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A professor of English talks about 19th Century novels: plot summary, literary analysis, author biography, historical and cultural context. Each episode closely examines one 19th Century novel.
Episodes
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.
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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Contact: jimjneilson@gmail.com |
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.
Illustration: An Incident in the Rebellion of 1745 (detail), by David Morier (c. 1747-1765), Wikimedia.
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Contact: jimjneilson@gmail.com |
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.
Illustration: The Nightmare (detail), by Henry Fuseli, (1790), Wikipedia.
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Contact: jimjneilson@gmail.com |
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.
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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Contact: jimjneilson@gmail.com |
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.
Illustration: Young Woman Reading a Letter, Her Head Propped Up, by Pietro Rotari (before 1762), Wikimedia.
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Contact: jimjneilson@gmail.com |
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.
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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Contact: jimjneilson@gmail.com |
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.
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.
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Contact: jimjneilson@gmail.com |
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.
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.
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Contact: jimjneilson@gmail.com |
Tuesday Jun 15, 2021
Tuesday Jun 15, 2021
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.
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Contact: jimjneilson@gmail.com |
Sunday Feb 14, 2021
Sunday Feb 14, 2021
Chapters 1-5. 0:00-Governesses in fact & fiction. 5:39-Writing & publishing Agnes Grey. 6:48-Educated middle-class women. 8:40-Anne as governess. 9:28-The novel begins. 10:00-Agnes’s family. 13:20-Leaving home. 14:13-Welcome to the Bloomfields. 15:10-The meating. 17:45-Animal cruelty. 21:00-Class & intelligence. 22:27-Class & violence. 23:30-Male violence. 26:40-Educating boys. 30:30-The Bloomfield daughters. 31:28-Victorian views of children. 33:35-Misbehavior & Miss Grey. 35:00-Governesses remembered.
Chapters 6-16. 38:00-Meet the Murrays. 39:38-Rosalie, the coquette. 42:08-Rosalie torments Hatfield. 44:55-Suitors & power. 47:40-Mathilda, hoyden & tomboy. 52:35-Agnes, anemic & heroic. 54:57-Upper class superiority. 56:15-Class & character. 57:30-Invisible Agnes.
Chapters 17-25. 1:02:40-Hatfield vs. Weston. 1:05:28-Hatfield & Rosalie vs. Weston & Agnes. 1:07:23: Mathilda & the forbidden regions. 1:09:00-Rosalie & heartlessness. 1:10:12-Rosalie, Lady Ashby. 1:12:10-Dissipation & daughter. 1:18:00-On the beach with Edward & Snap. 1:19:00-Married with children. 1:20:05-No happy ending.
Text: Anne Bronte, Agnes Grey. 1847. Oxford Univ. Press, 2010.
Interludes: Frederic Chopin, Polonaise-Fantasy in A-flat major, Op. 61 (1846), performed by Jonathan Bliss, 2009.
Illustration: Anne Bronte, by Charlotte Bronte (c. 1845), Wikipedia.
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Contact: jimjneilson@gmail.com |
Thursday Feb 11, 2021
Thursday Feb 11, 2021
Chapters 23-44. 0:00-Sexuality & subservience. 5:57-Women & marriage. 7:15-Annabella teases & torments. 8:45-Double standard. 12:00-Branwell. 13:02-Mortality & morality. 15:50-Universal salvation. 16:44-Annabella. 18:30-The affair. 20:48-Helen vs. Annabella. 22:08-Piano playing. 26:00-Monstrous Annabella. 32:00-Admirable Annabella. 33:27-Trapped. 34:40-Coarse masculinity. 36:41-Escape.
Chapters 45-53. 38:51-Gilbert’s letter. 39:37-Helen nurses Huntingdon. 42:42-Helen & Gilbert reunited. 44:27-Literary legacy.
Text: Anne Bronte, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, 1848. Oxford Univ. Press, 2008.
Interludes: Frederic Chopin, Posthumous Waltz, no. 19 in A minor (1847), performed by Harald Vetter.
Illustration: Possible photo of Anne Bronte. For more information: https://brontesisters.co.uk/
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Thursday Feb 11, 2021
Thursday Feb 11, 2021
Chapters 1-15. 0:00-Background. 7:07-Gilbert, Helen, Eliza. 14:07-Women’s education. 15:16-Why a letter? 17:01-Gilbert, Jane, Eliza. 18:01-Gilbert & Helen. 18:43-Helen & Frederick. 20:08-Anne in love? 23:43-Gilbert & Helen. 24:44-Why letter & diary? 25:33-Print culture. 26:49-Male narrative.
Chapters 16-22. 28:43-Helen enters society. 29:56-Helen meets Huntingdon. 31:04-Victorian vices. 33:09-Prostitution. 33:46-Annabella. 34:37-Helen & Huntingdon. 35:13-Three questions. 39:39-Huntingdon proposes.
Text: Anne Bronte, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, 1848. Oxford Univ. Press, 2008.
Interludes: Chopin, Posthumous Waltz, no. 19 in A minor (1847), performed by Harald Vetter.
Illustration: Portrait of Anne Bronte (detail), by her brother Branwell (1834), Wikipedia.
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Contact: jimjneilson@gmail.com |
Wednesday Feb 10, 2021
Wednesday Feb 10, 2021
Illustration from Punch magazine, 27 January 1877, from the Victorian Web.
About this podcast: A retired professor of English discusses 19th Century novels: plot summary, literary analysis, author biography, historical and cultural context. Each episode closely examines one 19th Century novel or focuses on important background material.
All music in this podcast is in the public domain.
Opening theme: Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor (1803), performed by Arthur Rubenstein, 1955.
Closing theme: Gustav Mahler, Symphony 3 (1896), performed by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Hermann Scherchen, 1960.
Podcast images: Man on Balcony, Boulevard Huassmann, by Gustave Caillebotte, 1880; La Lecture, by George Croegaert, 1890.
To contact me: jimjneilson@gmail.com