Podcast appearances and mentions of Margaret Drabble

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

This week, Margaret Drabble enjoys an enthralling biography of an adventure writer and his entourage; and Thea Lenarduzzi on the gothic mystery at the heart of her new book.'Storyteller: The life of Robert Louis Stevenson', by Leo Damrosch'The Tower', by Thea LenarduzziProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Margaret Drabble explores how Dickens drew on his love of the macabre and grotesque to create literary magic; and Norma Clarke takes a tour around the British coast.'Dickens the enchanter: Inside the explosive imagination of the great storyteller', by Peter Conrad'The restless coast: A journey around the edge of Britain', by Roger Morgan-Grenville'Seascape: Notes from a changing coastline', by Matthew Yeomans'The Shetland Way: Community and climate crisis on my father's islands', by Marianne BrownProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Theatre director Robert Icke's production of Oedipus won best revival and a best actress award for Lesley Manville at last night's Olivier Awards - but his new play Manhunt is now demanding his attention at the Royal Court Theatre in London. The drama focuses on the story of Raoul Moat who attacked his ex-girlfriend and killed her new boyfriend before a stand-off with armed police which ended in his suicide. Samira talks to Robert Icke and to Samuel Edward-Cook who plays Moat. The Edwardian era - from Queen Victoria's death to the start of the First World War - is the subject of a new exhibition at the King's Gallery in London. Samira is joined by its curator Kathryn Jones from the Royal Collection Trust and by the historian and Alwyn Turner, author of Little Englanders: Britain in the Edwardian Era.The Swinging Sixties bring to mind films like Michael Caine's Alfie and the social realist dramas like Up The Junction. But A Touch of Love, released in 1969 and now getting a fresh outing on DVD, offers up an unusual female perspective on the era of free love. Margaret Drabble adapted her own novel the Millstone for the film which starred Sandy Dennis - alongside a young Ian McKellen in his first screen role. We hear from its director Waris Hussein - who also directed the first episodes of Dr Who.

https://www.nicolebokat.com Nicole's first novel, Redeeming Eve, was published by The Permanent Press. It was nominated for both the Hemingway Foundation/PEN award and the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize for Fiction. What Matters Most, her second novel, was published by The Penguin Group. Her third novel, The Happiness Thief, was published by She Writes Press. It was a 2021 Foreword Indie Awards Finalist. WIll End in Fire, her latest novel, was published in October 2024 by She Writes Press Nicole has a Masters in Creative Writing and a Ph.D. in literature (both from New York University) and is the author of a scholarly book: The Novels of Margaret Drabble: “this Freudian family nexus.” She's taught writing and literature at NYU, the New School, Hunter College, and Mediabistro and has written essays and articles for a variety of national publications including The New York Times, Parents, and The Forward. She lives in Montclair, New Jersey, with her husband and dog, Ruby, and has two sons. You can follow Nicole here: Facebook: facebook.com/nicolebokat Twitter: @NicoleBokat Instagram: @nicolebokat #NicoleBokat #WillEndinFire VOX VOMITUS: Sometimes, it's not what goes right in the writing process, it's what goes horribly wrong. Host Jennifer Anne Gordon, award-winning gothic horror novelist and Co-Host Allison Martine, award-winning contemporary romance and speculative fiction novelist have taken on the top and emerging new authors of the day, including Josh Malerman (BIRDBOX, PEARL), Paul Tremblay (THE PALLBEARERS CLUB, SURVIVOR SONG), May Cobb (MY SUMMER DARLINGS, THE HUNTING WIVES), Amanda Jayatissa (MY SWEET GIRL), Carol Goodman (THE STRANGER BEHIND YOU), Meghan Collins (THE FAMILY PLOT), and dozens more in the last year alone. Pantsers, plotters, and those in between have talked everything from the “vomit draft” to the publishing process, dream-cast movies that are already getting made, and celebrated wins as the author-guests continue to shine all over the globe. www.jenniferannegordon.com www.afictionalhubbard.com https://www.facebook.com/VoxVomituspodcast https://twitter.com/VoxVomitus #voxvomitus #voxvomituspodcast #authorswhopodcast #authors #authorlife #authorsoninstagram #authorsinterviewingauthors #livevideopodcast #livepodcast #bookstagram #liveauthorinterview #voxvomituslivevideopodcast #Jennifergordon --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/voxvomitus/support

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Send us a textMargaret Drabble's 1965 novel The Millstone offers a nuanced portrayal of single motherhood in 1960s London. Author Carrie Mullins, whose 2024 nonfiction work The Book of Mothers explores literary depictions of motherhood, joins us to discuss Drabble's fearless protagonist, Rosamund. Together, we explore how The Millstone captures the joys and burdens of motherhood, and how Drabble's sharp, ahead-of-its-time portrayal speaks to contemporary readers.Mentioned in this episode:The Book of Mothers: How Literature Can Help Us Reinvent Modern Motherhood by Carrie MullinsThe Millstone by Margaret DrabbleA Touch of Love starring Sandy Dennis and Ian McKellanA.S. ByattCambride Ladies Dining SocietyLost Ladies of Lit Episode No. 139 on Heartburn by Nora EphronLittle Women by Louisa May Alcott“Little Women” and the Marmee ProblemThe Color Purple by Alice WalkerPride & Prejudiceby Jane AustenMadame Bovary by Gustave FlaubertSupport the showFor episodes and show notes, visit: LostLadiesofLit.comDiscuss episodes on our Facebook Forum. Follow us on instagram @lostladiesoflit. Follow Kim on twitter @kaskew. Sign up for our newsletter: LostLadiesofLit.com Email us: Contact — Lost Ladies of Lit Podcast

Jo opens their mind to further basketball books after reading Hanif Abdurraqib's There's Always This Year, while Charlotte revisits a YA novel from her youth, Bette Green's Summer of My German Soldier. Glamorous Marlowe Granados then joins to expound on great novels of mid-century women, namely Margaret Drabble's The Millstone. Marlowe Granados is the author of Happy Hour, a novel the New Yorker called an "effervescent debut." In 2021, it was shortlisted for the Amazon First Novel award and received starred reviews from Publisher's Weekly and Kirkus Review. It is considered a RAVE on Literary Hub's BookMarks, a website that aggregates reviews from major publications. She writes a substack called "From the Desk of Marlowe Granados" and is currently at work on her second novel. After spending time in New York and London, she now lives in Toronto. Send questions, requests, recommendations, and your own thoughts about any of the books discussed today to readingwriterspod at gmail dot com. Charlotte's most recent book is An Honest Woman: A Memoir of Love and Sex Work. Learn more at charoshane.comJo co-edits The Stopgap and their writing lives at jolivingstone.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The novelist, biographer and critic Dame Margaret Drabble published her debut novel in 1963. She quickly went on to become a bestselling and critically acclaimed chronicler of the lives of modern women in a series of contemporary realist stories, often based on her own life and experiences. Her 19 novels include The Millstone, The Waterfall, The Ice Age and The Radiant Way, and her non-fiction includes books on Thomas Hardy, William Wordsworth and Arnold Bennett. She has also edited the Oxford Companion to English Literature. Dame Margaret tells John Wilson about her upbringing in Sheffield and how winning a scholarship to Newnham College, Cambridge, shaped her literary tastes. It was there that she heard the lectures of the academic F R Leavis and first discovered contemporary novels by Angus Wilson and Saul Bellow. She became an actress and worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company before her first novel, A Summer Birdcage, the story of the relationship between two sisters, was published in 1963. She recalls how her literary career began in the wings of the RSC and talks candidly about her often strained relationship with her older sister, the late novelist A S Byatt. Dame Margaret also discusses the influence of her friend, the Nobel Prize-winning author Doris Lessing.Producer: Edwina Pitman

