Episode Transcript
  📍
Welcome back to sort of sophisticated, uh, completely overrated. We're gonna teach you things, Amanda, that you didn't even know you hated. Hey,
that's from the song. That
is the song. Oh, I know. Have you played it yet? Do you see what I did? I just slowed it all down. It was good. And make it sound like I was cool.
Uh, I have not put it on the podcast yet. I have to figure 'cause I don't want it. I don't think I wanna chop it up. Put it on the podcast.
Why can't you just like play the the beginning part at the beginning? It's just
our intro. We'll see. I don't know if I wanna change intro. I'm like, I'm a creature of habit, you know that.
I
know. But it's so good. Did you play? Yeah. For Christina. So good. So good.
No.
Oh, you should ask her. My kids thought you should ask her.
So, so they're like totally AI dad. do you ever whatever
then tell Paul to make it himself?
Yeah. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Why Paul? Whoa, whoa, baby Paul liked it.
You said your kids Carol.
I
know kids. Any of them? Uh huh.
Yeah.
Okay. Well you just went right to Paul. Tell Paul. 'cause
Paul is the talented one. He can make the song.
Oh wow. Okay.
Musically, who else, which one of your other kids digging hole a little deeper. Which one of your other kids is as talented as Paul? Musically?
None of them.
You are correct. Oh,
okay. Thank you. Okay, moving on. Wow. Finn. Finn, let's go.
I just wanted to say all the way back to the beginning, do you remember when, like, we used to start these episodes, like welcome to sort of sophisticated, the podcast rooted in becoming more cultured and curious.
Yes. Because you
wanted it to be a serious teachable podcast. Right. And I think you learned what the fuck was I,
what was I even thinking?
I don't know, because here we are and
whatever. I'm just glad we changed it to not so sophisticated. Mm-hmm. Or sort sorta of Yeah. Sort of sophisticated, um, with a name outta of Hey.
So, also, , before we start, 'cause I love telling my little stories here. Uh, we have a superfan.
Oh, super
fan. Yeah. No, officially really? Yeah.
What is a super fan?
A super fan is the fans you want because then they're the ones that are gonna go promote the show for you.
Yeah. So we need super fans. Okay,
love it. And I
didn't know we had one. Oh. So who has that super fan? It's one of my colleagues and friends. Oh, work. We that shout out to Jen Nat. We love her. Absolutely. She works in accounting. , Even better. Love her already. No, no, no. Accounting with No, she, she's, she's excellent.
And oddly enough, well, like I thought she only was listening because I was her boss, but like, let's cut the crap. I'm not her boss anymore.
Oh, that's true. So
like now she just listens to listen, which is cool. And she's like your age.
Oh, she's, yes. Oh. So
here we go. I actually have someone who's of like total different demographic that like, that's so great.
Sort of listens.
I like Jeanette.
I know we love her. Oh yes. Except she had one request. This is the whole reason I brought this up. You ready? Oh, dear. Yeah. So she wants us to talk a lot more about dead people and how they die. , Not like Old Dead people. And their stories in history,
like New Dead people.
Like Jimmy Carter. No, I'm just kidding. Like murders and like, like, like, so like, for instance, like, but it
goes back to that podcast about Yes. True crime. Yes.
Oh yeah. Absolutely. So every time, for instance, what we just did one on, um, what was it, a few weeks ago? The Silk Road.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
She was like,
best part was like, oh my God,
150 million people died from the plague. I'm like, yeah. She's like, that is so excellent. I was like, okay, that's kind of, kind of gross. And then, I was like, well, did you listen to our sociology episode?
She's like, no, absolutely not. Nobody dies in that. I was like, Jeanette, like, you have a problem. So anyway,
no true crime. Perfect demographic.
Here's what we're gonna try to do. Okay. We are gonna try to work death into every episode somehow for her. Okay. I think it would be, here we are. It would be, it would be glorious.
Here we're,
okay. Uh, game on. Let's try to do this. Let's do it. But what's our topic today?
can we do it differently? Yes. Can it be on the fly and I'll bring up a dead person on the fly?
Yeah. Okay. But it has like, okay. Yes. No,
the but tied to whatever we're talking about and
go and somehow like gross. Okay. So what are we
talking about today?
Today we are talking about today we're getting super sophisticated. Okay. I mean, we're not effing around at all. Okay. This is like serious, like when there's certain episodes that are like culture, , you know, times 10.
Okay. This is one of those. Okay. Okay. We're talking about Jane Austin.
Oh
yeah. Whoa. The author. What was that face? I mean, that is culture. Jane Austen. It's
super cultured. Yes. And my bestie loves Jane Austen. Yes. She was like, she was
like writing Bridgeton before, Bridgeton was even Bridgeton.
It's true. It's true. She was very, she was, she was pre bridger.
Yes. Right. How could you not love
this? Right?
Am I make a confession? If Bethany ever listened to this podcast, then she would like totally disown me.
I've never read anything by Jane Austen.
Oh my God. You're terrible.
I'm horrible.
Oh my God. No, you have to in high. How'd you get through high school? You have to read it. You had to read Pride Prejudice in high school. You had to.
Did I?
Okay. Sounds to me like someone did the Spark Notes
probably.
I think so.
I don't know. I'll go to touring though, so,
okay.
It doesn't matter. Just kidding. Um,
so then you're gonna have no idea what I, 'cause I was gonna, I'm ready.
Teach me.
No, but I was gonna pop quiz you right now.
Go ahead, do it. Let's see. Let's see. Try, try. I want you to, I maybe I know by osmosis from everyone else. Okay, fine. What was your
original title of.
Pride and prejudice gonna be, oh shit.
I don't know.
Right. You didn't even know Pride and Prejudice.
