Episodes
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The panel discusses the conclusion of Wuthering Heights, with special attention given to the message of the novel; its place in the genres of Gothic, Romance, and Tragedy; and how its cycles of revenge and pain are eventually broken through acts of love.Continue reading
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Guest expert Dr. Madeline Potter joins the panel to discuss chapters 17–24, with a focus on the cycles of violence and manipulation at Wuthering Heights, the symmetry of relationships, and the re-embodiments of abuse perpetuated by Heathcliff.Continue reading
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Missing episodes?
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The panel discusses chapters 10–16, from Catherine's marriage until her death, and examines Heathcliff's increased severity, the potential innocence of Isabella and Hareton, and the role that Nelly has played in escalating the fraught circumstances.Continue reading
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Dr. Madeline Potter joins the panel to discuss the opening chapters of Emily Brontë's only novel, with attention to the influences of the gothic and romanticism, and the narrative's depiction of the unstable tension between civilisation and nature.Continue reading
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The panel discusses the American Poet Laureate Robert Penn Warren—the only person to win the Pulitzer prize both for Poetry and for Fiction—reading two of his poems from the November 1979 Poetry Magazine volume issued in honour of Allen Tate.Continue reading
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The panel reads Wordsworth's "Beggars" (and its sequel) examining the verses with attention to what they suggest about society and economics, beauty and physical attraction, national pride, the Romantic attitude towards nature, and Wordsworth scholarship.Continue reading
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The panel discusses The Morte Arthur: Aggravayne and Mordred's entrapment of Launcelot and Guenevere, the death of Garyth and Gaherys, Gawayne's vengeance and death, Arthur's war with Mordred, and the end of Camelot, The Round Table, and the tale.Continue reading
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The panel discusses the penultimate sequence of the Morte, 'Launcelot and Guinevere,' with attention to Launcelot's pledge to defend the Queen's honour in right or wrong and the increasing Orkney-led noyse of sclaundir and treson in the Arthurian court.Continue reading
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The panel discusses the complysshment of the Sankgreal, Galahad's unwieldy role as a model of virtue, Gawain's manifest impurity, Launcelot's outward conversion, the effect of the Quest upon the Arthurian court, and Malory's conflicted theology.Continue reading
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The panel discusses the first half of the Quest for the Holy Grail, including Galahad's knightly debut, the arrival of the Grail in the court, Gawain's impetuous vow, and King Arthur's sorrow—and what it means for the common good of the realm.Continue reading
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The panel reads the conclusion of the Tristram sequence, including the begetting of Galahad, with special attention to the quality of worshypfulness and how it may be acquired and kept, including by women and through means other than knyghtly prouesse.Continue reading
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The panel reads of the Tournament at Surluse and the strife of the Orkney brothers, and considers in detail what a question about the use of a single word—lette—might imply not only for the character of King Arthur but for the entire Malorian project.Continue reading
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The panel reads the King Mark sections of Le Morte Darthur—presenting the first fully-realised villain of the piece, complete with motivations, personality, and an identifiable modus operandi—and discusses its implications for Malorian kingship.Continue reading
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The panel reads three episodes from the Tristram section—"Le Cote Male Tayle", "The Madness of Sir Tristram", and "The Tournament at the Castle of Maidens"—and examines the actions of four malevolent characters: Mordred, Morgan, Mark, and Mellyagaunce.Continue reading
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The panel discusses the first two tales in the Tristram section—Sir Tristram and la Beall Isode and Sir Lamerok de Galys—with attention to Malory's sources, the Lancelot-Tristram parallelism, and the apparent shift towards an interest in courtly love.Continue reading
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The panel discusses the episode of Sir Gareth of Orkney, with attention given both to the anti-egalitarian worldview and historical reality of the period, and to the role of violence and prouesse in the Arthurian Court—and the moral clarity it provides.Continue reading
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The panel reads the tale of Sir Launcelot du Lake, with attention given to the features of mediaeval romance, Malory's use of humour and his knowledge of the details of knightly combat, and the different, sometimes competing ends of Arthurian governance.Continue reading
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The panel reads the Roman War sequence with particular attention to Malory's use of historical progression, metaphor, and physical violence, especially in regard to his understanding of military knighthood and the use of wise counsel in governance.Continue reading
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The panel catches up on the tale of "Balyn and Balan," before discussing "The Wedding of King Arthur" and "The Book of Adventures", with comments on the vexed nature of Malorian chivalry, and Malory's use of both foreshadowing and narrative parallelism.Continue reading
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The panel discusses the biography of Sir Thomas Malory, the textual history of Le Morte Darthur, the lineage of King Arthur, and the initial formation of the textual world of Arthurian England, including Merlin, Uther, Igraine, Morgause, and Mordred.Continue reading
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