Talk Write

Canto 2! In today’s podcast, we take a look at Dante’s famous theological “trigger warning” to the reader. Faced with the impossible task of representing the completely unrepresentable, he resorts to the abstract to help him describe heaven’s glories. Also, those spots on the moon come from what, exactly? Dante says a change in substance; Beatrice (as always) corrects him and says it’s actually God’s intelligence, permeating every particle of existence.Trans. John Ciardi

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Canto 2! In today’s podcast, we take a look at Dante’s famous theological “trigger warning” to the reader. Faced with the impossible task of representing the completely unrepresentable, he resorts to the abstract to help him describe heaven’s glories. Also, those spots on the moon come from what, exactly? Dante says a change in substance; Beatrice (as always) corrects him and says it’s actually God’s intelligence, permeating every particle of existence.Trans. John Ciardi

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Today marks the beginning of our thirty-three-day examination at Dante’s “Paradiso.” What makes this work such a towering achievement? Despite its being the crowning achievement of the whole Comedy, why does it remain one of the lesser-read books in comparison to the “Inferno?” How does Dante describe the undescribable, and render the unrepresentable? These are just a few of the questions we will be exploring over the next month, so strap in and join us in the stars!

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Today marks the beginning of our thirty-three-day examination at Dante’s “Paradiso.” What makes this work such a towering achievement? Despite its being the crowning achievement of the whole Comedy, why does it remain one of the lesser-read books in comparison to the “Inferno?” How does Dante describe the undescribable, and render the unrepresentable? These are just a few of the questions we will be exploring over the next month, so strap in and join us in the stars!

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Today, we’re revisiting an episode from February. What makes Dickens’s “Bleak House” so compelling? A number of factors, not least of which is his as-always remarkable powers of description, mood, and setting-building. Nothing exemplifies this better than the opening pages of this middle masterpiece.

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Today, we’re revisiting an episode from February. What makes Dickens’s “Bleak House” so compelling? A number of factors, not least of which is his as-always remarkable powers of description, mood, and setting-building. Nothing exemplifies this better than the opening pages of this middle masterpiece.

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Today, I offer my thoughts about Edward Said’s classic 1978 study, “Orientalism.” According to Said, for the past three hundred years, Western powers have built up a series of representations and traditions about Eastern culture which now forms the background to everything said or thought about Eastern culture. Listen to my thoughts about Said’s thesis, and where I think it goes astray.

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Today, I offer my thoughts about Edward Said’s classic 1978 study, “Orientalism.” According to Said, for the past three hundred years, Western powers have built up a series of representations and traditions about Eastern culture which now forms the background to everything said or thought about Eastern culture. Listen to my thoughts about Said’s thesis, and where I think it goes astray.

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Today, we’re talking about what gives this 1827 novel by Allesandro Manzoni the claim of “Greatest Christian Novel Ever Written.” Is it the celebration of marriage? The dauntless, magnanimous characters? The humanity shown for even the most depraved villain? All of the above? Absolutely! Not to mention the fact that it’s a wonderful action-adventure historical novel of the highest quality, a page-turner, and chock-full of characters you love and characters you love to hate.

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Today, we’re talking about what gives this 1827 novel by Allesandro Manzoni the claim of “Greatest Christian Novel Ever Written.” Is it the celebration of marriage? The dauntless, magnanimous characters? The humanity shown for even the most depraved villain? All of the above? Absolutely! Not to mention the fact that it’s a wonderful action-adventure historical novel of the highest quality, a page-turner, and chock-full of characters you love and characters you love to hate.

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe

Get full access to Talk Write at brandoncookwriter.substack.com/subscribe