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Critical Readings

CriticalReadings.com

Critical Readings examines key literary texts using close reading and critical analysis, and explains these approaches in discussion. Listeners will learn about the texts themselves and about how to approach a text for critical analysis.

arts literature

All Episodes

74:58

CR Episode 277: Tristram Shandy, Part VIII

Critical Readings ·

2025/06/23

The panel discusses the beginning of book five, including the extreme discomfort of riding post-chaise, the concupiscent meanings which attach to ordinary words thereby rendering them unusable, and the highly irregular manner of Tristram's circumcision.Continue reading

en-GB

69:44

CR Episode 276: Tristram Shandy, Part VII

Critical Readings ·

2025/06/16

The panel discusses the conclusion of the fourth book, including Walter and Toby stuck on the stairs amidst further discussion of the definition of a nose (or noes), and the inflexible irrevocability of all of the mishaps that occur during the narrative.Continue reading

en-GB

54:27

CR Episode 275: Tristram Shandy, Part VI

Critical Readings ·

2025/06/09

The panel reads the conclusion of book three and the beginning of book four in which the topic of noses recurs and features prominently, providing an opportunity to examine how Dr. Slop and Walter Shandy can be compared to Uncle Toby and Corporal Trim.Continue reading

en-GB

68:40

CR Episode 274: Tristram Shandy, Part V

Critical Readings ·

2025/06/02

The panel approaches the moment of Tristram's birth beginning with the author's preface (in book 3), followed by a definition of 'nose', and a series of mix-ups involving the words 'mortar' and 'bridge' with dire implications for the unhappy newborn.Continue reading

en-GB

65:33

CR Episode 273: Tristram Shandy, Part IV

Critical Readings ·

2025/05/26

The panel concludes the second book and, in a series of retrograde manoeuvres, progresses through the third book until Dr. Slop is able to receive delivery of his forceps, free them from their knotted bag, and demonstrate their usage on Uncle Toby.Continue reading

en-GB

82:15

CR Episode 272: Tristram Shandy, Part III

Critical Readings ·

2025/05/19

The panel discusses book II, chapters 6–17 and Sterne's use of metanarrative focus on the correct art of oratory, the use of puns and textual elisions, the need to fill in details or leave them to readerly imagination, and the use of real-world sermons.Continue reading

en-GB

65:31

CR Episode 271: Tristram Shandy, Part II

Critical Readings ·

2025/05/12

The panel discusses Tristram's father's theories about nominative determinism, the different translations of identical biblical names, and the latest contemporary French developments regarding pre-natal baptism and its theological justifications.Continue reading

en-GB

71:24

CR Episode 270: Tristram Shandy, Part I

Critical Readings ·

2025/05/05

The panel begins the summer reading of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman with a biographical overview of Laurence Sterne, followed by the first eighteen chapters, with a focus on the novel's metatextual moves and discursive structure.Continue reading

en-GB

76:05

CR Episode 269: Pygmalion, Part V

Critical Readings ·

2025/04/28

The panel reads the final act of Shaw's Pygmalion, and then excerpts from the epilogue, with particular attention to Shaw's preference for realism over romanticism, the utilitarian mindset of Higgins towards other people, and the role of equal treatment.Continue reading

en-GB

55:53

CR Episode 268: Pygmalion, Part IV

Critical Readings ·

2025/04/21

The panel reads the fourth act in full, with a discussion of Prof. Higgins' narcissism and its collision with his deepening feelings, an examination of the contemporary social strata in British society, and a review of Shaw's later additions to the act.Continue reading

en-GB

75:22

CR Episode 267: Pygmalion, Part III

Critical Readings ·

2025/04/14

The panel discusses the third act, in which the antisocial Higgins and the gallant Pickering are exposed as juveniles by the savvy Mrs. Higgins, and Liza's speech proves insufficiently convincing when it is not backed up by the right idioms and content.Continue reading

en-GB

72:33

CR Episode 266: Pygmalion, Part II

Critical Readings ·

2025/04/07

The panel discusses Shaw's work on Wagner and a brief overview of the classical inspiration for his Pygmalion, before reading the second act with attention to the characters of Professor Higgins and Mr. Doolittle, and to contemporary social conventions.Continue reading

en-GB

67:16

CR Episode 265: Pygmalion, Part I

Critical Readings ·

2025/03/31

The panel reads the first act of George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion, with an introduction to the author, and a consideration of how the play reflects Shaw's interest in social welfare, especially in the context of the works of Dickens and Trollope.Continue reading

en-GB

59:20

CR Episode 264: Doctor Wortle’s School, Part IV

Critical Readings ·

2025/03/24

The panel concludes the novella with a look at the primary falling action and the resolution of the Mary Wortle subplot, with particular attention to Doctor Wortle's passionate loyalty compared with the abstract moral principles of contemporary society.Continue reading

en-GB

71:17

CR Episode 263: Doctor Wortle’s School, Part III

Critical Readings ·

2025/03/17

The panel reads the third quarter of the novella with attention given to the romanticism of Doctor Wortle's character and how it guides his interactions with figures who disagree with his views, including his wife, Mister Puddicomb, and the Bishop.Continue reading

en-GB

62:42

CR Episode 262: Doctor Wortle’s School, Part II

Critical Readings ·

2025/03/10

The panel reads parts three and four with attention given to the moral, logical, and legal conundrums that perplex Doctor Wortle, and with a consideration of how Mrs. Wortle, Mr. Puddicombe, and Mrs. Stantiloupe represent differing aspects of society.Continue reading

en-GB

94:28

CR Episode 261: Doctor Wortle’s School, Part I

Critical Readings ·

2025/03/03

The panel reads the first two parts (or six chapters) of Trollope's fortieth novel, beginning with an introduction to the author and the text, followed by an examination of the titular character and the mystery surrounding Mr. and Mrs. Peacocke.Continue reading

en-GB

73:33

CR Episode 260: The Second Coming of Yeats

Critical Readings ·

2025/02/24

The panel discusses four poems by Yeats, including his most famous—"The Second Coming"—as a way of examining his understanding of a cyclical cosmology, whilst also looking at his depiction of cataclysmic events that influence or constrain free will.Continue reading

en-GB

69:05

CR Episode 259: John Berryman’s Eleven Addresses to...

Critical Readings ·

2025/02/17

The panel reads John Berryman's "Eleven Addresses to the Lord" and considers the poems within the context of the author's biography and Judeo-Christian theology, with special emphasis on the distinction between God as abstraction and as embodied being.Continue reading

en-GB

62:55

CR Episode 258: Tennyson’s Tiresias

Critical Readings ·

2025/02/10

The panel reads Tennyson's Tiresias and considers its story of the blind prophet's extended (but not eternal) life in the context of what it reveals about the poet's struggle with human mortality, and about the role of prophecy and its reception.Continue reading

en-GB

297 results

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