Podcast
Critical Readings
Hosted by CriticalReadings.com · EN
Critical Readings examines key literary texts using close reading and critical analysis, and explains these approaches in discussion. Listeners will learn about the texts themselves and about how to approach a text for critical analysis.
41episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
CR Episode 314: W.H. Auden and Mediaevalism
Mar 1601:09:42Tap to summarizeThe panel is joined by a special guest, the poet and author Aaron Poochigian, to discuss three medievally-inflected poems by Auden: "Lady Weeping at the Crossroads", "Ode to the Medieval Poets", and the 'Bombing Run' excerpt from "The Age of Anxiety."Continue reading
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CR Episode 313: Sense and Sensibility, Part IV
Mar 901:13:01Tap to summarizeThe panel discusses the closing chapters of the novel, with special attention to the quasi-reformation of Willoughby's character, the depths of villainy attained by Lucy Steele, the triumph of Col. Brandon, and Elinor's emotional displays: grief and joy.Continue reading
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CR Episode 312: Sense and Sensibility, Part III
Mar 201:21:14Tap to summarizeThe panel discusses chapters 30–39, with the unveiling of secrets including Edward and Lucy's engagement, and Colonel Brandon's connexion to Willoughby, and featuring a discussion of Colonel Brandon's good character and Willoughby's extravagant villainy.Continue reading
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CR Episode 311: Sense and Sensibility, Part II
Feb 2301:14:50Tap to summarizeThe panel discusses chapters 18–29, with a omparison of the relationship of Elinore and Edward versus that of Marianne and Willoughby, a discussion of the role of leisure or industry in happiness, and a consideration of the failures of civility on show.Continue reading
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CR Episode 310: Sense and Sensibility, Part I
Feb 1601:10:36Tap to summarizeThe panel discusses the first seventeen chapters of Sense and Sensibility, with special attention given to contemporary inheritance law, the character faults of the Dashwoods, and the opposition between Elinore's 'sense' and her family's 'sensibility'.Continue reading
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CR Episode 309: The Vanity of Human Wishes
Feb 901:16:41Tap to summarizeThe panel discusses Dr. Johnson's imitation of the tenth satire of Juvenal, with its message of caution about advanced age and the temptations of academic life, with special attention given to the difference lying between imitation and translation.Continue reading
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CR Episode 308: The Hobbit, Part V
Feb 201:31:18Tap to summarizeThe panel discusses the closing chapters—the battles against Smaug and between the five armies, and the journey home—with special attention to the influence of great wealth, the difference between leaders amongst the Lake-men, and Bilbo's significance.Continue reading
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CR Episode 307: The Hobbit, Part IV
Jan 2601:34:35Tap to summarizeThe panel discusses the party's arrival in and departure from Lake-Town, and their arrival at and infiltration of the Lonely Mountain, with special attention to the contrast between rationalism and romanticism, particularly in the Master of Lake-Town.Continue reading
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CR Episode 306: The Hobbit, Part III
Jan 1901:17:18Tap to summarizeThe panel reads chapters 8 and 9, with special attention to the episodic structure of the narrative, the maturation of Bilbo and his rising stature amongst the dwarves, the role of hunger and darkness in creating tension, and the timeframe of events.Continue reading
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CR Episode 305: The Hobbit, Part II
Jan 1201:22:18Tap to summarizeThe panel discusses chapters 5–7, with examination of Tolkien's sources and the chronology of its composition, discussion about the different phases of the story's development, and a conversation about the chapter structure and roles of different races.Continue reading
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