Episodes
Friday Jan 19, 2024
EPISODE 24: Honoré de Balzac, Cousin Pons, Part Two
Friday Jan 19, 2024
Friday Jan 19, 2024
Chapters 12-17: 0:00—Bourgeois, high and low. 3:38—Stereotypes. 11:30—Cibot seeks her fortune. 14:10—Cartomancy. 20:40—A serpent hatched. 21:34—French Jews. 25:58—Pons’s collection. 27:37—Pons floored. 29:32—Mute despair. 35:09—The terrible comedy. 35:39—Interlude.
Chapter 18-Conclusion: 36:00—The lawyer Fraisier. 38:53—The Gothic. 40:07—Fraisier’s warnings. 43:08—Creditor & caregiver. 46:05—Remonencq & Cibot. 48:30—These two vipers. 51:04—Carrion crows around a corpse. 53:00—Criminal homeopathy. 56:04—Murder by verdigris. 59:16—Complications & wills. 1:02:05—R.I.P. Pons. 1:03:59—Tombstone Street. 1:13:00—Helpful Topinard. 1:14:36—Muddling Schmucke. 1:17:58—Character & corruption. 1:24:27—R.I.P. Balzac.
Interlude: Beethoven, Symphony #2 (1802), performed by the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Bruno Walter, 1959.
To contact me: jimjneilson@gmail.com
Balzac's grave, Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris. |
Thursday Jan 18, 2024
EPISODE 23: Honoré de Balzac, Cousin Pons, Part One
Thursday Jan 18, 2024
Thursday Jan 18, 2024
Chapters 1-7: 0:00—A glorious relic. 4:02—The aging artist. 6:44—A taste for antiquities. 10:15—Gourmand syndrome. 12:24—Good taste. 16:37—Such a Schmucke. 18:36—Bette & Valerie vs. Pons & Schmucke. 21:40—Connoisseurship. 27:37—Family & food. 31:28—Dinner at the Camusots. 34:20—Gastric nostalgia. 38:17—Interlude.
Chapters 8-11: 38:40—Frankfurt-am-Main. 39:40—A wicked stepmother. 41:52—Fritz & Werther. 42:54: Rich Fritz. 43:38—Salad days. 47:18—Pons’s proposal. 49:06—Pons’s paintings. 52:00—Pons the killer. 55:00—Pons the monster. 58:31—Pons the pariah. 59:43: Dr. Poulain. 1:01:35—The tale end.
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Interlude: Beethoven, Symphony #2 (1802), performed by the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Bruno Walter, 1959.
To contact me: jimjneilson@gmail.com Honoré de Balzac, by David d'Angiers (aka Jean Pierre David), 1843. |
Tuesday Oct 10, 2023
EPISODE 22: A 19th Century Miscellany--Women and Marriage
Tuesday Oct 10, 2023
Tuesday Oct 10, 2023
Introduction. 0:00—Brontë, Collins, Fowles. 7:41—Haunted heroines. 10:13—Interlude.
Education. 10:42—Exemplary vs. exceptional. 11:57—From Episode 1: Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. 13:26—From Episode 5: Wood, East Lynne. 14:27—Training girls. 15:37—From Episode 1: Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. 16:42—From Episode 2: Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. 22:29—Resistance. 22:59—From Episode 3: Brontë, Agnes Grey. 26:27—Interlude.
Marriage. 26:58—Marriage, meaning & money. 28:17—From Brontë, Agnes Grey. 34:48—Intimate details. 38:38—From Episode 2: Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. 40:16—Sexual failing. 41:18—From Episode 18: Balzac, Cousin Bette. 43:37—Cultural prudishness. 44:08—Interlude.
Adultery. 44:38—Women seeking comfort. 45:15—From Episode 2: Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. 47:32—Causes of female adultery. 48:08—From Episode 5: Wood, East Lynne. 52:41—From Episode 3: Brontë, Agnes Grey. 56:16—From Episode 17: Balzac, Cousin Bette. 58:41—Interlude.
