Podcasts about Knightley

Join me (Anna Stone) and guest host Clare Yeo as we discuss Jane Austen's Emma and the 1996 film adaptation starring Gwyneth Paltrow. In this episode, we will share what it is about this story that sticks with us, cringe over which character we compare ourselves to, and elaborate on why the side characters really make the movie.Follow on Instagram @stonestoptens and @classicallyclareFollow Clare on TikTok @classicallyclareEmail stonestoptens@gmail.comKeywordsEmma, Jane Austen, film adaptation, friendship, character growth, classic literature, Gwyneth Paltrow, Claire, movie review, themes, Emma, Jane Austen, Miss Bates, Knightley, film adaptation, character analysis, performance, soundtrack, period drama, casting

Good morning. ‘Her own thoughts and reflections were habitually her best companions.' So says Jane Austen of Fanny Price in Mansfield Park. But she could equally have said it of herself. Jane Austen's 250th birthday this week is being widely celebrated on this network. She was swathed in the practice of faith: her father and two of her brothers were ordained, and two visits to church on Sunday were her lifelong pattern. She certainly knew the shortcomings of religion: parodying the servility and self-importance of the parson Mr Collins, she says he ‘was not a sensible man, and the deficiency of nature had been but little assisted by education or society.' Her gift is to turn the interactions of family and community, and especially the elaborate dance and fragility of finding a marriage partner, into a whole moral universe. Her characters transcend their surroundings. One, Mr Bennet, says laconically, ‘For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?' Another, Mr Knightley, says poignantly to Emma Woodhouse, ‘If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.' It's a truth universally acknowledged that it's never been clear what it actually means to be a Christian. Some insist on adherence to specific doctrines. Others on obedience to identifiable moral codes. Others point to formation in a traditional culture. A woman of her time, Jane Austen's participation in worship and devotion was socially conventional. But she has her own answers to this perennial question. If she were to identify a favourite parable, my guess is she'd choose the story of the two sons, one of whom refused his father's request to go into the vineyard, but did; while his brother said, ‘I will,' but didn't. For Austen, Christianity's about actions not words. ‘Christian' is more of a verb than a noun. The many suitors are sifted out not by their protestations of love, but by their true character. Of Fanny Price, we're told, ‘She made herself indispensable to those she loved.' Which connects Jane Austen in a significant way to Christmas. For the Christmas story's not about what God says. It's about what God does. In Northanger Abbey, Isabella Thorpe exclaims, ‘There's nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves. It's not my nature.' Coming in person as a vulnerable baby is communicating by action rather than by word. Maybe Jane Austen knew exactly what she thought being a Christian meant. It meant not loving by halves. Perhaps she's more of a theologian than she's usually given credit for.

Dr Rachel Knightley is joined by Kim Morgan MCC, author, speaker, Barefoot Coaching founder and internationally recognised expert in coaching and coach training. Kim's passion to spread the word about coaching has resulted in two best-selling books, ‘The Coach's Casebook' (2015) and ‘The Coach's Survival Guide (2019). Kim also has a monthly coaching column in Psychologies Magazine, and she is a sought- after conference speaker on all things coaching related.   Kim is one of the select band of coaches accredited by the ICF as a Master Certified Coach. She draws extensively on her own experience of what works in practice to make successful individuals, great leaders, productive teams and organisations, and outstanding coaches. Kim designed and launched the Barefoot Flagship Course in 2001. Kim's passion and curiosity ensure that the course is constantly evolving, refreshed by new ideas and thinking and always remains grounded in ethical and psychological rigour.Under Kim's leadership Barefoot Coaching has established an international reputation as one of the most trusted and respected providers of coach training. Over 4,000 coaches from 28 different countries have chosen Barefoot to begin or to build their coaching careers. Kim's vision remains the same, to make the world a brighter place through exceptional coaching; firstly, by providing world-class training for coaches who want to make a difference, and secondly by delivering Barefoot-quality coaching to individuals and organisations looking for real and lasting change.   About Kim: https://barefootcoaching.co.uk/about/   Kim's books at Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/books/search/term/kim+morgan+coach

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

Tim Lebbon is a New York Times-bestselling writer from South Wales. He's written over fifty novels, as well as hundreds of novellas and short stories. His latest novel is Secret Lives of the Dead. He has won a World Fantasy Award, four British Fantasy Awards, a Dragon Award and a Scribe Award. His novel The Silence is a movie on Netflix starring Stanley Tucci and Kiernan Shipka. The movie of his novella Pay The Ghost stars Nicolas Cage.   Tim has written extensively in existing universes including Alien, Conan the Barbarian, Predator, Star Wars, Firefly and Hellboy novels. He also novelized the movies 30 Days of Night, The Cabin in the Woods, and Kong: Skull Island.   He has written computer games, comics, and audio dramas. He is currently developing more novels, and both original and adapted screen projects.   He loves the outdoors, and spends a lot of time walking, running, cycling and swimming around the Welsh countryside. He's competed in many Ironman and other triathlons. He's a huge music fan, and believes you're never too old to jump up and down in a mosh pit.   Find out more about Tim at www.timlebbon.net

Joanne was born in Barnsley in 1964, of a French mother and an English father. She studied Modern and Mediaeval Languages at Cambridge and was a teacher for fifteen years, during which time she published three novels, including Chocolat (1999), which was made into an Oscar-nominated film starring Juliette Binoche . Since then, she has written over 20 more novels, plus novellas, short stories, game scripts, the libretti for two short operas, several screenplays, a stage musical (with Howard Goodall) and three cookbooks. Her books are now published in over 50 countries and have won a number of British and international awards. She is an honorary Fellow of St Catharine's College, Cambridge, has honorary doctorates in literature from the universities of Sheffield and Huddersfield, and has been a judge for the Whitbread Prize, the Orange Prize, the Desmond Elliott Prize, the Betty Trask Award, the Prima Donna Prize  and the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science, as well as for the Fragrance Foundation awards for perfume and perfume journalism (for which she also received an award in 2017). She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2022. She is a passionate advocate for authors' rights, and was the Chair of the Society of Authors (SOA) for four years. She was a member of the Board of the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) between 2018 and 2024. Her hobbies are listed in Who's Who as: “mooching, lounging, strutting, strumming, priest-baiting and quiet subversion of the system”, although she also enjoys obfuscation, sleaze, rebellion, witchcraft, armed robbery, tea and biscuits. She is not above bribery and would not necessarily refuse an offer involving perfume, diamonds,  foreign travel or pink champagne. She works from a shed in her garden, plays in the band she first joined when she was 16, and lives with her husband in a little wood in Yorkshire. Joanne's website: https://www.joanne-harris.co.uk The Society of Authors: https://societyofauthors.org ALCS: https://www.alcs.co.uk Vianne/Sarah McCartney scent collaboration: https://www.joanne-harris.co.uk/news/4690/