A.S. Byatt (1936-2023) and Margaret Drabble (1939-present) are sisters and writers. Both achieved global fame at different points in their career and the British tabloids played up the feud between them.  For Further Reading:  “A Narrative of Jealousy and Bafflement and Resentment” What Possessed A.S. Byatt?  Margaret Drabble, the Art of Fiction This month we're talking about adversaries. These women fought against systems, governments and – sometimes each other to break barriers in their respective fields. They did unthinkable and sometimes unspeakable things to carve out their place in history. History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn't help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should. Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we'll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures. Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Lindsey Kratochwill, Adesuwa Agbonile, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Sara Schleede, Paloma Moreno Jimenez, Luci Jones, Abbey Delk, Hannah Bottum, Lauren Willams, and Adrien Behn. Special thanks to Shira Atkins. Original theme music composed by Miles Moran. Follow Wonder Media Network: Website Instagram Twitter See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Claire Marie Healy's writing and curated projects explore film, art, fashion, and the internet, with a focus on the experiences of young women. Formerly the editor of Dazed, she has since edited publications on roller discos, dancefloors and SFX makeup for places like IDEA and A24. Her writing has been published by the Tate ("Girlhood", 2023), The Guardian, Dirt, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Cultured, Real Review and others, and she is also a Contributing Editor for AnOther, where her Girlhood Studies column has lived since 2019. Lately, Claire has been working on a new history of girlhood as told through clothing and makeup.  Books mentioned: 'Girlhood' by Marie Claire Healy, 'A Summer Bird-Cage' by Margaret Drabble, 'Women in the Picture' by Catherine McCormack, 'The Untethered Soul' by Michael Singer. Buy Claires book here ⁠Look Again: Girlhood | Books | Tate Shop | Tate Directors mentioned: Sofia Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola. Movies mentioned: Virgin suicides, Marie Antoinette, The Beguiled, Hoard, Maxine.

fWotD Episode 2610: Arnold Bennett Welcome to Featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia’s finest articles.The featured article for Thursday, 27 June 2024 is Arnold Bennett.Enoch Arnold Bennett (27 May 1867 – 27 March 1931) was an English author, best known as a novelist who wrote prolifically. Between the 1890s and the 1930s he completed 34 novels, seven volumes of short stories, 13 plays (some in collaboration with other writers), and a daily journal totalling more than a million words. He wrote articles and stories for more than 100 newspapers and periodicals, worked in and briefly ran the Ministry of Information in the First World War, and wrote for the cinema in the 1920s. Sales of his books were substantial, and he was the most financially successful British author of his day.Born into a modest but upwardly mobile family in Hanley, in the Staffordshire Potteries, Bennett was intended by his father, a solicitor, to follow him into the legal profession. He worked for his father before moving to another law firm in London as a clerk aged 21. He became assistant editor and then a women's magazine editor before becoming a full-time author in 1900. Always a devotee of French culture in general and French literature in particular, he moved to Paris in 1903; the relaxed milieu helped him overcome his intense shyness, particularly with women. He spent ten years in France, marrying a Frenchwoman in 1907. In 1912, he moved back to England. He and his wife separated in 1921 and he spent the last years of his life with a new partner, an English actress. He died in 1931 of typhoid fever, having unwisely drunk tap water in France.Many of Bennett's novels and short stories are set in a fictionalised version of the Staffordshire Potteries, which he called The Five Towns. He strongly believed that literature should be accessible to ordinary people and lamented literary cliques and élites. His books appealed to a wide public and sold in large numbers. For this reason and his adherence to realism, writers and supporters of the modernist school, notably Virginia Woolf, belittled him, and his fiction became neglected after his death. During his lifetime his journalistic "self-help" books sold in substantial numbers, and he was also a playwright; he did less well in the theatre than with novels but achieved two considerable successes with Milestones (1912) and The Great Adventure (1913).Studies by Margaret Drabble (1974), John Carey (1992), and others have led to a re-evaluation of Bennett's work. His finest novels, including Anna of the Five Towns (1902), The Old Wives' Tale (1908), Clayhanger (1910) and Riceyman Steps (1923), are now widely recognised as significant works.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:18 UTC on Thursday, 27 June 2024.For the full current version of the article, see Arnold Bennett on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm long-form Ruth.

Here we narrate D.H. Lawrence's "The Man Who Loved Islands," where isolation becomes both a refuge and a prison. This gripping audiobook tells the story of Mr. Carthcart, a man who seeks solitude by purchasing a series of increasingly remote islands, each retreat further distancing him from the human connections he undervalues. But as he delves deeper into his self-imposed exile, Carthcart finds that nature's overpowering presence grows ever more formidable, threatening to erase any trace of his existence. Well-known literary critic Margaret Drabble hails this narrative as one of the finest examples of English short stories, masterfully weaving allegory and literal narrative into a profound exploration of human isolation. This story delves deeply into the psyche of a man who is fundamentally incapable of forming real human connections or adapting to a shared existence. With each island retreat, Carthcart's disconnect grows, turning each new haven into a more desolate and isolating place than the last. Perfect for those who are captivated by the complexities of solitude and the human condition, this audiobook offers a compelling narrative that captures the tragic consequences of a life lived at the margins of society. Listen and uncover the depth of Lawrence's insight into the inevitable downfall that comes from fleeing the very essence of humanity: our need for each other. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Internationell författarscen 7 december 2015.

Reichart, Manuela www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de, Studio 9

Reichart, Manuela www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de, Studio 9

Reichart, Manuela www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de, Studio 9

Here we narrate D.H. Lawrence's "The Man Who Loved Islands," where isolation becomes both a refuge and a prison. This gripping audiobook tells the story of Mr. Carthcart, a man who seeks solitude by purchasing a series of increasingly remote islands, each retreat further distancing him from the human connections he undervalues. But as he delves deeper into his self-imposed exile, Carthcart finds that nature's overpowering presence grows ever more formidable, threatening to erase any trace of his existence. Well-known literary critic Margaret Drabble hails this narrative as one of the finest examples of English short stories, masterfully weaving allegory and literal narrative into a profound exploration of human isolation. This story delves deeply into the psyche of a man who is fundamentally incapable of forming real human connections or adapting to a shared existence. With each island retreat, Carthcart's disconnect grows, turning each new haven into a more desolate and isolating place than the last. Perfect for those who are captivated by the complexities of solitude and the human condition, this audiobook offers a compelling narrative that captures the tragic consequences of a life lived at the margins of society. Listen and uncover the depth of Lawrence's insight into the inevitable downfall that comes from fleeing the very essence of humanity: our need for each other.

Das ist die Geschichte einer naiven jungen Frau, die nach ihrem allerersten sexuellen Kontakt, einem One-Night-Stand, schwanger wird und ahnungslos weiterlebt. Von Elke Heidenreich.

Baltschev, Bettina www.deutschlandfunk.de, Büchermarkt

Fuhrig, Dirk www.deutschlandfunk.de, Büchermarkt

Katrin Schumacher ist im Gespräch mit Thembi Wolf zum Podcast "Familiengeheimnisse", wir versinken in neuen Büchern von Evan Tepest, Elisabeth Strout , Margaret Drabble. Ein Gedicht gibt's auch, von Patrick Wilden.

This week, to strike a celebratory note, an encore presentation of Writers & Company's 20th anniversary special with acclaimed writers Dionne Brand, Margaret Drabble, Deborah Eisenberg and Andrew O'Hagan. They joined host Eleanor Wachtel onstage at the Toronto International Festival of Authors in 2010. *This interview originally aired Oct. 31, 2010.

