The Troubadour Podcast

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Eric and I go over a synopsis of this play, first staged in 1897 to immense adulation. Then we discuss the meaning of the love triangle, the larger-than-life character of Cyrano and the meaning of the play.

 Since 1897 there has been a variety of different projections of Cyrano’s looks. This is an important feature of the play. How ugly should Cyrano be? 

What is it that Roxanne falls in love with?

Can a beautiful man also be bright and clever and witty?

What role does Cyrano’s nose play?

We analyze some specific passages in the play.

We take a look at the spiritual/body dichotomy in the play.

The role of “success” in Cyrano.

In the second half of the conversation, Eric, who is a Catholic, and I have a debate about Pride and the meaning of Cyrano’s Pride.

Eric Robert Morse (ericrobertmorse.com) is a writer, publisher, painter, illustrator, web programmer, philosopher, theologian, economist, and historian. His published works include a critique of Behavioral Economics (Psychonomics), a theory of political economy (Juggernaut), two novels (Monaco and Ricky Wills It), a psychology of storytelling (The 90-Minute Effect), a history of Feminism (The Economic Theory of Sex), and a sociology of postmodern America (Tearing at the Seams).

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My guest today is Jesse McCarthy Founder of MontessoriEducation.com

Jesse McCarthy began his career as a young assistant at a small private school in California, and now 15+ years later he leads an organization that helps parents and teachers around the world to achieve inevitable success with children — happily and without stress.

We discussed The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave. 

This book is described as a “dramatic autobiography,” and as Jesse and Kirk discuss, it is exactly that. It is not a long text. It can be read in a few hours. But it is an emotionally challenging text.

Jesse and Kirk discuss Douglass’ story, his courage and character as told within the narrative. 

There are some ideas in this book that may be very challenging for people today to confront. Not in terms of slavery, everyone correctly abhors slavery, but rather some of the values and virtues that Douglass held as essential to the building of a good character. 

Jesse and Kirk discussed:

• the concept of “self-creation” as Douglass meant it. 
• Slave Mentality
• Slave-holders mentality
• Fighting a system of ideas
• The education of Douglass
• How to educate children
• Importance of reading
• Different levels of reading
• And much much more.

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What do Holden Caufield, Jerry Fletcher (Conspiracy Theory, 1997, played by Mel Gibson) and a modern conspiracy theorist have in common? On this episode of Troubadour Podcast, I discuss the style of J.D. Salinger's story about Holden Caufield's weekend adventure.

This is a book that has been linked to multiple assassins, including the man who shot John Lennon. It is also a favorite among teenage boys. What can we learn from the method of Caufield's 'stream of consciousness' that can reveal an important truth about the followers of Qanon, and other modern conspiracy theorists?

In this video I will outline the general plot of "The Catcher in the Rye,' what I call "the Caufield Effect,' and explain my view on why it is critical to read this book today.

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On this episode of Troubadour Talks I had as a guest Timothy Sandefur, VP of Litigation at Goldwater Institute. We discussed the play Oedipus the King by Sophocles. 

The Oedipus is likely one of the most referenced  and analyzed work of imaginative literature in the history of the world. Now, Tim and Kirk have added their voices to this endeavor!

Both Kirk and Tim recommend the Robert Fagles translation of Oedipus The King. 

On the show, Tim refers to a performance of Greek Plays done in Greek. The director is Leonidas Loizides. You can learn more about this director in this article. 

Read Tim Sandefur on his personal blog at sandefur.typepad.com
Also, Tim has a review of a new translation of Oedipus, coming out at The Objective Standard, 

Topics discussed:

• Why lawyers today should read literature generally and ancient Greek literature in particular.
• How the Ancient Greeks viewed literature's role as crucial in life.
• An overview of The Oedipus story.
• How Oedipus The King is like Batman.
• The universality of this story.
• A Character analysis of Oedipus & Jocasta
• The problem with "Tragic Flaws."
• Meaning from literature and mortality
• the psychological insight we can learn from the ancients.
• Do we have free-will or are we determined beings?
• Analysis of the style of Oedipus' crossroads speech
• On reading translations
• The #DisruptTexts​ movement
• and much more!

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Welcome to Troubadour Talks, a new show where a guest and I discuss a great work of classic literature.

On today's episode I spoke with Jon Hersey of the Objective Standard Institute about Ayn Rand's fist novel, We The Living.

Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist. Her dates are 1905-1982. She is most known for her later novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.