In our latest episode, Marc and Vassilis discuss the evolving landscape of advertising and marketing, focusing on the impact of AI technologies. They explore how AI can outperform human copywriters in ad creation, the implications of Amazon's layoffs due to AI automation, and the changing nature of marketing jobs. The conversation also delves into the ethical concerns surrounding hyper-personalization in advertising, Google's new JourneyAware bidding strategy, and the importance of brand priming in consumer decision-making. The episode concludes with a creative Christmas campaign that exemplifies the blending of advertising and entertainment.Key Takeaways:AI can outperform human copywriters in ad creation.Amazon's layoffs signal a shift towards AI automation.Marketing jobs are evolving due to AI advancements.Hyper-personalization in advertising raises ethical concerns.Google's JourneyAware bidding focuses on user context.84% of purchases are decided before shopping begins.Word of mouth is a powerful influencer in marketing.Creative campaigns can effectively engage consumers.AI is reshaping the advertising landscape.Marketers must adapt strategies to leverage AI technologies.Chapters:00:00 - Introduction and Personal Updates02:45 - AI in Advertising: A Game Changer05:29 - The Impact of AI on Job Markets08:26 - The Future of Advertising: Automation and AI11:27 - Hyper-Personalization in Digital Marketing14:05 - Google's Journey-Aware Bidding: A New Era17:03 - Conclusion and Future Implications21:15 - The Complexity of Incremental Outcomes23:15 - Marketing Moments: Understanding Consumer Decisions28:14 - Influence and Receptivity in Marketing32:21 - Creative Advertising: Blurring Lines Between Entertainment and MarketingNews Links:Can genAI actually write better paid search ads than humans?https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nico-neumann-3021b32_can-genai-actually-write-better-paid-search-activity-7394635382283239424-vTRH/Amazon lays off hundreds across its ad tech, analytics, and sales teams — and says AI is the reason.https://www.marketingweek.com/amazon-layoffs-ai/ Will AI mean better adverts or 'creepy slop'? By MaryLou Costahttps://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg4y4z169goGoogle Tests “Journey-Aware Bidding” — Search Gets a Little More… Emotional?https://searchengineland.com/google-tests-journey-aware-bidding-to-optimize-search-campaigns-464729The Marketing MomentHow Humans Decide - https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jameshurman_under-16-of-people-will-buy-your-product-activity-7394639418369880066-Biih/Ad of the WeekWaitrose serves up festive romcom starring Keira Knightley and Joe WilkinsonView ad here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWeYKBXmCRsPhil (Wilkinson) meets Keira at a Waitrose cheese counter, their shared love of food sparks a quirky romance. Classic rom-com beats: meet-cute, food montage, surprise domestic gesture (turkey pie under a tea towel) and a playful nod to the iconic cue-card scene from Love Actually (“Please say you don't have cue cards”) Directed by Molly Manners; emphasises food as the love-language centerpiece. Why it stands out:It blurs the line between advertising and entertainment, leaning into narrative, character and emotion rather than straightforward product-first messaging.It leverages star power (Knightley) plus comedic contrast (Wilkinson) to create “pop” and shareability.It uses the insight that food & shared meals = emotional currency in rom-coms (and by extension, in festive retail ads) — the brief treats the supermarket not just as backdrop but as the catalyst...

Josh and Aaron Sarnecky have returned for another podcast. This month their talking Pride & Prejudice for its 20th anniversary.Pride & Prejudice is a period romance film directed by Joe Wright. Based on the beloved Jane Austen novel, it is an adaptation by Deborah Moggach. Emma Thompson provided additional dialogue uncredited. It opened in U.S. theaters on November 23, 2005.Set in late 18th century England, the film follows Elizabeth (Keira Knightley), one of five Bennet daughters who needs marrying. Elizabeth becomes acquainted with Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen), whom she loathes. While Jane Bennet (Rosamund Pike) cozies up to Mr. Bingley (Simon Woods), Mr. Collins (Tom Hollander) has his eye on Elizabeth.Other characters include Mr. and Mrs. Bennet (Donald Sutherland and Brenda Blethyn), their other daughters Mary, Lydia, and Kitty (Talulah Riley, Jena Malone, and Carey Mulligan), Darcy's benefactor Lady Catherine de Bourgh (Judi Dench), and the duplicitous Mr. Wickham (Rupert Friend).Pride & Prejudice garnered praise from critics and made $129 million on a $28 million budget. At the Oscars, the film was nominated for Best Actress for Knightley, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score. Josh and Aaron discuss their histories with Pride & Prejudice before going into the plot, performances, and cinematography. They also talk about the film living in the shadow of the 1995 miniseries and the upcoming Netflix adaptation.You can listen to last month's Anniversary Brothers on Static Shock.Pride & Prejudice is streaming on HBO Max.

Send us a textIn today's episode, I'm chatting with Tessa Afshar. Tessa's award-winning novels have been on Publishers Weekly and CBA bestseller lists and have been translated into 13 languages. Winner of the ECPA Bronze Milestone award, the Christy, the INSPY, and the ECPA Christian Book Award for her Bible study, The Way Home. Tessa holds a Master of Divinity from Yale, where she served as co-chair of the Evangelical Fellowship for one year. Born in the Middle East to a nominally Muslim family, Tessa converted to Christianity in her twenties. She is a devoted wife, a mediocre gardener, and an enthusiastic cook of biblical recipes. We talked about the power of deep connections and how books can be a bridge to those relationships. Tessa shared how recreating biblical recipes has helped her bring her stories to life in new and meaningful ways. We also discussed how biblical fiction can make scripture feel more relatable and give readers something to strive for in their own lives. I especially loved her reflection:“I am more than what I do—and that is enough. I can rest in that.”Tessa also shared about her series on Queen Esther, her experiences growing up in the Middle East, and the way literature was taught there. We're here today to dive into her latest novel, The Royal Artisan. Episode Highlights:Using books as a tool for connection and spiritual growth.Cooking biblical recipes and bringing ancient stories to life.Finding rest and identity beyond productivity.Writing about Queen Esther and exploring courage in faith.Growing up in the Middle East and the role of literature in shaping worldview.Connect with Tessa:InstagramFacebookWebsiteBuy Tessa's booksShow NotesSome links are affiliate links, which are no extra cost to you but do help to support the show.Books and authors mentioned in the episode:Leo Tolstoy booksGone with the Wind by Margaret MitchellMy Friends by Fredrik BackmanBook FlightJane Eyre by Charlotte BronteEmbergold by Rachelle NelsonDear Mr. Knightley by Katherine Reay✨ Find Your Next Great Read! We just hit 175 episodes of Bookish Flights, and to celebrate, I created the Bookish Flights Roadmap — a guide to all 175 podcast episodes, sorted by genre to help you find your next great read faster.Explore it here → www.bookishflights.com/read/roadmapSupport the showBe sure to join the Bookish Flights community on social media. Happy listening! Instagram Facebook Website

Roll out the red carpet because this week we welcome the one and only Keira Knightley to the Happy Mum Happy Baby studio!She's known all around the world for her unforgettable roles in Pride and Prejudice, Love Actually, Pirates of the Caribbean and Bend It Like Beckham (just to name a few!). Now a proud mum of two, Keira sits down with Giovanna for a brilliantly unfiltered conversation about the highs and lows of motherhood.Expect laughter, honesty, and a whole lot of heart — this is Keira Knightley as you've never heard her before!Keira's debut children's book, I Love You Just The Same, is available now! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

DONATE PAYPAL: https://paypal.me/radiobaloneyHelp support the channel, it's greatly appreciated!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/radio-baloney-the-richie-baloney-show--4036781/support.

We both really loved the show-don't-tell banter and unresolved sexual tension and really don't loved that the next book isn't out yet.

Join the fiery crew of Pop & Politics as we dive headfirst into the liberal meltdown of the week! Our smart, edgy conservative hosts break down the "No Kings" protests sweeping the nation in 2025, where millions of triggered leftists hit the streets whining about President Trump's so-called "authoritarianism." But guess what? Trump clapped back like a boss with hilarious AI-generated videos of himself as "King Trump" dropping truth bombs (or something browner) on the crybabies – pure epic trolling that proves why he's unbeatable!Keira Knightley faces down transgender mob in interview about JK Rowling over her no-nonsense stance against trans ideology. Knightley's "sorry, not sorry" vibe has the woke mob fuming, but we're cheering – finally, a celeb not bowing to the gender cult! Plus, Robert DeNiro's unhinged rant calling Jewish Trump advisor Stephen Miller a "Nazi" and Trump's "Goebbels"? Don't miss our takedown of Bernie Sanders and the cackling hens on The View slamming Trump as a "tyrant" while ignoring their own party's failures. And the cherry on top: Karine Jean-Pierre's shameless claim she "never saw" Biden's obvious mental decline – even CBS hosts called BS! How blind (or complicit) can you be?#theview #trump #kieraknightley #nokings

