Jane Austen and Her Teenage Writing: A Visit with Lesley Peterson | Episode 27

"She has many rare & charming qualities, but Sobriety is not one of them."  —Jane Austen, Jack and Alice Drunken brawls. Cannibalism. Heroines behaving very badly. Such mayhem may seem worlds apart from the sedate drawing rooms of Austen's novels, but it is par for the course in her teenage writings. In this episode, we welcome Lesley Peterson for an exploration of the whimsical world of Austen's juvenilia—the hilarious and often absurd stories she penned in her youth. Along the way, we’ll see how young Jane, growing up in a lively, intellectual household, was already testing boundaries and sharpening the wit that would one day captivate readers everywhere. GUEST BIO Lesley Peterson is the editor of the Journal of Juvenilia Studies and, before her retirement, was Professor of English at the University of North Alabama. She has published numerous articles in JASNA’s journals, Persuasions and Persuasions On-Line, and is a frequent presenter at JASNA's Annual General Meetings. In 2024, she served as a JASNA Traveling Lecturer and was awarded a fellowship through the JASNA International Visitor Program. SHOW NOTES Many thanks to Lesley for joining us on Austen Chat! Learn more about the Journal of Juvenilia Studies: https://journalofjuveniliastudies.com... **RELATED READING** -- "'That Little Insignificant Fellow, Tom Thumb': Henry Fielding’s Early Burlesque and the Origins of Jane Austen’s Style." Lesley Peterson. Persuasions On-Line, Vol. 45 No 1, Winter 2024. https://jasna.org/publications-2/pers... -- "Writer’s Block, Roadblocks, Blockheads: Jane Austen’s Rocky Road to Acceptable Satire of the Clergy." Lesley Peterson. Persuasions On-Line, Vol. 44 No 1, Winter 2023. https://jasna.org/publications-2/pers... -- "The Green World, Cultivated: Jane Austen’s Engagement with Shakespeare’s As You Like It in Sense and Sensibility." Lesley Peterson. Persuasions On-Line, Vol. 43 No 1, Winter 2022. https://jasna.org/publications-2/pers... --"Jane Austen’s Dramaturgy." Lesley Peterson. Persuasions On-Line, Vol. 42 No 1, Winter 2021. https://jasna.org/publications-2/pers... -- "Unbecoming Jane: Genre and Craft in Austen’s Earliest Novels." Lesley Peterson, Persuasions On-Line, Vol. 20 No 2, Spring 2010. https://jasna.org/persuasions/on-line... **NEWS SEGMENT LINKS** --2025 Essay Contest Winning Entries: https://jasna.org/publications-2/essa... --Livestream/Virtual AGM Details and Registration: https://jasna.org/agms/baltimore2025/... --Free JASNA Student Membership through December 31, 2025: https://jasna.org/join/250th-bday-stu... Listen to Austen Chat here, on your favorite podcast app (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other streaming platforms), or on our website at https://jasna.org/austen/podcast/ep27/. OTHER CREDITS From JASNA's Austen Chat podcast. Published September 4, 2025. © Jane Austen Society of North America. All rights reserved. Photo by Paolo Chiabrando on Unsplash. Theme Music: Country Dance by Humans Win.