The Spouter-Inn

By Suzanne Conklin Akbari and Chris PiumaArts Books

The Spouter-Inn episodes

July 18, 2019 13. To the Lighthouse.
It was necessary now to carry everything a step further. With her foot on the
threshold she waited a moment longer in a scene which was vanishing even as
she looked, and then, as she moved and took Minta's arm and left the room, it
changed, it shaped itself differently; it had become, she knew, giving one
last look at it over her shoulder, already the past.
Our Water/Ocean cluster begins with Virginia Woolf’s To the
Lighthouse. This curious novel describes two days
(separated by ten dramatic years) in the life of the Ramsay family as they
stay at their holiday home in the Scottish Hebrides with their assorted
friends and hangers-on. But the novel does not concoct a wild plot; instead,
it examines how the characters observe each other’s internal and emotional
states. Chris and Suzanne explore the way Woolf and her characters try to
capture not only the endless flow of time, but also those moments when people
are configured just so and time seems to stand still.
Show Notes.
Virginia Woolf: To the Lighthouse.
[Bookshop. In some countries,
the text and an audiobook are now public
domain.]
Margaret Atwood on reading To the Lighthouse as a teen, and again as an
adult.
Vanessa Bell’s art.
Vanessa Bell’s dust jacket design for the first edition of To the
Lighthouse.
The Hogarth Press.
The Bloomsbury Group.
Next episode: William Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
[An online edition;
free audiobook at Librivox.]
Support The Spouter-Inn on Patreon and talk
book with us on a members-only Slack!
54 min
July 08, 2019 12b. Bonus: Damian Fleming on Moby-Dick.
I have been heard to say that there’s two types of people in the world:
People who love Moby-Dick, and people who have never read Moby-Dick. [At] the
same time, I never recommend anyone read Moby-Dick directly, because I feel
like if you’re not reading it at your own leisure and come to it willingly, it
could be really, really annoying._
Medievalist and Moby-Dick fan Damian Fleming joins us to keep the
conversation going about this great book. We discuss our favourite passages,
how Ishmael represents his labours, how we feel about whaling and cetology,
how potentially gross strawberries are, and all the humour in the novel and
what’s been done with the novel.
Show Notes.
Damian is a brilliant presence on Twitter.
@MobyDickatSea is also brilliant on
Twitter.
The Moby-Dick Big Read. Damian recommends
chapter 3, The Spouter-Inn, read by Nigel Williams.
Ron Swanson on Moby-Dick.
John Donne: To His Mistress Going to
Bed.
The Time I Spent on a Commercial Whaling Ship Totally Changed My Perspective
of the World.
Rockwell Kent’s illustrations for Moby-Dick.
Support The Spouter-Inn on Patreon and you
can join us on a members-only Slack where we will happily keep chatting with
you about Moby-Dick.
46 min
July 05, 2019 12. Moby-Dick.
But I now leave my cetological System standing thus unfinished, even as the
great Cathedral of Cologne was left, with the crane still standing upon the
top of the uncompleted tower. For small erections may be finished by their
first architects; grand ones, true ones, ever leave the copestone to
posterity. God keep me from ever completing anything. This whole book is but a
draught—nay, but the draught of a draught. Oh Time, Strength, Cash, and
Patience!
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale is a massive book.
It’s a story about obsession, an encyclopedia of whale facts, and an
unexpected love story. It’s also the source of the name of our podcast! Chris
and Suzanne could talk about Herman Melville’s magnum opus for hours (and
indeed, those who support the show on Patreon
will get to hear some parts of their discussion that didn’t make the final
edit).
Show Notes.
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale.
[Gutenberg.
Bookshop.] An annotated
version.
Audiobooks of Moby-Dick: Librivox. The Anthony Heald reading. The, uh,
Burt Reynolds version.
The audiobook for The Autobiography of Malcolm X.
Whale Whale Whale, a Moby-Dick podcast.
Moby-Dick Big Read.
Moby-Dick marathon reading.
Herman Melville Was Also a Failed Poet.
