The Literary Life Podcast

Welcome to today's episode and another "Best of" remix on The Literary Life Podcast! Today our hosts Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins and Thomas Banks explore Robert Louis Stevenson's  The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde . After their commonplace quote discussion, each cohost shares some personal thoughts on Robert Louis Stevenson. Be aware that this episode will contain some spoilers, tho...

This week on The Literary Life, Angelina and Thomas wrap up their series on J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter: Book 1 . Angelina and Thomas begin the episode with some thoughts on their Aristotelian approach to literature as seen in this series of episodes. After sharing their commonplace quotes, they dive into their discussion of the last few chapters of the book. Some of the ideas they consider are h...

Welcome back to The Literary Life podcast and our series on J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter: Book 1 . After sharing some thoughts on detective fiction as it relates to Rowling, our hosts Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks discuss chapters 8-12. Some of the ideas they share are the following: Homeric echos and classical allusions in this book, the identity quest, the significance of characters' names,...

On today's episode of The Literary Life podcast, Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks continue their series on Harry Potter: Book 1 by J. K. Rowling. This week we are covering chapters 3-7. Angelina opens the book discussion with an overview of the literary motifs used by Rowling in the Harry Potter books to help modern readers better understand these kinds of stories. One of the motifs she highligh...

On today's episode on The Literary Life podcast, we begin our much-anticipated series on Harry Potter: Book 1 by J. K. Rowling, with hosts Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks. After sharing a little on their own backgrounds as teachers and their commonplace quotations for the week, Angelina and Thomas open the book discussion with some introductory information on this book and series. They address...

This week on The Literary Life podcast Angelina Stanford is joined by friends and fellow readers Cindy Rollins, Emily Raible, and Jone Rose to discuss how to deal with overwhelm with your literary life. Angelina opens the conversation with the acknowledgment that everyone has moments when they feel overwhelmed by the amount of things to read and to know. Jone talks about how she tries to avoid com...

For this week's "Best of The Literary Life" series episode, we revisit a conversation about George Orwell's essay "Why I Write." Angelina and Cindy kick off the discussion about how much they each identify with Orwell's description of his childhood. In his story of learning to write, we see many aspects of a good education, even his inclination to imitate other authors. An important point Angelina...

This week on The Literary Life we return to the podcast vault for a re-airing of Episode 11, in which Cindy Rollins and Angelina Stanford enjoy a discussion of the short story "Araby" by James Joyce. Delving into "Araby," Angelina talks about the history and development of the short story form. Cindy gives a little of her own background with reading James Joyce and why she loves his short stories....

This week on The Literary Life, we are dipping back into the archives for one of our "Best of" series of episodes. In this week's remix from Season 1, Angelina Stanford and Cindy Rollins discuss Guy de Maupassant's short story " The Necklace ." Before getting into the short story discussion, Cindy and Angelina chat about what a "commonplace book" is and how they each go about recording quotes and...

On The Literary Life Podcast this week, Angelina and Thomas wrap up their series on Anne Brontë's Agnes Grey . In this final episode on this beautiful Victorian novel, our hosts begin with their commonplace quotes which lead into the book discussion and the Victorian ideas about the supernatural. They talk about the major plot points here at the end of this book, contrasting the way Jane Austen de...

Welcome back to The Literary Life Podcast and the continuation of our series on Anne Brontë's Agnes Grey . Angelina and Thomas open with their commonplace quotes which lead into the book discussion. Angelina kicks it off with a comparison between the work of the Brontës and Jane Austen's writing which will continue throughout the conversation. Thomas and Angelina also look at the expectations of V...

On this week's episode of The Literary Life Podcast, Angelina and Thomas continue their series of discussions on Anne Brontë's novel Agnes Grey . They open the conversation about this novel with some thoughts on the differences between Agnes Grey and Jane Eyre and Anne and Charlotte Brontë. Angelina poses the question as to whether this novel crosses the line into didacticism or if it stays within...