So of course, you know, I do know that book. And the only reason I know that book is because Bethany went with us to the Magic Castle. Mm-hmm. And at the Magic Castle, a performer who, you know, um, was like, Hey, I want you to just envision picking a book at the Library of Congress.
Any book? Just pick a book. Okay. Imaginary in your Brain, pick the book. Right?
Yep.
And then remember the title.
Yep. Done Open
it.
Think of like, like you're flipping through and then you read a line.
And then pick a word from that line. So she picks a word. It was justice from Pride in Prejudice, and he got it.
And he got it. Yeah. And was like, yeah. What? And then so got the word got. This is, this is embarrassing because
this is your only affiliation with this book. I, I, I, I don't even know if I wanna do this episode,
but got the book and then guess the title. It was great. It was great. It was amazing. So because of that, it made me mildly wanna read it, but not enough
Good.
So then what was the original title?
Oh, I don't know.
Okay. The original title was First Impressions.
Oh, maybe I didn't know that. And
then they went and changed it to Pride and Prejudice. 'cause Pride
and Prejudice is better.
Yeah. Okay. Our official, official title of episode, however, jane Austin, the life legend, the Lasting Obsession.
So that is a lot. So why are we is a mouthful, right? I know. It's, it's totally, we're doing it because she turns 250 years old.
Oh, shit. That's
why I'm gonna go text back to you right now.
Hold on.
1775. She was born. Yeah. Yeah. This is 250 year anniversary of, of this little lady. I mean, for somebody to be a
writer back in 1775 as a woman was a big deal.
We're,
we're getting into this. Okay. 'cause that, 'cause that was the whole thing. Like she wasn't even allowed to be a writer. I have, I have fun facts. I don't, it's not even fun. Facts. I have a section on like some shit that went down because she was a woman writing in like late 17 hundreds.
I totally should have brought in the baby lip book, the Jane Austen one.
The what?
Baby lit. Remember? Yeah. Except for my kids. Oh, so your kids are
learning about it, but you're not, yeah.
Okay.
Yeah. Okay. So
besides, yeah, her being a female writer in 1775.
Yes.
What else?
Whoa. In 77, 5, she was zero. She was still shitting her diapers. Okay. Whatever.
You get my point. Yeah.
Okay.
What else? Yeah. Is making us cultured and curious
what learning about her. Yeah. Okay. Let's go back to the original premise of this whole podcast. 250 years later, and she's still totally relevant because we are the same ex she was writing about society.
Okay. Yeah. Then,
which was petty and jacked up and all the things. And we are still doing the same thing today, 250 years later. And her lens into how people behaved and her sort of, um, snarky.
View of it. Okay. Okay. And was getting it out into the public on pages was remarkable. And we're doing the same thing. History repeats itself over and over again. We just use it like, now we have different media Okay. To be able to do it. Fair. Are you with me? Yeah. So she was like the original, person to see through the veil of society.
Got it. And then like, commentate on the whole thing. Okay. Does that make sense? Interesting.
Okay. Got it. Yep. Makes perfect sense. Word of the day.
Word of the day.
Okay. Today's word is, gosh, do we know what gosh is?
Is it like Gauss? G-A-U-C-H-E?
That's exactly what it is, but it's, gosh,
Oh, I did not know that. Gosh.
Yes. It means socially awkward. We're like, what? Or like tactless, how
did I know how to spell that word, but had no idea.
Mm-hmm.
What it meant.
Yeah. You don't, I don't know. Huh?
Right.
Comes from the French. Okay. Literally meaning left like as the left hand side. And I guess back in the day, being left-handed was associated with awkwardness or clumsiness.
Oh. So the word shifted to means socially awkward tactless or lacking grace. True story. About young Peter, when I was, you were very goosh when I was little. Very goosh. Uh, my mom used to tell me, my mom used to tell me the world, Peter, it's not made for left-handed people. Right. So park that. So now I have, I mean, true.
I did. No, I know. I, I have my first kid. She's Emma's like, I don't know, two years old, 18 months old. I don't even know. And Emma starts picking up things with her left hand.
Do you whack it?
My mother, absolutely. My mother did. No, I didn't. I didn't. Like she did it. She would take the crayon outta one hip her.
Oh, unbelievable. But she's not Asian. So here's what happened. Emma fought it as hard as she could. Emma's say IMiDs to this day.
Oh yeah. Which
is remarkable because it was in her body to begin with and my mom tried to force it the hell out. So like if she like plays basketball left-handed,
she writes with a right hand.
Yeah.
But drives the car left-handed. Like it's insane. Huh? Super weird. I'm
also ambidextrous. Look at that. Fun fact.
Maybe that should be her word of the day, but it's.
Because being left-handed was not okay. No. Anyways. Interesting. I knew it was an Asian mom.
All
right. So socially awkward. Tactless or crude. Okay. Gosh, not what I thought that meant. Yeah. Okay. kind of like a douche. Yeah. Oh, kind of like you. Yeah. Wow. Ooh, that was So one letter change and that means everything. Okay.
Okay. So now that we know how we're gonna get cultured and curious and all that jazz, I'm assuming you're gonna talk about how Baby Jane Austen came into the world with his gore, gore blood, blah, blah. Um, wow.
Yes, I am. Alright. Why do you to be so gosh, like you're so tactless.
I'm tactless. That
was tactless
coming from the one No. Who likes to talk about how babies enter the world. She was
đź“Ť Born On December 16th, 1775 in a tiny little village named Steventon in Hampshire, England.
Like Bell's. Tiny little village.
Yes.
Yeah. In a village.
It was beautiful. Okay. It wasn't gross and barbaric and birth canal stuff. Relax. Okay. , Dude, 1775, that was one year before America. 1776. I mean, I know she was in England, but like, we were at war. I
mean, America was still here.
