The 19th Century Novel Podcast

EPISODE 23: Honoré de Balzac, "Cousin Pons" (1848), Part One

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.

Text: Honoré de Balzac, Cousin Pons. Translated by Herbert J. Hunt, Penguin, 1968.

Interludes: Beethoven, Symphony #2 (1802), performed by the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Bruno Walter, 1959.

Illustration: Honoré de Balzac, by David d'Angiers (aka Jean Pierre David), 1843.

Click here for transcript Contact: jimjneilson@gmail.com

 

EPISODE 22: A 19th Century Miscellany--Women and Marriage

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.

Illustration: A portrait of the podcaster as an old man.

Click here for transcript Contact: jimjneilson@gmail.com

EPISODE 21: A 19th Century Miscellany--Imperialism and Anti-Semitism

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.

Illustration: Leonid Pasternak, The Passion of Creation (detail, date unknown), Wikimedia.

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EPISODE 20: A 19th Century Miscellany--Method and Mania

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.

Illustration: Firs Zhuralev, The Clerk, 1884 (detail), Wikipedia.

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EPISODE 19: Honoré de Balzac, "Cousin Bette" (1846), Part Three

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.

Text: Honoré de Balzac, Cousin Bette. Translated by Sylvia Raphael. Oxford Univ. Press, 1992.

Interludes: Giachino Rossini, String Sonata No. 3 in C Major (1804), performed by the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, 1953.

Illustration: Caricature of Balzac, by Nadar, 1850, Wikimedia.

Click here for transcript Contact: jimjneilson@gmail.com

Thanks to Professor Steven Vincent and the students of History 530: Modern France, NCSU Spring 2023.   

 

EPISODE 18: Honoré de Balzac, "Cousin Bette" (1846), Part Two

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.

Text: Honoré de Balzac, Cousin Bette. Translated by Sylvia Raphael. Oxford Univ. Press, 1992.

Interludes: Frederic Chopin, Impromptu No. 1, in A Major, Op. 29 (1837), performed by Robert Stahlbrand.

Illustration: Portrait of Balzac (detail), by Louis Boulanger, 1836, Wikimedia.

Click here for transcript Contact: jimjneilson@gmail.com

Thanks to Professor Steven Vincent and the students of History 530: Modern France, NCSU Spring 2023.   

 

EPISODE 17: Honoré de Balzac, "Cousin Bette" (1846), Part One

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.”

Text: Honoré de Balzac, Cousin Bette. Translated by Sylvia Raphael. Oxford Univ. Press, 1992.

Interludes: Frederic Chopin, Waltz in A Flat Major, No. 3, Op. 64 (1847), performed by John Robson.

Illustration: Honoré de Balzac, portrait by Louis-Auguste Bisson, 1842, Wikimedia.

Click here for transcript Contact: jimjneilson@gmail.com

Thanks to Professor Steven Vincent and the students of History 530: Modern France, NCSU Spring 2023.           

EPISODE16: Mary Elizabeth Braddon, "Lady Audley’s Secret" (1862), Part Three

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.

Text: Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Lady Audley's Secret. 1862. Oxford Univ. Press, 2012.

Interludes: Beethoven, Piano Sonata 23 in F Minor, Op. 57 (1804-06), performed by Stephen Kopp.

Illustration: M. E. Braddon, wood engraving by Edward Linley Sambourne, Punch (5 March 1881), from The Victorian Web.

Click here for transcript Contact: jimjneilson@gmail.com

Thanks to Professor Anna Gibson and the students of English 453: Studies in Nineteenth-Century British Literature (The Sensation Novel), NCSU Fall 2022.   

 

EPISODE 15: Mary Elizabeth Braddon, "Lady Audley’s Secret" (1862), Part Two

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.

Text: Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Lady Audley's Secret. 1862. Oxford Univ. Press, 2012.

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.

Illustration: Mary Elizabeth Braddon  (Robert Lee Wolff Collection, Univ. of Texas).

Click here for transcript Contact: jimjneilson@gmail.com

Thanks to Professor Anna Gibson and the students of English 453: Studies in Nineteenth-Century British Literature (The Sensation Novel), NCSU Fall 2022.   

EPISODE 14: Mary Elizabeth Braddon, "Lady Audley’s Secret" (1862), Part One

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.

Text: Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Lady Audley's Secret. 1862. Oxford Univ. Press, 2012.

