Category: Literary Allusions

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.

EP91: The Thing About the Lakes

6/4/2024

Lizzy is headed to the Lake District with her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner. Or is she? This episode we get into the trip that didn't happen and discuss the picturesque splendors of the Lakes. If you have ever been curious about the ideal cow configuration (and you know you are), this episode is for you.

Selected Sources

Allen, Dennis W. “No Love for Lydia: The Fate of Desire in Pride and Prejudice.” Texas Studies in Literature and Language 27, no. 4 (1985): 425–43.
Dove, Jane. “Geographical Board Game: Promoting Tourism and Travel in Georgian England and Wales.” Journal of Tourism History 8, no. 1 (January 2, 2016): 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/1755182X.2016.1140825.
Gilpin, William. An Essay on Prints. 5th ed. London: A. Strahan, for T. Cadell, Jun. and W. Davies, 1802.
———. Observations, Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty, Made in the Year 1772, on Several Parts of England; Particularly the Mountains and Lakes of Cumberland and Westmoreland. R. Blamire, 1792.
Jones, Hazel. Jane Austen’s Journeys. London: Robert Hale, 2014.
Lake District National Park. “Landscape and Geology.” Lake District National Park: [email protected], September 18, 2006. https://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/learning/geology.
Lane, Maggie. Jane Austen’s England. London: Hale, 1996.
Litz, A Walton. “The Picturesque in Pride and Prejudice.” Persuasions 1 (1979): 13–15.
Orestano, Francesca. “The Revd William Gilpin and the Picturesque; Or, Who’s Afraid of Doctor Syntax?” Garden History 31, no. 2 (2003): 163. https://doi.org/10.2307/1587293.
Reych, Zofia. Born to Climb: From Rock Climbing Pioneers to Olympic Athletes. Vertebrate Publishing, 2022.
Shapard, David M. “Notes and Annotations.” In The Annotated Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. New York: Anchor Books, 2012.
Stafford, Fiona J. “Introduction and Notes.” In Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, edited by James Kinsley. Oxford World’s Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.

EP89: The Thing About Henry Crawford Reading Shakespeare

5/7/2024

If you thought that Mary Crawford with her harp was the only siren in the Crawford family, think again. Henry Crawford is here with a volume of Shakespeare, and WOW. Prepare yourselves. This episode we unpack this scene's particular Shakespearean allusion, examine the status of reading aloud during Austen's time, and discuss Fanny's reaction to Henry's reading.

Selected Sources:

DeWispelare, Daniel John. “Spectacular Speech: Performing Language in the Late Eighteenth Century.” The Journal of British Studies 51, no. 4 (October 2012): 858–82. https://doi.org/10.1086/666958.
Graham, Peter W. “Falling for the Crawfords: Character, Contingency, and Narrative.” ELH 77, no. 4 (December 2010): 867–91. https://doi.org/10.1353/elh.2010.a406155.
Harrington, Dana. “Remembering the Body: Eighteenth-Century Elocution and the Oral Tradition.” Rhetorica 28, no. 1 (January 2010): 67–95. https://doi.org/10.1353/rht.2010.0025.
Honan, Park. Jane Austen: Her Life. New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1989.
Jajdelska, Elspeth. “‘The Very Defective and Erroneous Method’: Reading Instruction and Social Identity in Elite Eighteenth‐Century Learners.” Oxford Review of Education 36, no. 2 (April 1, 2010): 141–56. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054981003696648.
Kelly, Gary. “Reading Aloud in Mansfield Park.” Nineteenth-Century Fiction 37, no. 1 (1982): 29–49. https://doi.org/10.2307/3044668.
Mullini, Roberta. “Reading Aloud in Britain in the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century: Theories and Beyond.” Journal of Early Modern Studies, March 11, 2018, 157-176 Pages. https://doi.org/10.13128/JEMS-2279-7149-22842.
Newark, Elizabeth. “Words Not Spoken: Courtship and Seduction in Jane Austen’s Novels.” In The Talk in Jane Austen, edited by Bruce Stovel and Lynn Weinlos Gregg, 207–24. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2002.
Pinch, Adela. “Hearing Voices in Austen: The Representation of Speech and Voice in the Novels.” In The Routledge Companion to Jane Austen, by Edited By Cheryl A. Wilson and Maria H. Frawley, 277–95, 1st ed. New York: Routledge, 2021. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429398155-21-25.
Pollack-Pelzner, Daniel. “Jane Austen, the Prose Shakespeare.” SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 53, no. 4 (September 2013): 763–92. https://doi.org/10.1353/sel.2013.0039.
Tomalin, Claire. Jane Austen: A Life. New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1999.
Yahav, Amit. “Austen’s Literary Time.” In The Routledge Companion to Jane Austen, by Edited By Cheryl A. Wilson and Maria H. Frawley, 306–17, 1st ed. New York: Routledge, 2021. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429398155-23-27.

