Critical Readings

Released on 14 October 2024:

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.

Released on 7 October 2024:

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.

Released on 23 September 2024:

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.

Released on 9 September 2024:

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.

Released on 2 September 2024:

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.

Released on 26 August 2024:

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.

Released on 19 August 2024:

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.

Released on 12 August 2024:

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.

Released on 5 August 2024:

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.

Released on 29 July 2024:

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.