Don’t miss this week’s Podcast, The Grey Champion & Hoary Beards! In it, Kaisha and I discuss two of Hawthorne’s short stories, one of which has a bit of a brouhaha with the devil. I tell you all about space pickles, and when not to pickle things and Kaisha obsesses over a book she’s been wanting to read for years. Finally, we delve into Modernism and I use Nomad, the automaton from Star Trek’s “The Changeling,” to illustrate some Modernist characteristics.
Episodes coming in August:
Episode 8: Quakers, Bromances, and writing style
Tangent Mini-Episode
Our quest to understand “The Grey Champion” and Hawthorne led Kaisha and me down a pretty epic rabbit hole. Follow as we discuss the soon to be released The Fearless Benjamin Lay, due out September 5th. Check out the blurb below on this book, and you will see why we couldn’t pass it up. We will also be chatting more about Hawthorne, Puritans and Quakers, the time period, and why Hawthorne is considered a “must-read” author by many. It’s bound to get quirky. Don’t miss it!
The Fearless Benjamin Lay chronicles the transatlantic life and times of a singular and astonishing man—a Quaker dwarf who became one of the first ever to demand the total, unconditional emancipation of all enslaved Africans around the world. He performed public guerrilla theater to shame slave masters, insisting that human bondage violated the fundamental principles of Christianity. He wrote a fiery, controversial book against bondage that Benjamin Franklin published in 1738. He lived in a cave, made his own clothes, refused to consume anything produced by slave labor, championed animal rights, and embraced vegetarianism. He acted on his ideals to create a new, practical, revolutionary way of life.
This episode will air on August 6th.
Episode 9: The Crimson Curtain
Short Story Full Episode
Join in as we discuss a story neither of us had heard of before. Jules Barbey d’Aurevilly’s “The Crimson Curtain” is another French short, and it is supposed to be spooky. Let’s hope our dear Somerset redeems himself with this pick. Unfortunately, we cannot find a free, translated version of the story. You can find it on Project MUSE, if you have a subscription. You can also check out an eBook of Teller of Tales from Archive.org. According to Project MUSE, the collection the story was originally published in, Diabolique, was banned because “it was a danger to public morality.” Oh goody! We can’t wait.
This episode will air on August 13th.
Episode 10: Writing Badly
Tangent Mini-Episode
A little while ago, I stormed into Kaisha’s bookstore and declared that I was going to focus on writing about positive things for a while. My last project had taken me to some very dark places, and I needed to breathe and see that the world isn’t entirely composed of crap. This sparked a discussion about why so much literature focuses on darkness and difficulty. Join us as we explore this phenomenon.
This episode will air on August 20th.
Photo by Bryan Minear on Unsplash
Episode 11: A Simple Heart
Short Story Full Episode
Gustave Flaubert is one of our favorite authors. One of the first books Kaish and I ever discussed together was his Madame Bovary. As you can imagine, we are beyond excited to read a short story by him. Read “A Simple Heart” (also known as “A Simple Soul,” depending on the translation) with us and get to know Flaubert.
This episode will air on August 27th.
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