Ep78: The Thing About Catherine and Isabella's Horrid Novels with guest Dr. Hannah Doherty Hudson

10/30/2023

Catherine and Isabella are forming a very specific book club, and we've been given a sneak peek at their reading list. This episode we are joined by Dr. Hannah Doherty Hudson as we delve into the terrifying pages of the Minerva Press and uncover the many chilling secrets hidden within the so-called "horrid novels." If you have ever wished for more dramatic storytelling in your book marketing, this episode is for you.
Thank you so much to Hannah for joining us for this episode! You can find her on Twitter, Bluesky, and Mastodon by searching for Hannah Doherty Hudson, and you can sign up for her Ask a Georgian Magazine Substack at https://hannahdohertyhudson.substack.com/

Ep54: The Thing About The Monk

11/9/2022

It's almost Halloween and what could be scarier than being trapped in conversation with John Thorpe? This episode we are taking a look at The Monk and discussing Thorpe's taste in literature. If you have ever been to a bad book club meeting, this episode is for you.

Selected Sources:

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. “From Review of the Monk by Matthew Lewis.” In The Norton Anthology of English Literature. D: The Romantic Period, edited by Jack Stillinger and Deidre Lynch, 8. ed., 602–6. New York: Norton, 2006.
Groom, Nick. “Introduction.” In The Monk, by M. G. Lewis, vii–xxxviii. edited by Howard Anderson. Oxford World’s Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/6mrQCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1.
MacLachlan, Christopher. “Introduction.” In The Monk, by Matthew Lewis, vii-xxv. Penguin Classics. London: Penguin Books, 1998.
Peck, Louis F. A Life of Matthew G. Lewis: Harvard University Press, 1961. https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674423855.
“The Monk by Matthew Lewis.” The British Library. Accessed October 21, 2022. https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-monk-by-matthew-lewis.

Ep46: The Thing About Queen Mab

8/11/2022

They say you should never look a gift horse in the mouth, but we're here to do just that. This episode we're investigating Willoughby's attempted equine offering, including a discussion of finances and the implied social significance of such a gift, as well as breaking down the meaning behind the name Queen Mab.

Selected Sources

Adkins, Roy, and Lesley Adkins. Jane Austen’s England: Daily Life in the Georgian and Regency Periods. New York: Penguin Books, 2014.
Doody, Margaret Anne. “Introduction.” In Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen, vii–xl. edited by James Kinsley, New ed. Oxford World’s Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Jones, Christine A. “On Fairy Tales, Their Sensitive Characters, and the Sensible Readers They Create.” Tulsa Studies in Women’s Literature 25, no. 1 (2006): 13–30.
Ottman, Jill. “‘A Woman Never Looks Better than on Horseback.’” Persuasions On-Line 36, no. 1 (2015). https://jasna.org/publications-2/persuasions-online/vol36no1/ottman/.
Pool, Daniel. What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist; the Facts of Daily Life in Nineteenth-Century England. New York: Touchstone, 2007.
Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Edited by Barbara Mowat, Paul Westine, Michael Poston, and Rebecca Niles. The Folger Shakespeare. Washington, DC: Folger Shakespeare Library. Accessed August 6, 2022. https://shakespeare.folger.edu/shakespeares-works/romeo-and-juliet/.
Vickery, Amanda. The Gentleman’s Daughter: Women’s Lives in Georgian England. New Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Press, 2003.
Wilwerding, Lauren. “Amatory Gifts in Sense and Sensibility.” Persuasions 37 (2015): 208–17.

