Dany One is the bizarro-world version of Cat One. Why is that? Here we deconstruct the ways in which Cat One and Dany are opposites, mirror images of one another. And then we ask ourselves, why did George do it that way? What are the implications for our reading of the remainder of the book? The series? Some will tell you the symbols of Cat One are there for worldbuilding. That's true. But more than that, they are supremely important symbols that inform our understanding of the power dynamics at play throughout the series. 

I argue George's approach is similar to that in Dante's Comedia, where line by line, canto by canto, and book by book, interpretations and meanings change--we must constantly revise and reevaluate our understanding of events and symbols as we go. Another famous example is Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov--from the beginning, readers have been trying to divorce Ivan's Rebellion and The Grand Inquisitor chapters from the rest of the book. But you can't do it with Dostoevsky, and you can't do it in ASOIAF. So take the plunge with me, and let's peek under the hood at the literary workings of these two chapters and indeed the broader series. 

While I was away I launched a new website to help increase the show's reach and give another avenue to reach me and ask questions, interact with the show. Hit me up using the contact form. Get in! https://gottalkpodnotyourfathersasoiafpod.wordpress.com/

Some show highlights/breakpoints: 

***As always, the special analysis episodes contain MAJOR SPOILERS***

17:52 We talk about the symbols in Cat One and their absence in Dany One

24:50 Other links between the two chapters

29:21 Revising our thinking as a result of these chapters

47:13 Legitimate power and authority courtesy of Max Weber

Thank you for listening and please do interact with the show through the website or the voice message function. Thanks! 

Woot woot! Enter the hero--Daenerys Targaryen! 

Welcome to GoTTalkPod! Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire Book discussion and analysis. Dany One is everything that the preceding chapters are not. In this chapter, Robert is the usurper, Viserys is the rightful king; children have no parents and no home; slavery is illegal but it nevertheless exists; all the traditional signifiers of power and authority are absent. The only sense in which anything in the series is familiar and has been seen before is Viserys appears to be just another "lost boy" in the same vein as Waymar Royce and Theon Greyjoy. 

Another source of continuity is that we've been setting up for this chapter throughout the early potion of the book. George has been priming the Joycean pump in prior chapters, and here it finally pays off. The point-of-view structure, maturity, usurpation, parallax and indeed, metempsychosis are all evident here. The early action of the chapter also tracks the structure of the first chapter of James Joyce's Ulysses. In this episode, we discuss how those themes are expressed in Dany One. For a more detailed discussion of Joyce's influence on the Song of Ice and Fire, please do give a listen to the Bloomsday special episode. Note that these re-read episodes are always spoiler free, while the special Bloomsday episode does contain major spoilers.

***The chapter-by-chapter reading will be spoiler free unless otherwise indicated.***

Please do interact with the show. You can reach GoTTalkPod through the voice message feature on Spotify. As appropriate, your comments may be included or addressed in future pods. Get in! Get involved!

Welcome to GoTTalkPod! Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire Book discussion and analysis. Catelyn One occupies an important location in the physical and emotional geography of the book, sandwiched as it is between Bran One and Dany One. The series is about kids maturing, and we can't talk about kids without mothers, so Cat's role here is to provide the motherly presence that has been lacking in the first few chapters, and that will be so obviously and desperately needed in the following Dany chapter. 

This chapter also delves deep into the history of Starks, the Weirwood and Winterfell, as well as the various magical and mythical creatures in the series. We focus on the symbolism and possible Biblical and literary associations of Winterfell, Ice, the Stark words "Winter is coming," and finally on the significance and associations of the name Cersei, with a stopover in Pedantry Corner. 

We argue that the chapter primes the Joycean pump for the rest of the book and series. Cat One begins with a reference to Riverrun--the first word of Finnegan's Wake--and ends with a reference to Cersei, the title of the longest and perhaps most disturbing episode in Joyce's Ulysses. And then there's the small matter of the point-of-view structure, which Joyce popularized. We discuss these issues and more in the Bloomsday special episode, so please do go there for a deeper dive into Joyce's influence on the Song of Ice and Fire. Note that in contrast to these re-read episodes, which are always spoiler free, the special episodes do contain major spoilers. 

***The chapter-by-chapter reading will be spoiler free unless otherwise indicated.***

Please do interact with the show. You can reach GoTTalkPod through the voice message feature on Spotify. As appropriate, your comments may be included or addressed in future pods. Get in! Get involved!

GoTTalkPod honors Joyce and GRRM in the same pod! Two great epics, unified by many of the same themes. Come along for the ride and see how George structured Dany's storyline around Joyce's notions of usurpation, metempsychosis and children maturing. Get in! 

***Major Spoilers***

Roughly 11:30 of intro/context for folks not totally up to speed on both Joyce and ASOIAF

Comparisons and analysis start at 11:30

Metempsychosis (yes, you read that right!) discussion starts at 18:10

Usurper/Dany 1 from AGOT discussion starts at 27:20. 

