The Circe Institute which is dedicated to the fostering of classical education is sponsoring an ongoing podcast relating to Evelyn Waugh’s novel Brideshead Revisited. The participants are David Kern, Tim MacIntosh and Angelina Stanford. The first episode dated 23 May 2017 and covering Chapters 1 and 2 of the novel (Close Reads #52) is available here. The topics to be covered are:
- First experiences with Waugh
- Waugh’s nostalgia
- The prologue
- The book’s various juxtapositions
- The sacred and the profane
- The book’s spiritual hauntings
- 3 key decaying institutions
- and more…
Future episodes will presumably be announced on the website linked above.
UPDATE (3 June 2017): The second part of the podcast (Close Reads #53) covering chapters 3 and 4 is now posted. Topics include:
- Tim’s upcoming vacation
- A comparison of Charles’ family and Sebastian’s family
- Sebastian’s faith and Charles lack thereof
- Sebastian and Charles’ youth and what it means
- The aesthetic theology of the book
- Aesthetics as a road to faith
- and more…
Future episodes may be found by clicking “Browse Close Reads” at top right of photo on webpage linked above.
UPDATE 2 (8 June 2017): The third part of the podcast (Close Reads #54) is now available. Topics covered include:
- Charles’ father
- Sebastian’s malaise
- The fate of young men during the era
- Religion at Brideshead
- More on the aesthetic theology of the book
- and more…
UPDATE 3 (20 June 2017): Close Reads #56 is now available, with Brideshead Chapter 6 as its subject. Topics will include:
- The greatest sentence of the 20th century
- What’s wrong with Sebastian
- Whether Sebastian’s family is being fair
- More on the aesthetic theology of the book
- and much, much more…
UPDATE 4 (29 June 2017): The lastest episode is now available and will discuss Brideshead Chapter 7. Topics will include:
- Getting to know Julia
- Rex’s ignorance
- Why Charles is attracted to Julia
- “Modern” education
- Perspective and Waugh
- and more…