Employment. 59:11—Governessing. 59:54—From Episode 3: Brontë, Agnes Grey. 1:04:39—Her best alternative. 1:06:04—From Episode 16, Braddon, Lady Audley’s Secret. 1:08:23—Interlude.
Women Beware Women. 1:08:52—Frustrated women. 1:09:59—From Episode 7: Broughton, Cometh Up as a Flower. 1:17:02—From Episode 17: Balzac, Cousin Bette. 1:20:56—From Episode 19: Balzac, Cousin Bette. 1:23:02—From Episode 4: Wood, East Lynne.
Conclusion. 1:32:45—Chipping away at an institution. 1:34:24—Contemporary novelists on marriage. 1:35:22—Happy endings. 1:35:41—From Episode 2: Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. 1:36:55—From Episode 16, Braddon, Lady Audley’s Secret. 1:38:24—From Episode 5: Wood, East Lynne. 1:39:40—From Episode 3: Brontë, Agnes Grey. 1:41:37—True love ways. 1:42:07—Notes. 1:42:36—Wilhelm Schlegel on the Gothic. 1:43:35—Vera Brittain on Victorian. dating. 1:46:31—Closing.
Interludes: Clara Schumann, Prelude in B-flat Major (1845), performed by Alison Hasselquist. To contact me: jimjneilson@gmail.com
A portrait of the podcaster as an old man. |
Sunday Oct 01, 2023
EPISODE 21: A 19th Century Miscellany--Imperialism and Anti-Semitism
Sunday Oct 01, 2023
Sunday Oct 01, 2023
0:00—Digressive pleasure. 1:14—From Episode 17: Balzac, Cousin Bette. 5:43—Syntactic tangles. 6:47: From Episode 13: The Sensation Novel & Episode 8: Epistolary and Sentimental. 8:57—British imperialism. 13:04—From Episode 14: Broughton, Lady Audley’s Secret. 15:12—Allusions of empire. 16:52—From Episode 7: Broughton, Cometh Up as a Flower. 26:12: Braddon’s reaction. 26:32—From Episode 14: Braddon, Lady Audley’s Secret. 31:47—Mutiny & sensation. 32:04—From Episode 13: Braddon, Lady Audley’s Secret. 40:33—French imperialism. 41:27—From Episode 17: Balzac, Cousin Bette. 50:30—Interlude.
51:59—Anti-Semitism in Britain. 53:13—From Episode 4: Wood, East Lynne. 1:00:22—From Episode 7: Broughton Cometh Up as a Flower. 1:02:00—Anti-Semitism in France. 1:02:48—From Episode 19: Balzac, Cousin Bette. 1:09:53—Closing: politics & the novel. 1:12:11—From Episode 12: Walter Scott and the Historical Novel, Part Two.
Interludes: Anton Bruckner, Symphony # 8 (1890), performed by the Vienna Philharmonic, 1944. To contact me: jimjneilson@gmail.com
Leonid Pasternak, The Passion of Creation (date unknown) |
Friday Sep 29, 2023
EPISODE 20: A 19th Century Miscellany--Method and Mania
Friday Sep 29, 2023
Friday Sep 29, 2023
0:00—Methodology. 8:40—New Criticism. 9:10—Context. 10:10—Repression. 10:35—From Episode 10: Historicizing & Analyzing the Gothic. 16:37—Repression & Ideology. 17:42—From Episode 14: India in Lady Audley’s Secret. 21:18—Repetition. 22:32—From Episode 16: Fire imagery in Lady Audley’s Secret. 32:14—Interlude.
32:48—Fear of the novel. 33:33—From Episode 8: Inferiority of the novel. 37:26—Attacking novel genres. 37:52—From Episode 10: Attacking the Gothic. 47:40—After the Gothic. 47:59—From Episode 9: Attacking the Silver Fork. 53:00—Mid-Victorian vogue. 53:18—From Episode 13: Attacking the Sensation Novel. 1:08:52—Novel fears.
