romance between Elizabeth and Darcy, challenging societal norms and personal pride. Throughout the novel, Jane Austen explores themes of love, reputation, and class, and provides social commentary on the status of women and the dependence on marriage for social standing."Pride and Prejudice" ends with various resolutions of family and romantic entanglements, including the marriages of Elizabeth to Mr. Darcy and Jane to Mr. Bingley, suggesting themes of reconciliation and social harmony.Chapter 2:The Theme of Book Pride and prejudice"Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen is a novel rich in themes, character development, and essential plot points. Set in rural England in the early 19th century, the story explores the nature of love, marriage, society, and morality through the lens of the Bennet family, particularly through the protagonist, Elizabeth Bennet. Key Plot Points1. Introduction of the Bennet Family: The novel introduces Mr. and Mrs. Bennet and their five unmarried daughters. The arrival of a wealthy bachelor, Mr. Bingley, sets the story in motion.2. Ball at Meryton: Here, Elizabeth Bennet first encounters Mr. Darcy, who snubs her, beginning their tense interactions.3. Jane's Illness and Stay at Netherfield: Jane Bennet falls ill while visiting Mr. Bingley's sister at Netherfield Park, leading Elizabeth to care for her. During this stay, Elizabeth observes the behavior of Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley, developing her impressions.4. Mr. Collins' Proposal: The ludicrous Mr. Collins proposes to Elizabeth, who refuses him. This act demonstrates her desire for a marriage based on love rather than convenience or economic security.5. Elizabeth's Visit to Hunsford: During this visit to Charlotte Lucas, now Mrs. Collins, Elizabeth encounters Darcy again. Darcy proposes, showing evident class consciousness and pride, which Elizabeth rebukes.6. Revelations About Darcy: Elizabeth receives a letter from Darcy explaining his actions concerning Jane and Bingley, and the truth about Mr. Wickham, a charming officer who deceived Elizabeth.7. Lydia's Elopement with Wickham: This crisis reveals the imprudence of Lydia and the risks associated with reckless behavior. Darcy...
We're finally getting around to tackling Jane's only nonfiction novel, "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," which covers the zombie apocalypse of 1813, as well as the marriage — officiated by Doctor Who himself — of Elizabeth Bennet to handsome actor Sam Riley, who everyone agrees is the best Mr. Darcy. Also, it's a movie, not a book, so I guess it's a documentary. Happy Pride Month! Special thanks to Baby Bee Carys for the theme music! Subscribe to our Patreon at Patreon.com/BSCCPodcast and support the show at Bit.ly/RattlesnakeJake! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sparks fly when spirited Elizabeth Bennet meets single, rich, and proud Mr. Darcy. But Mr. Darcy reluctantly finds himself falling in love with a woman beneath his class. Can each overcome their own pride and prejudice?Watch on Philo! - Philo.tv/DTH