Two friends and academics recap classic literature and take it off its pedestal.

This season, we are only looking at banned and controversial texts. In our sixty-fourth episode and Valentine's Day special, we spent some sexy time with Gustave Flaubert's adulteress, Madame Bovary (1856), which was immediately banned for offenses against morality under the conservative rule of Napoleon III. We also play 'Spot the "Big F*ck"', develop the hashtag #NotAllNuns, and watch a character go through a C19th French version of It's Always Sunny's 'The D.E.N.N.I.S. System'.

Cover art © Catherine Wu.

Episode Theme: Charles Gounod, 'La nuit de Walpurgis' (Act V), Faust (1859), Performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra

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