Episode #21 – “Literature”

“The decline of literature indicates the decline of a nation.”

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, novelist and playwright

Date Published

09/06/2021

Main Topic

Literature

Length

1hr 29min

They say to tell a good story, often the best place to start is at the beginning. But to properly set the scene, we must define our terms. Mr C opens the conversation with some dictionary terms of ‘literature’ and we quickly realise that this is a broad and multifaceted topic. He then tells of the story of the city of Alexandria in ancient Egypt, whose famous library (often considered to be humanity’s greatest repository of knowledge) saw a tragic end at the hands of Julius Caesar and his army in 48 BC.

Mr Beard then turns the page, rolling our timeline forward approx. 1400 years to the city of Mainz in Germany. This is where Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press, changing people’s access to information and spurring on an evolution in knowledge and allowing for the Renaissance and the birth of the scientific method.

Our story continues with Viktor Schauberger, a “pseudoscientist” of his time, and how he produced numerous patents and inventions, not by sitting in a classroom reading books, but rather by immersing himself in nature and letting it’s secrets reveal themselves to him. Himself and Charles Darwin would have had many interesting conversations, should they have bumped into eachother down the pub.

We then move on to highlight some of our favourite authors and book series. The range is wide as we jump from philosophical greats such as Fyodor Dostoevsky and Viktor Frankl to fiction and fantasy maestros such as Dan Brown, JK Rowling and George RR Martin.

The final chapter of this episode closes with our two hosts reminiscing on Road Dahl and all the literary gifts he left us in the pages of James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Witches and The Twits. A cornflake my go weeks hidden in a beard, but the cherished memories Roald Dahl gives kids and adults alike last a lifetime. And for that, and for literature, we are eternally grateful.

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