RNIB Connect Radio's Toby Davey is joined again by Vidar Hjardeng MBE, Inclusion and Diversity Consultant for ITV News across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands for the next of his regular audio described theatre reviews. As we celebrate the 250 anniversary of Jane Austen's birth, we have a brand new stage adaptation of her comedy of manners with ‘Emma' presented by Bath Theatre Royal at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre with description by Professional Audio Describer Carolyn Smith About ‘Emma'  “I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like” The beautiful, high-spirited Emma Woodhouse is determined that she will never marry but loves to meddle in her friends and neighbours' relationships. When her confidante and former governess, Miss Taylor weds her fiancé Mr Weston, Emma, having introduced the couple, takes credit for the marriage and decides that a future in matchmaking lies ahead of her. So begins a comic journey through the lives and loves of Emma's acquaintances but as the romantic web she weaves amongst her friends becomes ever more entangled, will Emma herself get swept up in true love's wake…? Jane Austen's enduring comedy of manners is filled with memorable characters – the dashing Mr Knightley, Emma's friends Jane Fairfax and Harriet Smith, the mercenary Reverend Elton and his delightfully pretentious wife Augusta. This delightful new stage adaptation celebrates the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen‘s birth. To find out more about Bath Theatre Royal's production of Emma as it continues on it's UK tour do visit - https://www.theatreroyal.org.uk/events/emma/ And for more about access at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre do go to - https://www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/your-visit/accessibility/ (Image shows the RNIB Connect Radio logo. On a white background ‘RNIB' written in bold black capital letters and underlined with a bold pink line. Underneath the line: ‘Connect Radio' is written in black in a smaller font)

Esta semana, Majo se sumergió en el universo de Emma de Jane Austen para ver y analizar todas las adaptaciones al cine y la televisión. Desde las versiones clásicas de época hasta las reinterpretaciones modernas como Clueless, descubrimos cuál es la más fiel al libro, la mejor ambientación, la Emma más encantadora y la producción con mejor fotografía.Además, debatimos junto a nuestra comunidad en redes quién es el mejor Mr. Knightley, la Harriet Smith más entrañable, el Frank Churchill más convincente y la Jane Fairfax más elegante.Un episodio lleno de análisis, nostalgia y amor por Austen.

Steve Toase is a British Fantasy Award 2025 nominated fiction and non-fiction author. He was born in North Yorkshire, England, and now lives in the Frankenwald, Germany. Steve's debut short story collection ‘To Drown in Dark Water' is published by Undertow Publications, and his archaeology themed horror collection Dirt Upon My Skin is out now from Black Shuck Books. Dirt Upon My Skin is shortlisted for the British Fantasy Award 2025 Best Collection. Steve writes for magazines, and is a regular contributor to Fortean Times. In the past he has written for Kerrang, and The Author, as well as motorbike magazines, such as BSH, 100% Biker, and The Classic Motor Cycle. fiction has appeared in Analog, Nightmare Magazine, Three Lobed Burning Eye, Shimmer, and Bourbon Penn, and Deadlands amongst others, and his stories have been selected for Ellen Datlow's Best Horror of the Year series, and Paula Guran's Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror.  He recently worked with astrophysicist Dr Chris Harrison as script editor for a planetarium show designed for people with a vision impairment. From 2014 he worked with Becky Cherriman and Imove on Haunt, the Saboteur Award shortlisted project inspired by his own teenage experiences of being no fixed abode and vulnerably housed, about Harrogate's haunting presence in the lives of people experiencing homelessness in the town. He also likes old motorbikes and vintage cocktails. 

Keira Knightley is the first one to say her new film The Woman in Cabin 10 (Netflix) is “rather tense.” That said, “part of the joy of making something that's sort of so tense and twisted and strange is when you're working with really lovely people, you can also have a bit of a giggle,” Knightley told Newsweek's H. Alan Scott. Knightley plays Laura Blacklock, a journalist on an assignment on a super yacht with billionaires who don't believe her when she stumbles on a gruesome secret. She says the film is “definitely playing with the idea of like, women are not believed,” but that gave her the opportunity to do something she's never done before. “Love being the hero, as well. It was very exciting.” In fact, she joked about telling a fellow actor, “'I don't care that you can run that fast. You don't get to catch me because I'm the hero, OK?'” [laughs] Looking back at her career, while she doesn't have the nostalgic relationship with her films that many fans have, she does look back on quite a few fondly, particularly Bend It Like Beckham. “There is still not another film about women's soccer. And it did have a place in that cultural landscape. And I think it did help to tell girls that it was okay to like soccer and play soccer.” Subscribe to my newsletter: https://www.newsweek.com/newsletter/the-culture/ Follow me: https://linktr.ee/halanscott Subscribe to Newsweek's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/newsweek See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Liliana Rampello"Un anno con Jane Austen"Neri Pozza Editorewww.neripozza.itJane Austen in purezza, nella musicale originalità della sua lingua polifonica, che ci guida, tra giorni e parole, con le sue donne, nei luoghi amati, in quella “Austenland” a cui sempre vorremmo ritornare.Quando Jane Austen a undici anni scriveva storielle per divertire i suoi fratelli nella canonica di Steventon, non avrebbe mai immaginato di diventare un'icona. O forse sì. Se JA presentisse di avere poco tempo davanti, non lo sapremo mai: la sorella Cassandra, amatissima, distrusse quasi tutti i suoi scritti privati. Non resta dunque che cercarla nei suoi sei romanzi, nell'intelligenza di Elizabeth Bennett sfidata dal sentimento, nell'amore fedele di Anne Elliot, nella saggia condotta di Mr Knightley, nella generosità di Elinor Dashwood o nel sogno di perfezione di Mr Darcy. In ogni caso, la creatrice del romanzo di formazione femminile rimane al centro di un mistero: come ha potuto, Miss Austen, dal salotto di un piccolo rettorato inglese di fine Settecento spalancare la stanza di ogni casa presente e futura? Come ha saputo dare vita a tante donne, protagoniste a modo loro del proprio destino, non vittime in un mondo patriarcale e classista, donne in cui si specchiano tante parti di noi? Il mondo che JA scandaglia col suo acutissimo sguardo è un universo intero di relazioni ed emozioni, che dopo oltre due secoli ci parla ancora. Ecco dunque 365 scene di matrimoni, balli, case, paesaggi, incipit gloriosi, finali concilianti; 365 giorni di madri, ragazze, sorelle, zie & zitelle, ecclesiastici, gentiluomini, padri, seduttori. Ecco la scrittrice non sempre compresa dai contemporanei ma adorata dai posteri, forse infelice in amore ma innamorata del suo lavoro. Jane Austen in purezza, nella musicale originalità della sua lingua polifonica, che ci guida, tra giorni e parole, con le sue donne, nei luoghi amati, in quella “Austenland” a cui sempre vorremmo ritornare.Liliana Rampello è critica letteraria e saggista. È curatrice dei due Meridiani che Mondadori ha dedicato a Jane Austen. Tra le sue pubblicazioni si segnalano Il canto del mondo reale, Virginia Woolf, La vita nella scrittura e Sei romanzi perfetti su Jane Austen.Diventa un supporter di questo podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/il-posto-delle-parole--1487855/support.IL POSTO DELLE PAROLEascoltare fa pensarehttps://ilpostodelleparole.it/

In this episode of The Kirk Miller Podcast, Kirk sits down with Aaron Knightley, an entrepreneur, speaker, and straight-talking mentor who helps people break free from the 9-to-5 grind and build a life they truly want. From humble beginnings to building his own platforms and programmes, Aaron's proof that your past does not define your future. We dive into: The mindset shift Aaron made to step away from convention and start living life on his own terms Why “no one's coming to save you” is a mantra that can transform your life The role of fear in driving real change — and how to use it as fuel instead of letting it hold you back The importance of surrounding yourself with the right people and building a network that lifts you higher What it really takes to build freedom, authenticity, and financial independence in the modern world Aaron's message is clear: authenticity wins, fear can fuel freedom, and the life you want is within reach if you're willing to commit and take action. Listen now to discover how you can break free and design a life aligned with your values. For more information on what was discussed in this episode head to https://kirkmiller.co.uk/programme/ The Kirk Miller Podcast is the show for business leaders and peak performers to get into the best physical and mental shape of their lives and unleash from within confidence they never thought possible.