Interludes: Niccolo Paganini, 24 Caprices, peformed by Michael Rabin, 1958. To contact me: jimjneilson@gmail.com
Firs Zhuralev, The Clerk, 1884 (detail) |
Friday Sep 22, 2023
EPISODE 19: Honoré de Balzac, Cousin Bette, Part Three
Friday Sep 22, 2023
Friday Sep 22, 2023
Chapters 84-91: 0:00—Honor & ruin. 5:35—The majesty of virtue. 8:31—Big darling & Little lovey-dovey. 13:54—Interlude.
Chapters 92-102: 14:40--Male honor. 24:24—Hulot leaves home. 25:29—Jews in France. 32:53—Recurring characters. 33:18—Crazy about women. 34:15—Olympe Bijou and the claws of sensuality. 36:22—A worthy son. 38:21—Rue de la Paix. 39:39—Valerie’s miscarriage and marriage. 40:38—Interlude.
Chapters 103-112: 41:23—Situating ourselves. 42:49—Boulevard of crime. 44:28—Adeline & Josepha. 46:56—Judith & Holofernes. 51:40—Madonna & Mistress. 52:57—Class privilege & sex education. 54:33—Madonna worship. 59:38—Bette warns the Baron. 1:01:49—Rue de Charonne. 1:04:12—Rightful manias. 1:06:37—Crevel and Valérie. 1:09:00—Criminal underground & secret police. 1:15:25—Interlude.
Chapters 113-132: 1:16:00—The world of the courtesan. 1:17:11—Combabus. 1:18:31—Montès & Cydalise. 1:23:04—Slaves & poison. 1:25:30—Paradise lost. 1:29:31—Valérie & Crevel & Montès. 1:30:57—A curse of ugliness. 1:35:33—Infinite compassion. 1:36:38—A child of Voltaire & Rosseau. 1:39:20—Reactionary politics. 1:42:29—Haute bourgeois arrivisite.1:45:44—Poor neighborhoods & charity. 1:51:41—Monsieur Vyder & Atala Judici. 1:52:59—Faubourgs. 1:55:03—Attala & Adeline. 1:56:39—A kind of monster. 1:59:15—Passages. 2:00:19—Adeline & Baron Hulot reunited. 2:03:03—Bitter Bette. 2:04:40—Conventional closing. 2:06:30—An appalling ending.
Interludes: Giachino Rossini, String Sonata No. 3 in C Major (1804), performed by the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, 1953. To contact me: jimjneilson@gmail.com
Caricature of Balzac by Nadar, 1850. |
Sunday Sep 10, 2023
EPISODE 18: Honoré de Balzac, Cousin Bette, Part Two
Sunday Sep 10, 2023
Sunday Sep 10, 2023
Chapters 38-48: 0:00—Crevel’s cravings. 4:06—Immoral French novels. 14:34—The sensation novel. 17:00—Wilde on Balzac. 19:43—Bette and Valérie’s closeness. 21:48—Sexual fluidity. 24:06—Creole? 25:15—Emasculating Hulot. 26:19—Doglike devotion. 32:28—Valérie’s lovers. 35:40—Interlude.
Chapters 49-56: 36:13—Enter the Brazilian. 39:05—The rich get richer. 41:59—Valérie’s speculations. 45:46—Balzac & women. 46:34—Virginity. 47:35—The Physiology of Marriage. 50:11—Tricked like shareholders. 51:34—Interlude.
Chapters 57-83: 51:57—Enticing corruption. 59:06—Physiology. 1:01:36: A very nervous attack. 1:05:16—The five fathers. 1:07:55—More than a dagger blow. 1:10:09—Much entanglement & deceit. 1:12:07—Blackmail in the boudoir.1:14:39—The ideal & the sensual.
Interludes: Frederic Chopin, Impromptu No. 1, in A Major, Op. 29 (1837), performed by Robert Stahlbrand.
