Episodes
Monday Nov 30, 2020
H. P. Lovecraft Book Club: Series 5: Episode 10: Pickman's Model
Monday Nov 30, 2020
Monday Nov 30, 2020
A favorite of Lovecraft fans, "Pickman's Model", ties directly to DREAM-QUEST and was written around time, but is a great tale in which we see Lovecraft trying new narrative techniques. And in good Lovecraft fashion we get a look at the underground architecture of decaying city.
Monday Nov 30, 2020
Episode 437: Sinclair Lewis: Elmer Gantry (2)
Monday Nov 30, 2020
Monday Nov 30, 2020
In part two of my review of ELMER GANTRY by Sinclair Lewis we follow Gantry as he got pushed out of his ministry due to drunkenness, but finds his way back into evangelical Christianity through the popularity of revival-style worship.
Friday Nov 27, 2020
Friday Nov 27, 2020
My review of Lovecraft's "Strange High House in the Mist" allows us to return to Kingsport in preparation for our upcoming "Dream Quest".
Friday Nov 27, 2020
Episode 436:Sinclair Lewis: Elmer Gantry (1)
Friday Nov 27, 2020
Friday Nov 27, 2020
Elmer Gantry is a student at a religious university who far from lives the religious life, but find himself on the career path of a Baptist preacher. Sinclair Lewis' novel ELMER GANTRY is a great look at the culture wars of the 1920s.
Monday Nov 23, 2020
H. P. Lovecraft Book Club: Series 5: Episode 8: The Silver Key
Monday Nov 23, 2020
Monday Nov 23, 2020
The "Silver Key" is Lovecraft's greatest Randolph Carter story with an enduring theme of childhood saving us from the banality of modern life. Carter's quest for meaning, set years after the events of DREAMQUEST OF UNKNOWN KADATH has lessons for the importance of childhood.
Monday Nov 23, 2020
Episode 435:Sinclair Lewis: Arrowsmith (Part 5)
Monday Nov 23, 2020
Monday Nov 23, 2020
The final of my review of ARROWSMITH by Sinclair Lewis. It ends on a rather high note where science triumphs over the distractions of American capitalism.
Wednesday Nov 18, 2020
H. P. Lovecraft Book Club: Series 5: Episode 7: The Call of Cthulhu (2)
Wednesday Nov 18, 2020
Wednesday Nov 18, 2020
In the second half of my review of THE CALL OF CTHULHU I explore some of the most important passages in all of Lovecraft's writings: the interview with the cultist Castro. The cost of wordily freedom maybe high, but for many marginalized people it is worth paying.
Wednesday Nov 18, 2020
Episode 434: Sinclair Lewis: Arrowsmith (4)
Wednesday Nov 18, 2020
Wednesday Nov 18, 2020
Part four of ARROWSMITH by Sinclair Lewis explores Martin Arrowsmith's career as it moves into hard science, war, and eventually a devastating plague in the West Indies. As always the contradictions between science and politics follows him.
Monday Nov 16, 2020
H. P. Lovecraft Book Club: Series 5: Episode 6: The Call of Cthulhu, Part 1
Monday Nov 16, 2020
Monday Nov 16, 2020
The first of two episodes in which I look at the famous story by H. P. Lovecraft, THE CALL OF CTHULHU. Great story due to its nested narrative and global scope.
Monday Nov 16, 2020
Episode 433: Sinclair Lewis: Arrowsmith (3)
Monday Nov 16, 2020
Monday Nov 16, 2020
Martin Arrowsmith, bored with being a small-town doctor moves into the field of public health, finding the politics of science even worse than the personal politics of private practice. I look at this as well as other things in this part of my review of ARROWSMITH by Sinclair Lewis.
Friday Nov 13, 2020
H. P. Lovecraft Book Club: Series 5: Episode5: In the Vault
Friday Nov 13, 2020
Friday Nov 13, 2020
"In the Vault" seems a bit out of place in this period of Lovecraft's career, but it is a bit of fun and plesantly gory. The TV show TALES FROM THE CRYPT did a episode seemingly inspired by this tale called "Fitting Punishment".
Friday Nov 13, 2020
Episode 432: Sinclair Lewis: Arrowsmith (2)
Friday Nov 13, 2020
Friday Nov 13, 2020
Part two of my review of ARROWSMITH by Sinclair Lewis. In this episode we follow Martin Arrowsmith as he begins his career as a small-town doctor.
Monday Nov 09, 2020
H. P. Lovecraft Book Club: Series 5: Episode 4: Cool Air
Monday Nov 09, 2020
Monday Nov 09, 2020
"Cool Air" by H. P. Lovecraft is a lovely science-fiction horror story set in New York, the last of Lovecraft's stories set in New York after "Red Hook" and "He".
Monday Nov 09, 2020
Episode 431:Sinclair Lewis: Arrowsmith (1)
Monday Nov 09, 2020
Monday Nov 09, 2020
Part one of my five-part review of ARROWSMITH by Sinclair Lewis. This novel explores the culture of professional medicine in early 20th century America through the life of a young doctor torn by different perspectives on the proper role of the doctor.
Thursday Nov 05, 2020
H.P. Lovecraft Book Club: Series 5: Episode 3: HE
Thursday Nov 05, 2020
Thursday Nov 05, 2020
Thursday Nov 05, 2020
Episode 430: Aldo Leopold: Journals.
Thursday Nov 05, 2020
Thursday Nov 05, 2020
In this short episode, I finish my look at Aldo Leopold's writings with his journals. I know I said I would look at his letters, but I decided to move on to my next series, starting with ARROWSMITH by Sinclair Lewis.