EP24: The Thing About Fordyce's Sermons

1/20/2022

Mr. Collins is preparing to read aloud to all of us, and the chosen volume is Fordyce's Sermons. We discuss the rise and fall of Fordyce's popularity, and take a look at how Austen's reference to Fordyce in Pride and Prejudice serves as both cultural commentary and comedy.

Selected episode sources

Collins, Irene. Jane Austen and the Clergy. London: Hambledon Press, 2002.
Ford, Susan Allen. “Mr. Collins Interrupted: Reading Fordyce’s Sermons with Pride and Prejudice.” Persuasions On-Line34, no. 1 (2013). https://jasna.org/persuasions/on-line/vol34no1/ford.html.
Grundy, Isobel. “Jane Austen and Literary Traditions.” In The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen, edited by Edward Copeland and Juliet McMaster, 2nd ed., 189–210. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Harris, Muriel. “‘Talk to Me: Engaging Reluctant Writers.’” In A Tutor’s Guide: Helping Writers One to One, edited by Bennett A. Rafoth, 2nd ed., 24–34. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook Publishers, 2005.
The British Library. “Sermons to Young Women.” Accessed January 28, 2022. https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/sermons-to-young-women.
Sprayberry, Marie A. “Fanny Price as Fordyce’s Ideal Woman? And Why?” Persuasions On-Line 35, no. 1 (2014). https://jasna.org/persuasions/on-line/vol35no1/sprayberry.html.
Vickery, Amanda. The Gentleman’s Daughter: Women’s Lives in Georgian England. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2003.
Wollstonecraft, Mary. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman and A Vindication of the Rights of Men. Edited by Janet M. Todd. Oxford World’s Classics. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2008.
Worsley, Lucy. Jane Austen at Home. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2017.
Yeazell, Ruth Bernard. Fictions of Modesty: Women and Courtship in the English Novel. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991.

EP23: The Thing About Circulating Libraries

1/20/2022

This episode we cover the history of circulating libraries in the UK with a little help from our Northanger Abbey friends. We also discuss the reputation of novels in Austen's time and offer up at least one excellent hiding place for your most scandalous books. If you have ever hidden your novel behind a decoy dust jacket, this episode is for you.

Selected episode sources

Austen, Jane. Jane Austen’s Letters. Edited by Deirdre Le Faye. 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Byrne, Paula. The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things. New York: Harper Perennial, 2014.
Erickson, Lee. “The Economy of Novel Reading: Jane Austen and the Circulating Library.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 30, no. 4 (1990): 573. https://doi.org/10.2307/450560.
Jacobs, Edward. “Circulating Libraries.” In The Oxford Encyclopedia of British Literature. Oxford University Press, 2006. https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195169218.001.0001/acref-9780195169218-e-0102.
Nettleton, George Henry. “The Books of Lydia Languish’s Circulating Library.” The Journal of English and Germanic Philology 5, no. 4 (1905): 492–500.

EP18: The Thing About Fanny's Fallen Avenues with guest Tyler Hamilton

11/20/2021

This week it's a bit of a Fanny Price character study as we head to Mansfield Park to discuss Fanny's love of nature. Fanny is an often dismissed character, but we're here to celebrate her quiet strength and her introverted and philosophical ways. Come for the defense of Fanny, stay for us dunking on Edmund. Also, we forgot to properly welcome our guest because we paused for a train going by, but we were absolutely delighted to have Tyler Hamilton join us for this episode. You can find Tyler on Instagram @Tyler.Hamilton

EP17: The Thing About Catherine and the Black Veil

11/20/2021

It's spooky season, so we're headed to Northanger Abbey! This week we investigate the black veil that so fascinates Catherine, and uncover some of the faint-worthy Mysteries of Udolpho. If you have ever stayed up way too late reading a book, this episode is for you.

Selected sources

Castle, Terry. “Introduction.” In The Mysteries of Udolpho, edited by Bonamy Dobrée. Oxford World’s Classics. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Radcliffe, Ann Ward, and Terry Castle. The Mysteries of Udolpho. Edited by Bonamy Dobrée. Oxford World’s Classics. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.

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