What We Talk about When We Talk about Jane (Our 100th Episode!)

Season 7, Episode 100

This is Getting Lit with Linda’s 100th episode – a real milestone! To mark this specific achievement, three scholars join Linda to speak about an historic author rather than a contemporary one: the magnificent Jane Rule. Born in 1936, she authored several short story collections, essays, and novels, including The Desert of the Heart (Talon), a landmark novel published in 1964 and made into a movie in 1985. The movie was titled Desert Hearts(2.10) directed by Donna Deitch. The three scholars are Marilyn Schuster, “the godmother of Jane Rule Studies” (3.00; author of Passionate Communitiesand A Queer Love Story, 14.15 ), Amber Dean (working on a second volume of Jane Rule’s letters exchanged with Rick Bébout, 14:18 ), and Cate Sandilands (completing a collection of stories, titled Dear Jane Rule). And Linda has completed a biography about her. Why are they so enamored of her? You’ll have to listen to this episode to find out!

They talk about some of Rule’s novels, short stories, and essays, including The Desert of the Heart (1.55; 6:00; 6:55), The Young in One Another’s Arms (7:45), Inland Passage, (9:38), Lesbian Images (9:00), This is Not for You (12.54), and Contract with the World (12.04). They also speak about the following:

·     Some of Jane Rule’s awards (Order of British Columbia and Order of Canada, 1.20)
·     David Anderson(11:12),a scholar who completed his doctorate in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University
·     James Baldwin (17:55) and the citation, “If I am not what you say I am, then you are not who you think you are.”
·     Jane’s letters and prolific letter writing (17.40; 22:45; 28:25)
·     Public lesbianism(16.32); being critical of insular heteronormativity (17.10)
·     Galiano Island (22:45; 28:15), their swimming pool (25:54), and the Bank of Jane (26:19)
Stick around for the takeaway and their advice to aspiring writers and researchers!

Producer: Linda Morra; Associate Producer; Maia Harris; Music by Raphael Krux