SUBTEXT Literature and Film Podcast

SUBTEXT is a podcast about the human condition, and what we can learn about it from the greatest inventions of the human imagination: fiction, film, drama, poetry, essays, and criticism. Each episode, philosopher Wes Alwan and poet Erin O’Luanaigh explore life’s big questions by conducting a close reading of a text or film and co-writing an audio essay about it in real time.

(post)script Post-September

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Wes and Erin continue their discussion of W. H. Auden’s “September 1, 1939.” Wes did some research on Linz, Luther, and Pericles’ funeral oration, as recounted/invented by Thucydides. Wes envies Joseph Brodsky, but Erin notes that envy can spur us into being creative and productive. (Thinking back to Billy Budd, perhaps there are two forms of envy, one better than the other). We talk of Dickens, Die Hard, and Wes’s Daily News. Die Hard is in fact a real Christmas movie. Wes doesn’t like the Lord of the Rings movies, but was into the books as a kid. For Erin: Strike That, Reverse It. Tolkien eschews women but loves escarpments, and gives a lot of boring descriptions of the natural environment, but never once has a pair of hobbits take a roll in the hay. We talk about giving up on books: for Wes, Harry Potter and Infinite Jest. But Erin was a Harry Potter fan as a kid. A.s. Byatt wrote a scathing review of adult Potterism, which Wes clings to. In conclusion,Peanutswill always win in any final showdown with a superhero movie.