Episode 68: The Poetry of Jonathan Swift with Steve Karian
Sacred and Profane Love
In this episode, I speak with Stephen Karian, renowned scholar of 18th century British literature, on the poems of Jonathan Swift, the promise and perils of satire, and the pleasures of reading profane poetry written by one of the great Divines. I hope you enjoy our conversation. Read along with us at .
info_outline
Episode 67: Poetry, Art, and Truth with Carl Phillips
Sacred and Profane Love
In this episode, I am joined by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Carl Phillips to discuss poetry, classic texts, art, and truth. I hope you enjoy our conversation!
info_outline
Episode 66: Ovid's "The Art of Love" with Julia Hejduk
Sacred and Profane Love
In this episode, I speak with the classicist Julia Hejduk on Ovid's The Art of Love. I hope you enjoy our conversation!
info_outline
Episode 65: Boris Dralyuk on Nabokov’s Pnin
Sacred and Profane Love
In this episode, I speak with my colleague at TU, Boris Dralyuk on Vladmir Nabokov’s delightful take on the campus novel, Pnin. We explore our endearing hero’s journey from being a man on the wrong train to becoming an American behind the wheel at long last. I hope you enjoy our conversation.
info_outline
Episode 64: Patrick Deneen on DeLillo's White Noise
Sacred and Profane Love
In this episode, I speak with the political theorist Patrick Deneen about Don DeLillo’s award winning novel, White Noise. We explore the novel’s undercurrents of existential angst in a world of distraction, amnesia, and unfulfilled longings. I hope you enjoy our conversation.
info_outline
The Podcast Returns!
Sacred and Profane Love
Six years ago I launched a literature, philosophy, and theology podcast. I had no assumptions that anyone would listen to it; it was an output for a grant project on virtue, happiness, and meaning of life. Today, I am thrilled to announce the launch of season 5 of Sacred and Profane Love, now fully supported by , where I am privileged to serve as dean of their Honors College. In this episode, I explain the hiatus and share some exciting news about the podcast, including our new friends over at Switchyard. Learn more at .
info_outline
Re-run: Episode 43 - The Closing of the American Mind with Brad Carson
Sacred and Profane Love
This week, we revisit Episode 43 with Brad Carson on Allan Bloom’s The Closing of the American Mind!
info_outline
Re-run: Episode 50 - "Are the Humanities in Crisis" with Zena Hitz and Chad Wellmon
Sacred and Profane Love
Throwback to the big five-oh: Episode 50 with Zena Hitz and Chad Wellmon!
info_outline
Re-run: Episode 45 - Roosevelt Montás on Great Books and Intellectual Transformation
Sacred and Profane Love
This very exciting episode on liberal education with Professor Roosevelt Montás makes a come back this week!
info_outline
Re-run: Episode 41 - James Baldwin is bringing the fire with Dr. Cornel West
Sacred and Profane Love
Throwback to our first episode recorded with a live audience: Dr. Cornel West on James Baldwin!
info_outlineIn this episode, I speak with the writer, editor, and critic, Christopher Beha, about the Danish bildungsroman by Henrik Pontoppidan, Lucky Per. We focus on Per’s struggle to escape from those aspects of his life that are not chosen—family, religion, place—his quest to understand himself, to love other people, and to live a life that is truly happy and free. Along the way, we discuss reviews of the novel by James Wood and Morten Hoi Jensen, and we give our own diagnosis of why Per fails to be either happy or free.
I hope you enjoy our conversation.
Links:
James Wood
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/10/21/a-neglected-modern-masterpiece-and-its-perverse-hero
Morten Hoi Jensen
https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/09/30/the-danish-tolstoy/
Christopher Beha is the author of a memoir, The Whole Five Feet, and the novels Arts & Entertainments and What Happened to Sophie Wilder. His latest novel, The Index of Self-Destructive Acts, was nominated for the 2020 National Book Award. He is the editor of Harper’s Magazine.
Jennifer Frey is an associate Professor of Philosophy and Peter and Bonnie McCausland Faculty Fellow at the University of South Carolina. She is also a fellow of the Institute for Human Ecology at the Catholic University of America and the Word on Fire Institute. Prior to joining the philosophy faculty at USC, she was a Collegiate Assistant Professor of Humanities at the University of Chicago, where she was a member of the Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts and an affiliated faculty in the philosophy department. She earned her Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh, and her B.A. in Philosophy and Medieval Studies (with a Classics minor) at Indiana University, in Bloomington, Indiana. She has published widely on action, virtue, practical reason, and meta-ethics, and has recently co-edited an interdisciplinary volume, Self-Transcendence and Virtue: Perspectives from Philosophy, Theology, and Psychology. Her writing has also been featured in Breaking Ground, First Things, Fare Forward, Image, Law and Liberty, The Point, and USA Today. She lives in Columbia, SC, with her husband, six children, and chickens. You can follow her on Twitter @jennfrey.
Sacred and Profane Love is a podcast in which philosophers, theologians, and literary critics discuss some of their favorite works of literature, and how these works have shaped their own ideas about love, happiness, and meaning in human life. Host Jennifer A. Frey is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of South Carolina. The podcast is generously supported by The Institute for Human Ecology at the Catholic University of America and produced by Catholics for Hire.