In the world of the Gothic, after you bang on a few castle doors, you’re bound to run into a vampire. Bram Stoker, barrister and theater manager, notably closed out the 19th century by leaving us with his vampire masterpiece, DRACULA.
In this week’s episode, Sonja and Vanessa explore how Bram Stoker brews his very own brand of Gothic. Legends of the Carpathian mountains mix with modern inventions and modern ideas, like that of the New Woman. With 3 established female vampires, a newly-minted female vampire, and one beloved young wife teetering on the brink of the undead, women make up a crucial part of a tale that spans from England to the heart of eastern Europe. There are undeniably strong women in the novel, but is it a feminist text?
Along the way, we meet a “train fiend,” Sonja muses on sexy lancets, and Vanessa concedes that lawyers may well be the greatest blood suckers of all.
Who wants to break all the rules? Who wants to tear it all down and make the world anew? Emily Brontë does, that’s who.
If you imagined WUTHERING HEIGHTS was some quaint Victorian romantic ghost story…think again. Honestly, there is just no other book like it. This 1848 work is truly sui generis. It’s like Emily Brontë, in her one and only book, before she dies at age 30, writes an off-the-scale earthquake into life under the unassuming and isolated Yorkshire moors, and her quake violently, mercilessly shakes the foundations of Patriarchy, class distinctions, racial hierarchy, traditional marriage, expectations of femininity, the role of the Gothic heroine, traditional ideas of masculinity, Christianity, the legal system, traditions of hospitality, and the tropes of Romance, including the so-called brooding romantic hero. Nothing escapes unscathed.
Join Sonja and Vanessa as they share some brief biographical information on Emily Brontë, explain some notable critical takes on the novel, consider the outer limits of revenge, explain why Heathcliff is rarely portrayed accurately in film adaptations, and pretty much stand in complete awe of WUTHERING HEIGHTS, a page-turning labyrinthian story about storytelling.
Along the way, Sonja pines for a dance with strangers while wearing a red dress, and we try not to think very hard about Heathcliff’s double-wide-coffin fantasy.
REFERENCES:
If you have not read WUTHERING HEIGHTS, check out your local bookstore, and if you don’t have one, consider ordering from our legendary bookstore, The Raven, right here in beautiful, quirky, historical, downtown Lawrence, Kansas.
Here is the link to the Bronte House Museum page that details the racial history of Liverpool and how that affects our reading of Heathcliff.
The article that Sonja mentions about the symbolism of Catherine’s whip, by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, can be found here.
Here is an online edition of WUTHERING HEIGHTS that includes Charlotte Brontë’s introduction, explaining the sisters’ pen names, their publishing history, Emily’s temperament, and Charlotte’s take on her younger sister’s novel.
Sonja mentions the term “femme covert,” and if you are not sure what that is, here is a link to an article from the National Women's History Museum about the concept and the huge impact it has had on women historically.
We also reference previous IWAW episodes linked here: Interview with Heather Aimee O'Neill; Emily St. Aubert is the heroine of Ann Radcliffe’s novel, The Mysteries of Udolpho, which we cover in a two-part episode; our episode on Tristan & Iseult explores the origins of romance; and we have an episode on Jane Eyre that intersects with the WUTHERING HEIGHTS episode in terms of the Gothic and romance.
Once a genre gains popularity, here come the parodies. Jane Austen grew up, petticoats deep in Gothic novels, and Jane had thoughts on reading them, writing them, and the effect they had on women readers. Our last novel, Ann Radcliffe’s THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO is mentioned multiple times in Jane Austen’s NORTHANGER ABBEY, finished in 1799 but not published until a few months after Austen’s death in 1817.
Join Sonja and Vanessa as they explore the historical and literary context of this lesser known and sadly lesser-loved Jane Austen novel. Find out why being Mrs. Tilney would be better than being Mrs. Darcy. Hear about a Jane Austen narrator that is not ambiguous and hard to pin down in a meta story about reading…a story that seems to agree with IWAW: namely, that stories shape us.