Paul Gilroy: Refusing race and salvaging the
human.
How Toni Morrison Hunts the White
Whale.
Next time: Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse.
[Public domain in some countries, where the text and an
audiobook are available.]
Support The Spouter-Inn on Patreon and
hear bonus bits of this conversation that didn’t quite make the edit but which
we think are still neat.
1 hr
June 19, 2019 11. The Autobiography of Malcolm X.
I want to say before I go on that I have never previously told anyone my
sordid past in detail. I haven't done it now to sound as though I might be
proud of how bad, how evil, I was. But people are always speculating—why am I
as I am? To understand that of any person, his whole life, from birth, must be
reviewed. [...] The full story is the best way that I know to have it seen, and
understood, that I had sunk to the very bottom of the American white man's
society when—soon now, in prison—I found Allah and the religion of Islam and
it completely transformed my life.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X (as told to
Alex Haley) emerges from a specific time and place and yet, despite feeling
very much of that moment, still resonates with issues that American culture is
dealing with today—and is still a powerfully written book. Chris and Suzanne
discuss its historical context, the formal questions of autobiography, writing
to be read by wildly different audiences, conversion narratives, and what
Malcolm X might have made of today’s America.
Show Notes.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X.
[Bookshop.] (Weirdly, there
doesn’t seem to be an audiobook?!)
Alex Haley’s Playboy interview with Malcolm
X, which led to the book.
50 Years Later, The Autobiography of Malcolm X Is Still a Must-Read.
Solving for X: Malcolm X and White
Readers, an article which is at times incisive, at times problematic.
The Explosive Chapter Left Out of Malcolm X’s
Autobiography (with images of the co-edited manuscript).
A recent exhibit of the unpublished chapters: Only After the Deepest
Darkness: The “Lost” Chapter & Manuscript of The Autobiography of Malcolm
X.
Next episode: Moby-Dick
[Gutenberg,
Librivox].
Support The Spouter-Inn on Patreon to help
us make the show—and join our members-only Slack!
55 min
June 03, 2019 10b. Bonus: Peter Coviello on Leaves of Grass.
But things that don’t have sex acts in them, like his care for the soldiers
in the bedroom, are not, for that, non-erotic—are not, for that, scrubbed
clean of anything like sex. And that, for him, is super important. [It’s] why
he wouldn’t be happy with the taxonomical divisions that come out, that say, a
straight person is not the person who desires all women, but desires no
men—that’s a straight man. The cleaving of desire into these taxonomically
clarified little poles goes against much of what he thought desire was.
Another bonus episode! This time we’re joined by Peter
Coviello, professor of
English at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Peter studies nineteenth-century American literature, the history of sexuality, and queer studies—so it
will be no surprise that he has thought a lot about Walt Whitman. His most
recent academic book is Tomorrow’s Parties: Sex and the Untimely in
Nineteenth-Century America, which was a finalist for
the Lambda Award in LGBT Studies. We talk with Peter about nineteenth-century
taxonomies of sexuality, Whitman’s caring for wounded soldiers in the Civil
War, his understanding of nationalism and the American project, how he does
and does not fit into his era, and the singular delights of his poetry.
Show Notes.
Peter Coviello on Twitter.
Peter’s book, Tomorrow’s Parties: Sex and the Untimely in Nineteenth-Century
America.
Peter was also a guest on an episode of This Is Your
Mixtape.
Memoranda During the War, which Peter edited. (Or
at the Walt Whitman
Archive.)
Whitman’s letter to the parents of Erastus
Haskell.
Vigil Strange.
John Addington
Symonds.
A Woman Waits for Me.
From Pent-up Aching Rivers.
“This hour I tell things in confidence...” from Song of
Myself part 19.
Whoever You Are Holding Me Now in
Hand.
The Eighteenth Presidency.
The Sleepers.
“My fire-lock lean’d in the corner...” from Song of
Myself part 10.
Democratic
Vistas.
As Adam, Early in the Morning.
Peter’s upcoming book will be about Mormonism and
secularism.
You can support The Spouter-Inn on Patreon.