Bookwaves/Artwaves is produced and hosted by Richard Wolinsky. Links to assorted local theater & book venues  ​ Bookwaves A.S. Byatt (1936-November 18, 2023), in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky on ​​​​​January 27, 2003 while on tour for the novel, “A Whistling Woman.” This would be the first of two interviews, the second in 2010 for her novel The Children's Book. Born Antonia Drabble and sister to novelist Margaret Drabble, A.S. Byatt spent her early professional life as a teacher before becoming a full time writer in 1983. In 1978 she began the first of a tetralogy, The Virgin in the Garden, which continued with Still Life, Babel Tower, and finally A Whistling Woman. Her 1990 novel, Possession, probably her best known work, won the Booker Prize. and was turned into a successful film by Neil LeBute. Her novella Morpho Eugenia was adapted into a film titled Angels and Insects in 1995. Over the course of her career, she wrote ten novels, the last of which was Ragnarok: The End of the Gods in 2011, along with six short story collections, a two-novella collection titled Angels and Insects, and nine essays and biographies. Her final work was a short story collection, Medusa's Ankles, published in 2021. This wide-ranging interview focuses not only on her most recent novel, but on the build-up to the American invasion of Iraq, which would happen in March, 2003, her views on Umberto Eco's works, genre fiction, and other issues. Remastered and re-edited by Richard Wolinsky, November 18-19, 2023. Complete interview.   Review of “Guys and Dolls”at San Francisco Playhouse through January 13, 2023. Review of “Harry Clarke” at Berkeley Rep Roda Theatre through December 23, 2023.     Book Interview/Events and Theatre Links Note: Shows may unexpectedly close early or be postponed due to actors' positive COVID tests. Check the venue for closures, ticket refunds, and vaccination and mask requirements before arrival. Dates are in-theater performances unless otherwise noted. Some venues operate Tuesday – Sunday; others Wednesday or Thursday through Sunday. All times Pacific Time. Closing dates are sometimes extended. Book Stores Bay Area Book Festival  Event calendar and links to previous events. Book Passage.  Monthly Calendar. Mix of on-line and in-store events. Books Inc.  Mix of on-line and in-store events. The Booksmith.  Monthly Event Calendar. Center for Literary Arts, San Jose. See website for Book Club guests in upcoming months. Green Apple Books. Events calendar. Kepler's Books  On-line Refresh the Page program listings. Live Theater Companies Actor's Reading Collective (ARC).  See website for past streams. African American Art & Culture Complex. See website for calendar. Alter Theatre. See website for upcoming productions. American Conservatory Theatre  A Christmas Carol, December 6 -24, Toni Rembe Theater. Aurora Theatre  1984 by George Orwell, adapted by Michael Gene Sullivan, In Theater, November 10 – December 10, Streaming, December 5-10. Felonious Mixtape runs Nov. 30-Dec. 2 and Dec. 7-9. Awesome Theatre Company. See website for upcoming productions. Berkeley Rep Bulrusher by Eisa Davis, October 27 – December 3, 2023, Peets Theatre. Harry Clarke by David Cale, featuring Billy Crudup, Roda Theatre, November 15 – December 23, 2023. Berkeley Shakespeare Company. See website for upcoming productions. Boxcar Theatre. See website for upcoming shows. Brava Theatre Center: See calendar for current and upcoming productions. BroadwaySF: See website for assorted upcoming events in 2023. Disney's The Lion King, November 22 – December 30, Orpheum. Broadway San Jose:  How the Grinch Stole Christmas, November 28 – December 3. California Shakespeare Theatre (Cal Shakes). See website for events. Center Rep: A Christmas Carol, December 7 – 21. Central Works  See website for 2024 season. Cinnabar Theatre. The Addams Family, November 17-December 2. The Last Five Years, January 5-21, 2024, Club Fugazi. Dear San Francisco. Open-ended run. Contra Costa Civic Theatre ;Home for the Holidays, Dec. 8-10; 15-17. Fundraiser with Lamont Ridgell and Anita Veramontes. Curran Theater: See website for upcoming live events and streaming choices. Custom Made Theatre. Upcoming shows to be announced. Cutting Ball Theatre. See website for upcoming productions. 42nd Street Moon. Falsettos, February 29 – March 17, 2024. Golden Thread  Upcoming season to be announced. Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. Soulful Christmas, December 14-17, Magic Theatre. Magic Theatre. See website for events at the Magic. Saint John Coltrane Church service, Sundays 11 am. Marin Theatre Company Dragon Lady written and performed by Sara Porkalob, November 24-December 17. Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts Upcoming Events Page. New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC)  Ruthless, December 1 – January 7. Oakland Theater Project.  Cost of Living by Martyna Majek, March 1-24. Pear Theater. In Repertory, November 17 – December 10: District Merchants by Aaron Posner; William Shakespeare's The Land of the Dead by John Heimbuch. PianoFight. Permanently closed as of March 18, 2023. Presidio Theatre. See website for schedule of events and performances. Ray of Light: Everybody's Talking About Jamie, June 1 – 23, 2024. See website for Spotlight Cabaret Series at Feinstein's at the Nikko. San Francisco Playhouse. Guys and Dolls,  November 16 – January 13. SFBATCO See website for upcoming streaming and in- theater shows. San Jose Stage Company: The Play That Goes Wrong. November 15 – December 10. Shotgun Players.  Hedwig and the Angry Inch. October 28 – December 30. South Bay Musical Theatre: A Little Night Music, January 27 – February 17, 2024. The Breath Project. Streaming archive. The Marsh: Calendar listings for Berkeley, San Francisco and Marshstream. Theatre Rhino  Group Therapy by Tanika Baptiste, November 9 – December 3, Thursday thru Sunday. Streaming: Essential Services Project, conceived and performed by John Fisher, all weekly performances now available on demand, New performances most Wednesdays. TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, November 29 – December 24,  Lucie Stern Theatre, Palo Alto. Word for Word.  See website for upcoming productions. Misc. Listings: BAM/PFA: On View calendar for BAM/PFA. Berkeley Symphony: See website for listings. Chamber Music San Francisco: Calendar, 2023 Season. Dance Mission Theatre. On stage events calendar. Oregon Shakespeare Festival: Calendar listings and upcoming shows. San Francisco Opera. Calendar listings. San Francisco Symphony. Calendar listings. Filmed Live Musicals: Searchable database of all filmed live musicals, podcast, blog. If you'd like to add your bookstore or theater venue to this list, please write Richard@kpfa.org                                     y. The post Bookwaves/Artwaves – November 30, 2023: A.S. Byatt (1936-2003) appeared first on KPFA.

A.S. Byatt (1936-November 18, 2023), in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky on ​​​​​January 27, 2003 while on tour for the novel, “A Whistling Woman.” This would be the first of two interviews, the second in 2010 for her novel The Children's Book. Born Antonia Drabble and sister to novelist Margaret Drabble, A.S. Byatt spent her early professional life as a teacher before becoming a full time writer in 1983. In 1978 she began the first of a tetralogy, The Virgin in the Garden, which continued with Still Life, Babel Tower, and finally A Whistling Woman. Her 1990 novel, Possession, probably her best known work, won the Booker Prize. and was turned into a successful film by Neil LeBute. Her novella Morpho Eugenia was adapted into a film titled Angels and Insects in 1995. Over the course of her career, she wrote ten novels, the last of which was Ragnarok: The End of the Gods in 2011, along with six short story collections, a two-novella collection titled Angels and Insects, and nine essays and biographies. Her final work was a short story collection, Medusa's Ankles, published in 2021. This wide-ranging interview focuses not only on her most recent novel, but on the build-up to the American invasion of Iraq, which would happen in March, 2003, her views on Umberto Eco's works, genre fiction, and other issues. Remastered and re-edited by Richard Wolinsky, November 18-19, 2023. The post A.S. Byatt (1936-2023), “A Whistling Woman,” 2003 appeared first on KPFA.

Benvenuti i bentornati in Bookatini - il podcast per chi è ghiotto di libri. L'episodio 62 è dedicato ai libri a tema terza età. Nell'episodio di oggi abbiamo chiacchierato approfonditamente di questi libri Le nostre anime di notte, di Kent Haruf, NN editore La mia amica scavezzacollo, di Micol Arianna Beltramini, Hacca editore Abbiamo anche citato questi libri, che abbiamo letto tanto tempo fa, oppure abbiamo ma non abbiamo ancora letto: La piena, di Margaret Drabble, Bompiani editore Il weekend, di Charlotte Wood, NN editore Le solite sospette, di John Niven, Einaudi editore Il centenario che saltò dalla finestra e scomparve, di Jonas Jonasson, Bompiani editore Potete contattarci, scrivere commenti, suggerimenti, domande e condividete con noi le vostre letture su questo tema contattandoci nella pagina Instagram Bookatini_podcast, dove potete trovare anche le nostre live, in onda di mercoledìSe volete sostenerci e godere di contenuti aggiuntivi, potete unirvi a 4 possibili livelli di Patreon che trovate al link: https://www.patreon.com/bookatiniLa sigla di Bookatini è scritta e suonata da Andrea Cerea

In a rare joint conversation recorded onstage in Montreal in 2001, popular novelist Margaret Drabble and her husband, the influential biographer Michael Holroyd, spoke to Eleanor Wachtel about their once-secret marriage, and exploring their parents' stories through works of fiction and memoir.