That's kind of cool.
We were already established because we
had the Tea party in 1773.
Oh wow. So you're gonna drop that lore all of a, I don't know anything about Jane Austen, but we're gonna talk about the tea. We should do one on the tea party. We should In 1773. Yeah. Okay, fine. At that to our list. She was, , the seventh of eight children, which is really just code for me saying she was raised by her six older siblings.
Yeah, yeah. Yes, absolutely. I mean, her parents were around, but like Sure. Just busy. 'cause they, you know, they were, that's a lot of kids and they were, let's call it, um, fascinating. In the most un fascinating way. Parents could be. Fascinating. Okay.
Her dad, Reverend George Austin. There are always
reverends.
I know, right? Who's a minister, super smart. Super steady. Spoiler alert. Very into the books. Very into the books. You don't say it right? Massive library. Massive library. Like Beauty and the Beast. Massive library. Wow. I'll see Bell
again. So maybe Jane Austin was Bell.
Yeah. This is big. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Continue. Her mom, cassandra, Austin. Couldn't read or write. She was a deaf mute. What? Okay. Just kidding. I just thought that would be hilarious, right? My okay. Oh my God, you got me. No, but I mean, opposites attract, so like, right. That's why I was like,
no shit.
Cassandra. Cassie. I'm gonna call it ca, I don't wanna say Cassandra. I'm gonna go with Cassie. Cassie Austin. Okay. Um, if George was this like, introverted bookworm. Cassie was the extroverted front man.
Okay. So i's say in the other way or like right front woman. Sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Right, right, right, right.
Funny as shit, super social, like out in society. She brought the vibes, she brought the vibes to the Austin family. Okay. While George was like doing, so talk to me, whatever. You Right. Minister word. Right, right. Good balance. Sure. So that was, that was, and they were sort of middle class ish. Sure.
Like, not poor, not rich. Respectable. Okay, we'll go with respectable. How's that fair? They lived, they lived a respectable country life. Okay. Okay. So
just a
normal English living normal, right? Yes.
So because they were
average, they were pretty well connected, so they got like, 'cause they weren't poor, right. So they made it into like the next level of society, but they were like not. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So they were sort of on the fringes of it.
They got invited to all the local balls, all the galas, all the church events. Right. Because dad was a minister. So Jane spent all the time hearing the gossip, like of the town. Does that make sense? Was she
Like lady whistle down?
Oh my god. Totally, yes, but like before.
Okay.
Yeah, she saw all the drama. She wasn't in the Wealthy Family circle, but saw all the drama from the wealthy family circle. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah. I mean, basically grew up front row seat to that, whatever, whatever was going on in Steventon.
I mean, she, she wasn't in London, you know what I mean? And London was where like a lot of the social elite were, but still, in that town, she was getting a lot of dirt. Huh. Does that make sense? Okay. It does. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
So I'm assuming that's where she got all her, Writing ideas from.
Oh, totally. Yeah. Yeah. Well, yes, that, and of course, her dad's library, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So she would spend hours in the library reading everything that he had in there, novels, history, poetry. I, I said she wasn't even allowed to read. Right. Okay. Okay. Fine.
And that totally led to her writing because between like everything she was learning in the town and like the library and everything, Yeah. A lot of inspo.
But like one would argue then that's how she found her voice. Like she started writing about what she enjoyed or what she liked. Yes. That's how,
that's how it all starts. Okay. That's how I would say how we found our voice. I'm sort of sophisticated here, right? So check this out.
Okay. Fun fact. You know how old she was? When she started writing 10. Close. 13. Oh yeah, 13. I mean, that's like pretty, yeah, that's a big deal. Yeah. Yeah. Like it wasn't awesome stuff, don't get me wrong. Right. Was 13, 13 years old. Old writing. Yeah. I mean, it was pretty unhinged, I mean, she had teens getting drunk.
I mean, blackout drunk, she was writing stories, random stabbings, characters dying like every other page. I mean, imagine your daughter's trying to write stories, right? Like it'd be bonker. I mean, imagine she was good, but like still,
I mean, sure. But I dunno if my daughter would like, it was like
ridiculous.
Write about stabbings and murder.
I'm not, I'm sorry, I didn't mean, I'm just saying like, imagine that age. Like with so much going on in your brain and Jane just brought it out a different way. Okay. I'm just saying there was a lot of, it was unhinged. Like I said earlier,
so she actually wrote about murders and stabbings. Oh yeah. Like
super dark. Like dark humor. Dark, dark shit. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
I feel like that was very Edgar ground Po of her.
Do you know what happened? I have a fun fact about it. Sure. Don't I have a fun fact about Ed Ground PO later. What? Yes. I'm not gonna say it right now. Oh, how funny. I'm holding it. Yeah. Yeah, because they overlapped.
But he
was more American,
huh? He was, no, no, no. I know. This
is like when they lived they overlapped. Yes.
They overlapped when they lived. Oh
yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Okay.
All right. I'll throw it in there some somewhere. I'm gonna, I'll, I'll catch you off guard for sure.
Okay. What's interesting to me though is that you said that her writing was very unhinged,
but her writing that she's known for is very like poetic and romantic.
Yeah. She grew up
Sure, but when did, when did she Well, of course, yeah.
From like 13 to like whatever, 20 years old. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So she just keeps going. Right? She changes from murder and death and all the kids getting drunk to like looking around Steventon Village and starts writing about everybody in the town.
Okay. She keeps it in a secret journal that one day she's gonna use against everyone. Oh yes. It's a
very whistle down.
Very. right. She took notes on like how people lied to each other. Who was flirting with who in the town. Oh. Who was always bragging about how much money they had.