50 min
May 31, 201910. Leaves of Grass.
Full of life now, compact, visible,
I, forty years old the eighty-third year of The States,
To one a century hence, or any number of centuries hence,
To you yet unborn these, seeking you.
When you read these I that was visible am become invisible,
Now it is you, compact, visible, realizing my poems, seeking me,
Fancying how happy you were if I could be with you and become your comrade;
Be it as if I were with you. (Be not too certain but I am now with you.)
It’s Walt Whitman’s 200th birthday today! Suzanne and Chris are celebrating by
rereading Leaves of Grass, the book of poetry
that Whitman kept writing, revising, and expanding throughout his life. With
its ecstatic rhythms, its vigorous celebration of the body and of freedom, and
its dreams of collectivity through diversity, Whitman’s poetry can be
compelling, even overwhelming. And even when the book doesn’t quite live up to
our hopes and dreams, it offers a path beyond itself.
Show Notes.
Leaves of Grass. [Project
Gutenberg.
Librivox.
Bookshop.]
The Walt Whitman Archive also contains the
complete text(s).
Some curious details about the first printing of Leaves of
Grass.
The most famous section of Christopher Smart’s “Jubilate
Agno”.
Walt Whitman reading “America”.
(Though there is some controversy about the authenticity of the
recording.)
Mark Twain wrote on “The Whitman Controversy” (about Whitman’s alleged obscenity).
When Wilde Met Whitman.
Whitman Noir.
Some of the poems we quote:
Full of Life Now
Whoever You Are Holding Me Now in
Hand
To a Stranger
-America
I Sing the Body Electric (final
section; later, sections 7 and 8)
Song of Myself (sections 2 and 5)
Spontaneous Me
The Sleepers
Me Imperturbe
First O Songs for a Prelude
Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field
The Wound-Dresser
When Lilacs Last in the Door-Yard
Bloom’d
O Captain! My Captain!
Responses to Whitman:
Federico García Lorca: Oda a Walt
Whitman
[English
translation]
Pablo Neruda: Oda a Walt
Whitman [English
translation]
Allen Ginsberg: A Supermarket in
California
Mark Doty: Letter to Walt
Whitman
Langston Hughes: I,
Too
Paul Hindemith set a requiem with When Lilacs Last in the Door-Yard
Bloom’d.
Mark Doty reads Song of Myself (and
more).
Next episode: The Autobiography of Malcolm X.
You can support The Spouter-Inn and gain a
bunch of perks through Patreon.
58 min
May 27, 2019 9b. Bonus: Sarah Chamberlain on Frankenstein.
Not only is it a movie that deal with death, which is a huge concept for
children, but it deals with it in a kind of fun way, but also a way that makes
it a little scary and makes it a little OK, and I think that children
[experiencing] that might help them be ready for scary things that could
happen later on.
A bonus to our episode on Mary Shelley’s
Frankenstein. We are joined by Sarah
Chamberlain, one of the hosts of fellow Megaphonic podcast A Part Of Our
Scare-itage. Sarah is deeply familiar with the
world of horror movies, and Frankenstein is her favourite book—so we were
excited to talk with her about a few of the many, many, many, many film
adaptations that have been made. What gets changed, what gets added, and what
audiences are addressed in these films? Also, what kind of horror is
appropriate for children?
Show Notes.
Sarah’s podcast on Canadian horror films, A Part Our Our Scare-itage.
Richard Brinsley Peake: Presumption; or, the Fate of
Frankenstein.
Frankenstein (1910).
Frankenstein
(1931).
The Bride of
Frankenstein (1935).
Penny Dreadful
(2014–2016).
Young Frankenstein (1974).
Frankenweenie
(2012).
The Terminator (1984).
Terminator 2: Judgment
Day (1991).
That last film Sarah mentions.
You can support The Spouter-Inn and gain a bunch
of perks through Patreon.
47 min
May 23, 2019 9. Frankenstein.
