Just the Best Literature

Host Dennis Leap and special guest Grant Turgeon discuss Chapter 41, “Moby Dick,” which gives the history of Moby Dick and Ahab and shows that Ishmael recognizes he is totally under Ahab’s influence.

Host Dennis Leap with special guest Grant Turgeon complete their discussion of Chapter 37, titled “Sunset,” showing how Ahab describes himself as “demonic" and “madness maddened.” They then discuss the soliloquy’s of Starbuck (Chapter 38) and Stubb (Chapter 39) and end the program with a comedic soliloquy of the sailors (Chapter 40) written in the form of a musical. Under Ahab’s trance, the shipma...

Host Dennis Leap and special guest Grant Turgeon complete their discussion of Chapter 36, “The Quarterdeck,” showing how Ahab successfully completed his plan to hijack the Pequod to satisfy his vengeance against Moby Dick.

Host Dennis Leap and special guest Grant Turgeon discuss Chapters 30 and 31 of Moby Dick: Melville compares Ahab to a Norse king and crafts a humorous tale of Stubb telling Flask about his queer dream of a merman. Dennis and Grant also begin their discussion of Chapter 36, “The Quarterdeck,” in which Ahab initiates his plan to hijack the Pequod for his own dark purpose.

Host Dennis Leap and special guest Grant Turgeon discuss Herman Melville’s well-known and yet most mysterious character, Captain Ahab, from his American classic Moby Dick.

Host Dennis Leap and special guest Grant Turgeon discuss Chapters 26 and 27 of Herman Melville’s American classic Moby Dick. Leap and Turgeon focus on the personalities of the Pequod’s three mates and their assistants, the harpooners.

Host Dennis Leap with special guest Grant Turgeon discuss chapters 19 through 21 of Melville’s timeless classic Moby Dick. The two shipmates meet again with the prophet Elijah who warns them about the mysterious sailors running toward the ship.

Host Dennis Leap with special guest Grant Turgeon begin discussion of chapters 14 and 16 of Melville’s American classic Moby Dick. Dennis and Grant focus on the history of old Nantucket and Ishmael’s selection of a whaling ship.

Host Dennis Leap with special guest Grant Turgeon discuss chapters 5 through 9 of Melville’s timeless classic Moby Dick, which give the history of America’s once great whaling capitals, New Bedford and Nantucket.

Host Dennis Leap with special guest Grant Turgeon begin discussing the first nine chapters of Melville’s American classic Moby Dick. Dennis and Grant focus on the first first four chapters, which introduce us to the characters Ishmael and Queequeg.

Host Dennis Leap introduces the JBL short series on Herman Melville’s classic American novel, Moby Dick or the Whale, using quotes from Nathaniel Philbrick’s small book, Why Read Moby Dick?

Host Dennis Leap and special guest Deborah Leap discuss the final two chapters of Lord Jim. Jim naively believes that scoundrel Brown will leave Patusan peacefully. Yet Brown, with the help of Cornelius, unleashes an act of cold-blooded ferocity on Dain Waris’s camp. This time Jim does not jump or run away from the problem. With the help of Doramin, he dies a romantic hero.

Host Dennis Leap discusses the fateful conversation between Jim and the scoundrel Brown, which took place at the muddy creek Jim jumped over to escape imprisonment by the Rajah.

Host Dennis Leap discusses the sadistic nature of evil pirate Brown, who plans to tear the people of Patusan to pieces.

Host Dennis Leap discusses Jim and Marlow’s parting as Marlow returns to the outside world.

Host Dennis Leap and special guests Deborah Leap and Gabe Greaser discuss Jim’s profession of his love for Jewel and Marlow’s analysis of Jewel.

Host Dennis Leap and special guests Deborah Leap and Gabe Greaser discuss Jewel’s intervention in a plot to assassinate Jim.

Host Dennis Leap and guest Gabe Greaser continue to discuss Jim’s love affair with Jewel, and the dark side to Cornelius’s character.

Host Dennis Leap and guest Gabe Greaser discuss Jim’s love affair with Cornelius’s stepdaughter, whom he names Jewel, and the mounting number of enemies planning his assassination.

Host Dennis Leap and guest Gabe Greaser discuss Jim’s first adventure as the peacemaker of Patusan.

Host Dennis Leap and guest Deborah Leap begin discussing Marlow’s visit to Jim at Patusan, two years after Jim lands on the island (Chapter 24). Jim tells Marlow about his dramatic first days.

Host Dennis Leap and guest Deborah Leap continue discussing the background chapters (23 and 24) that lay the groundwork to better understand Jim and his life on Patusan.

Host Dennis Leap and guest Deborah Leap discuss the background chapters that lay the groundwork to better understand Jim and his life on Patusan.

Host Dennis Leap and special guest Deborah Leap discuss Jim’s bad habit of quitting jobs when he hears gossip about the Patna incident. Marlow seeks out Jim to help him stop running from a past he was not solely responsible for.

Host Dennis Leap and special guest Deborah Leap discuss Marlow’s work to help Jim put the Patna incident behind him and overcome his gloom. Marlow writes Jim a letter of reference for a great job, showing Jim he could have a clean slate.