In this weeks episode of the Success School podcast I'm joined by entrepreneur, author, investor and TikTok creator Aaron Knightley   Follow Matt Hall at:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/matthallofficial/   Follow Aaron Knightley at: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aaronknightleyofficial/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@aaron_knightley?lang=en   Join the Success School membership here:  https://join.successschoolgroup.co.uk/ss    This episode is sponsored by Dr. Tania King-Mohammad - The High Ticket Woman, #1 bestselling author of The High Ticket Method, and one of the most sought-after high-ticket sales experts in the game. If you're listening right now, you already know you're built for more. So here's your next move: grab her book The High Ticket Method (click here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/High-Ticket-Method%C2%AE%EF%B8%8F-Strategies-Multiply-Ethically/dp/1915771994/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1P344Q5XTFMEJ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.PdgyrsSS3DsjXcYB9ZH7RSrXjPEH-gftv8X2GZVaJlQ.SS5fjwQkDa5XBFpZxXnxz17klnP2LGfF2qhDIJlZnRQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=dr+tania+king+mohammad&qid=1756248708&sprefix=dr+tania+king+mohammad%2Caps%2C87&sr=8-1) , then head to Instagram @freedomwithtania where she's dropping the kind of strategies and activations that will change the way you sell forever. Dr. Tania King-Mohammad - The High Ticket Woman and your go-to high-ticket sales expert. Go connect with her today, and thank me later.   This episode is also sponsored by Laura Robson and Back Pocket Office. Laura is a systems strategist and certified launch & funnel specialist who helps coaches, consultants and creators build business systems that give them more freedom. Laura is here to help sort all your tech and funnels for your so that you can focus on sales, marketing and delivering... and not have to stress about making sure the tech automations and systems are working. With over 14 years experience of workflow automation in the NHS and healthcare IT, she now brings that expertise to the online business world. Through Laura's signature Strategy–Build–Launch service, she can help you design and build the systems that keep your business running smoothly – from mapping out a clear customer journey to building the tech that supports it. Her approach is calm and collaborative – with a focus on creating beautifully simple systems that give you time back. So if tech has been the thing holding you back, Laura can help you build an online business that works for you. Find out more at www.backpocketoffice.co.uk or connect with Laura on the instagram here.

Anthony McGowan books have won several major awards, and been shortlisted for many more. He has also written highly regarded adult fiction, as well as books for younger readers. He has a PhD on the history of beauty, and has taught philosophy and creative writing. He lives in London with his wife and two children.   Dr Rachel Knightley met Anthony McGowan, one of the most widely acclaimed young-adult authors in the UK, by forgetting she didn't know him already through an event around his semi-fictionalised memoir, The Art of Failing, where he appears alongside Monty, muse/canine co-author of How to Teach Philosophy to Your Dog, a series of conversational walks between Tony and Monty. Tony and Rachel discuss writing inspiration and exercise for writers, and how the stages of Tony's career have required different routines and provided potential for the curiosity that fuels creativity.   Find out more about Tony:   Tony's website https://web.archive.org/web/20141021115523/http://anthonymcgowan.com/anewsite/   Tony's Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_McGowan   Authors Aloud: Speaker visits https://authorsalouduk.co.uk/speaker/anthony-mcgowan/     Carnegie-winning novella: Lark https://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/blog/lark-a-carnegie-winning-novel-by-anthony-mcgowan-6274   Hellbent https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/324997/hellbent-by-anthony-mcgowan/9780099482130     Join the Writers' Gym for more writing and creative confidence workouts at www.writersgym.com or sign up to our mailing list at drrachelknightley.substack.com   Get in touch with us at thewritersgym@rachelknightley.com         “I don't think there's any art of fiction, piece of fiction that doesn't involve a strong truth quotient. We always use our experiences, the stuff around us.” Anthony McGowan   Writers' Gym Workout:   Pick an event or conversation you've experienced (let it pick you: go with the thought that arrives).   Warm-up: Let yourself write freely. Let the characters speak, think, feel. Mix reality with fiction, or just let your memories out. There are no rules except Writers' Gym mantra ‘Think On The Page.   Read it to yourself as if you're seeing it for the first time.   What is the story trying to ask?   What do you want to expand on, or change, to liberate the story?

BAFTA-winning writer, director and producer joins Dr Rachel Knightley on the Writers' Gym. Dan co-created and co-wrote “The A List” for Kindle Entertainment/Lionsgate/CBBC, for which he also directed six episodes, including both season finales. After series one it was picked up and recommissioned by Netflix worldwide, with Dan as an EP over the series. Award-winning online mystery drama “Dixi” ran for four series on CBBC and won a Bafta in 2014. Dan's 10 x 30' original children's comedy series “Lagging” debuted on CBBC in 2021 and ran for two more series, the third airing at the end of 2023. Dan was head writer for “Itch”, an adaptation of the Simon Mayo novel he developed for Komixx, now broadcasting on ABC Me, and which has been acquired by CBBC. Dan also developed “Rhyme Time Town”, an animation series for Dreamworks/Netflix which is now streaming on Netflix. Original projects are in development with Carnival, Caligari Films, I-gen and King Bert. Dan also wrote “Inspector Sunshine”, a family movie produced by Perplexia Pictures/Great Point Media. His TV credits include episodes of “Thunderbirds are go” (ITV), “Casualty” (BBC) – for which he recently also directed an episode he wrote, “Get Even” (CBBC / Netflix), BBC iPlayer, “Shaun the Sheep” (Aardman/CBBC), “Hollyoaks” (Lime/C4), amongst many others.     Find out more about Dan:   Dan's website https://danberlinka.com/   Dan's IMBb page https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3752043/     Join the Writers' Gym for more writing and creative confidence workouts at www.writersgym.com or sign up to our mailing list at drrachelknightley.substack.com   Get in touch with us at thewritersgym@rachelknightley.com         Writers' Gym Workout:       “It's important to have some boundaries around you. I don't think writers necessarily do their best work when they have absolute complete freedom. It's about having the right tension between your desire to write your vision. but a little bit of pushback, little bit of limitation.” Dan Berlinka   Warm-up:   Set yourself a random even number between 2 and 6.   Now write a dialogue between two characters, that lasts no longer than that number of lines.   See what you can show yourself/the reader about who they are and what they want, just with what they say.   “I work basically a nine to five day… I would say that writing is structured a lot like a day of test cricket: nothing really starts until 11. I've realized that I can't really productively write more than about five or six hours a day.”   Think On The Page:   What are your most creative hours of the day?   How many hours are too many?   What's one step you can take to set yourself (for example) less high word-counts, more often?   Or let yourself write less complete passages, knowing your can edit more later?     “Not waiting for inspiration to strike [is vital]: I used to be very bad at allowing myself the time, sometimes I'd try and force it. So that's the thing: being aware that just going for a walk could actually also count as working. I do my morning exercises… I don't deliberately try and think about the thing I'm working on but on it sometimes it will just pop into my head and a problem will get solved that way.” Dan Berlina   Think On the Page:   What, for you, are the activities that aren't technically writing but create mental space for writing?   Where is one more place you could give yourself time and space this week?