To contact me: jimjneilson@gmail.com Portrait of Honoré de Balzac, by Louis Boulanger, 1836 |
Monday Sep 04, 2023
EPISODE 17: Honoré de Balzac, Cousin Bette, Part One
Monday Sep 04, 2023
Monday Sep 04, 2023
Introduction: 0:00—London to Paris. 8:00—Paris in the 1840s. 12:56—Balzac’s home. 15:50—Balzac at work. 20:35—Interlude.
Chapters 1-17: 21:09—Military & Nobility. 25:06—“de.” 28:57—Dissent & consent. 41:38—Bette vs. Adeline. 50:53—"A kind of god.” 52:59—Bette the common worker. 55:26—Bette the old maid. 55:55—Bette’s neighborhood. 58:10—Balzac’s Paris. 59:43: Special military operation in Poland. 1:02:52—Saving Steinbock. 1:07:36—Domestic perfection. 1:09:01—La Comédie Humaine. 1:10:30—A new economic reality. 1:16:39—Marx & Engels. 1:17:57—Balzac’s reactionary politics. 1:19:58—The bourgeoisie. 12:20:08—Interlude.
Chapters 14-32: 1:22:36—Hulot’s gaze. 1:25:05—Meeting the Marneffes. 1:29:09—Balzac’s realism. 1:32:43—Upper-class display. 1:35:00—Hulot rejected. 1:40:36—Hortense & Steinbock. 1:44:26—Rue Vaneau. 1:48:12—A new way to love. 1:50:50—Smothering Steinbock. 1:55:41—Bette & Valerie, bff. 2:00:45—Losing Steinbock. 2:02:33—Interlude.
Chapters 33-37: 2:05:15—The conquest of Algeria. 2:18:42—“The most consummate devilry.”
Interludes: Frederic Chopin, Waltz in A Flat Major, No. 3, Op. 64 (1847), performed by John Robson. To contact me: jimjneilson@gmail.com
Honoré de Balzac, portrait by Louis-Auguste Bisson,1842, Paris Musees
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Thursday Feb 09, 2023
EPISODE16: Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Lady Audley’s Secret, Part Three
Thursday Feb 09, 2023
Thursday Feb 09, 2023
Vol. 3, Chapters 1-6. 0:00—In her hands. 2:49—Wrestling with a mad woman. 6:28—His pretty nurse & a monster. 11:26—Will anything stop him? 13:05—Staring into the fire. 19:04—Back to normal. 21:42—Interlude. 22:53—No longer a woman. 26:10—A public hanging. 27:44—Lady Audley’s mother’s secret. 29:00—Marriage & madness. 31:10—Becoming (and remaining) Lady Audley. 32:52—Sir Michaels distress. 33:39—Mania sans delire. 37:20—She is dangerous. 38:21—Diminished, disheveled & discolored. 42:16—This creature. 43:18—Interlude.
Vol. 3, Chapters 7-10. 43:51—The Indian Mutiny. 47:16—Luke on his deathbed. 49:28—Her bounden slave. 50:25—His lost friend. 50:42—An Edenic conclusion. 53:40—Wrestling with Lady Audley. 1:00:15—Matters religious. 1:05:06—Sympathizing with Lady Audley. 11:14:30—Mary Braddon’s secret. 1:19:34—Closing.
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Interludes: Beethoven, Piano Sonata 23 in F Minor, Op. 57 (1804-06), performed by Stephen Kopp. To contact me: jimjneilson@gmail.com
M. E. Braddon, wood engraving by Edward Linley Sambourne, Punch (5 March 1881), from The Victorian Web |
Thursday Feb 09, 2023
EPISODE 15: Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Lady Audley’s Secret, Part Two
Thursday Feb 09, 2023
Thursday Feb 09, 2023
Vol. 2, Chapters 1-5. 0:00—Rail travel. 5:40—Women on the rails. 11:24—Losing letters, finding inscriptions, saving Georgey. 16:43—George’s father & sister.
