Sophomore Lit
Hosted by John McCoy
John McCoy and a guest host read books you might have been assigned in high school, or college, or other stuff you might have read when you were a kid. The theming is loose!
180 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
Podcasts could happen to anyone. David Loehr discusses exits and entrances in Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (first performed 1966, published 1967).
Previous Episodes
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October 8, 2025179 The Last Unicorn
Don’t it allways seem to go, you don’t know what unicorns you got til they’re gone. Kathy Campbell discusses Peter S. Beagle’s 1968 The Last Unicorn.
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September 24, 2025
178 R.U.R.
BEEP boop what is… love? Well, we don’t figure this out, but John Siracusa does return to Sophomore Lit to discuss Karel Čapek’s play R.U.R. (1920), the origin of the word “robot.”
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August 27, 2025
177 The Pushcart War
Brush up on the Large Object Theory of History. Shaenon K. Garrity returns to discuss Jean Merrill’s The Pushcart War (1964).
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July 18, 2025
176 Walden, or Life in the Woods
If you’re suffering from Quiet Desparation, why not listen to the not-so-quiet voices of Dan Daughhetee and me discussing Henrey David Thoreau’s Walden, or Life in the Woods (1854)?
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June 13, 2025
175 Elizabeth Bishop Poems
Somebody loves us all. Rosalynde Vas Dias discusses three poems by Elizabeth Bishop: “Sestina” (1956), “Filling Station” (1956), and “Crusoe in England” (1971).
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April 23, 2025
174 The Chrysalids
Podcasts are the original voices in your head. David Dredrick discusses John Wyndham’s The Chrysalids (1955).
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March 18, 2025
173 The Visit
Make money fast with this one weird trick. Glenn Fleishman discusses Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s play The Visit (1956).
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February 25, 2025
172 The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
And indeed there will be time to discuss this, the most mid-life white-guy crisis poem of all. Lisa Schmeiser discusses T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (1915).
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February 3, 2025
171 Frank O’Connor Stories
I’ve heard it said by men of wide experience that podcasts used to be better in the old days. Kieran Healy discusses three short stories by Frank O’Connor: “First Confession,” “The Majesty of the Law,” and “Guests of the Nation.”
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January 10, 2025
170 Emily Dickinson Poems
Forever is composed of podcasts. Caroline Fulford discusses selected poems by Emily Dickinson (c. 1860-65).