Each season of My Cousin Jane presents a chapter-by-chapter discussion of the historical context, culture, and customs featured in one of Jane Austen’s books.
Rather than explore the “deeper literary themes and ethos of Jane Austen”, or something else an English Lit teacher might get excited about, we discuss what you might think of as the behind-the-scenes featurettes and deleted scenes of each chapter of her books.
The show answers questions like:
- What exactly did Sir Walter mean when he said Mrs. Clay had a “clumsy wrist”? Season 1, Episode 5
- Why did Captain Wentworth take the time to have a “lovely cruise” in the middle of the war? Season 1, Episode 8
- What exactly is rheumatic fever and how was it treated in Regency times? Season 1, Episode 17
- Is Piquet more fun than Loo? Season 2, Episode 10
So dive into the episodes covering your favorite book to learn the answers to these questions and many more.
FAQ
What's the story behind the show?
When I was in grad school, I had a very long commute and stumbled across LibriVox audiobooks and Karen Savage's excellent narrations of Jane Austen's books.
Over the years I've read and listened to them many times, and would sometimes wonder at an anachronistic phrase or obscure cultural reference. The more I researched, the more my enjoyment of Austen's works deepened, and I found I enjoyed sharing what I learned with other Austen fans.
Eventually, this led to the launch of My Cousin Jane.
Are you really Jane Austen's cousin?
Yes, really. Well, I’m her eighth cousin, six times removed…so a fairly close relation, all things considered.
What exactly is a "serialized" podcast?
Most podcasts are distributed in reverse chronological order. They show up in your player feed with the latest episode on top, and it doesn’t really matter when you start them. Many also assume you’ll be listening to the episodes relatively close to when they are released.
Each season of My Cousin Jane is connected to one of Jane Austen’s books. Each episode within that season corresponds with a specific chapter, and there’s no assumption that you’ll listen to them anywhere near when they were released.
If you’re currently reading Pride & Prejudice for example, you might start with Season 2, then go back to Season 1 when you read Persuasion. Or you might be really interested in Bath’s Upper Assembly Rooms, and thus skip right to Season 1, Episode 20.
Why is there such a long gap between some of the episodes?
Since these episodes aren’t time sensitive, take a lot of research, and don’t pay any of my bills, I tend to record and release the episodes in batches when I have large chunks of time available.
Do you use AI to create your show?
All episodes are written, researched, recorded, and edited by me with no use of AI other than spelling and grammar checkers. I enjoy these tasks too much to hand them over to a soulless machine.
I have used AI to help out with the new site design, as I lack all talent in the visual arts (like Elizabeth, my mother never took me to town to benefit from the masters). However, all of the artwork you see was created by real, human artists.
The audio editors I use probably have some kind of AI things built into their filters and processing, and my podcast host uses a system they call “Magic Mastering” to normalize audio volume, which almost certainly uses AI in some way. You can read more about it here if you are interested.
I also used an AI-powered voice-to-text transcriber to backfill the transcripts for season one, though the season two transcripts come from my show notes.
You can read more about my general thoughts and policy on the use of AI in creative works on my writing website.
How can I help support the show?
Spreading the word is appreciated, as are reviews on your favorite streaming platform. You can also donate to the show, or if you like Regency-era reference books, you can purchase something from one of the affiliate links in our Library.
Aside from that, thoughtful emails are always well received.