Tabloid. Yes. Collective. Okay, okay.
Okay.
Everybody's pretending everything was fine, but really everyone's panicking 'cause it's all about social class and like, who's gonna marry who and like, oh, does my daughter look good enough to get married to that man? And she's just taking all these freaking copious notes.
Yo, it was, it was, it was bons. Oh, interesting. Okay. So instead of talking to her friends about it. She's just writing it down and ends up, you know, basically getting famous for it, you know, a hundred years later. So here we are.
So what you're trying to tell me is that it wasn't just about romance, that she actually was like writing about society
Yes. At the
time.
Yeah. So she would hide her stories. I mean, I know you haven't read her stories, but basically she uses romance as sort of the overarching theme of all her stories, but really she's like the queen of snark. Like she could do this podcast like times 10. Huh? Like, like way, way, way better than, than we could.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But the idea was if she wrapped it up in, , romance uhhuh, it would somehow sound more reasonable and people would be interested in reading about it. Interesting. Okay. And then, do you remember Shakespeare?
Yes.
And you remember how like he wrote, uh, like his plays were on like different levels?
Yeah. Yeah. Where like you could, yeah. Mm-hmm. So same. Same. Okay. She was like, if you didn't quite understand her, you thought the book was like a romantic book.
Alright.
And
then if you understood her, you were like, oh shit. She is fucking with people, huh? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally
love it.
It's kinda a mind screw.
Yeah. All in, in one thing. Alright, so
. is there any more early history or are we like solidly now going into like her adulthood and where she like rock?
No, that's it. I don't wanna bore you. Yeah,
that's it. I mean, she basically grew up 13 years old, started writing, found a voice crazy. Found her voice. Yeah. Here we are, right? Yeah. Okay. We're good. Okay. No more history. Ready? I'm, I'm writing. So as far as writing goes I gotta do a little stage setting.
Can I do stage setting first? Okay. Okay. You know me. 'Cause really she wrote in kind of two eras. Okay. Kinda like Taylor Swift with her eras tour. You with me? Uhhuh. So we had the early writing era.
Yes.
And then her later like publishing era, so two totally different vibes. Oh, okay. Okay. So early Jane, like teens to mid twenties.
That's what you were asking about earlier. She was the writing machine. Okay. She's in Stevenson Village. Okay. Living at home, hanging out with all her siblings, getting all the Lord in town, like I said. And she writes basically the first draft of all like the big hits.
Okay. Yeah. Like literally sense and sensibility. But she called it at that time, Eleanor and Maryanne Pride and Prejudice. Called, oh, she had wrote it then. Impressions, she Right. First impressions. And then, uh, north er, Abby was originally called Susan. Oh, interesting. So she's writing like all of this shit as a teen in her parents' parlor.
It wasn't even old enough to pay bills. Mind you. But here's the rub. Like, none of this got published yet. Like zero, like nothing.
So she wrote all these books. The world does not know she got published.
No. Why, why?
Okay. Right. A couple reasons. 'cause I had no idea. I was like, this is bullshit. So the main one was that she was a woman. Okay. Publishing books in 1795 as a lady was, was like, could not do it. Not, , quote, respectable in society. Okay. Fair. Not allowed. Yep. Same reason why Lady Whistle down in Bridgeton was like, hi.
Yeah. Okay. Same concept. Unfeminine made you look too bold, too audacious, if I may say so. Not allowed. Okay. And then second, she didn't have any connections yet, right? 'cause she was so young. So no printers, no booksellers, no investors. Like she needed male influencers, like it or not. She had to have male influence at the time to help her.
And she didn't have any of 'em. 'cause she didn't run in that circle. Is this where Edgar comes in young? No, not yet. Oh, no, no, no. And now I'm gonna have, this is gonna be, this is gonna be so good later. Okay. Anyway, um, yeah. So no network, right? She was only 18 years old.
Okay. So then when is her publishing actually
starts then?
Okay, so bear with me. So after that, she moves her family up and leaves Steventon ranch.
Okay. Just
like, boom. Done. So then she goes on hiatus for a while. She's gotta settle in a new place.
But is she on hiatus if like, no, she's not actually published.
She's decided she, you know what she's doing? She's pause, pivoting, or piecing out. Oh, fair. She doesn't what she wants to do with her career. Fair. Fair. Okay. So now enter her like later Jane. Okay. So now she's like, we'll call it 30 years old.
Oh. And then all the way up to her forties. But like, so now like she did all the writing. Okay. She moved to a place called Chittenton Cottage, which was basically only like 15 miles from Hampshire. Um, put her head down, totally went back to work.
Okay. So she pulls out all these early drafts and we were talking about, okay. Revises the shit out of all of 'em. 'cause now she's a more mature writer and finally met with enough people to start publishing. Okay. And here is a super simple publishing timeline. Here we go. 18, 11, cliff Now version Yes. Sense and Sensibility comes out first.
She's 35 years old now. Remember she wrote it when she was 17. Okay. Comes out anonymously as quote by a lady.
Oh,
okay. Because you know patriarchy.
Yes.
We couldn't Right. Couldn't say anything. Yet. Two years later, 1813, pride and Prejudice gets released.
She's 37 and this is the one that blew up the internet. Even though like they didn't have any internet,
you're saying there's still hope for me.
Yeah. Oh, totally. What's up? I in like,
yes. Write something. Yeah.
Still anonymous. Oh, killed it. Unbelievable. She basically became a secret influencer, Amanda, like overnight.
Okay. Following year, 1814, Mansfield Park comes out, age 38, still writing circles around everybody. Then again, one year later, 18, 15, she's like pumping these things out 'cause she had 'em đź“Ť written already ,
But anonymously because yes, nobody knew it was her.
No. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So
she just found a publisher.
Yep.
And started publishing again.
Lady Whistle down. Very, very, very rare. Okay. Okay. So
1815, Emma, my favorite book. Yes. Well, not my favorite, but really good one. Right. Publish. Is that why
you named your kid Emma? No,
it does not. That would've been a good fun fact. So she's 39, still anonymous, like you said.
Uh, but this one she has to dedicate to the Prince region at the time, who later becomes the future King George iv. Oh, thank you very much. Because who are we kidding? His people told her she had to or else, huh? Because he was a dick. Exactly. Oh, so like she hated the guy, but she had to like. Like dedicated to him.
Anyway, so total douche.
Was he very,
he was gouche. He was Guch. Guch. He was goosh. He was so arrogant. He was all the things Right, right. It's always gonna be goosh and like, here's the deal. Like, I guess so a small circle of people didn't know who it was because for him to know, like the publisher would knew was a woman.
So it didn't get out in society. I, it's
like very lady whistle down because Yes. Very,
very, very, very, yes. I'm
sure. Just like the queen who was all up in the business Yep. And wanted, know who she was. Yep. He had his little spies. He had his spies. Figured it out.
You're absolutely right. Okay. Yes. Crazy stuff.
Okay. Then finally, the last ones, two years later in 1817, uh, persuasion and Inger. Abby come out. Norther Abby was one of the originals she wrote, um, published after her death at age 41.
Oh, so they Yeah, she died at 41.
Yeah. And Hold on. Yeah. Front back here. Yeah. So finally
she didn't even get to enjoy being famous. Those
last two books, her family put her actual name on the book.
Oh, wow.
Like surprised everybody. Like it was Jane Austen the whole time, but only after her death.
Yeah. Right. So tragic. I know it was 41. She was young.
Wow. How'd she die?
You wanna know how she died?
Yeah.
Ed Grow Poe killed her.
He did not. Yes he did. No he didn't. Yeah. That was my fun fact. No, it wasn't. Yes it was. No it wasn't. Okay.
He was only 10 years old. No. Yeah. I
have no,
I know I'm an asshole, but that's what I was teeing up.
They worked. Yes. That's the best ever. So they overlapped, but like by only by 10 years. Yeah. He was, he was a little kid. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe eight years. I don't even know. Okay. Um, so , they don't know how she died. I know. So I had to, I had to like, it was such a good setup. Um, so, what they know now is, uh, it was either Addison's disease.
Or it was lymphoma, but back then they didn't know it. She just sort of withered away over the course of about a year. Wow. When she was 40 years old? Yeah, she just started like with, they weren't sure what it was at the time. Only, I mean, I dunno if it was autopsy. I dunno if it's a hundred years later they figured it out.
But basically they've, it's Addison's disease are lymphoma. Wow. Childless never got married like that was it? Yeah.
That's very sad.
She never got to like tell the world it was her.
No, I mean a few people did know, but Yeah.
But sure. It's
like we always talk about this, all these famous people. I know.
It's true. Right. That's why I don't want us to be famous. 'cause one of us has to die.
Let's be honest. It's gonna be me.
It'll be fine. Be so sad. Hey, this will work out wonderful for you. I'll off myself. We'll get famous as a result. Oh
God, no.
And you'll be like, yay, that's such a bad idea. And you'll like reap the spoils. Such, such
a bad idea. Yes. Well then you better start writing some shit so that way, like once you die, I can publish stuff and, okay.
Yeah. Yeah. All the left money right here were
all the episodes we never released.
Um, so she only wrote six novels then?
Or did she write more? I know, right? No, only six. Because I thought, I was like, I was like, really? That's it? Yes. I thought there was gonna be like all this stuff, but no, it, it just feels like there's so many because they're so good.
Like everyone is great. Well, now I have to read. Yeah. You know, you, you have to. She was just the queen of efficiency. Okay. You got, you gotta read all this stuff. Yeah. Okay. I'm
gonna have to do it. Do what? But I'm gonna put you on the spot.
What? You always put me on the spot?
Well, because there's, so there's six.
So you know most, all the novels I assume? Yes.
Rank them. Not just on like the only the ones you've read, you're gonna rank higher or not.
But can you rank them on? I
can't.
You cannot.
I can rank them on what I thought were the best ones, but I can only do the ones I read because I didn't read the ones I didn't read. So how many
did you read?
I read four outta six.
Okay.
So I can rank four. Okay. Fair. And then the other two, I'll just be like, okay, I don't know.
They fit in there somewhere. Okay. Okay. Suck 'em in somewhere. Okay. Okay. Okay, fine. Alright, can I go? Yes. Alright. So number one, pride and prejudice. Duh and duh, huh. First, first impressions, pride. Impression is easy. Uh. Basically the most perfect novel ever written. Have you, you, you've even watched Pride and Prejudice?
No. The one with Colin Firth uh, Darcy, right? Linford. Oh, almost Darcy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He goes from like this, emotionally retarded person to like, almost, are you allowed to say retard? Oh, I can use the word retarded in the right context. He was emotionally retarded. That does not stunted that.
Thank you. Why can't we use the word stunted? Because retarded is a real word. I'm allowed to like, I can't, we can't just say we have to take this out of our vocabulary. You have so much anger because I'm using it right. Okay. Anyway, I'm done. Okay. Number two, continue. Yeah, no, I'm on number two. I'm going with Emma.
Um, because that's
not fair. Your daughter named Emma. Let's go. No,
no, because Emma's crazy. I like all like the chaos. She lived her life. Like I live my life. She was just completely delusional. Huh?
Okay.
Um, but in like a really, at least you admitted it a really, really wholesome way. I'm like giving myself credit here.
