Jonty Claypole

Sophie, today is the Halley's Comet Day of literature, isn't it?

Is it ever.

This is today the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth.

I mean, how extraordinary the secret life of books is in the world in order to capture and respond to this wonderful moment.

That's right.

This is The Secret Life of Books.

I am Jonty Claypole.

I, well, I'm afraid men do not come out well of this episode.

So I am going to position myself as a progressive, modern feminist sympathizer who has no connection at all with the men we'll be talking about later in this episode.

This episode, The Women Who Made Jane Austen.

But what we're doing today, Sophie, is we're revealing the big secret behind Jane Austen's life and work.

And let me explain what I mean by that.

We tend to see Jane Austen as a lone genius.

And I think that is the unhappy side effect of Big Austen, as you describe it.

We see her as standing alone.

And I think many people, if asked to name another woman writer from the late 18th, early 19th century, might struggle.

It would be sort of Jane Austen and then the Brontes.

But Jane Austen was, in fact, just a particularly brilliant member of a wider social and literary movement.

She was great, but she was great because she stood on the shoulders of giants or rather the bonnets of giantesses.

So in this episode, we're going to introduce you to some of those women.