Category: Emma (novel)

Ep103: The Thing About Elegant Extracts

3/31/2025

Harriet has been talking a lot about this nice guy she met, which means that Emma has questions. In addition to Robert Martin's blood type, school transcripts, and tax returns, she would obviously like to know about his reading tastes and preferences.

This episode, we're flipping through the pages of Elegant Extracts.

Selected Sources

Altick, Richard D. The English Common Reader: A Social History of the Mass Reading Public, 1800-1900. 2nd ed. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1998.
Ford, Susan Allen. “Reading Elegant Extracts in Emma: Very Entertaining!” Persuasions On-Line 28, no. 1 (2007). https://jasna.org/persuasions/on-line/vol28no1/ford.htm.
———. What Jane Austen’s Characters Read (and Why). 1st ed. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2024.
Grundy, Isobel. “Jane Austen and Literary Traditions.” In The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen, edited by Edward Copeland and Juliet McMaster, 2nd ed., 192–214. Cambridge University Press, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1017/CCO9780521763080.013.
Knox, Vicesimus. “On Novel Reading.” In Essays moral and literary, 1:68–71, 1783. http://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_essays-moral-and-literar_knox-vicesimus_1783_1.
More, Hannah. Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education, with a View of the Principles and Conduct Prevalent among Women of Rank and Fortune. London Printed for T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1811. http://archive.org/details/stricturesonmode01moreuoft.
Price, Leah. The Anthology and the Rise of the Novel: From Richardson to George Eliot. Cambridge University Press, 2003.

EP92: The Thing About Mr. Knightley's Strawberries

6/19/2024

The strawberries are ripe, so gather up your best bonnet and your beribboned basket and head on down to Knightley's U-Pick Farm. We've got all of your favorite strawberries, from the hautboy to the Chili to the white wood. This episode we visit Donwell Abbey to take a look at Mr. Knightley's very fine strawberry beds.

Selected Sources

Frézier, Amédée François. A Voyage to the South-Sea, and Along the Coasts of Chili and Peru, in the Years 1712, 1713, and 1714: Particularly Describing the Genius and Constitution of the Inhabitants, as Well Indians as Spaniards ... Translated by Edmond Halley. J. Bowyer, 1717.
Historic Royal Palaces. “The Georgians.” Historic Royal Palaces. Accessed June 2, 2024. https://www.hrp.org.uk/kensington-palace/history-and-stories/the-georgians/.
Hopkins, Lisa. “Food and Growth in Emma.” Women’s Writing 5, no. 1 (1998): 61–70. https://doi.org/10.1080/09699089800200031.
Karp, David. “Berried Treasure.” Smithsonian, July 2006. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/berried-treasure-120534521/.
Lee, D. Vivian. “Early History of the Strawberry.” In The Strawberry; History, Breeding, and Physiology, edited by George M. Darrow, 15–13. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966. http://archive.org/details/strawberryhistor00darr.
———. “The Strawberry from Chile.” In The Strawberry; History, Breeding, and Physiology, edited by George M. Darrow, 24–39. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966. http://archive.org/details/strawberryhistor00darr.
Sheehan, Colleen A. “Jane Austen’s ‘Tribute’ to the Prince Regent: A Gentleman Riddled with Difficulty.” Persuasions On-Line 27, no. 1 (2006). https://jasna.org/persuasions/on-line/vol27no1/sheehan.htm?
Stocks, Christopher. Forgotten Fruits: The Stories Behind Britain’s Traditional Fruit and Vegetables. Random House, 2009.
Tepe, Emily. “A Spy, a Botanist, and a Strawberry.” University of Minnesota Fruit Research, June 11, 2019. https://fruit.umn.edu/spy-botanist-strawberry.
Tickler, Or, Monthly Compendium of Good Things, in Prose and Verse. “Miscellanies.” 1818.
Tobin, Beth Fowkes. “The Moral and Political Economy of Property in Austen’s Emma.” Eighteenth-Century Fiction 2, no. 3 (April 1990): 229–54. https://doi.org/10.1353/ecf.1990.0000.
Todd, Janet. “The Anxiety of Emma.” Persuasions 29 (January 1, 2007): 15–25.
Wilson, Kim. In the Garden with Jane Austen. London: Frances Lincoln, 2009.

Ep87: The Thing About Emma's Portrait of Harriet with guest Georgie Castilla

4/10/2024

Emma is trying to paint Harriet's portrait, but it's hard to concentrate with Mr. Elton mouth breathing over her shoulder. But still, Mr. Elton is obviously in love with Harriet. Right? Right?!?