Interludes: Beethoven, Piano Sonata 32 in C Minor, Op. 111 (1822), performed by Francois de Larrard.

Illustration: Mary Elizabeth Maxwell (née Braddon), (detail) by William Powell Frith, Wikipedia.

Click here for transcript To contact me: jimjneilson@gmail.com

Thanks to Professor Anna Gibson and the students of English 453: Studies in Nineteenth-Century British Literature (The Sensation Novel), NCSU Fall 2022.   

EPISODE 13: The Sensation Novel

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—Spirit 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.

Illustration: The Woman in White (detail), Frederick Walker, 1871, the Victorian Web.

Click here for transcript Contact: jimjneilson@gmail.com

Thanks to Professor Anna Gibson and the students of English 453: Studies in Nineteenth-Century British Literature (The Sensation Novel), NCSU Fall 2022.   

 

EPISODE 12: Walter Scott and the Historical Novel, Part Two

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.

Interludes: Felix Mendelssohn, Hebrides Overture (1832), performed by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, 2012.

Additional 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.

Illustration: Eugene Delacroix, Rebecca and the Wounded Ivanhoe (detail), 1823, Wikimedia

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EPISODE 11: Walter Scott and the Historical Novel, Part One

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—18^th 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.

Illustration: An Incident in the Rebellion of 1745 (detail), by David Morier (c. 1747-1765), Wikimedia.

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EPISODE 10: The Gothic Novel

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.

Illustration: The Nightmare (detail), by Henry Fuseli, (1790), Wikipedia.

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EPISODE 9: Jane Austen and the Silver Fork Novel

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.

Illustration: Miss L.E. Landon, "engraved for Burton's Gentlemen's Magazine" (1838), Jackson Collection of American Lithographs," Philadelphia Free Library.

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EPISODE 8: Epistolary and Sentimental

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—18^th 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.

Illustration: Young Woman Reading a Letter, Her Head Propped Up, by Pietro Rotari (before 1762), Wikimedia.

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EPISODE 7: Rhoda Broughton, "Cometh Up as a Flower: (1867), Part Two

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.

Text: Rhoda Broughton, Cometh Up a Flower. 1867. Broadview, 2010.

Interludes: Charles Guonod, Romeo and Juliet (1867), performed by Opera National de Paris, 1953.

Illustration: Rhoda Broughton, by Cyril Flower (detail)
platinum print, 1890s, National Portrait Gallery.

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EPISODE 6: Rhoda Broughton, "Cometh Up as a Flower" (1867), Part One

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.

Text: Rhoda Broughton, Cometh Up a Flower. 1867. Broadview, 2010.

Interludes: Charles Guonod, Romeo and Juliet (1867), performed by Opera National de Paris, 1953.

Illustration: Rhoda Broughton (detail), National Portrait Gallery.

Click here for transcript Contact: jimjneilson@gmail.com

EPISODE 5: Ellen Wood, "East Lynne" (1861), Part Two

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.

Text: Ellen Wood, East Lynne, 1861. Oxford Univ. Press, 2008.

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.

Illustration: Still from East Lynne, starring Theda Bara (1915), moviessilently.com.

Click here for transcript Contact: jimjneilson@gmail.com

EPISODE 4. Ellen Wood, "East Lynne" (1861), Part One

Chapters 1-14. 0:00—The popularity of novels. 8:30—Ellen Wood biography. 12:30—Publication. 14:11—Isabel Vane and her father. 16:00—Carlyle meets Isabel. 16:45—Isabel, Emma & Levison. 19:30—Welcome to East (and West) Lynne. 20:24—Aristocracy, gentry, professional. 28:00—Isabel dazzles. 29:40—Barbara & Carlyle. 30:04—Interlude. 30:47—Corny. 33:05—Death and destitution. 34:00—Anti-Semitism. 40:40—Isabel, Emma & Levison again. 44:23—Carlyle to the rescue.

Chapters 15-19. 45:21—Interlude. 46:05—Mean girls. 52:00—A wild Hare. 54:41—Jealous women. 56:50—Isabel vs. Barbara. 58:00—Murder. 1:00:36—Isabel, Barbara, Carlyle.

Text: Ellen Wood, East Lynne, 1861. Oxford Univ. Press, 2008.

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.

Illustration: Ellen (Mrs. Henry) Wood (detail), by Joseph Sydney Willis Hodges (1875), Wikimedia.

Click here for transcript Contact: jimjneilson@gmail.com