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 304: The Hobbit, Part I
Jan 501:25:53Tap to summarizeThe panel discusses the first four chapters of The Hobbit with special attention to the development of the story as a text, its features connecting it to the genres of fairy tales and bedtime stories, and its careful use of narrative foreshadowing.Continue reading
Transcribe →
CR Episode 266: Pygmalion, Part II
Apr 7, 202501:12:33Tap to summarizeThe panel discusses Shaw's work on Wagner and a brief overview of the classical inspiration for his Pygmalion, before reading the second act with attention to the characters of Professor Higgins and Mr. Doolittle, and to contemporary social conventions.Continue reading
Transcribe →
CR Episode 265: Pygmalion, Part I
Mar 31, 202501:07:16Tap to summarizeThe panel reads the first act of George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, with an introduction to the author, and a consideration of how the play reflects Shaw's interest in social welfare, especially in the context of the works of Dickens and Trollope.Continue reading
Transcribe →
CR Episode 264: Doctor Wortle’s School, Part IV
Mar 24, 202500:59:20Tap to summarizeThe panel concludes the novella with a look at the primary falling action and the resolution of the Mary Wortle subplot, with particular attention to Doctor Wortle's passionate loyalty compared with the abstract moral principles of contemporary society.Continue reading
Transcribe →
CR Episode 263: Doctor Wortle’s School, Part III
Mar 17, 202501:11:17Tap to summarizeThe panel reads the third quarter of the novella with attention given to the romanticism of Doctor Wortle's character and how it guides his interactions with figures who disagree with his views, including his wife, Mister Puddicomb, and the Bishop.Continue reading
Transcribe →
CR Episode 262: Doctor Wortle’s School, Part II
Mar 10, 202501:02:42Tap to summarizeThe panel reads parts three and four with attention given to the moral, logical, and legal conundrums that perplex Doctor Wortle, and with a consideration of how Mrs. Wortle, Mr. Puddicombe, and Mrs. Stantiloupe represent differing aspects of society.Continue reading
Transcribe →
CR Episode 261: Doctor Wortle’s School, Part I
Mar 3, 202501:34:28Tap to summarizeThe panel reads the first two parts (or six chapters) of Trollope's fortieth novel, beginning with an introduction to the author and the text, followed by an examination of the titular character and the mystery surrounding Mr. and Mrs. Peacocke.Continue reading
Transcribe →
CR Episode 260: The Second Coming of Yeats
Feb 24, 202501:13:33Tap to summarizeThe panel discusses four poems by Yeats, including his most famous—"The Second Coming"—as a way of examining his understanding of a cyclical cosmology, whilst also looking at his depiction of cataclysmic events that influence or constrain free will.Continue reading
Transcribe →
CR Episode 259: John Berryman’s Eleven Addresses to the Lord
Feb 17, 202501:09:05Tap to summarizeThe panel reads John Berryman's "Eleven Addresses to the Lord" and considers the poems within the context of the author's biography and Judeo-Christian theology, with special emphasis on the distinction between God as abstraction and as embodied being.Continue reading
Transcribe →
CR Episode 258: Tennyson’s Tiresias
Feb 10, 202501:02:55Tap to summarizeThe panel reads Tennyson's Tiresias and considers its story of the blind prophet's extended (but not eternal) life in the context of what it reveals about the poet's struggle with human mortality, and about the role of prophecy and its reception.Continue reading
Transcribe →