• HOME
  • ABOUT
  • EPISODES
  • CONTACT
The Thing About Austen

Episodes

Ep102: The Thing About Lady Bertram's Shawl with guest Laboni Islam

3/6/2025

 
Transcript
Fanny's brother is headed back to sea, and Lady Bertram has a request (or two) for him. Poet and arts educator Laboni Islam joins us for this episode as we discuss Lady Bertram and her requested shawl(s). In addition to delving into the history and context surrounding these shawls, Laboni also shares details of her related project from her time as a Reimagine Resident at Jane Austen's House. 

Thank you so much to Laboni for joining us for this episode! You can find Laboni's poetry project here  and learn more about her other work here.

Ep61: The Thing About Speculation with guest Dr. Regulus Allen

2/19/2023

 
​This week we're dealing out an episode on the game of Speculation with our guest Dr. Regulus Allen. We discuss the rules of play and the ways in which the game serves the narrative in Mansfield Park. Dr. Allen also provides us with some fun speculation (see what we did there?) as to what Jane Austen's own favorite card game might have been.

​Thank you so much to Regulus for joining us for this episode! You can learn more about her and her work at https://english.calpoly.edu/faculty/allen. 

For an explanation of the rule for Speculation, see "How to Win at Speculation" from JaneAusten.co.uk 

Ep51: The Thing About Lady Bertram's Flower Gardens with guest Dr. Menglu Gao

10/6/2022

 
The roses need trimming so we are headed to Mansfield Park, clippers in hand. This week we are joined by Dr. Menglu Gao as as we chat about Lady Bertram's flower gardens, Regency landscaping preferences, and the role of women in cultivated outdoor spaces.

​Thank you so much to Menglu for joining us for this episode! You can learn more about her and her work at https://udenver.academia.edu/MengluGao.

Ep40: The Thing About Lady Bertram's Pug with guest Dr. Stephanie Howard-Smith

6/2/2022

 
Every dog has its day! Dr. Stephanie Howard-Smith is here to answer all of our many questions about Lady Bertram's pug in Mansfield Park, covering everything from Pug's name, why Austen might have chosen a pug for Lady Bertram, and the gendered aspects of 18th-century dog ownership.

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

For more work about Pug and lapdogs from Stephanie:
  • ​Howard-Smith, Stephanie. “Bridgerton’s Beloved Corgi Is a Total Fraud.” Slate, March 31, 2022. https://slate.com/culture/2022/03/bridgerton-season-2-kate-sharma-dog-corgi-historical-accuracy.html.
  • ———. “China-Pugs: The Global Circulation of Chinoiseries, Porcelain, and Lap-Dogs, 1660-1800.” In Oriental Networks: Culture, Commerce, and Communication in the Long Eighteenth Century, edited by Bärbel Czennia and Greg Clingham, 63–91. Aperçus: Histories Texts Cultures. Lewisberg, Pennsylvania: Bucknell University Press, 2021.
  • ———. “‘Hearty Fow Children’: The Penrhyns, Pugs, and Mansfield Park.” Persuasions 35 (2013): 191–99.
  • ———. “Little Puggies: Consuming Cuteness and Deforming Motherhood in Susan Ferrier’s Marriage.” Eighteenth-Century Fiction 34, no. 3 (March 1, 2022): 307–32. https://doi.org/10.3138/ecf.34.3.307.

Ep31: The Thing About Marianne's Smelling Salts with guest Dr. Emily C. Friedman

3/10/2022

 
Pull up your fainting couch because have we got a revivifying episode for you! Dr. Emily C. Friedman is here to take us through the olfactory delights of smelling bottles, as well as breaking down what their various scents and applications tell us about characters like Marianne Dashwood and Lady Bertram.

Thank you so much to Emily for joining us for this episode! You can find her on Twitter @friede, on Instagram @ManuscriptFiction, on YouTube @CriticalProf, and at www.ecfriedman.com where you can find information about all of her work.

Also, check out Emily's monograph
 Reading Smell in Eighteenth-Century Fiction, coming out in paperback soon.

    Author

    Write something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview.

    Archives

    May 2025
    March 2025
    January 2025
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021

    Categories

    All
    Accessories
    Animals
    Anne Elliot
    Anne Steele
    Architecture
    Art
    Austen Biography
    Bath (city)
    Captain Benwick
    Captain Wentworth
    Caroline Bingley
    Carriages
    Catherine Morland
    Church Of England
    Colonel Brandon
    Edmund Bertram
    Education
    Edward Ferrars
    Elinor Dashwood
    Elizabeth Bennet
    Emma (novel)
    Emma Woodhouse
    Empire
    Fanny Dashwood
    Fanny Price
    Fashion & Beauty
    Festivals
    Food
    Frank Churchill
    General Tilney
    Guest Episode
    Harriet Smith
    Health
    Henry Crawford
    Henry Tilney
    Holidays & Celebrations
    Horses
    Ireland
    Isabella Knightley
    Isabella Thorpe
    Jane Fairfax
    Jewelry
    John Dashwood
    John Knightley
    John Thorpe
    Julia Bertram
    Lady Bertram
    Lady Catherine De Bourgh
    Landscape
    Legal
    Literary Allusions
    Location
    Longbourn
    Louisa Musgrove
    Love Token
    Lucy Steele
    Lydia Bennet
    Mansfield Park (novel)
    Maria Bertram
    Marianne Dashwood
    Mary Bennet
    Mary Crawford
    Military
    Miss Bates
    Money
    Mr. Bennet
    Mr. Bingley
    Mr. Collins
    Mr. Darcy
    Mr. Elton
    Mr. Knightley
    Mr. Rushworth
    Mrs. Allen
    Mrs. Bennet
    Mrs. Croft
    Mrs. Dashwood
    Mrs. Elton
    Mr. Wickham
    Mr. Woodhouse
    Music
    Navy
    Norland Park
    Northanger Abbey (location)
    Northanger Abbey (novel)
    Parlour Games
    Pastimes
    Pemberley
    Periodicals
    Persuasion (novel)
    Pride And Prejudice (novel)
    Professions
    Robert Ferrars
    Romanticism
    Sense And Sensibility (novel)
    Sir John Middleton
    Sir Walter Elliot
    Sir William Lucas
    Special Episode
    Textiles
    Theatre
    Travel
    William Price
    Willoughby

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • EPISODES
  • CONTACT