Reading Jane Austen

In this bonus mini-episode, Harriet has a discussion with three of the co-creators of webseries Rational Creatures.

This series, based on Persuasion, started in 2019, but then had to go on a long and unexpected hiatus due to the global pandemic.

(https://rationalseries.wixsite.com/site/about)

The series paused after Episode 5, on 15 October 2019, and resumed on 20 September 2022. Shortly before this, Harriet was invited to have a conversation with three of the co-creators: Jessamyn Leigh, Anya Steiner and Hazel Jeffs.

You can check out Rational Creatures at:

• Official website
• YouTube
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram

In this episode, we read Chapters 40 to 45 of Mansfield Park. We talk about the plot of a girl brought up in privileged circumstances returning to her family, Mary’s letters and how Fanny responds to them, the success of Henry’s visit, Edmund’s letter to Fanny, and Tom’s illness.

We discuss the Price family (with a slight digression into the idea of disposition and principle), then Ellen talks about servants and Harriet looks at how adaptations and modernisations treat these chapters.

Things we mention:

General and character discussion:

• John Wiltshire [Editor], The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austen: Mansfield Park (2005)
• Charlotte M. Yonge, The Pillars of the House (1873)

Historical discussion:

• Claire Tomalin, Charles Dickens: A Life (2011)

Popular culture discussion:

• Adaptations:
  • BBC, Mansfield Park (1983) – starring Sylvestra Le Touzel and Nicholas Farrell (6 episodes)
  • Miramax, Mansfield Park (1999) – starring Frances O’Connor and Jonny Lee Miller
  • ITV, Mansfield Park (2007) – starring Billie Piper and Blake Ritson
• Modernisations:
  • YouTube, Foot in the Door Theatre, From Mansfield With Love (2014-2015)
• Other references:
  • Susan Coolidge, What Katy Did Next (1886)

Creative commons music used:

• Extract from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sonata No. 12 in F Major, ii. Adagio.
• Extract from Joseph Haydn, Piano Sonata No. 38. Performance by Ivan Ilić, recorded in Manchester in December, 2006. File originally from IMSLP.
• Extract from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sonata No. 13 in B-Flat Major, iii. Allegretto Grazioso. File originally from Musopen.
• Extract from George Frideric Handel, Suite I, No. 2 in F Major, ii. Allegro. File originally from Musopen.
• Extract from Christoph Willibald Gluck, Orfeo ed Euridice. File from IMSLP.
• Extract from Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major. File originally from Musopen.

In this episode, we read Chapters 35 to 39 of Mansfield Park. We talk about how Edmund and Mary dismiss Fanny’s concerns about Henry, Sir Thomas’s decision to send Fanny back to Portsmouth, Fanny and William’s journey, the comedy of the arrival in Portsmouth, Fanny’s reaction to the house, and the very realistic and grounded nature of the Portsmouth scenes .

We discuss Edmund Bertram, then Harriet’s partner Michael talks about the Marines. Harriet looks at how adaptations and modernisations treat these chapters, and then Ellen talks about a later nineteenth century novel influenced by Mansfield Park.

Things we mention:

General and character discussion:

• John Wiltshire [Editor], The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austen: Mansfield Park (2005)
• Sheila Kaye-Smith and G.B. Stern, Talking of Jane Austen (1943)

Historical discussion:

• Brian Southam, Jane Austen and the Navy (2003)

Popular culture discussion:

• Adaptations:
  • BBC, Mansfield Park (1983) – starring Sylvestra Le Touzel and Nicholas Farrell (6 episodes)
  • Miramax, Mansfield Park (1999) – starring Frances O’Connor and Jonny Lee Miller
  • ITV, Mansfield Park (2007) – starring Billie Piper and Blake Ritson
• Modernisations:
  • YouTube, Foot in the Door Theatre, From Mansfield With Love (2014-2015)
  • Charlotte M. Yonge, Heartsease (1854)
    And an article about the connection with Mansfield Park:
    • June Sturrock, “Money, morals, and Mansfield Park: the West Indies revisited“, Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal, vol. 28, annual 2006, pp. 176+.