This episode we welcome returning guest Georgie Castilla of Duniath Comics as we discuss Emma's attempt at combining the art of matchmaking with the art of portraiture. Thank you so much to Georgie for joining us for this discussion! You can find him online at www.duniathcomics.com and on Instagram @duniathcomics (https://www.instagram.com/duniathcomics/) and you can follow along as he adapts Emma at www.youtube.com/@duniathcomics.

EP82: The Thing About Astley's

1/11/2024

Transcript

Come one, come all! Step right up and witness amazing feats on horseback! This episode we're headed to Astley's Amphitheatre where Harriet Smith and Robert Martin are getting nice and cozy. If you have ever found romance at the circus, this is the episode for you.

Selected Sources:

“9 (Vol. 1) | Reconstructing Early Circus.” Accessed December 14, 2023. https://dhil.lib.sfu.ca/circus/clipping/287.
Austen, Jane. Selected Letters. Edited by Vivien Jones. Oxford World’s Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Booth, Michael R. “Astley’s Amphitheatre.” In The Companion to Theatre and Performance. Oxford University Press, 2010. https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780199574193.001.0001/acref-9780199574193-e-218.
Burke, Helen. “Jacobin Revolutionary Theatre and the Early Circus: Astley’s Dublin Amphitheatre in the 1790s.” Theatre Research International 31, no. 1 (March 2006): 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0307883305001847.
Byrne, Paula Jayne. “Jane Austen and the Theatre.” Doctoral Dissertation, University of Liverpool, 2000. https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3175545/1/DX215839.pdf.
Frost, Thomas. Circus Life and Circus Celebrities. Tinsley Bros., 1875.
Hall, Monica. A Visitor’s Guide to Georgian England. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen and Sword, 2017.
HathiTrust. “Astley’s System of Equestrian Education: Exhibiting the Beauties and Defects of the Horse, with Serious and Important Observations on His General Excellence, ...” Accessed December 7, 2023. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mmet.ark:/13960/t16m3rz2w?urlappend=%3Bseq=9.
Kwint, Marius. “Astley, Philip (1742–1814), Equestrian Performer and Circus Proprietor.” In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2004. https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/821.
Lybeck, Eleanor. All on Show: The Circus in Irish Literature and Culture. Cork, Ireland: Cork university press, 2019.
Mattfeld, Monica. Becoming Centaur: Eighteenth-Century Masculinity and English Horsemanship. The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2017.
Victoria and Albert Museum. “The Story of Circus · V&A.” Accessed December 14, 2023. https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/the-story-of-circus.
Ward, Steve. Father of the Modern Circus “Billy Buttons”: The Life & Times of Philip Astley. Great Britain: Pen & Sword History, 2018.

EP76: The Thing About Harriet's Sore Throat with guest Dr. Rena Jones

10/1/2023

Poor Harriet is stuck at home with a bad sore throat, and Mr. Elton is very concerned. For Emma. This week we're joined again by Dr. Rena Jones to talk about illness and medical knowledge in Austen's time. If you have ever been in an extremely lopsided love triangle, this episode is for you.

Thank you so much to Rena for joining us for this episode! You can find her on Twitter @Epi_Rena.

Ep71: The Thing About Cramer with guest Dr. Karali Hunter

7/14/2023

Jane Fairfax has received a mystery piano, along with some new music, and Frank Churchill is here to tell Emma all about it. In this episode, we break down the reference to Cramer in Emma. We also chat with Dr. Karali Hunter who stops by to trace the development of the étude from Cramer to Chopin, as well as talk to us about the process of recording our new intro and outro music.

Listen Here

Thank you so much to Karali for joining us for this episode and for recording our new music, Cramer's étude, No. 21! You can learn more about her and her work at www.karalihunter.com, www.hammerandstrings.com, and www.salonnieres.org.

Ep70: The Thing About the Irish Car Party

7/5/2023

There's nothing like a summer day at Box Hill. Nothing more awkward, that is. This episode we're jaunting forth with our friends from Highbury for an expedition sure to be uncomfortable for all involved. Along the way, we'll learn about the Irish car party mentioned by Miss Bates.