Thomas and Frank set sail for a rewatch of Pirates of the Caribbean The Curse of the Black Pearl. They talk first impressions, why the story pacing feels different today, and why Jack Sparrow still dominates pop culture. The conversation hits character arcs for Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, the film's blend of practical effects and early CGI, sly nods to the Disneyland ride, and what modern blockbusters can learn from a character first adventure. Fun facts and a quick Hall of Fame debate wrap the voyage, plus a look ahead to Hacks and weekly Peacemaker coverage. Timestamps and Topics 00:00 Welcome and why this pick still matters 00:49 First impressions today versus memory 01:09 Fast plot recap and shifting alliances 04:02 Pacing talk and a slow first act 05:08 Misdirection, the curse, and keeping motives straight 06:03 Cast praise for Depp, Bloom, and Knightley 06:21 Jack Sparrow as career defining performance 07:50 Cartoon energy inside a live action Disney world 09:17 Tone and the Disney magic without the gore 10:15 Family action adventure that still plays for all ages 10:59 Will Turner as the straight man with real growth 12:20 The peg and the dog dynamic between Will and Jack 14:04 Bootstrap Bill and a changing view of pirates 16:06 Set design, practical work, and ride callouts 17:48 Ship battles and why they still pop 23:06 CGI that aged well and where it shows seams 25:19 Budgets, timelines, and quality control for VFX 27:21 Jerry Bruckheimer's fingerprints and franchise future 28:16 Would a non IP pirate movie hit today 30:37 What modern blockbusters can learn from this film 35:42 Romance that supports rather than drives the story 36:39 The trilogy era and that cliffhanger problem 40:19 Fun facts lightning round 47:50 Hall of Fame vote split 49:22 What is next Hacks S1E1 and weekly Peacemaker 50:16 Quick shout on Game Changer and why to watch 51:09 Outro and how to reach the show Key Takeaways • Jack Sparrow works because the comedy never undercuts danger and the character always dances on the edge • Will Turner is the emotional core and the only character with clear growth in this film • Practical effects enhanced by targeted CGI keep the world tactile and hold up better over time • The movie balances action, comedy, and light romance without losing stakes • Nods to the Disneyland ride help the setting feel lived in rather than digital • Modern blockbusters could benefit from character first design and teamwork focused climaxes • The sequel era of the mid 2000s chased cliffhangers that did not always serve casual viewers Memorable Quotes “Jack is our Bugs Bunny in this world.” “The comedy never undercuts the danger.” “Movies should just be fun and character first.” “One person needs to be the peg and one person is the dog that runs around the peg.” “I remember this more fondly than it played for me this time.” “Practical effects with just enough CGI is the sweet spot.” Call to Action Enjoy the episode Subscribe and drop a five star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify Share the show with a friend and tag us with #ChallengeAcceptedLive Links and Resources • News we discuss across our shows is sourced at GeekFreaksPodcast.com Follow Us • Instagram: @challengeacceptedlive • TikTok: @challengeacceptedlive • Twitter: @CAPodcastLive Listener Questions Send your questions, challenges, or takes on Black Pearl to challengeacceptedgfx@gmail.com or DM us on socials. Include your name and city if you want a shoutout on the show. Apple Podcast tags Pirates of the Caribbean, The Curse of the Black Pearl, Captain Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Geoffrey Rush, Jerry Bruckheimer, Disney, movie review podcast, family adventure, practical effects, CGI, Disneyland ride, Peacemaker, Hacks HBO, Game Changer, Geek Freaks, Challenge Accepted Podcast

Priya Sharma's fiction has appeared in  Interzone, Black Static, Nightmare, Weird Tales, and Tor.com (now Reactormag.com). She's been anthologised in many Best of series by editors such as Ellen Datlow and Paula Guran.   Priya is the recipient of several British Fantasy Awards and Shirley Jackson Awards, and a World Fantasy Award. She is a Locus Award and a Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire finalist. Her work has been translated into Spanish, French, Italian, Czech, and Polish.   She lives in the UK where she works as a medical doctor. More information can be found at www.priyasharmafiction.wordpress.com    In this episode, Priya and Rachel discuss the variety of writerly relationships between life as inspiration and how who we are fuels what we create, though the origins remain our own.   Join the Writers' Gym for more writing and creative confidence workouts at www.writersgym.com or sign up to our mailing list at drrachelknightley.substack.com   Get in touch with us at thewritersgym@rachelknightley.com   Writers' Gym Workout:   Priya: I get a real kick out of walking around a gallery because there's always a story there that I want to take away. Look as well as read. And photojournalism, another example of great storytelling… Because they spend as much time not just looking for that moment, for that story, but actually doing what a brilliant writer would do. They're looking at visuals, they're thinking about construction, framing, all of those things.”   Warm-up:   Close your eyes and picture a gallery, or a museum, or a monument, or a picture that means something to you. Notice what you're thinking, what you're feeling, the story you're telling yourself already. Transcribe that, just thinking on the page.   Exercise 1: Re-read your warm-up piece. What character could you give those thoughts to? Or are the thoughts already about another character you could write? “Sometimes just going back to why you fell in love with writing… for me, that's reading a book t or rereading something by a writer that I love and just getting in touch with what made me think I wanted to pick up a book and just remembering what it is about what you do that you love.” Exercise 2 Book an hour – or a day – or ten minutes – out of your work and life. Gift that time to rereading a book you love, just as you'd gift it to someone you were meeting for coffee. Allow yourself to meet those words again for the first time.

“I have a long and complicated personal history which I am in the process of turning into a huge memoir; crucial facts are that I was reared Catholic but got over it, was born male but got over it, stopped sleeping with boys about the time I stopped being one and am much happier than I was when I was younger.” Poet, novelist and critic Roz Kaveney's iography on her Glamorous Rags website is a brilliant beginning for anyone wanting to understand the struggles and celebrations of becoming the writer you are and the person you are. In this episode of The Writers' Gym podcast, Dr Rachel Knightley talks to Roz about her novel Tiny Pieces of Skull (winner of the Lambda in 2016), her recent novel Revelations and a poetic memoir The Great Good Time. In 2018 she published original versions of the complete poems of the Roman poet Catullus with Sad Press. self-knowledge of what it is you want your writing and your writing life to be.   Find out more about Roz: https://glamourousrags.dymphna.net https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roz_Kaveney https://university.open.ac.uk/arts/research/pvcrs/2023/kaveney   Join the Writers' Gym for more writing and creative confidence workouts at www.writersgym.com or sign up to our mailing list at drrachelknightley.substack.com   Get in touch with us at thewritersgym@rachelknightley.com     Writing Workout based on Roz's interview   Warm-up: “I have a long and complicated personal history, which I'm in the process of turning into a memoir. Crucial facts are that I was really Catholic, but got over it was born male but got over it, stopped sleeping with boys about the time I stopped being one, and I'm much happier than I was when I was younger.” Roz Kaveney biog, Glamorous Rags  Imagine you're looking back at your writing and personal growth, not just what's happened so far but what will have happened. What have you ‘got over'? What have you claimed as part of your newer, truer identity   Main Exercise : “Research more than you need, and then throw half your research away.” Roz Kaveney   Choose an area of interest you don't normally get to spend much time with. Go to the British Library website, or Google, and let yourself wander. Keep everything that fascinates you.   Choose a scene to create in that world or around that idea. Include what you like. Exclude what doesn't fit or feel relevant. And know that whatever is still there has had that research support it – even if it doesn't make the final draft.     Take a blank sheet of paper and choose one of these questions:   Who have I been told I am? What do I agree is true? What do I not agree is true? If I were to take one step towards something truer today: -what would it be towards? -what would that step be?

In this episode, we're unpacking so many juicy moments—from Frank Churchill's restless return to Highbury and the long-awaited ball at the Crown Inn to Harriet's shocking misadventure and Mr. Knightley's heroic turn on the dance floor. We'll explore Emma's ever-active imagination, Mrs. Elton's relentless meddling, and some subtle but oh-so-important moments between Emma and Mr. Knightley.  Plus, we'll chat about strawberry-picking at Donwell Abbey, and all the little details that make this part of the novel so rich and entertaining.  As a reminder, we've historically shared these “big book readalong” recap series in our patreon community, but to celebrate five years of podcasting, we're sharing it on the public feed! We're so excited to have all of you reading with us. To grab our reading schedule, go to our instagram page @novelpairingspod for our pinned post or subscribe to our free weekly substack newsletter where you'll get reminders and announcements at novelpairings.substack.com. This is our final season with Novel Pairings, but we are saving all of our episodes right here for you to return to, plus we're opening a shop for our exclusive classes and recap series. Stay tuned.  

