Though Jane Austen went largely unrecognized in her own lifetime—four of her six novels were published anonymously, and the other two only after her death—her name is now synonymous with the period romance. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz choose their personal favorites from her œuvre—“Emma,” “Persuasion,” and “Mansfield Park”—and attempt to get to the heart of her appeal. Then they look at how Austen herself has been characterized by readers and critics. We know relatively little about Austen as a person, but that hasn’t stopped us from trying to understand her psyche. It’s a difficult task in part because of the double-edged quality to her writing: Austen, although renowned for her love stories, is also a keen satirist of the Regency society in which these relationships play out. “I think irony is so key, but also sincerity,” Schwartz says. “These books are about total realism and total fantasy meeting in a way that is endlessly alluring.”

Read, watch, and listen with the critics:

“Pride and Prejudice,” by Jane Austen

“Persuasion,” by Jane Austen
“Emma,” by Jane Austen
“Mansfield Park,” by Jane Austen

“Sense and Sensibility,” by Jane Austen

“Northanger Abbey,” by Jane Austen

“Virginia Woolf on Jane Austen” (The New Republic)
Emily Nussbaum on “Breaking Bad” and the “Bad Fan” (The New Yorker)
“How to Misread Jane Austen,” by Louis Menand (The New Yorker)

“Miss Austen” (2025—)

“Pride and Prejudice” (2005)

Scenes Through Time’s “Mr. Darcy Yearning for 10 Minutes” Supercut

New episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts.

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

S3E19 redemptive suffering or suffering of the redeemed? And a couple quick thoughts about marriage