Vol. 2, Chapters 6-9. 19:50—Petticoat government. 22:22—Interlude. 23:-03—Homosociality. 30:37—Effeminacy. 41:44—The Audley name. 51:33—Interlude. 52:03—Confronting Lady Audley. 54:33—The connecting link. 55:57—Off to Wildersnea. 59:03—Assembling the pieces. 1:01:37—Digging further. 1:01:37—Fugue. 1:02:03—Closing.
Interludes: Beethoven, Piano Sonata 27 in F Minor, Op. 90 (1814),, performed by Randolph Hokanson. Additional music: Felix Mendelssohn, Fugue in F Minor (1836), performed by Professor Robert Parkins, Duke University, 1982. To contact me: jimjneilson@gmail.com
Mary Elizabeth Braddon (Robert Lee Wolff Collection, Univ. of Texas) |
Tuesday Jan 24, 2023
EPISODE 14: Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Lady Audley’s Secret, Part One
Tuesday Jan 24, 2023
Tuesday Jan 24, 2023
Vol 1. Chapters 1-6. 0:00—Audley Court. 3:54—Ingatestone Hall. 8:48—Skisdon Lodge. 11:48—Lucy Graham. 14:52—Long flaxen curls. 17:04—The widowed baronet & “the sweetest girl that ever lived.” 23:03—Back from the Outback. 24:28—George & Helen. 25:46—The Australian gold rush. 28:36—Companion and clodhopper. 32:33—Robert Audley, bachelor barrister. 33:00—Death announcement. 34:12—Off to Ventnor. 34:31—Why Ventnor? 36:00—Headstone & hair. 37:16—Captain Maldon. 38:00—Interlude.
Vol. 1. Chapters 7-12. 38:20—George’s wound. 39:24—Contemporary literary practice. 41:49—The Indian Mutiny. 48:47—Lady Audley. 49:45—Childish women. 52:30—Alicia Audley. 53:56—Portrait of a beautiful fiend. 56:44—Demon & angel. 59:44—Pre-Raphaelite women. 1:01:17—George disappears. 1:01:58—Paradoxical Lady Audley. 1:02:53—Clues at Southampton. 1:03:41—Interlude.
Vol. 1. Chapters 13-18. 1:04:00-Robert’s dreams. 1:07:10—Reading The Times. 1:09:28—Off to Liverpool. 1:10:05—Journal of facts. 1:12:50—Lady Audley & Phoebe. 1:13:24—French novels. 1:18:01—Phoebe will marry Luke. 1:22:46—Audley Court vs. Mt. Stanning. 1:26:40—Castle Inn. 1:30:00—The larger picture. 1:31:43—Horses & dogs and cat & mouse. 1:35:36—Perfect beauty. 1:37:55—Appearance & character. 1:42:12—Physiognomy. 1:43:48—Victorian tension. 1:44:29—Lady Audley’s art. 1:46:20—Leaving Audley Court. 1:47:17—Robert & Lady Audley at Castle Inn. 1:51:30—Off to London. 1:51:53—Unfinished. 1:53:12—Interlude. 1:53:30—Braddon’s family. 1:54:51—Braddon’s education. 1:57:31—Braddon the actress. 2:00:07—Braddon the writer. 2:00:53—John Gilby, patron. 2:02:24—John Maxwell, publisher & lover. 2:04:52—Penny bloods. 2:06:46—A haunting at the Haymarket.