Happy Listening!

Oh, and please do interact with the show. You can reach GoTTalkPod through the voice message feature on Spotify. As appropriate, your comments may be included or addressed in future pods. Get in!

Welcome to GoTTalkPod! Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire Book discussion and analysis. Now our watch begins in earnest--we are into the novel proper with Bran 1/Chapter 1!!! Please tackle the prior episodes for a sense of our angle of approach. We're less interested than other pods in the literal events of the novels; rather, our focus is primarily on the literary evolution and meaning available to us through the text. So, yes, while there are a million and one ASOIAF/Thrones pods out there, few if any tackle the text in precisely this way. 

Maybe you've heard about the series and are just getting into it for the first time, trying to understand what the hype's all about? Or perhaps you already read the novels and felt like there was something more going on, but just not sure what. Or got the sense that some of the scenes and themes of the book are familiar, but you just can't put your finger on it. Or feel that there is more to the text than meets the eye but can't quite see past the lamprey pie to find what's hidden underneath. GoTTalkPod is here to help you sort through it all and find the meaning beneath the veil of George's verse. 

In this chapter we see the great theme of the series open up before us--justice, in all its complex, magnificent and terrible dimensions. What's that I hear? The Plato claxon sounding loud! Plato is the great philosopher of justice, so there can be no doubt we're swimming in his pool. But of course, how can you talk about justice and epic songs without mentioning Dante? The short answer is, you can't. And George doesn't try to--there are more hints at the Dante connection in this chapter. And finally, the evidence pointing to a link to James Joyce begins to pile up in earnest. 

***The chapter-by-chapter reading will be spoiler free unless otherwise indicated.***

Please do interact with the show. You can reach GoTTalkPod through the voice message feature on Spotify. As appropriate, your comments may be included or addressed in future pods. Get in! Get involved!

Welcome to GoTTalkPod! Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire Book discussion and analysis. We kick off our virtual book club at the very beginning of George RR Martin's series, with book one, A Game of Thrones Prologue re-read and analysis from an academic litcrit perspective. What does that mean? To paraphrase George's obvious literary hero, Dante, we will be looking beneath the veil for the deeper allegorical and moral meaning in the text. 

Hold on to your hats, kids, because this isn't like any other ASOIAF re-read--we've got epistemology, parallax, the ineluctable modality of the visible, Plato's cave and probably a whole bunch of other highfalutin classical literary terms. But if I do my job correctly, they will all be made accessible and understandable, and above all, provide us powerful new tools and lenses through which to view GRRM's masterwork. 

I mean, you've listened to a hundred re-reads about Others and wights and the Wall and the Night's Watch, but how many of those include references to both James Joyce and Mel Brooks in the same episode? 

Don't need the recap and just want to jump right into the analysis? Start at 7:19. 

***The chapter-by-chapter reading will be spoiler free unless otherwise indicated.***

Please do interact with the show. You can reach GoTTalkPod through the voice message feature on Spotify. As appropriate, your comments may be included or addressed in future pods. Get in! Get involved! 

Welcome to GoTTalkPod! Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire Book discussion and analysis. We lay out the rationale for a literary critical analysis of George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. As widely read as the series is, as deeply plumbed as it is on pods and YouTube channels everywhere, the series still offers profound insights little discussed almost anywhere else. What do you want? Homer, Dante and Joyce? Check check and check! With a heaping helping of Melville and Plato on the side. Always wondered who is the prince that was promised? Whose is the song of ice and fire? Be the first kid on your block to find out. Get in! Get lit! Get GoTTalkPod!

In this line of the pod, we're going to do a read-through of the books, a virtual book club where we tackle the text chapter by chapter looking for the lessons on offer. To paraphrase Dante, we are going to look for the meaning hidden beneath the veil of GRRM's verse. 

Happy Listening!

Oh, and please do interact with the show. You can reach GoTTalkPod through the voice message feature on Spotify. As appropriate, your comments may be included or addressed in future pods. Get in! Get involved!

GoTTalkPod! Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire Book discussion and analysis. Looking at the influence of Dante on the series. Arya's entire plot line? Winterfell? King's Landing? Battle of the Blackwater? Check, check, check and check. All inspired by Dante. Lady Stone Heart? Yup. Braavos? Uh-huh. 35 minutes of rambling about Dante proper, followed by 35 minutes of Stark-related MAJOR SPOILERS explaining the Stark/Dante connection with particular emphasis on Ned, Sansa and our girl Arya. 

Eager to jump right into the ASOIAF material without the Dante context? Jump to 37:45. ***Spoilers from there on out***

Happy Listening! 

Oh, and please do interact with the show. You can reach GoTTalkPod through the voice message feature on Spotify. As appropriate, your comments may be included or addressed in future pods. Get in!