Austen Pod Squad
Austen Pod Squad
Podcast Description
Your hosts will provide an ongoing chat about All Things Austen, ranging from interviews with authors of articles and books on Austen, upcoming Austen events from academic Austen to Austen fandom and beyond.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
Focuses on various themes related to Jane Austen, including literary analysis, modern interpretations, and event coverage, with episodes such as interviews with authors about works like 'Bitches in Bonnets' and discussions on Austen fandom and academic events promoting her legacy.
Your hosts will provide an ongoing chat about All Things Austen, ranging from interviews with authors of articles and books on Austen, upcoming Austen events from academic Austen to Austen fandom and beyond.
Sarah Emsley shares how her scholarship and fiction both grew out of a long love of Jane Austen
The group discusses The Austen, which centers friendship, sisterhood, motherhood, reading, writing, and the bonds that carry people through hard times
Sarah explains her argument in Jane Austen’s Philosophy of the Virtues, where Austen’s heroines are framed as asking the ethical question, “How shall I live?”
Eleanor and Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility are used to show how virtues can conflict, especially truthfulness, kindness, justice, and charity
Emma is explored through the lens of charity, including Emma’s misunderstanding at Box Hill and her eventual growth
Mansfield Park is described as Austen’s most challenging and ethically powerful novel, especially through Fanny Price’s quiet but firm “no”
The conversation revisits Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, and Fanny Price as candidates for Austen’s most philosophically rich heroine
Sarah describes the daunting process of writing fiction in Austen’s voice while balancing scholarly rigor with imaginative freedom
The epistolary structure of The Austens emerged gradually, with letters, journal entries, newspaper clippings, and first-person sections
The novel’s North American connections, especially Halifax, Nova Scotia, and St. Paul’s Church, provided the spark for the story
Sarah reflects on women’s choices, hope, and the emotional center of the novel’s friendship between Jane Austen and Fanny Palmer Austen
The episode closes with Sarah’s writing community, her newsletter, and her ongoing work celebrating Austen, Montgomery, and other beloved writers
Timestamps: 00:00 – Introduction to Sarah Emsley and her Austen scholarship
04:14 – The Austen as a novel about friendship, sisterhood, motherhood, and reading
04:52 – Jane Austen as a philosopher of the virtues
06:25 – Eleanor and Marianne Dashwood and virtues in tension
08:19 – Emma, charity, and the Box Hill scene
12:10 – Persuasion, maturity, and Austen favorites changing over time
13:37 – Mansfield Park as the novel many admire most
18:48 – Fanny Price’s “no” and the power dynamics at the center of the book
22:17 – Writing fiction as a scholar and inventing Jane Austen’s inner life
26:13 – Choosing the epistolary form and moving from third person to first person
30:12 – Writing Austen’s silent years, uncertainty, and anxiety
33:06 – Introducing Fanny Palmer Austen and the friendship at the heart of the novel
35:14 – Women’s choices, art versus love, and hope as the novel’s core
38:13 – Discovering the Halifax connection and St. Paul’s Church
44:19 – The scholar and novelist in conflict, and why that tension mattered
51:21 – Sarah’s newsletter, blog community, and ongoing Austen conversations
54:23 – The Blue Castle, speaking one’s mind, and second chances
54:58 – Closing reflections on Austen’s lasting power
Notable Quotes:
“How shall I live?”
“The one word is hope.”
“The scholar and the novelist in me are always in conflict with each other. They are also in dialogue with each other. And that’s where the magic happens.”
Links: sarahemsley.com for her blog and books.
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