In this episode, we're savoring the drama and intrigue of Emma, Volume Two, Chapters 9 through 18. The aftermath of the Cole's party has Emma rehashing every social triumph and misstep, from her jealousy over Jane Fairfax's piano skills to her playful gossip with Frank Churchill about the mysterious pianoforte.  Meanwhile, Mrs. Elton makes her grand entrance into Highbury society, leaving Emma unimpressed but the rest of the town charmed. Between witty banter, romantic musings, and subtle moments of humor (looking at you, Mr. Knightley), these chapters are packed with Austen's signature blend of sharp social commentary and entertaining drama.  As a reminder, we've historically shared these “big book readalong” recap series in our patreon community, but to celebrate five years of podcasting, we're sharing it on the public feed! We're so excited to have all of you reading with us. To grab our reading schedule, go to our instagram page @novelpairingspod for our pinned post or subscribe to our free weekly substack newsletter where you'll get reminders and announcements.  

Emma Woodhouse's story is nearing its end, but one crucial step remains - informing her father of her and Mr. Knightley's engagement. Now that Mrs. Weston's baby has safely arrived, Emma has no more excuses, and can even recruit Mrs. Weston to help make Mr. Woodhouse comfortable with the idea of poor Emma eventually getting married. And once the news is out to the Westons, it's only a matter of time before it makes it to the rest of Highbury. Everyone is delighted, save for the Eltons, of course. As Emma and Mr. Knightley make their way towards marriage, let their journey be your companion as you drift peacefully into another night of soft and restorative sleep. -----Welcome to the Jane Austen Bedtime Stories podcast! Each episode is a section of a classic Jane Austen novel, read in soothing tones and set to calming music to help you fall asleep.With everything that is going on in the world, we find comfort in the familiar. For so many of us, Jane Austen's works are like a warm hug. So snuggle up under the covers and let the comforting words of Jane Austen lull you into sleep.-----Help us keep this podcast free! Support the podcast: http://bedtimestoriespodcast.net/support -----Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/janeaustenbedtimepod/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠-----Music ["Reverie"] by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. – www.scottbuckley.com.au

In this episode of Practically Christian, hosts Luke and Janelle Heirendt and Jake Silvera dive into Emma. (2020), a visually stunning and delightfully sharp adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel. On the surface, it's a story of romance and matchmaking, but beneath the charm and wit lies a deeper exploration of love, friendship, and the hard truths that lead to real growth.Join us as we unpack the spiritual and relational lessons hidden in Emma.—from Mr. Knightley's brutally honest love to the way our friendships either sharpen us or lead us astray. Why is it so hard to tell the truth when it might hurt someone? How do we know if our friendships are pushing us toward Christ or just feeding our ego? And how do we recognize the difference between real love and the idea of love?True Love Speaks Truth – Why real love challenges us to growThe Role of Friendship in Spiritual Growth – Are our friends shaping us or flattering us?Romantic Fantasies vs. Real Love – Learning to tell the differencePlus, we wrap up with a fun get-to-know-you question: What's your most embarrassing dating moment?Don't miss part two, where we tackle pride, control, and why Emma just can't stop playing matchmaker!

In this recap episode, we're discussing Volume One, Chapters 1-9 of Jane Austen's Emma. We take a deep dive into Emma Woodhouse's world, examining her relationships with key figures like Miss Taylor, Mr. Woodhouse, and the insightful Mr. Knightley. We explore how Emma's interactions with these characters set the stage for her matchmaking adventures. As we continue through the chapters, we meet the wider community of Highbury, including the mysterious Frank Churchill and the charming Harriet Smith. Emma's matchmaking ambitions quickly take center stage, leading her to meddle in Harriet's love life and sparking a significant conflict with Mr. Knightley. We analyze Austen's use of narrative techniques, and discuss the importance of riddles and social expectations in the novel. In a special bonus segment, we preview our upcoming Footnotes episode, where we compare and analyze the opening lines from all six of Austen's most famous novels. If you're interested in more literary analysis and Austen insights, be sure to check out the full episode and head to patreon.com/novelpairings for exclusive content! As a reminder, we've historically shared these “big book readalong” recap series in our patreon community, but to celebrate five years of podcasting, we're sharing it on the public feed! We're so excited to have all of you reading with us. To grab our reading schedule, go to our instagram page @novelpairingspod for our pinned post or subscribe to our free weekly substack newsletter where you'll get reminders and announcements.  

Frank Churchill's letter is too good to keep to herself, so of course Emma immediately shares it with Mr. Knightley to get his thoughts. His patience for Frank Churchill is limited, though, and his priority is to discuss a more pressing issue with Emma - where they should reside after marriage. Mr. Knightley knows Emma cannot quit her father and Hartfield, so what if he were to join her there instead? Emma is delighted at how everything is falling into place (except for the situation with poor Harriet, but she tries to keep that from her mind). Join her and Mr. Knightley as they comment, scheme, and plan for the future, and let them accompany you as you drift peacefully into an evening of gentle slumber.-----Welcome to the Jane Austen Bedtime Stories podcast! Each episode is a section of a classic Jane Austen novel, read in soothing tones and set to calming music to help you fall asleep.With everything that is going on in the world, we find comfort in the familiar. For so many of us, Jane Austen's works are like a warm hug. So snuggle up under the covers and let the comforting words of Jane Austen lull you into sleep.-----Help us keep this podcast free! 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

The dark clouds over Highbury have cleared, and as Emma takes her walk in the garden, the clouds over her heart are about to clear as well. For she has run into none other than Mr. Knightley, returned from London, and eager to see Emma and console her over Frank Churchill's impending marriage. But when Emma reveals that she never had an attachment to Frank, Mr. Knightley's emotions overcome him, and he reveals that he has loved Emma this whole time! All else is forgotten but the two lovers' mutual delight. Let their good news brighten your evening as the latest chapter of our tale soothes you on your way into a night of gentle and relaxing sleep. ----- Welcome to the Jane Austen Bedtime Stories podcast! Each episode is a section of a classic Jane Austen novel, read in soothing tones and set to calming music to help you fall asleep. With everything that is going on in the world, we find comfort in the familiar. For so many of us, Jane Austen's works are like a warm hug. So snuggle up under the covers and let the comforting words of Jane Austen lull you into sleep. ----- Help us keep this podcast free! 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

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 14, 2025 is: deus ex machina • DAY-us-eks-MAH-kih-nuh • noun A deus ex machina is a character or thing that suddenly enters the story in a novel, play, movie, etc., and solves a problem that had previously seemed impossible to solve. // The introduction of a new love interest in the final act was the perfect deus ex machina for the main character's happy ending. See the entry > Examples: "The poultry thieves in Emma provide a particularly humorous example of deus ex machina: the arrival of a poultry thief into the surrounding area (on the penultimate page of the novel, no less) and his theft of Mrs. Weston's turkeys frightens Mr. Woodhouse enough to consent to Emma's marriage and to allow Mr. Knightley to move into Hartfield." — Inger Sigrun Bredkjær Brodey, Jane Austen & the Price of Happiness, 2024 Did you know? The New Latin term deus ex machina is a translation of a Greek phrase and means literally "a god from a machine." Machine, in this case, refers to the crane (yes, crane) that held a god over the stage in ancient Greek and Roman drama. The practice of introducing a god at the end of a play to unravel and resolve the plot dates from at least the 5th century B.C.; Euripides (circa 484-406 B.C.) was one playwright who made frequent use of the device. Since the late 1600s, deus ex machina has been applied in English to unlikely saviors and improbable events in fiction or drama that bring order out of chaos in sudden and surprising ways.