Along the way, we discover there is no crime in early 19th century England, we confirm that female frenemies have always been a thing, and Jane Austen finds herself caught in a late 18th century catch-and-kill publishing move.
REFERENCES:
If you have not read NORTHANGER ABBEY, you should stop by your local bookstore, and if you don’t have one, order it from our local Lawrence bookstore, The Raven.
The novel that references monks molesting nuns is Matthew Lewis’s THE MONK from 1796.
If you have not read Ann Radcliffe’s THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO from 1794, you can dive into those 600+ pages, or let us do the reading for you by listening to our fun, educational, romp through the plot in our MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO shows, Part 1 and Part 2.
Also, as always, we highly recommend Rachel Feder’s brilliant study of romantic heroes, THE DARCY MYTH or at least check out our show about it.
Much of the biographical information for this episode was taken from Claire Tomalin’s careful and thorough biography, JANE AUSTEN: A LIFE.
We also reference Charlotte Lennox’s THE FEMALE QUIXOTE from 1752 & FORDYCE'S SERMONS a collection of advice to young ladies from 1766.
McCormick Templeman’s atmospheric, twisty, gothic mystery novel, ATLAS OF UNKNOWABLE THINGS came out October 7th, and if you haven’t ordered your copy, run–don’t walk–to your local bookstore!
In this special double interview, McCormick talks about her book (no spoilers!), her literary influences, her creative process, and her friend and colleague, Rachel Feder, author of THE DARCY MYTH, offers her literary expertise and gives ATLAS her highest praise, calling it a Gothic novel that is “both subversive and progressive.”
This interview digs into fascinating, larger questions about the Gothic. Why has the Gothic genre been so enduring? Is the Gothic femme-coded? What were Ann Radcliffe’s distinctions between “terror gothic” and “horror gothic?” What is the link between traditional Gothic and Dark Academia? Is Gothic always a commentary on patriarchy? And, yes, we dare to ask if female writers do Gothic better. Writers that come up in conversation are Jane Austen, Edgar Allen Poe, Emily Brontë, Ann Radcliffe, Stephen King, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Mary Wollstonecraft, Matthew Gregory Lewis, Mary Shelley, and even William Carlos Williams pops in for a cameo.
Plus, McCormick Templeman points us in the direction of some HOT NEW WRITERS to watch, and we’ve put links to all of them in the reference section below.
Along the way, Edgar Allen Poe squeezes into a cheer uniform, “Raised Myself on Gothic” becomes a t-shirt slogan, and we plan a castle turret sleepover, replete with veils, casement windows, and reading from a copy of E. B. Browning’s AURORA LEIGH by moonlight, whilst keeping warm ‘round a wee fire, fed with pages torn from M. G. Lewis’s THE MONK.
REFERENCES:
Grab your copy of ATLAS OF UNKNOWABLE THINGS asap! Learn more about McCormick Templeman at her groovy website. She is also on Instagram.
To discover Rachel Feder’s oeuvre, Rachel's website is a great place to start. And if you have a Swiftie fan in your family, DO check out her book, TAYLOR SWIFT BY THE BOOK, as a really special Christmas gift. Rachel is also very active on Instagram!
If you don’t have a favorite local bookstore, we always recommend stopping by or ordering from The Raven Bookstore in Lawrence, Kansas.
If you have not read Rachel Fader’s THE DARCY MYTH, absolutely treat yourself to it, and if not that, listen to the In Walks a Woman Episode on The Darcy Myth. By the way, Rachel’s last name is pronounced “FAY-der,” and we got it wrong the whole episode before we knew better…thankfully, she has graciously forgiven us.
