It's sci-fi redux this week on TRK, as the boys tackle Ursula K. Le Guin's "ambiguous utopia" The Dispossessed. That means plenty of talk about anarchism, physics, connections to Trouble on Triton, and even a pleasant little discourse on marriage... IN SPACE!

Theme song: "Shostakovich" by Mucca Pazza.

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In this episode, the boys discuss a Friedrich pick, John Fowles' 1963 debut novel The Collector. Going beyond the (admittedly fascinating) set up of a lonely man who kidnaps his dream girl, the BSOH discuss the novel's fascination with art, mechanical reproduction, class warfare, taste, and more.

Also, in a bonus for everyone everywhere, the episode includes insults directed at the following: MFA programs (and the students therein), photography, lepidoptery.

Theme song: "Shostakovich" by Mucca Pazza.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, the boys tackle Søren's favorite Greek tragedy, Euripides' The Bacchae, a story of gods, wine, and madness. They try to work themselves into the mindset of the ancient Greeks (via the lubrication of a few mid-pod drinks), and sort out how the play does and does not conform to typical analyses of tragedy. Madness; order; destruction: this one's got it all. Plus: stick around to the very end for a post-credits stinger.

Theme music: "Shostakovich" by Mucca Pazza.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, the boys discuss Friedrich's first book pick: Shūsaku Endō's 1969 masterpiece Silence. They talk about secularism, syncretism, arrogance, and belief in the context of Endō's novel about Jesuit priests facing persecution in Japan.

Theme music: "Shostakovich," by Mucca Pazza.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Karl and Soren are finally joined by long lost brother Friedrich, the third bastard son of Hegel, to discuss the work of philosopher/novelist Iris Murdoch. They begin by discussing her work of literary criticism "Against Dryness," (available here) and her insistence in a video interview that her philosophy and her creative writing are separate.

Building on these discussions, the boys turn to Murdoch's strange, delightful 1961 novel A Severed Head, a tale filled with upper class Britishisms, along with darker things like violence and incest. They consider the extent to which Murdoch folds in philosophical concerns, the nature of psychoanalysis and anthropology, and the need to "wake up" from the stupor in which we lead our lives.

Theme music: "Shostakovich," by Mucca Pazza.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Episode 5, Karl and Søren discuss James Baldwin's classic novel Giovanni's Room. They talk literary liberalism, guilt and shame, the importance of names, and the novel's interesting meta-structure.

Theme music: "Shostakovich," by Mucca Pazza.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.