Enflasyon rakamları açıklandı. TÜİK'e göre yüzde 38,21'e gerileyen yıllık enflasyon, bazı özel şirketlerin dikkate almaya başladığı ENAG'a göre ise yüzde 108,58... Yani arada 2,84 kat fark var... Bu da gösteriyor ki; yine bir ‘algılama kamaşası' ile karşı karşıyayız... Dün sabah, bizim TVNET'e konuk olan iki hocamız; Doç. Dr. Levent Yılmaz ve Prof. Dr. Murat Ferman durumu değerlendirdiler. Her ikisinin de mutabık olduğu tespit, biraz da bizim uzmanlık alanımıza girdiğinden, ilgiyle izledik. Levent Yılmaz Hoca şu önemli görüşleri dile getirdi: “Merkez Bankası ile Hazine ve Maliye Bakanlığı'nda yeni bir yönetim var. Hem Hafize Gaye Erkan hem de Mehmet Şimşek büyük beklentilerle görev başı yaptılar. Ama bir süredir bizim ‘sözlü yönlendirme' dediğimiz enstrümanı kullanmaktan imtina ediyorlar. Yani, piyasaları yönlendirecek şekilde uzun uzadıya bir açıklama yapmadılar. O açıklamalar gelmeyince; piyasa kendi kendine bir yön arıyor. Beklenti oluşturuyor; o beklenti gerçekleşecek mi, gerçekleyecek mi diye bakıyor... Özellikle döviz kuru tarafındaki yukarı yöndeki hareketin belirli bir plan dâhilinde olduğunun izah edildiği tablo başka sonuçlar doğururdu... Dolayısıyla bu sözlü yönlendirme meselesi son derece önemlidir... Merkez Bankası, mikro-makro ihtiyati tedbirleri zaman içerisinde kaldıracağını söyledi ama bunun algoritması nedir; bunu bilmiyoruz... ...Benim anladığım kadarıyla hem Sayın Şimşek hem de Sayın Erkan bugüne kadar konuşmamayı tercih ettiler ama 27 Temmuz'da yılın 2. enflasyon raporu toplantısı var. Orada Sayın Erkan'ın kameralar karşısına çıkıp, önce enflasyon raporunu açıklayıp, ardından da sorulara cevap vermesini bekliyoruz. Biz 27 Temmuz'a kadar sorularımıza cevap alamayacaksak, bu beklentilerdeki bozulmayı da doğal karşılamamız lazım. ...Bir taraftan bunu istismar edenler var, doğru. Diğer taraftan bütçe yapabilmek için önünü görmeye çalışanlar da var. ...Fakat, bekliyoruz, bekliyoruz; hiçbir yönlendirme, sinyal yok. Gece Resmî Gazete'de gördüğümüzde ertesi gün hesaplarımız şaşıyor. O yüzden bunun sözlü yönlendirmesinin daha önemli olduğunu, bu konudaki iletişimin daha güçlü olması gerektiğini ifade etmeye çalışıyorum...” Murat ve Levent hocaların birlikte altını çizdikleri tespit ise sözlü yönlendirmenin pek çok finansal, kurumsal, yasal uygulamadan daha güçlü, etkili ve önemli olduğuydu... Yani işin özü; iletişim ile algılama ve gelecek beklentisi yönetimi ile ilgidir... Hakikat, bir kez daha karşımıza çıkıyor: İletişim sürekli doyurulması gereken bir kanaldır. Eğer o kanalı siz doldurmazsanız başkaları ‘illaki' doldurur; o zaman da iletişim kanalizasyona döner... Günün sözü “Hiçbir şey kesin olmadığında, her şey mümkündür.” Margaret Drabble, İngiliz yazar Gözümüze takılanlar...

Four friends died recently and three were my age. Learn what makes the eulogy powerful and lasting from a personal vignette and from Vivian Gornick. An elegy on What is Dying? from Margaret Drabble to share with the bereaved. May they rest in peace.

This week, Margaret Drabble and Joe Swift talk about the relationship between literature and gardening; and a new short-story collection from Margaret Atwood.‘Turning Leaves', a new podcast from the TLS team‘Old Babes in the Wood' by Margaret AtwoodProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we finish up reading Mansfield Park, with Chapters 46 to 48. We talk about contrasts within the book, the attitude to Maria and Henry, Edmund and Fanny's views of Mary, Sir Thomas's reflections in the final chapter, the wrapping up of the other characters and how we are told about Edmund falling in love with Fanny.We discuss Fanny Price, then Ellen talks about principle and education, and Harriet looks at how adaptations and modernisations treat these chapters. Things we mention: General and character discussion:Margaret Drabble,  “Introduction”,  Mansfield Park (1996 – Signet Classics edition)Anthony Powell, Casanova's Chinese Restaurant [volume 5 of A Dance to the Music of Time] (1960)William Shakespeare, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2Sheila Kaye-Smith and G.B. Stern, Talking of Jane Austen (1943) and More Talk of Jane Austen (1950)Tony Tanner, various works including “Introduction”, Mansfield Park (1966 – Penguin Books edition)Marvin Mudrick, Jane Austen; irony as defense and discovery (1952)Mary Brunton, Self-Control (1810)Linda V Troost and Sayre N Greenfield, “A History of the Fanny Wars”, Persuasions 36 (1), 2014, pp. 15–33.D W Harding, ‘Regulated Hatred: An aspect of the work of Jane Austen', Scrutiny, 8 (4), 1940, pp. 346–362.C S Lewis, ‘A Note on Jane Austen', Essays in Criticism, IV (4), October 1954, pp. 359–371.Lionel Trilling, “Mansfield Park“, Partisan Review 21 (September-October 1954): 492-511. Also published in Encounter, September 1954: 9-19.Kingsley Amis, “What Became of Jane Austen?”, The Spectator, 4 October 1957 – republished in What Became of Jane Austen? And Other Questions (1970)Historical discussion:Maria Edgeworth, Moral Tales: Angelina; Or L'amie Inconnue. the Good French Governess. Mademoiselle Panache. the Knapsack (1801)Popular culture discussion:Adaptations:BBC, Mansfield Park (1983) – starring Sylvestra Le Touzel and Nicholas Farrell (6 episodes)Miramax, Mansfield Park (1999) – starring Frances O'Connor and Jonny Lee MillerITV, Mansfield Park (2007) – starring Billie Piper and Blake RitsonModernisations:YouTube, Foot in the Door Theatre, From Mansfield With Love (2014-2015)D.E. Stevenson, Celia's House (1943)For a list of music used, see this episode on our website.    

With their casts of outsiders, deviants and miscreants, the novels of John Cowper Powys explore where meaning can be found in a world without God. Very often, the answer is in semi-mystical communion with nature and landscape. Heir of both Thomas Hardy and Friedrich Nietzsche, Powys was admired by contemporaries like Iris Murdoch, and anticipated lots of the concerns of ecocritical writers and thinkers of today. But few of his books are currently in print. To mark the 150th anniversary of his birth, Matthew Sweet discusses his life and writing with Margaret Drabble, John Gray, Iain Sinclair and Kevan Manwaring. Producer: Luke Mulhall

This week, Alex Clark and Lucy Dallas look back at a riveting and prescient conversation with climate writer David Wallace-Wells; plus Margaret Drabble on the allure of roses, and Jeremy Mynott on our affinity with birds.Produced by Charlotte Pardy. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

There's no doubt we're heading for uncertain times in our economy, but as English novelist Margaret Drabble says: "When nothing is clear everything is possible" More millionaires are created during the down times then the boom times, the smart investors always look for the possibilities and opportunities during these times    To spot those opportunities you're going to need data!   This episode we're talking the numbers of Armidale NSW with our resident data expert Arjun Paliwal.  If you've been looking for a town with good rental yields and an affordable buy in price this could be just the town you've been looking for.    Join Todd Sloan and a different industry leader each week, as they open up the topics you want to know more about to become a savvy investor.   Want more help understanding how to buy property faster and for less? Get your copy of Todd Sloan's book today: Booktopia: https://www.booktopia.com.au/australia-s-home-buying-guide-todd-sloan/book/9780648980490.html?source=pla&zsrc=go-nz-allstock&gclid=Cj0KCQjwnJaKBhDgARIsAHmvz6f55Kw-l0pKCn0DMNj0TND2qN863sQQR56p98sXAjOUgBQSpwDDQ0waAtLsEALw_wcB Dymocks: https://www.dymocks.com.au/book/australias-home-buying-guide-by-todd-sloan-9780648980490?gclid=Cj0KCQjwnJaKBhDgARIsAHmvz6etuq25nQ2CSirN8z-UHAIshbp5MxeuD7ECMvs5Oghg2Pab34Fyl0QaAuQhEALw_wcB   YouTube Pizza & Property: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgXX6ibW7WEFbWkf-jslDvQ?view_as=subscriber Facebook Pizza & Property: https://www.facebook.com/Pizza-and-Property-2111096335696398/?modal=admin_todo_tour ASK YOUR LISTENER QUESTION BY VISITING THE WEBSITE BELOW  Website:  https://www.pizzaandproperty.com/ Disclaimer: All discussions are general in nature and should never be considered financial advice, please seek your own professional financial advice. The content displayed on the website, podcast and blog is the intellectual property of the Pizza and Property. You may not reuse, republish, or reprint such content without our written consent.