Here are the Author Names that McCormick Templeman mentions in the episode:
Thirii Myo Kyaw Myint https://www.thiriimyokyawmyint.com/
Dennis J. Sweeney https://www.dennisjamessweeney.com/
Khadijah Queen https://www.khadijahqueen.com/
Camille DeAngelis https://www.cometparty.com/
Heather Aimee O’Neill published her debut novel, THE IRISH GOODBYE, on the last day of September, and it’s already started a reading wildfire: People Magazine just made it their Pick of the Week, it’s Apple Books’s October Staff Pick, and Jenna Bush Hager announced it as her “Read with Jenna” on the Today Show last week. Go, Heather!
Join Sonja and Vanessa as they ask Heather about dyslexia, her early years as a poet, the mentors who inspired her, her transition from poetry to prose, the importance of sisters, and the emotional work of finding her way to and through the creation of this beautiful first novel, THE IRISH GOODBYE. To spend time with Heather Aimee O’Neill is to dip into our shared cultural struggles and losses and to find a way to embrace and be at peace with all the messiness of relationships–especially with family. If you’ve ever simultaneously anticipated and dreaded holiday family gatherings, you’ll relate to her characters, and you’ll value Heather’s warmth and honesty in this interview.
Everyone is trying to get 5 minutes of this hot new novelist’s time, and she graciously gave way more than that to In Walks a Woman, so we’re betting you won’t find another interview that is as deep and thoughtful as this one. Start October right with the fourth in IWAW’s Authors’ Series!
Along the way, Sonja admits to some baking trauma, Heather invents “Long-Island Gothic,” and Vanessa loses track of Chekhov’s raccoon.
REFERENCES:
To learn more about Heather Aimee O’Neill, here is website & she’s can be found on Instagram.
If you live in Lawrence, Kansas, head on down to The Raven Bookstore on Mass or place an order through them at the Raven Bookstore Website.
When we mention “Eric” in this interview, that would be English professor and former Poet Laureate of Kansas, Eric McHenry. Heather considers Eric one of her most important mentors, and Sonja is so fond of Eric she married him and has two kids with him. If you want to check him out, here’s a good place to start!
Heather Aimee O’Neill references The Shit No One Tells you About Writing Podcast, and it’s legit–go check it out if you’re an aspiring writer!
If you want to purchase The Irish Goodbye, Heather Aimee O’Neill has been collaborating with Barnes & Noble, and this link will let you support them.
If you are looking for Heather Aimee O’Neill 2011 poetry collection, Memory Future–the one Sonja mentions–you should see if your local bookstore can order it for you…but if not, here is a link to Amazon. It’s not as widely available as her new novel, but it’s fantastic and totally worth hunting down.
Welcome to Season 4: “Haunting Women”!
Here’s your first scare: Ann Radcliffe’s 1794 gothic classic, THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO, is 290,897 words long. For the average reader, reading at a speed of 300 WPM, that would take 13 hours and 5 minutes to read. And that does not count potty and snack breaks. If you are up for it, go for it! If not, as Sonja likes to say, we offer “Cliff’s Notes for Adults,” and we’ll bravely take you through the book. So are there spoilers in this episode? YES. YES. YES.
THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO was first published in 4 volumes, so this episode (dare we say heroically?) takes you through both volumes 1 & 2 in about an hour. What awaits you? Lots of patriarchy in the form of castles, marriages for property, and men who say that it’s your fault they have to kidnap you because you wouldn’t say yes to their marriage proposal. We also pay tribute to Ann Radcliffe’s expansive imagination: Radcliffe, a woman who had never left her home country of England before writing this sprawling travel narrative through mountains and dales and mountains and villages…and, well, more mountains. We review what “Gothic” means, especially to British writers of the 18th and 19th century, and we once again find that saucy, babbling servants make the lives of bland rich people more exciting.
Along the way, we bump into Scooby-Doo, and we play some Udolpho Bingo (Sonja wins), and both Sonja and Vanessa claim they’d marry a stalker who carved sonnets about them into garden walls.