Interludes: Beethoven, Piano Sonata 32 in C Minor, Op. 111 (1822), performed by Francois de Larrard. To contact me: jimjneilson@gmail.com
Detail from Mary Elizabeth Maxwell (née Braddon), by William Powell Frith. |
Friday Jan 13, 2023
EPISODE 13: The Sensation Novel
Friday Jan 13, 2023
Friday Jan 13, 2023
0:00—Origins (The Woman in White). 5:10—Definition & Recipe. 7:20—Genres. 12:32—The Gothic. 16:17—Interlude. 16:53—Marriage acts. 18:03—Social stigma. 21:54—Interlude. 22:22—The Indian Mutiny. 23:07—British militarism. 24:20—A lurid footnote. 24:52—Atrocities. 27:03—The national soul. 29:01—Dark underside. 31:45—Theorizing the dark. 33:14—Interlude. 33:42—Sprit of the Age. 35:01—Tech. 37:38—The popular press. 38:53—Alt culture. 40:27—Interlude. 40:55—Kitchen vs. Drawing Room. 43:25—Consuming. 46:05—Nervous sensation and the feminine. 48:30—Conclusion.
Interludes: Felix Mendelssohn, Piano Trio #2 in C Minor, op. 66 (1845), performed by the Claremont Trio at the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum, Boston. To contact me: jimjneilson@gmail.com
The Woman in White, Frederick Walker, 1871, the Victorian Web |
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Thursday Sep 01, 2022
EPISODE 12: Walter Scott and the Historical Novel, Part Two
Thursday Sep 01, 2022
Thursday Sep 01, 2022
0:00—Ivanhoe sources. 6:36—A Romance. 8:36—Code of chivalry. 10:30—Medievalism. 13:50—Tournament at Eglinton. 16:50—Pseudohistory. 17:22—Tushery. 19:45—Ivanhoe summarized. 22:06—Sources. 26:42—The Norman Yoke. 29:11—Teutonic roots. 32:09—Anglo-Franco. 36:19—English pig dogs. 38:20—Interlude. 39:05—Flints or dunghills. 45:47—Rowena or Rebecca. 50:06—Realism. 54:33—Dialect. 1:04:31—Historiography. 1:11:14—Differences. 1:15:10—Rational Richard. 1:19:46—Good old times. 1:21:47—The princess and the president. 1:25:28—Claims and acclaim. 1:28:45—The children’s department. 1:30:30—Conclusion.
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Interludes: Felix Mendelssohn, Hebrides Overture (1832), performed by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, 2012. Audio from The Album of the Soundtrack of the Trailer of the Film of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Purchased from Amazon.com Services LLC. To contact me: jimjneilson@gmail.com
Eugene Delacroix, Rebecca and the Wounded Ivanhoe, 1823 |
Thursday Aug 25, 2022
EPISODE 11: Walter Scott and the Historical Novel, Part One
Thursday Aug 25, 2022
Thursday Aug 25, 2022
0:00—The Columbus of our literature. 3:17—Mistakes of Udolpho. 5:49—The enchanter of the North. 8:14—Waverley novels. 11:29—Turn to history. 14:32—History as propaganda. 15:54—18th Century histories. 19:43—History and nationalism. 22:40—British nationalism. 23:43—Tom Paine and the French Revolution. 30:39—Interlude. 31:24—English literature. 33:10—National histories. 32:23—Scott’s moment. 39:43—The architect of historical realism. 41:46—Scott’s conservatism. 43:40—War and national identity. 45:58—Warning. 46:12—The turmoil of history. 49:26—Waverley. 50:10—Uniting the kingdom.
Interludes: Felix Mendelssohn, Hebrides Overture (1832), performed by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, 2012. To contact me: jimjneilson@gmail.com Detail from An Incident in the Rebellion of 1745, by David Morier (c. 1747-1765) |
Monday Aug 15, 2022
EPISODE 10: The Gothic Novel
Monday Aug 15, 2022
Monday Aug 15, 2022
Part One. 0:00—"Gothic Romance." 7:47—The novel criticized. 9:49—Birth of the Gothic. 11:50—Walpole, Castle of Otranto. 14:11—Barbarous Middle Ages. 17:20—Anti-Catholic. 22:70—Return of the Repressed. 23:46—The political unconscious. 27:47—Why the Gothic? 28:11—The French Revolution. 31:55—Tottering Structures. 33:47—Death and sex. 36:00—The sublime. 40:02—Interlude.
