Oh No! Lit Class

Smash that emergency Shakespeare button and keep your arms and legs inside the podcast for an appropriately semi-lucid episode on A Midsummer Night's Dream! Learn all about Shakespeare's famed comedy about horny idiots in the woods...that sat around in obscurity for like 200 years. Because Puritans. RJ makes the case against parties, Megan makes enemies of theater kids everywhere, and we discover what timeless Christmas film was inspired by this play about magical boning.

On this episode, we take a look at some positively lilliputian ladies in Louisa May Alcott's classic coming-of-age novel, Little Women and learn why the Civil War is basically just the first Pokemon movie, how true Transcendentalism is hitting Ralph Waldo Emerson up for cash, and why Wrongfully Accused is an underrated classic. Megan advocates sibling murder, RJ examines the financial merits of cult life, and we all say "Awwww" a bunch.

What's that in your candy bucket? Is it a bonus week of spooks and scares just in time for Halloween?! Join us and learn why A Rose for Emily is less about The Bachelor and more about oblivious townsfolk and tax evasion, while The October Game teaches you how to throw the perfect Halloween party. We do some voices, struggle with some songs, and invent what will surely become ONLC's most beloved character ever.

Gird your gourds for more Halloween goodness as we begin our short story spookstravaganza! RJ discusses feminism and unfortunate interior decorating in The Yellow Wallpaper, and Megan explores the Legend of Sleepy Hollow and how being a jerk can get you ghost-murdered. Or regular murdered. It's unclear. Meanwhile, Rhode Island doubles down on racist authors, and we all learn the importance of going "First!"

It's the most wonderful tiiiiime of the year! Halloween! Obviously. On this spine-tingling episode, Megan and RJ take a trip down Queer Street to examine The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde! Witness the classic terrors of inheritance law, Victorian moral hypocrisy, and Vague, Unspecified Crime! Learn the finer points of forcing your child to be a lighthouse engineer, why being a good actor can make you a murder suspect, and how to give your nurse the worst nickname ever.

On this episode, Megan and RJ take Agatha Christie's sinister choo-choo train to her classic mystery novel, Murder on the Orient Express. Along for the ride is Jess, a high school English teacher and certified Christie-head. We learn that murder is the secret to getting kids to read more, the importance of a well-groomed mustache, and how Christie once pulled a Walter White. Meanwhile, Megan struggles to say a single character name correctly, RJ has some issues with wording, and Jess initiates a blood feud with Kenneth Branagh.

On this episode, we hold our breath to dive down deep into the briny depths of Jules Verne’s adventure classic, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea! Learn the downsides of owning your own island, the majesty of differently-abled manatees, and Captain Nemo’s step-by-step guide on how to be the most unbelievably extra person in the entire ocean. Megan yearns for action and adventure, while RJ mostly yearns for Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Maybe he’s born with it, maybe it’s a cursed, magical painting. Join Megan and RJ as they return to the wonderful world of Oscar Wilde to appraise The Picture of Dorian Gray and learn the surprising source of inspiration for Wilde’s novel about the dangers of being eternally sexy. Meanwhile, RJ makes some startling literary […]

Join Megan, RJ, and Jared as we round out our journey through the Cthulhu-verse with The Shadow over Innsmouth, a tale of cursed villages, dark secrets, and mega-horny immortal fish people. Also discussed: Why good Lovecraft movies are hard to find, the difficulties of separating a pretty thoroughly racist man from the massive impact he’s […]

In this episode, Megan and RJ open up their feeble brain meats to the untold cosmic horrors of H.P. Lovecraft! With special guest and Old God aficionado, Jared aka Best Day, we heed the haunting, squishy call of Cthulhu and prepare for…Unnecessarily Complicated Language! Old-Timey Racism! Guys With Three Names! And So Many Narrative Framing […]