Nope.  Just nope.

Professor Kozlowski discusses two key chapters of Fyodor Dostoevsky's massive, ugly masterpiece, The Brothers Karamazov.  We touch especially on Ivan's arc through the story, and how Dostoevsky uses his character to explore the psyche of the new Russian intellectual, condemn his ideology, and still prescribe compassion for his loneliness.

Professor Kozlowski takes a stab at interpreting Byron's satirical labyrinth: Don Juan.  Including:

Hypocrisy!

The obvious(?) conflict between classical education and conventional morality!

Hypocrisy!

The absurdity of racial/bloodline purity!

Marital distress!

Hypocrisy!

Criticism of the Enlightenment!

Romantic idealization of Don Juan!

More Hypocrisy!

Professor Kozlowski discusses Washington Irving's delightful and cutting short story of social satire and satanic shenanigans: "The Devil and Tom Walker".  This includes some discussion of where the story succeeds - and fails - in its commentary on 19th century racism, Irving's whip-smart prose, and a substantial tangent on usury.

Professor Kozlowski concludes his discussion of Goethe's Faust, Part One by discussing the fall of Gretchen/Margareta, and touching briefly on the conclusion of Faust, Part Two for the sake of closure.  He managed to do all this without breaking into tears - this time.

Professor Kozlowski finally reaches plot development in Goethe's Faust, Part One.  He discusses Margareta as a character, Faust's (and the audience's) relationship to her, and the looming sense of destruction hanging over everyone.  What could go wrong?

Professor Kozlowski discusses scenes 6-9 of Goethe's Faust, Part One, focusing primarily on Mephistopheles and the bargain/wager struck with Faust.

Professor Kozlowski discusses the first five scenes of Goethe's Faust, Part One, including the strange and tangled construction of the play, Goethe's biography, similarities to Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, and the Job-esque bargain between God and Mephistopheles over Faust's soul.

This episode is preceded by a video briefly discussing the tenets of Romantic philosophy, found here: https://youtu.be/2-F7ZzKHs9s

Professor Kozlowski over-analyzes the frankly silly Don Juan of Moliere.  He discusses the Don Juan tradition up to this point, as well as dissecting many of the scenes throughout the play.  Along the way he highlights Moliere's criticism of philosophy, religion, medicine, science, love, honor, responsibility, and basic human decency.  It's nihilism before its time, folks, and it will rarely ever be this much fun.

Professor Kozlowski dissects the first Book of Milton's Paradise Lost, and constructs an argument that Milton is making a case for the royalist faction in the 17th-century British Civil War.  Is Satan meant to be sympathetic?  Or is Milton trying to condemn the Parliamentarian rebels by comparing them to Satan?