Latest Episode: March 15, 2024

156 Heart of Darkness

Host John McCoy with John Holt

The Podcast! The Podcast! John Holt discusses the ill-fated cruise that is Joseph Conrad’s novelette Heart of Darkness (1899).

Previous Episodes

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    155 Tom Sawyer

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    January 10, 2024
    154 Wide Sargasso Sea

    Actually, I need this sea in an extra wide. Caroline Fulford discusses postcolonialism and recurring fires in Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea (1966).

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    December 24, 2023
    153 The Burglar’s Christmas

    The Burgermeister Meisterburger has nothing on this burglar! My wife Marina joins me for our annual Christmas episode. This time we discuss Willa Cather’s “The Burglar’s Christmas” (1896).

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    152 The Prince in Waiting

    The waiting is the hardest part. Ross Cleaver and James Randall discuss the apocalypse, palace intrigue, and the charm of 80’s BBC television in this episode about John Christopher’s The Prince in Waiting (1970).

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    November 22, 2023
    151 Thanksgiving Special: Poor Richard’s Almanack

    Fish and visitors stink in three days, but podcasts are evergreen! Dan and Rob return for the annual Thanksgiving nonsense with Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack (1732-1758).

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    November 10, 2023
    150 Valley of the Dolls
    Host John McCoy

    Raggedy Ann, Barbie, Chucky—they’re all here. That’s what this book is about, right? Erin Gambrill discusses Jacqueline Susann’s Valley of the Dolls (1966).

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    October 11, 2023
    149 On the Beach

    Why just sit around waiting for the end of the world when you can hear a podcast about it? Jelani Sims discusses Nevil Shute’s On the Beach (1957).

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    September 7, 2023
    148 History of the Peloponnesian War

    Kids today love Thucydides, right? Anyone? Daniel Daughhetee returns to discuss this late fifth century BCE chronicle of Athens v. Sparta.

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    147 James Thurber

    It’s a naive literary podcast without any breeding, but I think you’ll be amused by its presumption. Dan Cassino discusses James Thurber’s “The Catbird Seat” (1942) and The 13 Clocks (1950).

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    July 18, 2023
    146 Through the Looking-Glass

    If you’ve believed six impossible things before breakfast, why not listen to this podcast before lunch? Phil Gonzales discusses Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871).

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