She was unhinged. I like her. I'm surprised self-improvement was not number two, self-improvement in real time. That's Emma fair. Okay. Because you're
related to her.
Okay. Number three would be sense and sensibility. Uh, 'cause it's totally solid, but like a little too dramatic for me. Um, but you do get two different ways of the whole coping with life thing, which I love. And the ending is really good. Like it's not happily ever after like the way you would think about it.
Like Disney happily ever after. But it is actually happily ever after, like in a grownup way and I can appreciate that. So, yay. Sense and sensibility.
Okay. And then the last one, which I read 'cause I didn't read the other ones was Mansfield Park.
And it's not bad. 'Cause I mean it's Jane Austen and I can't critique her. That's like stupid, right? Like they're all 10 outta 10. Um, I just didn't like her main character as much. Uh, her name's Fannie Price. She's like way too. Like she was, she was guch. Okay. She was okay. She was a little guch, not gonna lie.
'Cause the story centers on everything happening around her instead of like on her and she's just sort of taking it all in. , So like. It's just bland. It's abl.
Okay.
Yeah. For me. So I just need to, I want my protagonist to be like, okay. And then
Two that you have not read, correct.
Uh, persuasion and Northing or Abbey. Um, I guess I gotta go read those. And I gotta stick 'em in somewhere. I don't know, like I got like, I don't know where they go. Maybe they're the best.
Okay. Fair. I love how confident you are. I'm making these books. Even though you literally haven't read two of them.
But I didn't really rank them like I just said.
That's true. That's true. There's, there's, there's somewhere in there. Okay. Okay.
Fine. Okay. Yeah. Subject change though. What? Okay, so she writes six books and then she dies at 41. Yes. And I get it. She's now super famous after the fact because they published her last two with her name
post posthumously.
Yes. The word, I can't say right posthumously,
but like what is the actual obsession with her? Because like she is Ooh, word. If there is an obsession,
obsession
of Jane Austen, you're my
obsession. Yo, my obsess, Sean, you want me to be, to make you sleep with me? Yo, my nothing.
Remember when I said
the obsession
that you always just have something always on your brain?
No. That's a song. Mm-hmm. That's a super famous pop song. Yeah. The songs that I know by Human League is that Human
League. The songs that I know ar on the same
whatever line of thought. It really is an obsession. It is an Abso it's a cult is what it is. Right? There's a JI
Because she
got people, she got, she quote, got people, she understood her emotional IQ was off the fucking charts. That's why. That was it. She related and that shit is timeless. Remember our first episode, self-awareness perspective and how we have to learn all about it.
Do you remember this? Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if you remember, but one of the things we talked about was to read high quality fiction. We talked about that. Yes, you did. At the beginning. You did. Yes. We said great writers are expert observers of human nature.
Yes. You said this.
Yes. We said that quote, good fiction character development helps us, how to think about people more carefully and with compassion, and the better we get at observing others, the more likely we are to look at ourselves. The same way.
Fair. But what perpetuated her legacy
that gives, that gives us perspective that that's what it was.
She was one of the best at that. I that guess maybe I need
to like stop with this like rabbit hole because maybe I should just read the book.
Okay. Right. It was the perfect blend. Yes. Of her honesty and her like humor. Okay. Okay. Here I have a quote. She roasted ego exposed insecurity and celebrated actual emotional intelligence long before it was trendy. So folks connect with that. Like it doesn't matter if in 500 years folks will still connect to that because it was an excellent way, it was a window into people's soul and psyche.
And people love that shit. Time. I get it. Okay. Fair. Not from
the time. That's my point today. I know. It transcends time. She has a superpower.
God, you're like, honestly, you're making light of it. Like, like this. You're not being sophisticated enough for me in this episode at all. You're killing me.
Well, again, I already admitted that I probably just need to read it so I can understand and appreciate it better.
So as I went over the takeaways, I'll actually have to do it.
Yeah.
Um,
I literally just clocked you to go all the way back to the first episode and say like, think about self-awareness and perspective. And you're still shitting on me right now. Like, I, I didn't, I
was just admitting to the fact that she has this superpower.
Yeah. That transcends time. It is a piece that is still relevant today. Yes. Even though at the time when she was writing it, she wasn't projecting like, oh, if I write it this way in, you know, 2025, no, she's just a
badass writing.
Right. She was just naturally gifted. It was something that just like came to her
So for this superwoman, uh, her 250th birthday is coming up.
Yes.
Uh, so the world must be doing something December 16th because we always do something to celebrate all of these great people.
Oh, it's, we're doing something. But wait, I have a fun fact,
but also, sorry, what? Um, my friend did say that she wanted to go to this big celebration in England, so I hope you get this one under wraps. 'cause she was like, I wanna go. Let's go.
Okay. So you even have a friend that likes this. I
told you Bethany, she loves it.
Like we're not on the same wavelength. Maybe now I'll read a book. Okay. And be on the same wavelength quiz time for you.
Uh, do you know what they call a 250th anniversary of something
Semi Quinn Cent centennial.
Oh my God. I hate you say that. Was I close? You were very close. You just had an extra tent in there.
Say that three times fast. Semi
quincentennial. First of all, you cheated. You're a cheater. You
did not know it was a semi quincentennial. Oh, it's bullshit. Okay. Whatever. Anyway, okay. All of England is getting in on it. Oh, yes, yes. Bethany was correct? Yeah. Okay. Bath. Bath. That's a Oh yes. Okay. A city in, uh, in England.
It's throwing a massive Regency festival.
Oh
ton. Do they get
a dress up?
Oh, they're totally dressed up. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's go Cha and cottage. Okay. Where she lived. Yeah. They're doing all these special exhibitions like at our old house and stuff. Fun. Uh, Winchester is unveiling a brand new Jane Austen statue.
