Critical Readings

Released on 19 May 2025:

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.

Released on 12 May 2025:

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.

Released on 5 May 2025:

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.

Released on 28 April 2025:

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.

Released on 21 April 2025:

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.

Released on 14 April 2025:

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.

Released on 7 April 2025:

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.

Released on 31 March 2025:

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.

Released on 24 March 2025:

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.

Released on 17 March 2025:

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.