PopaHALLics #136 "Like a Rolling Stone"How does it feel, to be on your own, a complete unknown, or a Dracula clone? We discuss the new Bob Dylan biopic "A Complete Unknown" as well as the gothic horror film "Nosferatu." Spy Keira Knightley goes after her lover's killer in "Black Doves," and Vince Vaughn investigates a severed arm, not his, in "Bad Monkey."In Theaters:"A Complete Unknown," cowritten and directed by James Mangold. Timothee Chalamet and Edward Norton star in this look at Bob Dylan's early career, from his arrival in NYC tin 1961 to his infamously going electric at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965."Nosferatu," written and directed by Robert Eggers. In this remake of the 1922 film, itself inspired by Bram Stoker's novel "Dracula," the mysterious Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgard) terrorizes a German couple (Lily-Rose Depp and Nicholas Hoult). Willem Dafoe plays a Van Helsing-like character.Streaming:"Black Doves," Netflix. In this British thriller series, the wife (Knightley) of the Secretary of State for Defence learns that her secret identity as a spy is in danger after her lover is killed by London's underworld. An old friend, trigger man Sam (Ben Wishaw), is sent to protect her."Bad Monkey," Apple +. A motormouth, irreverent cop in the Florida Keys (Vaughn) becomes involved in a strange case involving an arm missing its body, unscrupulous developers in the Bahamas, and a beautiful, scary practitioner of Obeah. This black comedy crime drama is based on the novel by Carl Hiaasen. Click through the links to see what we're talking about.

Emma is still distraught over the prospect of losing Mr. Knightley to Harriet, but luckily a visit from Mrs. Weston offers a welcome distraction. But even tales of Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill can't keep Emma's attention for too long, and every moment takes her further into introspection, reflection, and remorse. All she can do is promise to be better, for herself, and for those she loves. As Emma continues her private contemplation, let it accompany you on your own journey into another night of soft and restful slumber. ----- Welcome to the Jane Austen Bedtime Stories podcast! Each episode is a section of a classic Jane Austen novel, read in soothing tones and set to calming music to help you fall asleep. With everything that is going on in the world, we find comfort in the familiar. For so many of us, Jane Austen's works are like a warm hug. So snuggle up under the covers and let the comforting words of Jane Austen lull you into sleep. ----- Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/janeaustenbedtimepod/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ----- Music ["Reverie"] by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. – www.scottbuckley.com.au

IT'S LETTER DAY! It's 2 PM before the soirée! Anne and Harville discuss women's vs. men's constancy, Wentworth writes Anne a kicker of a letter, and they FINALLY talk about their feelings for each other.Topics discussed include internal panic, Wentworth's attempts to attach himself to Louisa, whether Anne was right to be persuaded by Lady Russell, Wentworth's pride, and whether hazelnuts poop Nutella.Glossary of Terms and Phrases:innoxious (adj.): having no adverse effect. innocuous. not injurious to physical or mental health.Glossary of People, Places, and Things: The Notebook, Amanda Fagan - Half Agony, Half Hope, Veronica Mars, The Good Place, How I Met Your Mother, Spongebob, Kacey Musgraves - Happy & Sad, BeyoncePatron Study Questions:Adrianna: How does the conversation between Anne and Harville resemble the hazelnut conversation from earlier in the novel, and does this parallel show the development of Anne, Wentworth, and their relationship?Avi: In this chapter, there is a discussion between Anne and Captain Harville about the feelings of men versus women. From this discussion, and from the other books you have read, what do you think Jane Austen is saying about the perception of women in her society?Ghenet: OH BABY THIS CHAPTER! 1. What does Mrs. Croft and Mrs. Musgrove's conversation about engagements show us about society and about Anne and Wentworth, their feelings and their own engagement? Why does this conversation get them so in their feels? 2. Where does the ‘half agony half hope' proposal rank for you in other main character proposals from the books you've read so far (ie Edward, Darcy, Knightley etc)!Anna: If Mrs. Croft represents the best case scenario for what Anne's life would have been if she'd married Wentworth all those years ago, Mrs. Smith in many ways represents the worst-case scenario (widowed with no income, cut off from helpful connections, etc.). Does seeing both outcomes affect your opinion on Anne's original decision all those years ago? How do you think that affect's Anne's ultimate opinion on her actions?  Becca's Study Questions: Topics discussed include Austen's beliefs on constancy and moving on, the letter's role in the story, Wentworth's heartbreak playlist and his journey through the book.Quote: "I am half agony, half hope."Questions Moving Forward: What will Anne's family say? What will happen with Elliot and Mrs. Smith?Who wins the chapters? WENTWORTHNext Episode: Volume 2 Chapter 12 / Chapter 24Our 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

Emma is convinced that the news of Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax will be devastating for Harriet, but the tables soon turn and it's Emma herself who is left devastated, because it turns out the object of Harriet's affection is not Frank, but none other than Mr. Knightley. And upon hearing of Harriet's attachment, Emma has come to life-altering realization: nobody should marry Mr. Knightley other than herself! Emma is fully in her feelings - reflecting, rehashing, and regretting her behavior up until now. A good night's sleep is what she needs to help her process her emotions, and a good night's sleep is what you will enjoy as you let this week's story envelop you in another world and carry you away into relaxing and peaceful sleep. ----- Welcome to the Jane Austen Bedtime Stories podcast! Each episode is a section of a classic Jane Austen novel, read in soothing tones and set to calming music to help you fall asleep. With everything that is going on in the world, we find comfort in the familiar. For so many of us, Jane Austen's works are like a warm hug. So snuggle up under the covers and let the comforting words of Jane Austen lull you into sleep. ----- Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/janeaustenbedtimepod/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ----- Music ["Reverie"] by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. – www.scottbuckley.com.au --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jabedtimepod/support

Better late than never, this week's episode finds us discussing SILENT NIGHT (2021), the intricate rules of Whamageddon, and much more!

Emma is back from the Bates's and just in time to catch Mr. Knightley before he leaves from London. How fortunate that she was able to let him know in time that she made her amends! But before she can think too much about their last interaction, they receive startling news - the long-suffering Mrs. Churchill is no more. Though it's sad news for the Churchills, the bright spot for Emma is that now there's a chance for Harriet to make her way into Frank's affections. More pressing for Emma on her quest to be a better person, however, is offering kindness to poor Jane Fairfax. Yet, for some reason, Jane is firmly rebuking Emma's overtures. All of this action leaves Emma with a lot to consider, and there's no better way to process than with a good night's sleep. So let this week's story help you as you make your own way into rest, relaxation, and peaceful slumber. ----- Welcome to the Jane Austen Bedtime Stories podcast! Each episode is a section of a classic Jane Austen novel, read in soothing tones and set to calming music to help you fall asleep. With everything that is going on in the world, we find comfort in the familiar. For so many of us, Jane Austen's works are like a warm hug. So snuggle up under the covers and let the comforting words of Jane Austen lull you into sleep. ----- Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/janeaustenbedtimepod/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ----- Music ["Reverie"] by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. – www.scottbuckley.com.au --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jabedtimepod/support

Emma, still smarting from Mr. Knightley's rebuke, vows to be better, and the first step is for her to call on Miss Bates. The touch is immediate, and Emma soon learns of a major development - Jane Fairfax (with help from Mrs. Elton) has secured a position as a governess and is set to leave Highbury within a fortnight. But that's not all. It seems like Frank Churchill has left Highbury rather suddenly as well. A chat with Miss Bates is always bound to reveal more than intended about the inner workings of Highbury society, and today is no exception. As Miss Bates rattles on, let her conversation help lull you into an evening of gentle and restorative sleep. ----- Welcome to the Jane Austen Bedtime Stories podcast! Each episode is a section of a classic Jane Austen novel, read in soothing tones and set to calming music to help you fall asleep. With everything that is going on in the world, we find comfort in the familiar. For so many of us, Jane Austen's works are like a warm hug. So snuggle up under the covers and let the comforting words of Jane Austen lull you into sleep. ----- Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/janeaustenbedtimepod/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ----- Music ["Reverie"] by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. – www.scottbuckley.com.au --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jabedtimepod/support