It was on a dreary night of November, that I beheld the accomplishment of my
toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the
instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the
lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was already one in the morning; the
rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out,
when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye
of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its
limbs.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is a story that
seems familiar to everyone—even people who haven’t read the novel (or seen any
of the movie adaptations). But the novel fleshes out the story that everyone
is familiar with (a scientist creates a creature out of dead parts, releasing
a force of havoc and destruction upon the world) in a number of intriguing
ways. Suzanne and Chris discuss how the novel tackles creation, parenting,
corporeality, nature, and death—as well as how thoroughly it is connected to
Paradise Lost, and why it has inspired
so many adaptations.
Show Notes.
We read the original 1818 text of Frankenstein.
It‘s also available on Project
Gutenberg or as a free audiobook on
Librivox.
[Bookshop.]
The New Annotated Frankenstein.
Frankenstein: Annotated for Scientists, Engineers, and Creators of All
Kinds.
The Strange and Twisted Life of
Frankenstein, which includes some information about racialized
imaginings of the creature.
The Science of Life and Death in Mary Shelley’s
Frankenstein.
Next time: Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass. Also on
Gutenberg and
Librivox.
You can support The Spouter-Inn (and the rest
of the Megaphonic podcasts) through Patreon.
Thanks!
59 min
May 06, 2019 8b. Bonus: Anthony Oliveira on Paradise Lost.
I’m sort of obsessed with Adam as a character, he’s like a wonderful golden
retriever of a man, so besotted by Eve and so perplexed by his own love of
her. But he turns to Raphael and is like, “Is that what it’s like in Heaven?”
And Raphael has this moment where he blushes, and then describes the extreme
gay orgy that is the permanent Heaven experience.
A bonus to our episode on Paradise Lost! We
are joined by Anthony Oliveira, a writer,
film curator, and cultural critic who received his PhD in English from the
University of Toronto. He is also the host of The Devil’s
Party, a podcast that has been slowly and
lovingly working its way through Paradise Lost, a hundred or so lines each
week. Anthony joins us to talk about queer and trans readings of Paradise
Lost, the nitty gritty about Milton’s theology, and making Paradise Lost
accessible to readers that often have been excluded.
Show Notes.
Anthony Oliveira on Twitter (a must-follow) and
on the web.
Anthony has a beautiful new memoir on
Hazlitt.
A quick primer on monism.
William Empson: Milton’s God.
C.S. Lewis: Out of the Silent Planet.
Isaac Asimov’s Annotated Paradise Lost.
John Milton: “Methought I saw my late espoused
saint”.
Philip Pullman: The Amber Spyglass, etc.
(We all make mistakes: “arma” is the first word of Aeneid, not the
Iliad.)
49 min
May 03, 2019 8. Paradise Lost.
Farewel happy Fields
Where Joy for ever dwells: Hail horrours, hail
Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell
Receive thy new Possessor: One who brings
A mind not to be chang’d by Place or Time.
The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n.
[...] Here at least
We shall be free; th’ Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:
Here we may reign secure, and in my choyce
To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav’n.
John Milton’s Paradise Lost uses haunting, powerful poetry to retell the
biblical story of Adam and Eve’s sin and exile from the Garden of Eden. But
Chris and Suzanne still struggle with Milton’s personality and theology. They
discuss the characters, including a famously compelling depiction of Satan;
Milton’s use of other texts, including the Metamorphoses; and the text’s
troubling gender politics.
Show Notes.
John Milton’s Paradise Lost. [Project
Gutenberg,
Bookshop.]
The Tree of Knowledge, by Eva Figes, is a novel
about Milton’s daughter Deborah [NYTimes
review].
Thoughts on Milton and his
daughters.
More images of Milton and his
daughters.
Everybody wants a piece of
Milton.
Gustave Doré’s illustrations for Paradise
Lost.
William Blake’s illustrations for Paradise
Lost.
Blake’s illuminated book Milton: A
Poem.
Next episode: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (the 1818
version). Also on Project Gutenberg.
58 min

About The Spouter-Inn

From the publisher's feed

Chris (a poet) and Suzanne (a professor) spent six years talking about “great books” (whatever that means), and are now talking about reading (and all the things that means).