In this episode Jon and I:

*give a plot summary of the entire work
*discuss the meaning of the novel's themes and plot events
*discuss the main characters (Leo, Andrei and Kira) 
*compare and contrast the three characters
*explain why 'We the Living,' written in 1934, is as relevant today as it was then
*talk about why this novel is important to each of us
*give reasons why everyone should read this book today

Jon is editor for The Objective Standard magazine,  and he is a teacher and podcaster for Objective Standard Institute. You can find out more here: https://objectivestandard.org/

Kirk is host of Troubadour Talks and founder of The Literary Canon Club
If you have ever wanted to read through the great western literary canon, now is the time. You can reserve your spot by signing up here: https://www.troubadourmag.com/literary-canon-club

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in this episode I give five reasons you should consider reading Moll Flanders, an early 18th century novel written by Daniel Defoe, who is the author of Robinson Crusoe.

The five reasons are:

1) You get to visit 17th century London
-I mention a painting, which is featured as the artwork for this episode. It is "The Egg Dance by Jan Steen."

2) Meet an "immoral" woman who, nevertheless, leads an interesting life.
-Here I discuss why so many people have hated Moll Flanders.

3) Understand what philosophers hate about commercialism and capitalism.

4) Learn about the novel as an artistic achievement

5) Understand the novel as a moral institution.

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Visit my magazine's website for a full analysis and commentary: https://www.troubadourmag.com/post/william-wordsworth-steals-a-boat-an-excerpt-from-the-prelude

The Boat Stealing Scene from the 1850 Prelude by William Wordsworth:

One summer evening (led by her) I found
A little boat tied to a willow tree
Within a rocky cove, its usual home.
Straight I unloosed her chain, and stepping in
Pushed from the shore. It was an act of stealth
And troubled pleasure, nor without the voice
Of mountain-echoes did my boat move on;
Leaving behind her still, on either side,
Small circles glittering idly in the moon,
Until they melted all into one track
Of sparkling light. But now, like one who rows,
Proud of his skill, to reach a chosen point
With an unswerving line, I fixed my view
Upon the summit of a craggy ridge,
The horizon’s utmost boundary; far above
Was nothing but the stars and the grey sky.
She was an elfin pinnace; lustily
I dipped my oars into the silent lake,
And, as I rose upon the stroke, my boat
Went heaving through the water like a swan;
When, from behind that craggy steep till then
The horizon’s bound, a huge peak, black and huge,
As if with voluntary power instinct,
Upreared its head. I struck and struck again,
And growing still in stature the grim shape
Towered up between me and the stars, and still,
For so it seemed, with purpose of its own
And measured motion like a living thing,
Strode after me. With trembling oars I turned,
And through the silent water stole my way
Back to the covert of the willow tree;
There in her mooring-place I left my bark, –
And through the meadows homeward went, in grave
And serious mood; but after I had seen
That spectacle, for many days, my brain
Worked with a dim and undetermined sense
Of unknown modes of being; o’er my thoughts
There hung a darkness, call it solitude
Or blank desertion. No familiar shapes
Remained, no pleasant images of trees,
Of sea or sky, no colours of green fields;
But huge and mighty forms, that do not live
Like living men, moved slowly through the mind
By day, and were a trouble to my dreams.

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This is a poem in Blake's "Songs of Innocence & Experience: Showing The Two Contrary States of the Human Soul."

This poem is ripe with Biblical images. In fact, I'd argue that the entire poem is an extended metaphor, not to be taken literally at all. Though, there is a narrative story in the poem, the action of this story must be taken metaphorically.

This poem is about a 7 year old girl who becomes separated from her parents and lost in a desert. She falls asleep under a tree. Then some wild beasts (leopards and lions and tigers--OH MY!) come out of a cave and see her. They play at her feet, and then the kingly lion licks her. They then strip her naked and bring her to their cave.

This is how the poem ends. 

Unlocking this poem is rather fun. Though, it does take a little bit of digging and a lot of knowledge of the Bible, I believe it is very worthwhile even if you are not religious or Christian.  We will see how Blake both uses the imagery of Christianity while offering a criticism to his 19th century Christian readers.

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O. Henry is a romantic writer, not because he writes epic tales of our medieval past, or that his stories always are love stories (though this one is!) but rather, because of his unique usage of language.

He never wanted to accept that the ordinary had to be ordinary. He wanted it to be extraordinary, exotic, exciting, filled with wonder and imagination. Even a tale about a man meeting a woman on a cattle ranch can be placed in the same realm as Aeneas meeting Dido.

Listen to this very simple tale, one with lessons for those of us dating today in the 21st century, and rekindle your wonder for the everyday.

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This is the final reading of Benito Cereno by Herman Melville.