Category: Harriet Smith

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.

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.

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.

EP22: The Thing About Regency Birthdays

1/20/2022

Happy birthday, Jane! It's Jane Austen's birthday, and we're marking the occasion with an episode on Regency birthday celebrations. If you have ever had countless fans celebrate your 246th birthday, this episode is especially for you.

Selected episode sources

Austen, Jane. Jane Austen’s Letters. Edited by Deirdre Le Faye. 4th ed. Oxford [England] ; New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Burns, Maggie. “Jane Austen and Birthdays.” Persuasions 28 (2006): 233–37.
Pinsker, Joe. “The Strange Origins of American Birthday Celebrations.” The Atlantic, November 2, 2021. https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2021/11/history-birthday-celebrations/620585/.
Stice, Joel. “The Real Reason We Put Candles On A Birthday Cake.” Mashed.com, August 19, 2019. https://www.mashed.com/162731/the-real-reason-we-put-candles-on-a-birthday-cake/.
Jane Austen Centre. “The Breeching Ceremony of a Young Boy and His Rite of Passage.” Accessed January 28, 2022. https://janeausten.co.uk/blogs/fashion-for-children/breeching-ceremony-young-boy-rite-passage.
Tieken-Boon Van Ostade, Ingrid. “Birthday Letters from Jane Austen.” OUP (blog), December 16, 2015. https://blog.oup.com/2015/12/birthday-letters-jane-austen/.

EP16: The Thing About Harriet's Riddle Book with guest Dr. Lynn Festa

10/24/2021

There's this very cool trend called acrostic and chill, and we're here to tell you all about it. This episode we're diving into Emma and taking a look at Harriet's riddle book with our guest, Dr. Lynn Festa. Will we uncover any salacious tidbits? Let's just say that Mr. Woodhouse might know a dirty joke or two. Consider yourself warned. Thank you so much to Lynn for joining us for this episode!

Episodes