Thank you very much. We're going, statues going up and then here in America. 'cause they do stuff in America. Mm-hmm. Right. We're doing a whole bunch of shit like hosting, reading parties, having celebrations, organizing expositions like. Jane Austen Society, Jane Austen. I didn't even, that was a, there's society, there's a Thank you very much.
You we're like, same brain right here. Wow. Right. Uh, apparently here's, here's our takeaway. We need to join the Jane Austen Society. Um, they're doing like a whole Coachella vibe thing, but like, but like for English majors, like they got a whole plan. Huh. So it's a bunch of shit going on in America.
Okay. Yeah, yeah,
I mean, that's amazing. It is. But also like fascinating that there's such a cult following of all this wealth,
wealth there. For every person that is cult following it, there's people like you who don't give two shit and never read one of her books. So get on it people.
It's true.
Okay, well before we get to the getting on it and all of that, um, I'm sure to more like fun facts for me of which one of them is not that Edgar Allen Poe killed her, which would've been so good. đź“Ť I know. It would've been excellent.
It wasn't. It was. So what else you got for me? It was lymphoma that got her, uh, I got a fever.
And the only cure is more fun facts.
Okay, let's go. That's what I got. Did someone in her book die from Fevers?
Nothing. Saturday Night Live. Christopher Walkin? No. I got a fever. And the only cure is more cowbell. No, nothing. No. Oh my God. I need a new podcast co-host. Okay, uh, here we go. Fun facts. Number one.
So we already know, Jane Austen wrote, all the og rom-coms, that's what you're saying?
Supposedly, yes.
This is what you told me. Yes, correct. But what you didn't know is that she wrote most of her novels on tiny little scraps of paper that she could flip over the second someone walked in her room.
Check this out. What she, yeah, she would add drops of water to the hinges of her door, so when it dried, it would make a squeaking sound. She would never get caught writing. What I know. Because it was like she was like 13 years old and she didn't wanna get in trouble. I know. It's wild. Okay. Interesting. I know.
This is a good one. Okay, number two. Uh, this one kills me. Jane once accepted a marriage proposal from a wealthy dude. Good match. Big paycheck, like very secure, future uhhuh, wealthy guy. 'cause that's what you're supposed to do. Yep. Uh, then 24 hours later she decides to rescind it, took it back. She panicked and realized she was gonna turn in to the person that she was writing about in all her novels.
She was like, fuck that. And peaced out. Huh. So I can't do that.
Okay.
So she stood up for her, like for what she knew was right. Yeah. I think that's totally cool. Wow. She didn't cave. That's great. Okay. Uh, number three. Good on her. Her family ran a full blown barn.
I'm sorry? A barn theater. A barn
theater.
Like the Gran Old Opry? Yeah. Like, like a barn. Like everybody had For what? Everybody had for music?
No. What for her readings?
I guess that was 150 years before.
So like for Hamilton?
Totally. For Hamilton. Like before Lin Manuel Miranda never wrote Hamilton. The actual Hamilton. Yeah. She was doing the actual Hamilton when he was alive. Fair. I think that's pretty good. Okay. Yeah. So I guess like, but like for theater?
Theater? Yes. For theater. Theater. Right. And her like family and everybody like, acted in all this stuff and Jane was the one who wrote all the scripts for all her family to do this. And like people would come from around the town to watch the Austin's Barn theater. Okay. So basically she grew up directing her siblings in a barn like writing.
Scripts for them. Like no matter she's on She could
have been
Broadway.
Yeah,
she could have, she could have been Lynn Manu. Why
didn't she, why wasn't Shakespeare then?
They didn't have, like, well, she was a second Shakespeare. Oh, I have a question. She was a female Shakespeare. Oh, I have a question.
What, what?
Don't judge me. Nobody. Nobody judge me.
What,
so does Shakespeare write for theater or is all of his writings just adapted to theater?
No, he wrote for theater. 'cause back in the day, strap wrote plenty of, yeah, okay. So it was
okay. Oh
yeah, yeah, yeah. Those were plays that were acted out. So
then, are her writings
No.
Technically books, they're novels or are they, they were novels or did she write them? Not for theater with the hopes of being theater? No. No. Okay.
No, no, no, no, no. No novels. No, no. This was different. I was very excited. No, these were novels. Maybe we just
uncovered something. No.
Alright. Uh, number four, Jane Austen loved dancing.
Not like, oh, I enjoy going to the ball now and then dancing like she got down. Oh yeah. Like she was probably like the first Tweer. I think she was, yeah. Yeah. She bragged about it. Like dancing was her whole social life. She did it all the time everywhere. Like if we had video back then she would've been on TikTok.
Oh, like TikTok famous.
Number five. Some of her letters and writings were so, let's just say spicy.
Ooh, scandalous. Yeah. Well, no, like spicy, like dripping with sarcasm, spicy. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Not like, not like that. , that after she died, her family decided to burn a bunch of 'em. They were like, yeah, no, we are, we're not gonna let people read this shit. Which I think is total bullshit.
Okay. 'cause like, I want the director's cut. It
was too much.
Yeah. I wanna know what's going on. Okay. Right.
But her dad was a pastor, so it kind of tracks.
Yeah. Yeah. He was like her minister. Yes. My daughter cannot, this cannot make it out. That's why she was hiding in the room, like flipping over the papers all the time.
Oh, okay. Uh, and finally, save the best one for last. As soon as Pride and Prejudice hit the shelves, it's sold out. Its entire first printing sold out immediately. She wasn't even famous. She wasn't even public, like nobody knew who she was. Right. But Readers devoured the frigging book. Oh. Like, it was like 50 Shades of Gray.