Selected Sources

Bilton, William. The Angler in Ireland: Or An Englishman’s Ramble Through Connaught and Munster, During the Summer of 1833. Vol. 1. 2 vols. London: R. Bentley, 1834. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Angler_in_Ireland/J_EPAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0.
Collins, Peter. “Bianconi System.” In The Oxford Companion to Irish History, edited by S. J. Connolly. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. https://doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780199234837.013.0144.
Cooper of Beccles, Edwin W. A Gentleman Driving Tandem to a Jaunting Car. c 1820. Oil on canvas, 20 1/8 × 25 7/8 inches. https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:41292.
Edgeworth, Maria. Castle Rackrent. London: Macmillan and Co., 1895. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1424/1424-h/1424-h.htm.
Hall, Anna Maria, and Samuel Carter Hall. Hall’s Ireland: Mr & Mrs Hall’s Tour of 1840 (1984 Edn.). Edited by Michael Scott. Vol. 2, 1841. http://www.ricorso.net/rx/library/authors/writers/Hall_AM.htm.
“The Jaunting Car.” The Dublin Penny Journal 1, no. 3 (July 14, 1832): 20–21.
Walker’s Hibernian Magazine, Or, Compendium of Entertaining Knowledge. “Domestic Intelligence.” July 1789.
Willich, Anthony Florian Madinger. The Domestic Encyclopaedia. Vol. 2. Philadelphia: William Young Birch and Abraham Small, 1803. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Domestic_Encyclopaedia_CAR_FIR/lug-AAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0.
Wordsworth, Dorothy. Recollections of a Tour Made in Scotland A.D. 1803. Project Gutenberg. Accessed June 14, 2023. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/28880/28880-h/28880-h.htm.

Ep60: The Thing About Frank's Haircut

1/29/2023

Our scissors are sharpened, and we're ready for a stylish new 'do. Lucky for us, Frank has just returned from London and can fill us in on all the latest trends. This episode we take a look at popular hairstyles for Regency gentlemen and delve into some of the reasons why these looks became fashionable.

Selected Sources

Burns, Robert. “On Mr Pit’s Hair-Powder Tax,” 1795. http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/robertburns/works/on_mr_pits_hair_powder_tax/.
Evans, Chris, and Alun Withey. “At the Edge of Reason: Shaving and Razors in 18th-Century Britain.” HistoryExtra. Accessed January 15, 2023. https://www.historyextra.com/period/georgian/at-the-edge-of-reason-shaving-and-razors-in-18th-century-britain/.
Higginbotham, Adam. “Scot Free.” The Observer, September 7, 2003, sec. Film. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2003/sep/07/features.magazine.
Issawi, Danya. “Thinking Hard About Their Hair.” The New York Times, November 11, 2021, sec. Style. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/11/style/tiktok-hair-boys-men.html.
Markiewicz, Emma. “Hair, Wigs and Wig Wearing in Eighteenth-Century England.” Doctoral Thesis, University of Warwick, 2014. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/66909/1/WRAP_THESIS_Markiewicz_2014.pdf.
Philips, R. The Book of Trades, or Library of the Useful Arts. London: R. Phillips, 1815. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_book_of_trades_or_Library_of_the_use/dfPNhd6vIRgC?hl=en&gbpv=0.
Rifelj, Carol de Dobay. Coiffures: Hair in Nineteenth-Century French Literature and Culture. University of Delaware Press, 2010.
Samuel Marknäs. “‘Casting Off Powder:’ The Death of the Powdered Wig and Birth of British Sartorial Modernity, 1795–1812.” Master’s Thesis, Uppsala University, 2021. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1560395/ATTACHMENT01.pdf.
Stewart, Alexander. The Art of Hair Dressing, Or, the Gentleman’s Director, Etc. London, 1788. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Art_of_Hair_Dressing_Or_the_Gentlema/4KA4YmUgpi4C?hl=en&gbpv=0.
Xin, Wendy Veronica. “The Importance of Being Frank.” Novel 52, no. 1 (May 1, 2019): 23–43. https://doi.org/10.1215/00295132-7330074.

Ep47: The Thing About Depictions of Roma in Emma with guest Amanda-Rae Prescott

8/18/2022

Writer and period drama expert Amanda-Rae Prescott joins us for this episode to discuss depictions of Roma in Emma, starting with the novel and then moving on to the various adaptations. In addition to Emma, Amanda-Rae also talks about the representation of Roma in some other recent period dramas.

Thank you so much to Amanda-Rae for joining us for this episode! You can find her website at www.amandaraeprescott.com and follow her on Twitter @amandarprescott.

Ep41: The Thing About Harriet's Treasure Box with guest Damianne Scott

6/13/2022

Nothing says "I'm over you" like a ceremonial burning with your bestie. Guest Damianne Scott joins us to break down the scene where Harriet finally moves on from Mr. Elton. If you have always known that Robert Martin was the real prize, this episode is for you. Thank you so much to Dami for joining us for this episode! You can find her on Twitter @BlackGirlLoves3 and on the Black Girl Loves Jane Facebook page.

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