REFERENCES:
Vanessa’s reference to Pamela is to Samuel Richardson’s 1740 novel, PAMELA: OR, VIRTUE REWARDED, which we cover in Season 3: Episode 5.
As with the first part of our Udolpho episode, this is full of spoilers, so don’t listen if you are up for reading about 300 pages (approximately half) of this Ann Radcliffe novel. However, if you are seeking a lively summary that will allow you to chat confidently about THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO at your next cocktail party, do push play.
When you do, you will find yourself waist deep in banditti and pirates (which might seem like the same thing, but you’d be wrong). The story leaves the fabled Castle of Udolpho, but the intrigue does not end as Emily winds her way back, by road and by sea, to her homeland of France, and the patriarchal real estate hustle continues, while Radcliffe makes sure that every, single imaginable moment of mystery that we’ve encountered in the novel is tidily and rationally explained.
Then, we turn to the question of whether you should go ahead and read this novel yourself. What will you gain? What is there that we have not captured in our summary? The answer might surprise you.
Along the way, Sonja finds handy travel cash under a horse’s saddle, Vanessa does some “performative sighing” after summarizing this brick of a novel, and both Sonja and Vanessa agree that wallowing in melancholy does have its undeniable charms.
REFERENCES:
After recording about 50 episodes, itt’s hard not to refer back to books we’ve read for the pod, and you can find all of it in our previous seasons: check out our episode on Samuel Richardson’s 1740 Pamela: or, Virtue Rewarded; for the reference on Mrs. Ramsey and Lily Brisco, here is a link to our To the Lighthouse episode; in the discussion about metaphorical windows, you might like these episodes: Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Madeline Miller’s Circe, Federico Garcia Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and our 3-part analysis of Juliet in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
If you are interested in our spicy episode on Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” you’ll have to go to our Patreon–but we promise it’s worth it.
Sonja and Vanessa thought it best to put the last episode of season 3 safely on their Patreon...if you go there, you'll find out why!
www.patreon.com/InWalksAWoman
In the third of our author interviews, Sonja & Vanessa are proud to feature another Lawrence, Kansas local author: Rachel McCarthy James. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because she co-authored 2017’s cold-case cracking tour-de-force, Man on the Train, in which she and her coauthor, Bill James, solve a hundred-year old serial axe murderer mystery. In her new book, Rachel traces the history of the axe as tool, weapon, and cultural artifact. Whack Job includes so many killer stories (pun intended!), like the story of a murder victim, from 430,000 BCE, found along with an axe in the “Pit of Bones” in northern Spain. Whack Job also recounts hair-raising true crime stories that hit much closer to home, like the daylight axe murder of Frank Lloyd Wright’s mistress and five others at his Wisconsin “Love Cottage” in 1914.
In our interview, Rachel shares insights into her research methods, her travels, her “rabbit holes,” her original discoveries, the experience of working with editors to shape her manuscript–in short, the honest, hard work, determination, and sacrifice behind a well-researched and well-written history book. Plus, you are in for a treat because Rachel shares some fascinating stories that didn’t make it into the book!
Along the way, Vanessa and Rachel hatch a hatchet business venture, Sonja drools at hearing a new, non-cherry-tree axe story about George Washington, and the axe gets compared to an important but much maligned female body part.
REFERENCES:
You can purchase Whack Job at any bookseller, but we suggest ordering it from our outstanding local bookstore, The Raven, in the heart of Lawrence, Kansas.
This book and this episode is like a fruit smoothie by the sunny seashore–light, sweet, gentle first love vibes. This is a YA selection we have chosen to find out what the youngest set values in romance stories. Appropriately, it is not an “E” episode–first time in the season! Sonja and Vanessa are joined again by their Designated Gen Z Reader, Sage McHenry, to better understand the meteoric rise of this book series…now television series.