Part Two. 41:50—Trivial and amoral. 47:06—Female Gothic and bourgeois domesticity. 53:24—Soft porn. 57:39—Gothic Architecture. 1:01:32—Medievalism. 1:02:25—Miracles of the modern. 1:06:12—Victorian Gothic.
Interludes: Franz Schubert, Piano Sonata in A Major (1819), performed by Chiara Bertoglio, 2011. Additional music: Franz Liszt, Totentanz (1859), performed by Neal O' Doan with orchestra, 2018. To contact me: jimjneilson@gmail.com
Louis Daguerre, Ruins of Holyrood Chapel, 1824 |
Monday May 23, 2022
EPISODE 9: Jane Austen and the Silver Fork Novel
Monday May 23, 2022
Monday May 23, 2022
Part One: Jane Austen. 0:00—Free indirect discourse and character. 5:15—Implied author. 6:33—Publication and reception. 11:36—Henrietta (“Harriet”) Ponsonby, Countess of Bessborough. 15:42: Reception continued. 22:00—The marriage plot. 26:55—Interlude.
Part Two: The Silver Fork Novel. 32:08—Pride and Prejudice and Romance and Reality. 41:55: Regency romance. 45:27—Silver Fork criticized. 49:11—Commercial literary culture. 52:50: Disraeli, Vivian Grey. 54:35: Panic of 1825. 57:34: Guide for the middle class. 1:02:12—Social unrest. 1:05:03—Silver fork tarnished.
Interludes: Franz Schubert, Symphony No. 2 (1815), performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, December 20, 1949. To contact me: jimjneilson@gmail.com
The Staircase at Althorp House, 1822 |
Sunday May 08, 2022
EPISODE 8: Epistolary and Sentimental
Sunday May 08, 2022
Sunday May 08, 2022
Part One: The Epistolary Novel. 0:00—The “Victorian” novel. 4:16—Novel inferiority. 6:00—Epistolary popularity. 6:38—Pamela. 7:33—Austen’s epistles. 7:57—Victorian epistles. 9:03—Interlude.
Part Two: The Novel of Sentiment. 9:27—Sentiment defined. 11:54—Female and male. 12:57—Mawkishness. 13:48—Richardson, Pamela and Clarissa. 15:48—18th century wokeness. 17:11—MacKenzie, Man of Feeling. 20:00—Crying. 21:47—Melodrama. 26:00—Interlude. 26:37—Sentiment assaulted. 31:22—Austen’s satires. 33:38—Anne Radcliffe and the danger of sentiment. 34:37—Cult of sensibility. 35:23—Sentimentalism and capitalism. 39:25—Sentiment and slavery. 42:36—Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. 43:50—Sentiment and the Victorian novel. 44:53—Human nature. 46:11—Artistic sensibility. 47:38—Sentiment and the Victorian novel continued.
Epistolary Interludes: Georg Philipp Telemann, Overture in A Minor (1736) , performed by Akademie fur altemusik Berlin, 2004. Sentimental Interludes: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Symphony 23 (1773), performed by WDR Symphony Orchestra, Cologne, 1995. To contact me: jimjneilson@gmail.com
Marguerite Gerard, Lady Reading in an Interior (c. 1795) |
Thursday Nov 25, 2021
EPISODE 7: Rhoda Broughton, Cometh Up as a Flower, Part Two
Thursday Nov 25, 2021
Thursday Nov 25, 2021
Chapters 20-24: 0:00--Morbidity & Theodicy. 3:30—Poetry. 6:32—Comedy. 7:35—A jumble. 8:30—Dolly vs. Nell. 12:45—Women vs. women. 13:15—Angel in the House. 14:10—Dying father. 15:55—Interlude.
