Episode 277: “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor
Release Date: 05/20/2025
Episode 303: Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World” Ch. 8-13
The Literary Life Podcast
This week on The Literary Life podcast, Angelina, Thomas, and Ella continue discussing by Aldous Huxley. They begin engaging with the text today by talking more about satire and parody as elements in this story. While recapping the major plot points in these chapters, they go deeper into the character of John the Savage, the ways in which this story is like a distorted reflection of The Tempest and Othello, as well as so many other Shakespeare references. Come back again next week for our final episode in this series as we cover the final chapters of Brave New World! Don't forget to check out...
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Episode 302: Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World” Ch. 4-7
The Literary Life Podcast
Welcome back to The Literary Life podcast and our series on Aldous Huxley’s . Angelina Stanford, Thomas Banks, and Ella Hornstra open the conversation by sharing their commonplace quotes, then jump into the book discussion with some connections between Huxley and Lewis Carroll and how Brave New World is like Alice in Wonderland. Angelina also teaches about the medieval conception of the tripartite soul and how it relates to this story, as well as making some distinctions between literary satire and parody. They talk about more of the pictures of Freudian principles as illustrated in this...
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Episode 301: Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World” Intro and Ch. 1-3
The Literary Life Podcast
Welcome back to The Literary Life podcast with Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks! They are joined by Ella Hornstra for the beginning of a new series on Aldous Huxley’s . Thomas and Ella kick off the book discussion with a little biographical background on Huxley and dispel the myth that he belonged to the Bloomsbury Group. Angelina gives some literary history of the period in which Huxley wrote, as well as some thoughts on satire as a response to an age of overwhelming optimism. She also highlights the literary and cultural influences that Huxley satirizes in this novel, including Wells,...
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Best of Series – “Dracula” by Bram Stoker, Ch. 18-End
The Literary Life Podcast
On The Literary Life podcast this week, Angelina, Cindy and Thomas are back to wrap up their series on Bram Stoker’s . They open with their commonplace quotes then begin diving into the major plot points and the connections being made. Angelina and Cindy discuss what happens to Mina, especially in relation to the idea of the New Woman versus the Angel in the House. Thomas and Angelina talk about Dracula’s background and his connection with Satan seen more clearly here at the end of the book. They all share thoughts on the Christian images that are increasingly brought out as the story line...
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Episode 299: Best of Series – “Dracula” by Bram Stoker, Ch. 12-17
The Literary Life Podcast
Our hosts are back on The Literary Life podcast today to continue our series on Bram Stoker’s . This week we are covering chapters 12-17, and in the introduction to this episode, Angelina, Cindy and Thomas discuss the purpose of the Gothic novel in reorienting us to realize there is more to the world than the physical and empirical. As they cover the plot in these chapters, other ideas shared are the effective blending of modern technology with ancient wisdom in fighting evil, the many mythological and fairy tale elements in this story, the contrast between the true woman and the false...
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Episode 298: Best of Series – “Dracula” by Bram Stoker, Ch. 8-11
The Literary Life Podcast
Welcome back to The Literary Life podcast today and our series on Bram Stoker’s . This week Angelina Stanford, Cindy Rollins, and Thomas Banks cover chapters 8-11 of the book. Angelina explains both the “New Woman” and “Angel in the House” ideas of the Victorian era and makes some observations about Dr. Seward’s interactions with Renfield in contrast to the nuns ministrations to Jonathan Harker. We are also introduced to Dr. Van Helsing in this section of the book as the foil for Dracula, and we quickly learn that he is more than just a medical man. Our hosts discuss Stoker’s own...
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Episode 297: Best of Series - Bram Stoker's "Dracula" Ch. 3-7
The Literary Life Podcast
On The Literary Life Podcast this week, our hosts continue with part 2 of their series on Bram Stoker's . After sharing their commonplace quotes, Angelina, Cindy and Thomas begin discussing how to properly read Dracula and other books written in this tradition. (Hint: It's not the Freudian or psychoanalytical approach!) Angelina argues that Bram Stoker was trying, among other things, to reintroduce the traditional forms and metaphors into the modern era. Thomas shares the dark etymology of the name Dracula and how that relates to the image of Satan in this character. Cindy brings up Jonathan's...
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Episode 296: Best of Series – Introduction to “Dracula” by Bram Stoker, Ch. 1-2
The Literary Life Podcast
On this week’s episode of The Literary Life Podcast, Angelina Stanford is joined as always by Thomas Banks and Cindy Rollins for the opening of their series on Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Today our hosts focus on the background and historical context for this piece of literature, as well as going over the highlights of the first two chapters. They talk about the question of the role of the monster in literature in modernity versus its historical interpretation. Understanding the form of the Gothic novel and the time period in which this book was written are important aspects of...
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Episode 295: “Goblin Market” by Christina Rossetti, Part 2
The Literary Life Podcast
Today on The Literary Life podcast Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks continue their two-part series on Christina Rossetti’s narrative poem “.” They begin discussing this poem by connecting it with the larger conversation on art and the literary tradition, pointing out the flaws of modern ways of reading. Angelina emphasizes the importance of understanding this poem, as well as other classic works of fantasy, in terms of the fairy world and how symbolism and allegory work in fairy tales. After these preliminary thoughts, they go into more detail about this poem, including the obvious...
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Episode 294: “Goblin Market” by Christina Rossetti, Part 1
The Literary Life Podcast
Welcome back to The Literary Life Podcast! This week we begin a brief, two-episode series covering Christina Rossetti's narrative poem "." Our hosts, Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks, look at the life and family background of Christina Rossetti, highlighting her devout Christian faith as key to understanding her poetry. Thomas shares the dates for the Victorian and Pre-Raphaelite periods in terms of art and literature. Angelina asks what the form of this poem is as we approach this together, and she and Thomas propose a few connections and preliminary ideas they have about "Goblin Market"...
info_outlineOn today’s episode of The Literary Life podcast, Angelina and Thomas continue their series on Flannery O’Connor with a discussion of her short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” After sharing their commonplace quotes, Angelina explains why she chose this particular story to go over on the podcast. She and Thomas then go over the characters in the family and the dynamics at play. Some of the ideas they talk about in this story are the appearance of respectability, the sentimental view of the “Old South,” the medieval and Sophoclean elements in the story, superficial Christianity versus nihilism, and so much more. They wrap up this episode with more thoughts on O’Connor’s use of violence as a means of grace and how her stories can open people’s eyes to their own depravity.
If you are interested in learning more about Flannery O’Connor, you can purchase Angelina’s previously recorded class, The Redemptive Vision of Flannery O’Connor.
Now is the time to sign up for the upcoming summer classes and webinars at The House of Humane Letters. Some of the classes highlighted in this episode are Angelina’s next installment in her series of classes on Harry Potter and Thomas’ class on five famous figures of the Victorian era.
To view the full show notes for this episode, including book links, quotes and this week's poem, please visit https://theliterary.life/277.