"Badly done, indeed!" Never was there a better phrase to capture the Highbury set's excursion to Box Hill. From Frank Churchill's stupid flirting to the Eltons' posturing, the entire afternoon is one disappointment after another. And worst of all, Mr. Knightley left Emma in a state of despair after he pointed out how cruelly she mocked Miss Bates. The only thing that can remedy such a terrible day is a good night's sleep. So let this week's story help you forget your own worries and immerse yourself in the world of Highbury, and carry you into another night of soft and restful sleep. ----- Welcome to the Jane Austen Bedtime Stories podcast! Each episode is a section of a classic Jane Austen novel, read in soothing tones and set to calming music to help you fall asleep. With everything that is going on in the world, we find comfort in the familiar. For so many of us, Jane Austen's works are like a warm hug. So snuggle up under the covers and let the comforting words of Jane Austen lull you into sleep. ----- Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/janeaustenbedtimepod/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ----- Music ["Reverie"] by Scott Buckley - released under CC-BY 4.0. – www.scottbuckley.com.au --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jabedtimepod/support

Ep. 678: End of Emma | Chapters 53-END / Volume 3, Chapters 17-END Book talk begins at 10:23. Emma and Mr. Knightley are finally engaged, but that's just the start. Will Emma break the news to her father without drama? Meanwhile, Harriet's surprising engagement to Mr. Martin stirs up even more intrigue, and Frank Churchill and Jane's reunion has us all feeling…awkward?

Ep. 675: Not So Secret History | Chapter 49 / Volume 3, Chapter 13 Book talk begins at 13:23. "If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more." Tell us we're not the ONLY ones squealing over what may be the most romantic sentence in CraftLit history.  We've hit the turning point in the story here. Harriet is in love with Knightley. Knightley certainly seems to be in love with Harriet. And Emma's heartbroken. The tension begins to unwind in this chapter, but not without leaving a few knots for Emma to untangle.. --------------------------------------------------------------- • • • • •   *CraftLit's Socials* • Find everything here: https://www.linktr.ee/craftlitchannel • Join the newsletter: http://eepurl.com/2raf9  • Podcast site: http://craftlit.com • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CraftLit/ • Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/craftlit • Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/craftlit/ • TikTok podcast: https://www.tiktok.com/@craftlit • Email: heather@craftlit.com • Previous CraftLit Classics can be found here: https://bit.ly/craftlit-library-2023   *SUPPORT THE SHOW!* • CraftLit App Premium feed bit.ly/libsynpremiumcraftlit (only one tier available) • PATREON:   https://patreon.com/craftlit (all tiers, below) ——Walter Harright -  $5/mo for the same audio as on App ——Jane Eyre - $10/mo for even-month Book Parties ——Mina Harker - $15/mo for odd-month Watch Parties *All tiers and benefits are also available as* —*YouTube Channel Memberships*  —*Ko-Fi* https://ko-fi.com/craftlit  —*NEW* at CraftLit.com — Premium Memberships https://craftlit.com/membership-levels/ *IF you want to join a particular Book or Watch Patry but you don't want to join any of the above membership options*, please use PayPal.me/craftlit or CraftLit @ Venmo and include what you want to attend in the message field. Please give us at least 24 hours to get your message and add you to the attendee list.     • Download the FREE CraftLit App for iOS or Android (you can call or email feedback straight from within the app) • Call 1-206-350-1642

In this bonus episode we have an interview with the writer of our audio drama Winter Spring, Dr Rachel Knightley.  Rachel talks with co-director Emily Inkpen about the inspiration for her story and the joy of bringing it to life in the studio.   This interview was recorded at Orpheus Studio in London by Richard Campbell.   If you would like to find out more about Rachel Knightley and her writing coaching organisation The Writers' Gym please go to  https://www.writersgym.com/ You can follow Rachel on X at https://twitter.com/DrRKnightleyAnd on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/drrachelknightley/  You may also enjoy The Writers' Gym Podcast in which Rachel, Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory have weekly conversations about writing topics.  You can listen here https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-writers-gym-podcast/id1674424465Or by searching “the writers gym” wherever you listen to podcasts.   If you would like to find out more about Alternative Stories and our work you can visit our website here https://alternativestories.com/ Or contact us via office@alternativestories.com   And if you would like to find out more about and support The Dex Legacy Season 3 Kickstarter please go to https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/emilyinkpen/the-dex-legacy-science-fiction-audio-drama-season-3  This podcast has been an Alternative Stories 2024 production Support the show

Ep. 669: Lonely Closets | Chapter 41 / Volume 3, Chapter 5 Book talk begins at 12:08. In this exciting chapter, we get a little of Mr. Knightley's viewpoint! Mr. Knightley suspects symptoms of attachment between Frank (Who he does not like) and Jane, which Emma happily pooh-poohs. Plus, a quick discussion on the extinction of third places and the feeling of community. --------------------------------------------------------------- • • • • • Pembroke tables • Bone Spelling Alphabet • Have any insights on sinus headache things? Let me know at 206 -350 -1642! •   CraftLit's socials: • Find everything here: • Join the newsletter: • Podcast site: • Facebook: • Facebook group: • Pinterest: • TikTok podcast: • Email: • Check out the list of previous CraftLit Classics here:   Support the show links: Subscribe to the Premium feed (on the app) here: or on Patreon: (same price, $5/month)   • Download the FREE CraftLit App for iOS or Android (you can call or email feedback straight from within the app) • Call 1-206-350-1642

Ep. 664: OPTs | Chapters 32-34 / Volume 2, Chapters 14-16 Book talk begins at 13:19.  Chapter audio is at 50:37. Post-chapter book talk is at 1:46:56. This week's episode is loaded with Jane Fairfax's tact, Mr. Knightley's dry sarcasm, and Emma's snarky comebacks. That—plus some stuff about Hartfield and Maple Grove—and so much more! --------------------------------------------------------------- • • Mason River's business card • The punctuations in chapter 32 (volume 2, chapter 14) • Military gaiters • • • • • • • • •   CraftLit's socials: • Find everything here: • Join the newsletter: • Podcast site: • Facebook: • Facebook group: • Pinterest: • TikTok podcast: • Email: • Check out the list of previous CraftLit Classics here:   Support the show links: Subscribe to the Premium feed (on the app) here: or on Patreon: (same price, $5/month) Download the FREE CraftLit App for iOS or Android (you can call or email feedback straight from within the app) Call 1-206-350-1642

Ep. 661: Mildred | Chapters 26 / Volume 2, Chapter 8 Book talk begins at 10:04.  Emma's agenda for today: Chat with Frank. Play the piano. Shut down the idea of Knightley having the hots for Jane. --------------------------------------------------------------- • • • • •  • • • Pg 127 of the book  • • • Mildred! • Time is running out! Join our June raffle giveaway of the ! CraftLit's socials: • Find everything here: • Join the newsletter: • Podcast site: • Facebook: • Facebook group: • Pinterest: • TikTok podcast: • Email: • Check out the list of previous CraftLit Classics here:   Support the show links: Subscribe to the Premium feed (on the app) here: or on Patreon: (same price, $5/month)   • Download the FREE CraftLit App for iOS or Android (you can call or email feedback straight from within the app) • Call 1-206-350-1642

The strawberries are ripe, so gather up your best bonnet and your beribboned basket and head on down to Knightley's U-Pick Farm. We've got all of your favorite strawberries, from the hautboy to the Chili to the white wood. This episode we visit Donwell Abbey to take a look at Mr. Knightley's very fine strawberry beds. You can find us online at https://www.thethingaboutausten.com and follow us on Instagram @TheThingAboutAusten and on Twitter @Austen_Things. You can also email us at TheThingAboutAusten@gmail.com. We have merch! Check out https://www.redbubble.com/people/aboutausten/shop to see the current offerings.

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