Like that's how, is it
really that salacious?
No, but like, if you remember when 50 Shades of Gray Went, everybody went crazy about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm just saying like, it flew off the shelves. Okay. Okay. Super fast. And they were like, what the hell? They had to like do a whole nother printing.
A whole nother printing. She wasn't even famous. Like they didn't even know who it was. So what? It was so,
so she just so you know, she was making
a little bit of money when she was, I mean, a little, but even though she wasn't favorite. Yeah, yeah,
yeah. Oh,
that's all I got.
Okay.
Those were actually amazing fun facts.
I thought they were, they were right.
I'm very proud of you. I know.
Thank you. I'm, thank you very much.
Especially about like the barn theater.
Yeah. Right. Was not expecting that. Well, 'cause you're a theater girl. You love theater. I mean,
not even that. It's just like, it's a whole nother life and aspect.
I think people don't know about Jane Austen. Right. Or her competitive dancing. Her dancing was crazy. Like, I mean, yeah, who knows that. And I'm gonna ask, I'm gonna ask Bethany, did you know these two things? See, we'll see, we'll see what happens.
Okay. You just proved my entire point. Now you're more cultured and curious.
It's true. It's, you can talk to your friend about something I is interested in that I can be
a one upper, oh geez. I'm channeling my inner, my inner Peter actually works. Okay,
go ahead.
Okay. So she's like writing these masterpieces. She's running a secret like improv troupe. She's doing it all, doing all the secret stuff.
It all. And if I obviously wanna learn more, which means I have to read her first book, which I've already admitted. But are there any other call to actions that listeners should do? Yes. In order to.
No.
And appreciate Jane Austen a little more. We, let's
do it, let's do that. And then we'll do the, uh, summary here.
Let's go, let's get to it. Um, so of course read her books, but I would read a book about her, , not like one that she wrote. So the easiest one is Jane Austen. Yeah. Because
that's like the most interesting. Yeah, yeah. Part of it. Yeah. Yeah.
So, , biography Jane Austin, A Life by Claire Tomlin.
Okay.
So super easy, super readable. Basically just super fun biography. Cool. Get on at people. Cool. But make sure you're drinking tea while you read it because you know, Ooh, it's Jane. I mean, you have to, you have to if you want something lighter, because let's be honest, attention spans, uh, are non-existent nowadays.
You can watch the movies instead of read the books. Yes. Pride and Prejudice. Yes. Yes, Emma, right. Uh, pride and Prejudice. We said, call it Firth one, Emma, uh, do the one with Anna Taylor Joy. 'cause she's my favorite and I love her. Uh, and since its that ability, do the one with Emma Thompson, because they've made so many of them.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Trust me. Those are the best ones. Okay. Like the other ones aren't as good at all. Not worth it. , And then you don't have to read the books. Okay. Uh, thank me later. And,
is there another one? Like Persuasion is like a new Netflix. It's one. Netflix TV's one.
I didn't see that. That's the one I didn't read. There's one
correct. You didn't read it, but I think it's like a newer new Oh, you could absolutely be right. If
they just did a new adaptation, you might get told.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, fine. I, what's that? There you go. Get on it. Um, if you're a podcast kind of, uh, you know, exercise or podcast person where you just wanna listen to your podcast, they have a Jane Austen themed podcast. I know, right? Oh, interesting. It's called Austin Chat. They drop a monthly episode, discuss her life.
Her works basically like her whole world. Okay. So you could do that too. Alright. Um, if you don't wanna do any of that, that's fine. Just remember these important details to seem. Here we go. Jane Austin wasn't born into glamor or high society. She built her genius in a tiny rural village surrounded by muddy roads, family, chaos, and her father's massive library. She learned to write by watching everyday people studying human behavior and turning small town gossip into some of the smartest fiction ever written. Number two, her career splits perfectly. In Early, Jane wrote everything. Later, Jane published everything. She drafted the first versions of her major novels in her teens and twenties, but none of them were published until her mid thirties.
Once she landed in Auten, that's when she revised all the drafts, polished the writing, and released all her masterpieces. Number three, she never became famous during her lifetime. She published anonymously, earned only modest money, and died at the young age of just 41. It wasn't until after her death that readers learned.
The anonymous lady behind the novels was actually Jane, the woman who quietly redefined what literature could actually be. Number four, even though people called her books Romance, she was writing about much deeper themes. Her novels are about power, money, class, bad parenting, gender limitations, how marriage functioned as a financial survival strategy.
She wrapped social critique in her charm, her wit, and those slow burn famous love stories, which is why her work still feels sharp and relevant today. And finally, the 250th anniversary of her birth isn't just a milestone. It's proof of her continued cultural impact, all the way back to the beginning of how it makes us cultured and curious people.
Entire cities, museums, festivals, academic groups are dedicating 2025 to celebrating her life and legacy. Two and a half centuries later, she's still inspiring her fans shaping scholarships and generating global events. That's not just nostalgia, that's legend status.
And there you have it, fellow listeners, A cozy century spanning walk through the sharp and insightful world of Jane Austen from a quiet village girl writing on scraps of paper to the woman who redefined the modern novel. She didn't just entertain us as she showed us how brilliantly ordinary life can be when you really pay attention.
If we've done our job today, hopefully you're walking away a bit more sophisticated with a stronger Austin IQ and a better understanding of why her voice still matters 250 years later. So whether you love her, savage wit, admire her emotional intelligence, or just appreciate that she wrote literary masterpieces while hiding pages when people walked into the room, she reminds us that observation is a superpower, and it's one that never goes outta style.
So if you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe. Leave us a review and share it with someone who still thinks Austen is just romance. But until next time, stay curious, stay clever, and maybe judge your neighbors just a little bit less than Jane did.
