Bonus Episode 28b
April 29, 2020

Jess Henderson on Emma

Hosted by Chris Piuma and Suzanne Conklin Akbari with Jess Henderson

I think it’s interesting in Austen’s novels that they’re all so positive, and we think of them as sort of happy comforting kinds of things, because from all sides are pressing in these realities of disease and death… There are so many characters in this novel that just aren’t there or don’t have family members because they’ve passed away.

Jess Henderson is a contract faculty member of the English and Drama Department at the University of Toronto, Mississauga. She teaches a wide array of texts—from Middle English through to the digital age—as well as a variety of skills—from how to read literature critically to how to write effectively. She loves reading and is delighted when she gets to talk with others about books. In fact, she recently hosted a virtual reading group on Emma which Suzanne attended, so she and Chris asked her on to discuss that experience and to share her thoughts on which characters are underrated, what other possibilities lie within the novel, how letters work in this world, and to debate what the novel would be called if it were titled like Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility.

Show Notes.

Jess Henderson on Twitter.

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