Austen Chat

Jan 09 2025 20 ep. 40 mins 50

Austen Chat Podcast artwork

Welcome to Austen Chat, the podcast of the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA). Join us each month as we interview scholars, authors, and subject experts on a wide range of topics related to Austen’s writings, her life and times, and more. There is always more to learn and enjoy about Jane!

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A Close Look at Austen’s Genius: A Visit with John Mullan

Jan 09 2025 55 mins

Happy 2025! This year marks Jane Austen's 250th birthday, and we are delighted to kick off the celebration with professor and author John Mullan as our guest. This month we delve into passages from the four novels published during Austen's lifetime and discuss what the details reveal about her genius as a writer. Join us for this fascinating and insightful episode (and get a sneak

Adapting Austen: A Visit with Andrew Davies

Dec 05 2024 47 mins

In this episode we chat with the man who gave us the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice—for many, the definitive Austen adaptation. A prolific author and screenwriter, Andrew Davies is also responsible for the 1996 ITV adaptation of Emma, Northanger Abbey (2007), Sense and Sensibility (2008), and the recent dramatization of Sanditon—not to mention adaptations of a host

Jane Austen & Lord Byron: A Visit with Christine Kenyon Jones

Nov 07 2024 43 mins

Lord Byron is one of the most notorious bad boys of English literature. He had countless affairs, drank wine from a cup fashioned from a human skull, kept a pet bear at Cambridge, and fought for Greek independence against the Ottoman Empire. What could this Regency-era demigod of “sex, drugs, and rock and roll” possibly have to do with spinster Jane, a country parson's daughter

Austen in Translation: A Visit with Keiko Parker and Maria Biajoli

Oct 03 2024 37 mins

Thanks to the tireless work of translators, readers around the world can enjoy Jane Austen's works in their native languages. But how does one even begin to translate her carefully crafted sentences? What unforeseen challenges and valuable insights arise in the process? In this episode, we ask Austen translators Keiko Parker and Maria Biajoli about their experiences—the good, the

Cassandra Austen & Her Drawings: A Visit with Janine Barchas

Sep 06 2024 49 mins

Cassandra Austen, beloved sister to Jane, was a talented artist in her own right. At age 19, she illustrated Jane's satirical History of England with thirteen delightful ink-and-watercolor portraits. She continued to draw and paint throughout her life, most often copying from popular newspaper and magazine prints of the day. In this episode, Austen scholar Janine Barchas discusses

Jane Austen & Her Creative Process: A Visit with Collins Hemingway

Aug 08 2024 47 mins

Jane Austen pioneered and perfected quite a few literary techniques, and her novels mark a major turning point in modern English fiction. In this episode we chat with Collins Hemingway about Austen’s development as a writer and unpack the tools in her literary toolbox. Drawing on insights from his book Jane Austen and the Creation of Modern Fiction: Six Novels in “a Style Entir

Jane Austen & A Reading Challenge: A Visit with the “Jane Austen July” Hosts

Jul 02 2024 45 mins

It's Austen Chat's one-year anniversary! Encouraging more people to read Jane Austen and gain a deeper understanding of her works and life is JASNA’s mission, and to celebrate our podcast birthday, we welcome not one but three guests to talk about reading Austen and the online event they organize each year: Jane Austen July. BookTubers Katie Lumsden, host of the YouTube channel B

Jane Austen & Her Bookshelf: A Visit with Susan Allen Ford

Jun 06 2024 47 mins

"The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." —Henry Tilney, Northanger AbbeyAs an avid reader and a novelist herself, Jane Austen of course loved to read novels. But what else did she read, and what influence did it have on her writing? What books did she place in the hands of her characters, and what do their reading ha

Jane Austen & Movie Music: A Visit with Ruth Mudge

May 02 2024 46 mins

The delicate tinkling of a pianoforte. The clash of cymbals. The soothing strains of a harp. Music in Austen film adaptations performs a variety of functions: it can set the scene, highlight a character’s personality, make us laugh, and make us sigh. In this episode, music maven Ruth Mudge joins us to discuss the soundtracks of four screen adaptations we know and love. A cellist,

Jane Austen & the Decorative Arts: A Visit with Kristen Miller Zohn

Apr 04 2024 34 mins

During the Georgian era, gender differences in domestic goods became increasingly common. For example, a gentleman's writing desk was a sturdy, substantial piece of furniture, while a lady’s desk was a small, delicate writing table. In this episode we sit down with art historian and museum curator Kristen Miller Zohn to discuss gender and the decorative arts in general, and how A