Chapters 25-38: 16:40—Civil War & Cotton. 19:30—Pax Britannica. 21:10—India in Britain. 23:40—The British in India. 28:45—Nell’s possible probable fate. 30:50—Anti-Semitism. 33:30—Lamb to the slaughter. 37:00—High dudgeon. 39:05—Newlywed Nell. 41:40—Code of arms. 42:45—At Wentworth. 43:40—The return of Dick. 45:25—A forgery discovered. 46:00—Ruin averted. 48:10—Poetic justice denied. 50:09—Fireworks fizzled. 52:15—The Admiral’s Daughter rebutted. 55:25—Dolly married. 56:20—Nell growing and awakening. 1:00:15—Reunion, reward, redemption. 1:04:10—Out of time.
Interludes: Charles Guonod, Romeo and Juliet (1867), performed by Opera National de Paris, 1953. To contact me: jimjneilson@gmail.com
Rhoda Broughton, by Cyril Flower,
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Thursday Nov 25, 2021
EPISODE 6: Rhoda Broughton, Cometh Up as a Flower, Part One
Thursday Nov 25, 2021
Thursday Nov 25, 2021
Chapters 1-10: 0:00—Tiresome ladies. 4:40—Meeting Dick. 6:35—Lestrange family history. 8:00—Fortune’s wheel. 8:50—Cottonopolis. 12:18—Nell, a gawky young stranger. 14:25—Dick’s severe Greek beauty. 17:25—Unmaidenly behavior. 18:40—Without a mother. 20:00—Poor, naughty, handsome wolf. 22:43—Too much clingingness. 24:05—Dating Victorians. 25:12—Broughton bio. 28:13—Rhoda writes. 31:08—The facts (and fiction) of life. 33:36—Poor little pussycat. 35:42—Sir Hugh. 37:26—Interlude.
Chapters 11-19: 38:11—Jaded realist Dolly. 40:03—Class consciousness. 42:15—The Coxes. 46:04—Dog pictures. 48:15—Dick, Dolly, and dogcart. 52:43—Nell & Hugh visit a pub. 57:12—Nell bares her arm. 1:00:39—Sexual deviance. 1:00:52—Horribly honeymoonish. 1:04:31—Newfoundlands. 1:07:36—Dog & hyena & tigress. 1:09:40—Closing.
Interludes: Charles Guonod, Romeo and Juliet (1867), performed by Opera National de Paris, 1953. To contact me: jimjneilson@gmail.com
Rhoda Broughton, source unknown. |
Tuesday Jun 15, 2021
EPISODE 5: Ellen Wood, East Lynne, Part Two
Tuesday Jun 15, 2021
Tuesday Jun 15, 2021
Chapters 20-38. 0:00—Levison sur mer. 4:45—Flushing and blushing. 7:16—Back to East Lynne. 9:13—Levison arrives. 10:57—A Thorny problem. 11:31—That bold, bad man. 13:18—Isabel flees. 15:10—Interlude. 15:52—Reticence & Omission. 17:26—Madame Bovary & Lady Vane. 22:54—Isabel gets no satisfaction. 24:27—Women get no satisfaction. 27:36—The beauty of provocation. 29:30—Adder stings. 33:25—Abandonment & Illegitimacy. 36:57—Narrative train wreck. 38:28—Infanticide. 42:14—Interlude.
Chapters 39-62. 42:56—A governess in Germany. 43:47—Return to East Lynne. 49:26—Motherhood. 51:50—A sick child. 53:20—Consumption. 56:30—Dying children. 1:00:44—Lord & Lady Levison. 1:05:19—Justice Hare & son. 1:05:03—Isabel unveiled. 1:07:40—Instruction for the middle class. 1:11:14—Something off. 11:13:35—The sin of adultery. 1L15:06—Status quo or subversion? 1:23:06—Success in print and on stage and screen. 1:26:50—Losing & regaining favor.
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Interludes: Johannes Brahms, Piano Quartet No. 1, Op. 25 (1861), performed at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2012, by musicians from the Ravinia Steans Music Institute. East Lynne (1915); East Lynne (1931); East Lynne (1984) To contact me: jimjneilson@gmail.com Still from East Lynne, starring Theda Bara (1915) |