In this episode I interview Astromythologist Kelley Hunter about The Cosmic Feminine. We talk about the essential nature of Black Moon Lilith as it pertains to womanhood, and the primordial energy of this celestial void. Kelley shares how Venus, the Moon, and Black Moon Lilith weave together to create a mythological and archetypal energy pattern. And how this merging of three celestial bodies creates essential aspects of the cosmic feminine. We also talk about: How Black Moon Lilith is connected to the nodes of the moon Interpreting Lilith in the context of the chart Which Kuiper Belt Objects are influencing Earth right now The significance of the Full Supermoon on June 14th Resources: Kelley Hunter's http://www.heliastar.com/ (Website) | https://heliastar.com/lilith-speaks-a-dramatic-monologue/ (Poem in Intro) created as part of a mythic theatre production with Dragon Dance Theatre Books mentioned by Kelley in episode: https://www.amazon.com/Mother-Sun-View-Cosmic-Feminine/dp/0895947226 (O Mother Sun! by Patricia Monaghan) —stories of sun goddesses from different cultures | https://www.amazon.com/Lilith-George-MacDonald/dp/0802860613 (Lilith by George MacDonald) | https://www.amazon.com/Asteroid-Goddesses-Mythology-Psychology-Re-Emerging/dp/0892540826 (Asteroid Goddesses, Demetra George and Douglas Bloch) | https://www.amazon.com/Descent-Goddess-Way-Initiation-Women/dp/0919123058 (Descent to the Goddess, Sylvia Brinton Perera) — quote about Venus' meeting with Lilith in the Underworld | https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Sardello/e/B000APZJ7E%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share (Robert Sardello, Depth Psychologist) — the myth of Sophia, Bride of Christ | https://www.amazon.com/Dakinis-Warm-Breath-Feminine-Principle/dp/157062920X (Dakini's Warm Breath by Judith Simmer-Brown) | https://www.amazon.com/Waterfall-Margaret-Drabble/dp/0140033173 (Margaret Drabble, The Waterfall) 

When we are left with little to no choice but to do it all and be it all, how we handle it all can be everything. Join "Super" wife, mom to 4, and wellness coach Summer Meyer as we dive headfirst into the hard of the pandemic and the past two years, how she leaned into who she is and what she knew to survive and what she's learned about herself and her kids along the journey, and how this is positively impacting their lives today. "When nothing is sure, everything is possible."Margaret Drabble.Aging Like A Badass Radio Show is broadcast live at 1:00PM ET Thursdays on W4WN Radio – The Women 4 Women Network (www.w4wn.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). This podcast is also available on Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com).

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas look back at this year's podcasts. We hear from Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Drabble, Mary Beard and Paul Muldoon, among others, covering literature, film, art, poetry and much more.Produced by Sophia Franklin See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas look back at this year's podcasts. We hear from Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Drabble, Mary Beard and Paul Muldoon, among others, covering literature, film, art, poetry and much more. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Lucy Dallas and Alex Clark discuss roses, Orwell and rhizomatic thinking with Margaret Drabble; Kathryn Hughes is our guide through histories of self-improvement; plus, what log-rolling really means.'Orwell's Roses' by Rebecca Solnit'The Art of Self-Improvement' by Anna Katharina SchaffnerThe Log Driver's Waltz: https://www.nfb.ca/film/log_drivers_waltzProduced by Sophia Franklin See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by the novelist Margaret Drabble to consider the ‘curiously free-floating reputation' of Russell Hoban, whose adult novels, including ‘Riddley Walker', now appear as Penguin Modern Classics; as twin exhibitions mark the centenary of the birth of the English sculptor, painter, writer, designer and illustrator Michael Ayrton, the critic Boyd Tonkin delves into the myth-laden maze of the artist's thought‘From Oprah to Medusa: The endlessly various world of Russell Hoban' by Margaret Drabble: www.the-tls.co.uk‘Michael Ayrton: A singular obsession', Fry Art Gallery Too, Saffron Walden, until October 31st‘Michael Ayrton Centenary: Ideas, images, reflections', edited by Justine Hopkins‘Celebrating Michael Ayrton: A centenary exhibition', the Lightbox, Woking, until August 8thA special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/podProducer: Ben Mitchell See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The puzzling murder of three African directors of a foreign-owned brewery sets the scene for this fervent, hard-hitting novel about disillusionment in independent Kenya. A deceptively simple tale, Petals of Blood is on the surface a suspenseful investigation of a spectacular triple murder in upcountry Kenya. Yet as the intertwined stories of the four suspects unfold, a devastating picture emerges of a modern third-world nation whose frustrated people feel their leaders have failed them time after time. First published in 1977, this novel was so explosive that its author was imprisoned without charges by the Kenyan government. His incarceration was so shocking that newspapers around the world called attention to the case, and protests were raised by human-rights groups, scholars, and writers, including James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Donald Barthelme, Harold Pinter, and Margaret Drabble.First time in Penguin Classics --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/pbliving/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/pbliving/support

Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Mark Glanville to mark the centenary of the birth of Paul Celan, probably the most important post-war German-language poet, by revisiting the early poems in light of his later transformation; and Margaret Drabble considers the literature of urban walking, via the fiction of G. K. Chesterton, H. G. Wells and other metropolitan ramblers.Memory Rose into Threshold Speech: The collected earlier poetry: A bilingual edition, translated by Pierre JorisMicroliths They Are, Little Stones: Posthumous prose, translated by Pierre JorisUnder the Dome: Walks with Paul Celan, by Jean Daive, translated by Rosmarie WaldropThe Walker: On finding and losing yourself in the modern city, by Matthew Beaumont See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Mark Glanville to mark the centenary of the birth of Paul Celan, probably the most important post-war German-language poet, by revisiting the early poems in light of his later transformation; and Margaret Drabble considers the literature of urban walking, via the fiction of G. K. Chesterton, H. G. Wells and other metropolitan ramblers.Memory Rose into Threshold Speech: The collected earlier poetry: A bilingual edition, translated by Pierre JorisMicroliths They Are, Little Stones: Posthumous prose, translated by Pierre JorisUnder the Dome: Walks with Paul Celan, by Jean Daive, translated by Rosmarie WaldropThe Walker: On finding and losing yourself in the modern city, by Matthew Beaumont See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

2020 marks the 30th anniversary of Writers & Company. Since we can't celebrate in person, Eleanor revisits the 20th anniversary special with four writers in conversation in Toronto in 2010.

Welcome to October 2020 -The theme for this month is: Your time is limited so don't waste it living someone else's life. - Steve Jobs. Week 1 starts at 2:24 Theme: What are the infinite possibilities for something different to show up in my life? - Dr. Dain Heer Week 2 starts at 5:58 Theme: Correction does much, but encouragement does more. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Week 3 starts at 10:38 Theme: You never know when a new beginning is going to show up! - Kim A. Flodin Week 4 starts at 13.59 Theme: When nothing is sure, everything is possible. - Margaret Drabble. Big thanks to Silent Partner for our theme song, Believer, we found them on YouTube’s Creator Library. ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCht8qITGkBvXKsR1Byln-wA )

Francesca Wade and Paul Mendez talk to Shahidha Bari about Queer Bloomsbury in a conversation run in partnership with the Royal Society of Literature who set up events in mid-June to mark Dalloway Day, inspired by the 1925 novel from Virginia Woolf. Claudia Tobin from the University of Cambridge looks at Woolf's writing on art and the vogue for still lives and compares notes with 2020 New Generation Thinker Lucy Weir from the University of Edinburgh, who has written a postcard exploring dance, stillness and movement in lockdown. Claudia Tobin's book is called Still Life and Modernism: Artists, Writers, Dancers. She was awarded a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship. Francesca Wade is the author of Square Haunting. You can hear her focusing on the academics Jane Harrison and Eileen Power in a Free Thinking episode called Pioneering women: academics and classics https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000dj0g Paul Mendez's novel is called Rainbow Milk Lucy Weir is a Teaching Fellow, Modern and Contemporary Art, History of Art at the University of Edinburgh and is one of the 2020 New Generation Thinkers on the scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the AHRC to select academics who can turn their research into radio. You can hear a discussion of the novel Mrs Dalloway featuring the writers Hermione Lee, Alison Light and Margaret Drabble with Philip Dodd https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00zt79p and you can find a host of conversations for Dalloway Day on the website of the Royal Society of Literature https://rsliterature.org/ Producer: Robyn Read