Unless you’ve been living under ye olde proverbial Rock, you know that the “Summer I Turned Pretty” franchise is a cultural phenomenon with staggering fan engagement on all social platforms. Join us as we explore what makes it so appealing and what tropes it shares with other romances we’ve analyzed this season. Of course, Vanessa asks Sage some pesky questions, like, are all the messages of the series positive for younger female readers. As always, Sage “Designated Z” McHenry gives as good as she gets. Join us to see what you think…can we enjoy something and look at it critically?
Along the way, incest jumps out at us, Sonja loyally picks the “right” boy from the series to keep her daughter happy, and Vanessa finds out the golden retriever she hastily adopted might not turn out to be as adorable as he seemed.
Welcome to our 2nd episode of “In Walks a Woman Writer”! Amy Stuber joined us in the studio, and the time flew by. Listening to this conversation, you’ll feel like you are sitting in your favorite coffee shop with Amy who is so kind, so unassuming–and yet so ridiculously talented.
Amy’s 2024 short story collection, Sad Grownups, won the prestigious Pen/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection. The collection is wide-ranging, packed with women’s experiences, and haunting in its melancholy telling and perceptive understanding of modern American life. If you’ve ever seen a stranger on the street and wondered, what is their story?, this is the collection for you. Amy’s imagination is rich and empathetic, and these characters will stay with you, long after you finish her luminous collection.
We uncover so much in this conversation, including Amy’s literary influences, her inspirations, and why she believes short stories are the perfect fit for readers today. Along the way, some empty-nester secrets spring out of the vault, the Boss rides by with ghosts in his eyes, and we unmask a Joan Didion thief.
REFERENCES:
If you are in the Lawrence, Kansas area, Amy would love for you to pick up her book at her favorite local bookstore, The Raven. Support Amy’s local bookstore and Buy Here!
The Pen America Literary Awards are considered the “Oscars” of books, so it’s hard to exaggerate what a big deal it is that Amy won it. Get the whole scoop here, at the Pen Book Awards site. What we get from it is KANSAS. HAS. TALENT.
Sonja and Vanessa go on a thrilling journey with Millennial reader and Romantasy fan/expert, Haley Bajorek. If you’ve ever wondered what Romantasy is, why it has a huge fan base, whether it’s for you, and where to start, this episode fills in all the blanks!
For Gen X readers like Sonja and Vanessa who grew up on tales such as Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, the focus of this episode, Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses (2015) is a radical departure. Dare we say a paradigm shift. Forget moody men dressed up as fortune tellers by firelight–Haley helps us get our bearings in Romantasy worlds where giant wolf-lions turn out to be hot fairies who look like Chris Hemsworth…with pointy ears. and retractable claws. Biting might happen. Riddles must be solved. Miles must be traveled. And here we are (again!) talking about the female odyssey. Romantasy is a genre by women, for women, and very much a female community endeavor, and even if it’s not your cup of stars, Haley offers a bite-sized, juicy taste of this feminist branch of fantasy literature.
Along the way, we wish we had a harem, we get vertigo learning the practical implications of having a “mate,” and skulls and peppers become sign posts to new worlds.
REFERENCES:
We could not have done this episode without the guidance and collaboration of our dear friend, Haley Bajorek, who often goes bravely where no man would go, and we are so lucky to be in her circle. Thank you, Haley!
If you want to dip your toes into Romantasy, you can start with Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses, like we did, and if you want to check out her whole universe, the Sarah J. Maas Website would be a good starting point.
If you are more in the mood for dragons, check out Rebecca Yarros's Website where love and battle take flight.
Welcome to our first episode of “In Walks a Woman Writer”!
We are proud to kick off this special author series with talented Kansas poet and veteran teacher, Melissa Fite Johnson. You are in for a treat as Melissa’s warmth will make you feel welcome, and, like Sonja and Vanessa, you’ll be grateful for Melissa’s shrewd insights about life and writing.