Today on The Literary Life Podcast, Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks begin a new book discussion series covering Anne Brontë's Victorian novel Agnes Grey . This week they are giving an introduction to the social and literary climate in which Anne was writing, as well as discussing chapters 1-5 of the book. Thomas shares a little information on Utilitarianism, and Angelina talks about how this af...

This week on The Literary Life, we bring you another episode in our "Best of" series with a throwback to one of our 2021 Summer of the Short Story shows. In this episode, Angelina, Cindy, and Thomas talk about E. M. Forster's short story  "The Machine Stops."  If you are interested in more E. M. Forster chat, you can go listen to our hosts discuss "The Celestial Omnibus" in  Episode 17 . Angelina...

On today's episode of The Literary Life Podcast, Angelina and Thomas wrap up their series on the satirical comedy Tartuffe by Jean-Baptiste Moliere. If you want to listen in to the read along of this play, you can view replays on the readings on the House of Humane Letters YouTube channel . Angelina and Thomas start off the conversation on the play reviewing the idea of enchantment and the classic...

This week on The Literary Life Podcast, Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks delve into a new literary series as we read the comedic play Tartuffe by Jean-Baptiste Moliere. If you want to listen in to the read along of this play, you can view replays on the readings on the House of Humane Letters YouTube channel . Thomas begins the conversation on this play by setting up the cultural and literary co...

Welcome to a new episode of The Literary Life podcast and an interview with special guest Dr. Vigen Guroian, retired professor of Religious Studies and Orthodox Christianity at the University of Virginia and author of twelve book and numerous scholarly articles. Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks discuss with Dr. Guroian the new edition of his book, Tending the Heart of Virtue . They start out tal...

Today on The Literary Life Podcast, we bring you another episode in our "Best of" series in which Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins, and Thomas Banks discuss the importance of reading old books. They begin the conversation by addressing head on the idea that old books are irrelevant. They touch on the fact that when we use the phrase "old books" we mean not just any piece of literature from the pas...

This week on The Literary Life, our hosts talk about their favorite poems and poets. Cindy starts off by sharing the early influences on her developing a love of poetry. Thomas also shares about his mother reading poetry to him as a child and the poetry that made an impression on him as a child. Angelina talks about coming to poetry later in life and how she finally came to love it through learnin...

In anticipation of our upcoming sixth annual Literary Life Online Conference, " Dispelling the Myth of Modernity: A Recovery of the Medieval Imagination ," this week we are re-airing a previous episode with Jason Baxter, our conference's special keynote speaker. Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins, and Thomas Banks sit down for a special conversation with Jason Baxter, author of The Medieval Mind of...

Today on The Literary Life Podcast, Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks are joined by Atlee Northmore to explore the various screen adaptations based on Howards End by E. M. Forster. They begin the discussion with the question of what is the good of translating one art form, in this case a book, into another art form, such as a screen play. They talk about the beauty of the Merchant Ivory film adap...

Welcome to The Literary Life Podcast and the final episode in our our series on Howards End by E. M. Forster. Today Angelina and Thomas seek to sum up the book and wrap up their thoughts on the way Forster weaves this story. The open with some comments on the almost allegorical nature of Howards End , then talk about the words "only connect" and their meaning in the context of the book. They discu...

Welcome back to The Literary Life Podcast and our series discussing Howards End by E. M. Forster. This week Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks cover chapters 26-34. Together they continue to talk about the ideas Forster is presenting in the book as seen in this section, including Howards End as a character, the echoes of Wind in the Willows (thanks to Jen Rogers!), Helen's idealism, Margaret and H...

On The Literary Life Podcast, Angelina and Thomas continue our series on Howards End by E. M. Forster with a discussion of chapters 17-25. In opening the conversation on this chapter, they consider the various houses and ask the question of what role Howards End plays in this whole story. They also delve into the seemingly unlikely romance between Margaret and Mr. Wilcox and the complexity of thei...

Welcome to The Literary Life Podcast and our second episode in our series on E. M. Forster's book Howards End . This week, Angelina and Thomas cover chapters 8-16, continuing their discussion of the book and the overarching concept of "Story" along the way. In talking about different plot points and characters, Angelina and Thomas make some comparisons between the two couples presented in these ch...