Slightly Foxed Editors Gail and Hazel take us between the pages of the magazine, bookmarking articles along the way. Crack the spine of the quarterly to discover T. H. White taking flying lessons, smutty book titles, a passion for romantic ruins, John Berger shadowing a remarkable GP, a rebellious Mitford ‘rescued’ by a destroyer, a night to remember on the Titanic and much more besides. From correcting proofs to welcoming writers with a host of experiences, the story of putting together an issue of enthusiasms unfolds. And in this month’s reading from the archives, a hapless apprentice at the Hogarth Press recounts his disastrous stint with the Woolfs. Please find links to books, articles, and further reading listed below. The digits in brackets following each listing refer to the minute and second they are mentioned. (Episode duration: 36 minutes; 33 seconds) Books Mentioned We may be able to get hold of second-hand copies of the out-of-print titles listed below. Please get in touch (mailto:anna@foxedquarterly.com) with Anna in the Slightly Foxed office for more information. - Slightly Foxed Issue 66 (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/slightly-foxed-issue-66-published-1-jun-2020/) - Basil Street Blues (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/michael-holroyd-basil-street-blues/) , Michael Holroyd: Slightly Foxed Edition No. 29 (6:00) - England Have My Bones, T. H. White is out of print (6:47) - Inside of a Dog (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/alexandra-horowitz-inside-of-a-dog/) , Alexandra Horowitz (11:04) - The Letters of Charles and Mary Lamb is out of print (13:04) - No Voice from the Hall, John Harris is out of print (14:33) - The Family from One End Street (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/eve-garnett-the-family-from-one-end-street/) , Eve Garnett (15:15) - A Taste of Paris, Theodora FitzGibbon is out of print (15:33) - A Fortunate Man (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/john-berger-a-fortunate-man/) , John Berger (19:38) - Rosemary Sutcliff’s Roman novels (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/a-set-of-rosemary-sutcliffs-roman-novels/) : Slightly Foxed Cubs (21:15) - Hons and Rebels (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/jessica-mitford-hons-and-rebels/) , Jessica Mitford: Slightly Foxed Edition No. 52, published 1 September 2020 (21:53) - A Night to Remember (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/walter-lord-a-night-to-remember/) , Walter Lord (23:50) - A Boy at the Hogarth Press (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/hogarth-press-richard-kennedy-plain-foxed/) , Richard Kennedy: Plain Foxed Edition (24:55) - House of Glass (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/hadley-freeman-house-of-glass/) , Hadley Freeman (31:47) - All the Light We Cannot See (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/anthony-doerr-all-the-light-we-cannot-see/) , Anthony Doerr (34:00) Related Slightly Foxed Articles - Underwater Heaven (https://foxedquarterly.com/maragret-drabble-charles-kingsley-water-babies-literary-review/) , Margaret Drabble on Charles Kingsley, The Water-Babies in Issue 66 (5:45) - Harvey Learns the Ropes (https://foxedquarterly.com/rudyard-kipling-captains-courageous-literary-review/) , Andrew Joynes on Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous in Issue 56 (6:24) - On the Shoulders of Giants (https://foxedquarterly.com/andrew-joynes-t-h-white-england-have-my-bones-literary-review/) , Andrew Joynes on T. H. White, England Have My Bones in Issue 66 (6:30) - Sarah Crowden on smut: Something for the Weekend (https://foxedquarterly.com/sarah-crowden-smut-book-titles-literary-review/) in Issue 32 and All in the Mind? (https://foxedquarterly.com/sarah-crowden-smut-literary-review/) in Issue 44 (7:57) - Unsung Heroes (https://foxedquarterly.com/alastair-glegg-childrens-books-literary-review/) , Alastair Glegg on learning to read at prep school in Issue 60 (9:59) - Dog’s-eye View (https://foxedquarterly.com/alexandra-horowitz-inside-of-a-dog-literary-review/) , Rebecca Willis on Alexandra Horowitz, Inside of a Dog in Issue 65 (11:04) - In Praise of Pratchett (https://foxedquarterly.com/terry-pratchett-small-gods-literary-review/) , Amanda Theunissen on Terry Pratchett, Small Gods in Issue 33 (11:33) - Streets, Streets, Streets (https://foxedquarterly.com/felicity-james-the-letters-of-charles-and-mary-lamb-literary-review/) , Felicity James on the letters of Charles and Mary Lamb in Issue 65 (13:06) - These Fragments (https://foxedquarterly.com/jon-woolcott-john-harris-no-voice-from-the-hall-literary-review/) , Jon Woolcott on John Harris, No Voice from the Hall in Issue 66 (14:33) - Keeping up Appearances (https://foxedquarterly.com/kate-tyte-eve-garnett-the-family-from-one-end-street-literary-review/) , Kate Tyte on Eve Garnett, The Family from One End Street in Issue 66 (15:15) - Simply Delicious (https://foxedquarterly.com/clive-unger-hamilton-theodora-fitzgibbon-a-taste-of-paris-literary-review/) , Clive Unger-Hamilton on Theodora FitzGibbon, A Taste of Paris in Issue 66 (15:33) - An Early-Flowering Climber (https://foxedquarterly.com/ursula-buchan-reginald-farrer-garden-writing-literary-review/) , Ursula Buchan on the plant-hunting and garden writings of Reginald Farrer in Issue 66 (16:01) - A Well-tempered Gardener (https://foxedquarterly.com/christopher-lloyd-well-tempered-gardener/) , Michael Leapman on the garden writings of Christopher Lloyd in Issue 59 (17:00) - Putting up Useful Shelves (https://foxedquarterly.com/richard-kennedy-a-boy-at-the-hogarth-press-plain-foxed-editions/) , Sue Gee on Richard Kennedy, A Boy at the Hogarth Press in Issue 20 (24:55) Other Links - Slightly Foxed Editors’ Diary (https://foxedquarterly.com/category/from-the-slightly-foxed-editors/) (0:28) - Sign up to the free Slightly Foxed email newsletter here (http://eepurl.com/dmxw1T)   - Slightly Foxed articles by Christopher Rush (https://foxedquarterly.com/contributors/rush-christopher-slightly-foxed-literary-review-magazine/) (12:46) - Little Toller Books (https://www.littletoller.co.uk/) (14:18) Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by Bach Reading music: Dark Hallway, written and performed by Kevin MacLeod courtesy of incompetech.filmmusic.io (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/) The Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable (https://www.podcastable.co.uk/)

Feel free to start listening and get relaxed !! :)

Dame Margaret Drabble joins us at the Slightly Foxed table as we celebrate her life in writing. From taking up her pen in the 1960s as a young mother alone in her kitchen to feeling part of a movement with Nell Dunn, Margaret Forster and Edna O’Brien, to editing The Oxford Companion to English Literature without the help of a computer and eschewing the Booker Prize, Margaret Drabble sees writing as both an illness and a trade, finding black humour in ageing and joy in jigsaw puzzles along the way. And we uncover whatever happened to the elusive novelist Elizabeth Jenkins in this month’s reading from the magazine’s archives. Please find links to books, articles, and further reading listed below. The digits in brackets following each listing refer to the minute and second they are mentioned. (Episode duration: 44 minutes; 23 seconds) Books Mentioned We may be able to get hold of second-hand copies of the out-of-print titles listed below. Please get in touch (mailto:anna@foxedquarterly.com) with Anna in the Slightly Foxed office for more information. Margaret Drabble Books Mentioned Out of print - A Summer Bird-Cage (5:41) - Arnold Bennett: A Biography (8:58) - Angus Wilson: A Biography (9:54) - The Oxford Companion to English Literature, (ed.) Fifth & Sixth editions (11:13) - The Radiant Way (15:20) - A Natural Curiosity (15:20) In print - The Millstone (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/margaret-drabble-the-millstone/) (14:10) - The Needle’s Eye (https://www.hmhbooks.com/shop/books/The-Needles-Eye/9780156029353) (17:37) - The Pattern in the Carpet: A Personal History with Jigsaws (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/margaret-drabble-the-pattern-in-the-carpet/) NB Published 7 May 2020 (21:35) - The Dark Flood Rises (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/margaret-drabble-the-dark-flood-rises/) (36:48) Other Books - Anglo-Saxon Attitudes, Angus Wilson is out of print (10:28) - The Tortoise and the Hare (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/elizabeth-jenkins-tortoise-and-the-hare/) and Harriet (http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk/harriet.html) , Elizabeth Jenkins (28:17) - The Custom of the Country (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/edith-wharton-the-custom-of-the-country/) , Edith Wharton (39:08) - The Unwomanly Face of War (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/svetlana-alexievich-unwomanly-face-of-war/) , Svetlana Alexievich (40:26) - To War with Whitaker (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/to-war-with-whitaker-hermione-countess-of-ranfurly/) , Hermione, Countess of Ranfurly: Slightly Foxed Edition No. 50 (41:55) Related Slightly Foxed Articles - Whatever Happened to Elizabeth Jenkins? (https://foxedquarterly.com/elizabeth-jenkins-virago-hare-and-tortoise-literary-review/) , Nigel Andrew on the novels of Elizabeth Jenkins in Issue 60 (28:17) - Joyce to the Life (https://foxedquarterly.com/margaret-drabble-james-joyce-literary-review/) , Margaret Drabble on Richard Ellman, James Joyce in Issue 49 - Trollope’s Ireland (https://foxedquarterly.com/margaret-drabble-anthony-trollope/) , Margaret Drabble on the Irish novels of Anthony Trollope in Issue 59 Other Links - The winner of The Slightly Foxed Best First Biography Prize 2019 (https://foxedquarterly.com/jonathan-phillips-wins-for-the-life-and-legend-of-the-sultan-saladin) : Jonathan Phillips for The Life and Legend of the Sultan Saladin (https://foxedquarterly.com/shop/jonathan-phillips-the-life-and-legend-of-the-sultan-saladin/) (1:00) - The Full Digital Archive of Slightly Foxed (https://foxedquarterly.com/subscriber-benefits-digital-edition/) (26:23) - An Index to Slightly Foxed (https://foxedquarterly.com/an-index-to-slightly-foxed/all/) Opening music: Preludio from Violin Partita No.3 in E Major by Bach The Slightly Foxed Podcast is hosted by Philippa Lamb and produced by Podcastable (https://www.podcastable.co.uk/)