Melissa’s third collection, Midlife Abecedarian, is filled with nostalgia, self-discovery, and a wisdom that only comes through reflecting deeply on one’s younger self…or is it selves? After she shares her poems on the show today, you’ll wonder why-oh-why you don’t already have this collection on your bedside table, right at the top of your TBR stack. Melissa’s poetry is honest, precisely crafted, and nothing short of revelatory. Plus, pop culture pulses through her verses. In fact, if you remember what it was like to look for videos at a Blockbuster store, Melissa’s recollections of being a teen in the 1990's will feel like cozying up in your favorite oversized sweater.
We discover so much in this conversation, including Melissa’s literary influences, her unique writing process, and why she believes poetry should be for everyone. Along the way, we blow kisses to a young Luke Perry in his white t-shirt, try to dress like So-Called Claire Danes, and Poetry and Pro Wrestling go on a date.
REFERENCES:
Melissa loves her hometown bookstore, The Raven, right here in Lawrence, Kansas, so if you want to buy her book, she’d love it if you’d check them out.
Midlife Abecedarian is published by Riot in Your Throat Press.
Melissa Fite Johnson’s website is here.
(show notes)
Ernest Hemingway’s 1929 A Farewell to Arms is almost always captioned as a tragic romance. Is it? Tragic, yes. Romance…debatable. Is Frederick Henry a compelling romantic hero and Catherine Barkley an inspiring romantic heroine? Join Sonja and Vanessa as they run through the text (SPOILER ALERT), and give their verdict on the love story.
This show will also offer you a mini Hemingway bio, an explanation of his writing philosophy and style, and it highlights distinctions between warfare on the Western and Italian Fronts in World War 1. Vanessa also shares an overview of feminist literary critics’ takes on Hemingway’s treatment of Catherine–both supportive and disapproving.
Along the way, we discover how Catherine Barkley feels about rent-by-the-hour hotel rooms; we bump up against old-man-doctor theories, claiming the benefits of “good” alcohol during pregnancy, and stale Cheetos--of course--make a cameo.
REFERENCES:
Other Episodes of IWAW are mentioned: the reference to Tristan and Iseult is explained in IWAW S3E1; the reference to Elly and Gaunt and Paul Fussell (author of The Great War and Modern Memory) are explained in our episode on Alice Winn’s novel, In Memoriam, IWAW S3E8; to learn more about Romeo as a romantic hero, check out our 3-part series on Romeo and Juliet that starts with IWAW S3E2; Colin Eversea is the hero of Julie Ann Long’s The Perils of Pleasure, covered in IWAW S3E7; and the reference to Esther in Sarah Water’s The Paying Guests links to our next show, that drops on Friday, 8/22/25. Stay tuned!
Here is a link to Ernest Hemingway’s essay, "The Art of the Short Story" from 1959.
CORRECTION: The quote from Hemingway in which he mentions raisin bread is actually from a 1954 TIME Magazine interview that can be found here.
The audio of Hemingway's Nobel Prize Speech is a quick listen, in case you are interested, and it focuses mostly on the loneliness of a writer’s life.
Sonja and Vanessa LOVE Alice Winn’s 2024 novel, In Memoriam, a moving love story of two soldiers fighting on the fabled Western Front in World War 1. Winn nimbly weaves numerous, real historical events through the friends-to-lovers romance of two teens who fight bravely for their country but have to keep their love secret from that very government–on pain of death.
Our goal in this episode is not to summarize or spoil the novel, but rather to act as a useful companion to the text. You could listen to it before, during, or after reading the book. Most of us know more about WW2 than WW1, and when we encounter historical novels, we often wonder, “how much of this really happened?” Our episode hopes to offer a larger historical context and flesh out some details that Winn mentions briefly in the narrative, character dialogue, and setting descriptions.
Can you read and enjoy this novel without knowing more about WW1? ABSOLUTELY. Winn never lets you feel lost or confused, but if you are a fellow historically-curious reader, we’ve done a little homework for you. So relax and enjoy the research!
Along the way, Sonja politely describes how early 20th century European royalty were one big, um, family, followed shortly after by Vanessa explaining feathers as weapons.