For a list of music used, and a map of Mansfield Park locations, see this episode on our website.

In this episode, we read Chapters 31 to 34 of Mansfield Park. We talk about Fanny's initial failure to realise she has received a true proposal, the amount of pressure placed on her to accept, the picture everyone has of little, modest Fanny, and the difference between Sir Thomas and Fanny's views of marriage.

We discuss Henry Crawford, then Ellen talks about ordination, and Harriet looks at how adaptations and modernisations treat these chapters, particularly the scene between Fanny and Sir Thomas.

Things we mention:

General and character discussion:

• Barbara Pym, Excellent Women (1952)
• The Daily Knightley (2021) [podcast]

Historical discussion:

• Irene Collins, Jane Austen and the Clergy (2002)
• The 1559 Book of Common Prayer
• Georgina Battiscombe, John Keble: A Study in Limitations (1963)

Popular culture discussion:

• Adaptations:
  • BBC, Mansfield Park (1983) – starring Sylvestra Le Touzel and Nicholas Farrell (6 episodes)
  • Miramax, Mansfield Park (1999) – starring Frances O’Connor and Jonny Lee Miller
  • ITV, Mansfield Park (2007) – starring Billie Piper and Blake Ritson
• Modernisations:
  • YouTube, Foot in the Door Theatre, From Mansfield With Love (2014-2015)

Comment on previous episode

• The Thing About Austen [podcast]

Creative commons music used:

• Extract from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sonata No. 12 in F Major, ii. Adagio.
• Extract from Joseph Haydn, Piano Sonata No. 38. Performance by Ivan Ilić, recorded in Manchester in December, 2006. File originally from IMSLP.
• Extract from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sonata No. 13 in B-Flat Major, iii. Allegretto Grazioso. File originally from Musopen.
• Extract from George Frideric Handel, Suite I, No. 2 in F Major, ii. Allegro. File originally from Musopen.
• Extract from Christoph Willibald Gluck, Orfeo ed Euridice. File from IMSLP.
• Extract from Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 28 in A major. File originally from Musopen.

In this episode, we look at chapters 1 to 6 of Pride and Prejudice. We talk about how the book sets up the relationship between love and marriage, the way the characters are introduced so gradually, what we see in Darcy and the fact that we quickly learn how much money everyone has.
We discuss Mrs Bennet in some detail, and then Ellen talks about class in the early nineteenth century, and the type of neighbourhood Pride and Prejudice is set in. Harriet gives an overview of the pop culture versions of the book (dividing them into adaptations, modernisations, continuations and variations) and then looks at how some of them deal with the opening sentence, the period setting and the character of Mrs Bennet.
Things we mention:

• John Mullan, What Matters in Jane Austen?: Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved (2012)
• John Burrows, Computation into Criticism: Study of Jane Austen's Novels and an Experiment in Method (1987)
• Adaptations of the book
  • MGM, Pride and Prejudice (1940) - starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier
  • BBC, Pride and Prejudice (1980) - starring Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul
  • BBC, Pride and Prejudice (1995) - starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth
  • Focus Features, Pride & Prejudice (2005) - starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen
• Modernisations of the book
  • Pathé Pictures International, Bride and Prejudice (2004) - starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Martin Henderson
  • YouTube, Lizzie Bennet Diaries (2012) - starring Ashley Clements and Daniel Vincent Gordh
  • Bestboy Pictures, Pride and Prejudice: A Latter Day Comedy (2003) - starring Kam Heskin and Orlando Seale
  • Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones's Diary (1996) - also a 2001 film
  • Curtis Sittenfeld, Eligible (2016)
• Continuations of the book
  • P.D. James, Death Comes to Pemberley (2011) - also a 2013 BBC mini-series
• Variations on the book
  • Seth Graham-Smith and Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2009) - also a 2016 film

Creative commons music used:

• Extract from Joseph Haydn, Piano Sonata No. 38. Performance by Ivan Ilić, recorded in Manchester in December, 2006. File originally from IMSLP.
• Extract from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sonata No. 13 in B-Flat Major, iii. Allegretto Grazioso. File originally from Musopen.
• Extract from