Möt den brittiske författaren Edward St Aubyn, född 1960, i samtal med Johanna Koljonen. St Aubyn slog igenom med romanerna om Patrick Melrose, som har självbiografisk grund. Romanerna utkom mellan 1992 och 2012, och var med på listan när BBC 2015 rankade de 100 bästa brittiska romanerna någonsin. I vinter är St Aubyn aktuell med romanen "Dunbar", hans version av Kung Lear och är ett tragikomiskt porträtt av en dysfunktionell överklassfamilj. Johanna Koljonen är kritiker, programledare och författare. Hon har en examen i engelsk litteratur, har belönats med Stora Journalistpriset och vunnit På spåret. På Internationell författarscen har hon tidigare samtalat med bland andra Neil Gaiman, Margaret Drabble, Umberto Eco och Dmitrij Gluchovskij. I samarbete med Albert Bonniers Förlag. Från 3 december 2019 Jingel: Lucas Brar

After a couple of weeks walking in Cornwall we're back! Join Caroline Wilson and Corrie Perkin as they share highlights and holiday tips from their time in the UK, including their best spontaneous diversions and funniest moments.  A new month brings a new Challenge of the Month - this month Corrie is pledging to minimise her night time social media use, while Caro's having a crack at Dry July.  Caro and Corrie reflect on the coverage of Boris Johnson's rocky road to become British PM and we check in with the latest news from the AFL.  Caro's 'Crush of the Week' is Nick Riewoldt who continues to do wonderful work with Maddie's Vision. Caro's grumpy at Jeff Kennet this week who launched into a tirade against footy journalists recently.  In 'Books, Screen and Food' (BSF) Caro's recommending After the Party by Cressida Connoly, Corrie enjoyed the inflight entertainment watching Swimming with Men, and Cornwall crab dishes are on the menu.  BSF is sponsored by VitalSmarts. VitalSmarts and their Crucial Conversations training can transform the culture of your business or help you confront difficult situations with confidence. Make sure you jump onto VitalSmarts website www.vitalsmarts.com.au/dstm - they've got a special offer for our podcast listeners - a free copy of their E Book Emotional Inequality - Soloutions for Women in the Workplace.  In '6 Quick Questions' Caro and Corrie reflect on the ups and downs of their walking holiday.  Other things mentioned in this episode. Listener Felicity recommends the search engine Just Watch for finding films and TV shows on any platform. Caro also recommends the book A Summer Birdcage by Margaret Drabble.  Corrie recommends the films Short Term 12 and In Safe Hands.  JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR NIKI SAVVA@ MY BOOKSHOP IN CONVERSATION WITH AWARD-WINNING POLITICAL REPORTER BRENDAN DONOHOE  The topic: Niki’s new book Plots and Prayers: Malcolm Turbull’s Demise and Scott Morrison’s Ascension . WHEN: Monday July 15th WHERE: My Bookshop,513 Malvern Road, Hawksburn COST: $25 per ticket(includes wine and cheese) RSVPThursday July 11th Please note: due to space restrictions and the publicity surrounding Plots and Prayers, we expect this event will be a sell-out. To avoid disappointment contact us ASAP on 9824 2990 or call into My Bookshop to secure your ticket.  This episode was recorded at My Bookshop in Hawksburn.  For videos and pics make sure you follow us on Instagram @DontShootPod. Like our Facebook page and hit 'Sign Up' to receive weekly updates HERE.  Email the show via feedback@dontshootpod.com.au Follow us on Twitter via @dontshootpod 'Don't Shoot The Messenger' is produced, engineered and edited by Jane Nield for Crocmedia.

Giles talks to the author Margaret Drabble about family secrets, coping with depression and unwittingly writing feminist literature.

The writer and comedian Charlie Higson, half of the team behind The Fast Show, on the curious history of comedy written and performed by pairs; the novelist Margaret Drabble considers the dizzying new releases from the estate of Anthony Burgess, the man Philip Larkin once called “the Batman of contemporary letters” TextsStan & Ollie, directed by Jon S. Baird Morecambe & Wise: 50 years of sunshine, by Gary MorecambeThe Double Act: A history of British comedy duos, by Andrew RobertsSoupy Twists!: The full, official story of the sophisticated silliness of Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie, by Jem RobertsBeard’s Roman Women by Anthony Burgess, edited by Graham FosterPuma by Anthony Burgess, edited by Paul WakeThe Black Prince by Adam RobertsObscenity and the Arts, a talk by Anthony Burgess, edited by Johnny Walsh See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

An end-of-year edition, bringing together some of our favourite bits from the past twelve months: Kathryn Hughes on whether and where Charlotte Brontë meets Jane Eyre; Margaret Drabble reviews the life and work of Muriel Spark, whose centenary we marked this year; David Baddiel discusses whether Jewishness is inherently funny; Clare Pettitt revisits the history of the Peterloo massacre of 1819. A refresher for regular listeners and a sampler for newcomers – with thanks to all. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Gareth Malone and Margaret Drabble on strength and nature

Critic and novelist Margaret Drabble joins us to review the life and work of Muriel Spark, whose centenary we mark this year; Samuel Graydon discusses a new exhibition on J. R. R. Tolkien, including drawings and doodles, language trees and fan mail; the TLS's History editor David Horspool introduces a selection of new work on the medieval periodWorks discussedThe Centenary Edition of the Novels of Muriel Spark, edited by Alan TaylorTolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth, an exhibition at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, with accompanying book by Catherine McIlwaine‘Finding Henry – Why England’s most powerful medieval monarch should be better remembered’ by Claudia Gold, in this week’s TLSMedieval Bodies: Life, death and art in the Middle Ages by Jack HartnellSea of Caliphs: The Mediterranean in the medieval Islamic world by Christophe Picard, translated by Nicholas ElliottThe Oxford English Literary History, Volume 1: 1000–1350: Conquest and Transformation by Laura Ashe See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This is the first of a number episodes recorded at this year’s Listowel Writers’ Week.  Through a writing career spanning 55 years, Margaret Drabble has written such novels as A Summer Bird-Cage, The Millstone, The Red Queen, and the highly-acclaimed The Pure Gold Baby. She has also written biographies, screenplays and was the editor of The Oxford Companion to English Literature.  In this interview, Margaret discusses her career, what she is reading now, her reflections on editing The Oxford Companion to English Literature, what she would have done if she hadn’t become a writer and the recent referendum on abortion in Ireland in connection with The Millstone.