REFERENCES:
Do yourself a huge favor and pick up a copy of Alice Winn’s In Memoriam.
Paul Fussell’s The Great War and Modern Memory was a landmark study of the impact of World War 1 on our fundamental understanding of the world, of war, of trust in government, leading to the modern sense of alienation and fragmentation.
George Orwell’s essay “Such, Such Were the Joys,” published posthumously in 1952 describes his youthful experience at an elite all-boys boarding school as a "world of force and fraud and secrecy."
Is Gaunt “a Darcy”? refers to the main argument of Dr. Rachel Feder’s brilliant work, The Darcy Myth (IWAW covers it in Season 3, Episode 6)
The history podcasts mentioned in the show are The Rest is History, History that Doesn’t Suck, and Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History series “Blueprint to Armageddon” that can be purchased directly from his site, dancarlin.com
FURTHER READING SUGGESTIONS ON WW1:
Now it Can Be Told by Philip Gibbs is a reporters description of WW1 after the war when he could finally tell what he really witnessed because government censorship (on all sides) made that impossible during the conflict. It can be purchased here.
If you are curious how the war happened, Christopher Clark’s The Sleepwalkers is very accessible to the nonhistorian reader.
Barbara Tuchman’s 1963 Pulitzer Prize-winning account, The Guns of August vividly portrays the sheer scale and violence of the opening of the war.
Sonja and Vanessa dip into a wonderful historical romance novel by Julie Ann Long, The Perils of Pleasure, Book 1 of 11 in her marvelous Pennyroyal Green series. We set up the first three chapters, but that’s just the premise of the book, and there are no spoilers. We discuss the literary lineage of regency romance novels, like this one, both to Pride and Prejudice and even to Tristan & Iseult.
Sonja brings up some thought-provoking questions worth considering: What is the specific appeal of “Regency” romances? Are there essential elements that any good romance novel must contain? Is it disempowering to women to read romance novels?
Along the way, we find out that Jane Eyre and Elizabeth Bennet share a crucial life moment, Vanessa finally learns what a “plot moppet” is, and Sonja discovers that she needs to write a Regency, Amish, vampire romance novel.
REFERENCES
Julie Ann Long’s The Perils of Pleasure can be purchased here.
Julie Ann Long has a website that gives a good sense of her whole (very impressive) body of work.
A Natural History of the Romance Novel by Pamela Regis can be purchased here. This was such a great resource! If you love romance novels, you would find Regis’s study fascinating.
And check out the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books Website. Savvy and fun!
If you like your literature with a side of pop culture, you’ll love what’s on the menu for today: Rachel Feder’s clever & informative study, The Darcy Myth: Jane Austen, Literary Heartthrobs, and the Monsters They Taught Us to Love (2023). Let’s face it, whether or not we have read Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and whether we love or hate it, Lizzie and Mr. Darcy’s love story has had a massive influence on our culture, specifically in terms of how straight women view the “story” of love and envision their “ideal” guy.
Sonja and Vanessa examine the main argument of Rachel Feder’s thoroughly entertaining exploration of our collective love for Mr. Darcy. Feder asks an important question: what effect has loving Mr. Darcy in fiction had on our real lives? Is Feder right that we might have taken the fantasy too far?
This episode is for you if you have ever met a woman (or been a woman…) who is dating a guy that everyone else thinks is a jerk, but YOU understand him, and YOU know he’ll change, and YOU are willing to do the work to transform him. If this sounds eerily familiar, then Rachel Feder’s insightful book might help you understand the psychology at work, and this episode will (hopefully) sell you on checking out or (better yet) buying The Darcy Myth.
Along the way, Sonja and Vanessa brush up against the possibility that Longbourne is a haunted house, once again find themselves circling back to questions about female odysseys, and–quite innocently–find themselves porn adjacent.
REFERENCES
Check out Rachel Feder's Website for a list of all her works, including her newest book, Taylor Swift By the Book: The Literature Behind the Lyrics, from Fairy Tales to Tortured Poets (2024), co-authored with Tiffany Tatreau
The mention of virginity as a “fettish” is in Virginia Woolf’s collection of lectures, A Room of One’s Own, specifically in the section entitled, “If Shakespeare Had a Sister.” You can purchase the entire volume, or there are many pdf versions of the “If Shakespeare Had a Sister” section, like this one from the University of Minnesota @ Duluth.
The mention of Clarissa and Pamela are to two novels by 18th century novelist, Samuel Richardson. Our 5th episode of season 3 is actually about Pamela (1740), and if you’d rather not read it but would still like to know about it, you will find that episode very helpful and fun. We have not read Clarissa…yet?...it’s about 1,500 pages, so no promises…
Sonja and Vanessa have read a 500 page novel for you (or a measly 400 pages, depending on which edition you read). You’re welcome!
It’s about a 15 year old girl named Pamela, who is the most beautiful woman on earth (according to everyone in the novel), and she’s a servant girl who is “accomplished” (in Pride and Prejudice fashion…even to the extent that everyone marvels at how well she carves a chicken–now that’s an accomplished young lady, dear listeners). Pamela finds herself the lust-and-later-love object of her decade-older employer, Mr. B—-, and there are comical cross-dressing scenes, hidden letters, mugged parsons, and our “poor, dear Pamela” jumps out of at least one window.
Come along for this entertaining romp through this famous early novel that was the first English BEST SELLER in history, consider the ideas threading through it that are (sadly) still very much with us today, and the surprising prequel vibe it has for Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen might have perfected the enemies-to-lovers plot…but she didn’t invent it, and here’s a book she for sure read. See what you think!
Along the way, we meet a “scribbling” woman (over a hundred years before Nathaniel Hawthorne coined the expression), link The Breakfast Club to 18th century literature, and Sonja and Vanessa wonder why they didn’t just call the podcast “Idle Sluts in the House.”
REFERENCES
Dr. Octavia Cox, of Oxford University, has several wonderful educational videos about 18th century literature, and this one on the success of Pamela in 1740 is incredibly informative with helpful visuals.
More information on Dr. Octavia Cox can be found here.
Here is a picture of the original title page of Samuel Richardson’s novel, Pamela.
Here is a picture of the original title page of Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe, 1722.
Tate Museum's 4 Paintings by Joseph Highmore of scenes from Pamela, including Mr. B– disguised as a drunk maid sitting in a corner, spying on Pamela as she undresses.
Gaze here upon the portrait of Samuel Richardson that Vanessa printed out and framed to have before us in the studio as the pod was recorded so we remembered to be kind to Sam.
This episode focuses on acts 3-5 of Romeo and Juliet. Our spotlight is on Juliet because, when you read the original play, it’s hard not to think that Juliet DESERVES more of the spotlight than most directors share with her.
Hear about many moments and lines that often don’t make it into productions of the play or feature films. What does that do to our perception of Juliet? Doesn’t it, inevitably, distort her? In Acts 3-5, Juliet lies, shows her strong acting skills, reasons out strategies, longs to have sex with Romeo for about 30 lines, makes jokes (some of them naughty) while in tears and fools her mother, demonstrates clear understanding of theological tenants, and displays masterful rhetorical skills in evading detection with her fiance, Paris. Is this the Juliet you think you’ve seen on stage and screen? If not, you’ll enjoy the inside view we offer into the full scope of Juliet’s talents, and you might be tempted to ask this: Is it okay to cut all or most of Juliet’s lines?
Along the way, we talk to daggers, we defend the human rights of drug dealers, and we find out that Juliet actually wakes up to discover THREE dead men around her tomb.
We are using the Yale Press version of Romeo and Juliet, editor Burton Raffel, 2004.
2014 Live Production of Romeo and Juliet starring Condala Rashad as Juliet and Orlando Bloom as Juliet.