We’re joined by the novelist Margaret Drabble, whose books have for decades chronicled the difficult path to selfhood, particularly for women, and the actor and writer Robert Webb, whose recent memoir How Not To Be a Boy, focuses on how notions of masculinity shape identity. Recorded in front of a live audience at Bath Festival. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What happens when writers try to get along with other writers? Sometimes it goes well – and sometimes it ends in a fistfight, a drink in the face, or a spitting. Mike Palindrome, President of the Literature Supporters Club, joins Jacke for a look at some of literature’s greatest feuds. Authors discussed include Gore Vidal, Gertrude Stein, Norman Mailer, Marcel Proust, Ernest Hemingway, Vladimir Nabokov, Rick Moody, Jonathan Franzen, Colson Whitehead, Lillian Hellman, John LeCarre, Richard Ford, Dale Peck, Edmund Wilson, Margaret Drabble, Salman Rushdie, Edgar Allan Poe, and A.S. Byatt.  Show Notes:  Contact the host at jackewilsonauthor@gmail.com or by leaving a voicemail at 1-361-4WILSON (1-361-494-5766).  You can find more literary discussion at jackewilson.com and more episodes of the series at historyofliterature.com. Check out our Facebook page at facebook.com/historyofliterature. You can follow Jacke Wilson at his Twitter account @WriterJacke. You can also follow Mike and the Literature Supporters Club (and receive daily book recommendations) by looking for @literatureSC. Music Credits: “Handel – Entrance to the Queen of Sheba” by Advent Chamber Orchestra (From the Free Music Archive / CC by SA). “Spy Glass” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The challenges of ageing and the dark side of fairy stories examined in a novel, The Dark Flood Rises, and the cabaret Brides of Bluebeard

This month World Book Club is talking to the acclaimed British writer Margaret Drabble about her remarkable novel The Millstone. At a time when illegitimacy is taboo, Rosamund Stacey is pregnant after a one-night stand. Despite her independence and academic brilliance, she is naïve and unworldly and the choices before her are daunting. She must adapt to life as a single mother, but in the perfection and helplessness of her baby she finds a depth of feeling she has never known before. The Millstone conjures a London of the sixties that is not quite yet swinging and where sexual liberation has not quite yet arrived. (Picture: Margaret Drabble. Photo credit: Ruth Corney.)

Margaret Drabble on her new book The Dark Flood Rises and the books on her bedside table.

Sarah Dillon discovers how Jane Austen's last completed novel, 'Persuasion' was written. The novel has sometimes been viewed as Austen's valedictory novel - written while she was suffering with her final illness. But Sarah Dillon uncovers a more complex story: dates of revisions on the manuscripts in the British Library confirm her sister's story that Persuasion was completed almost a year before Austen's death, but it was only published posthumously. By talking to Dr Kathryn Sutherland from St Anne's College, Oxford, Paula Byrne, author of 'The Real Jane Austen, A Life In Small Things' and writer Margaret Drabble, we go behind the scant details of Austen's life and uncover reasons for the delay: her last illness; the possibly personal inspirations for the plot of the novel; the state of her finances; her fascinating creative process; and the radical reaches and determination of her literary ambitions.

Harriett Gilbert debates favourite books with Shirley Williams and Margaret Drabble.

Margaret Drabble and William Boyd take part in a Landmark discussion about Robert Musil's The Man without Qualities.

Joining Matthew Sweet for a Landmark discussion about Robert Musil's book, The Man Without Qualities, its author and the historical landscape from which they both emerged are the writers Margaret Drabble and William Boyd, the cultural historian Philipp Blom, German literature expert Andrew Webber and with readings from Peter Marinker.

Margaret Drabble on her novel The Pure Gold Baby; Sebastian Faulks and Helen Dunmore on WWI novels; and Dedicated to..the wonderful things people write in books to their loved one.

In Night Waves' second outing to London Zoo, Matthew Sweet and guests discuss Angus Wilson's 1961 novel 'The Old Men at the Zoo'. Matthew is joined by Wilson's friend and biographer Margaret Drabble, by the poet and novelist Iain Sinclair, and by Jonathan Powell and Margot Hayhoe who brought the story to TV screens in the 1983 BBC series.

Matthew Sweet visits Tate Britain's unveiling of a comprehensive new vision of its permanent collection. Thematic presentation gives way to strict chronology. Susannah Clapp gives a first night review of Public Enemy, a new production of Ibsen's play about corruption and the nature of the public good. New research has revealed only a very small percentage of the population has made plans for the end of their lives. Matthew and guests discuss the idea of the good death. F R Leavis' spirit has been summoned to the discussion table in the recent wranglings about what should be taught to children in schools. David Ellis, who studied with, and the novelist Margaret Drabble discuss his influence and reputation.

Novelist Margaret Drabble chooses Titania’s speech from A Midsummer Night's Dream (Act 2 Sc 1) as the piece of Shakespeare which has inspired her most.Performed by Hattie Morahan. Broadcast on Radio 3.

Margaret Drabble discusses the new collection of her 13 short stories, published between 1966 and 2000. John Crace (the man behind the Guardian newspaper's Digested Reads) recommends books to read while relaxing on a beach and stands up for the classics. And author Helen Oyeyemi talks about her new novel Mr Fox, a modern day re-telling of the Bluebeard tale.

Margaret Drabble reads Katherine Mansfield's ‘memorable, painful' The Doll's House – the first adult short story she ever readFor more podcasts, including Philip Pullman reading Chekhov and William Boyd reading JG Ballard, visit the Guardian short stories podcast page. To nominate your own favourite short story, join the discussion on our open thread

Margaret Drabble reads Katherine Mansfield's ‘memorable, painful' The Doll's House – the first adult short story she ever readFor more podcasts, including Philip Pullman reading Chekhov and William Boyd reading JG Ballard, visit the Guardian short stories podcast page. To nominate your own favourite short story, join the discussion on our open thread

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the actor Sir Ian McKellen. Ian grew up in Lancashire attending Wigan Grammar school and then Bolton School where he was Head Boy. His first trip to the theatre was as a three year old when he went to see Peter Pan at Manchester Opera House. At seven, a treasured Christmas present was a fold-away Victorian theatre from Pollocks Toy Theatres. Ian's older sister Jean introduced him to Shakespeare - taking him to see Twelfth Night at Wigan's Little Theatre. His first Shakespeare performance was playing Malvolio from the same play at the amateur Hopefield Miniature theatre when he was thirteen years old.Ian won a scholarship to read English at St Catharine's College, Cambridge and was soon appearing in regular productions, including appearing alongside now famous alumni such as Derek Jacobi, David Frost, Trevor Nunn and Margaret Drabble. By the time Ian graduated in 1961 he had decided to become an actor, and got his first job in a production of A Man for All Seasons at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry. He has not been out of work since, appearing at the National Theatre and the RSC, and he has also forged a successful film career. He's played an acclaimed Richard III for which he also wrote the screenplay, and had parts in X-Men, Gods and Monsters, for which his performance was Oscar-nominated, and, most recently, playing Gandalf in Lord of the Rings. Ian was made a Knight of the British Empire for services to the performing arts in the Queen's New Year Honours of 1990.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: Stormy Weather by Lena Horne Book: A dictionary of flora and fauna Luxury: Grand piano

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the actor Sir Ian McKellen. Ian grew up in Lancashire attending Wigan Grammar school and then Bolton School where he was Head Boy. His first trip to the theatre was as a three year old when he went to see Peter Pan at Manchester Opera House. At seven, a treasured Christmas present was a fold-away Victorian theatre from Pollocks Toy Theatres. Ian's older sister Jean introduced him to Shakespeare - taking him to see Twelfth Night at Wigan's Little Theatre. His first Shakespeare performance was playing Malvolio from the same play at the amateur Hopefield Miniature theatre when he was thirteen years old. Ian won a scholarship to read English at St Catharine's College, Cambridge and was soon appearing in regular productions, including appearing alongside now famous alumni such as Derek Jacobi, David Frost, Trevor Nunn and Margaret Drabble. By the time Ian graduated in 1961 he had decided to become an actor, and got his first job in a production of A Man for All Seasons at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry. He has not been out of work since, appearing at the National Theatre and the RSC, and he has also forged a successful film career. He's played an acclaimed Richard III for which he also wrote the screenplay, and had parts in X-Men, Gods and Monsters, for which his performance was Oscar-nominated, and, most recently, playing Gandalf in Lord of the Rings. Ian was made a Knight of the British Empire for services to the performing arts in the Queen's New Year Honours of 1990. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Stormy Weather by Lena Horne Book: A dictionary of flora and fauna Luxury: Grand piano

Sue Lawley's castaway is writer Margaret Drabble.Favourite track: I Know That My Redeemer Liveth - (from Messiah) by George Frideric Handel Book: Old Wives Tale by Arnold Bennett Luxury: Painting by Maurice Cockerill - Ariadne's Thread

Sue Lawley's castaway is writer Margaret Drabble. Favourite track: I Know That My Redeemer Liveth - (from Messiah) by George Frideric Handel Book: Old Wives Tale by Arnold Bennett Luxury: Painting by Maurice Cockerill - Ariadne's Thread

James Naughtie meets Margaret Drabble and a group of readers to talk about her searing portrait of English middle class life, The Witch of Exmoor.