Evening under Lamplight Podcast
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
Migration Announcement
07 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
I’m Robert-Louis Abrahamson, here to thank you for all your support over the past few years of Evening under Lamplight Podcasts. We have had over 14...
Series 3.22, Stevenson's Fables: "The ship blew up with a glorious detonation"
13 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Here is a talk I gave at a Stevenson conference in Bordeaux, where I spoke about the Fables. I have recently published a collection of these fables, w...
Series 9.11 Ovid's Metamorphoses, Pygmalion
13 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The story of Pygmalion is a story about artistic creation, and about true love, which in mythic terms means true devotion to the goddess Venus.
Series 9.10 Ovid's Metamorphoses, Myrrha
07 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The terrible story of Myrrha, her sinful passion and her pitiable attempts to resist temptation.
Series 9.9 Ovid's Metamorphoses, Actaeon
29 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A cruel punishment inflicted on an innocent (?) young man, with lots of levels to ponder.
Series 9.8 Ovid's Metamorphoses, Erysichthon
22 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A gruesome tale of a greedy man, cursed with unquenchable hunger.
Series 9.7 Ovid's Metamorphoses, Echo and Narcissus
21 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
One story enveloped in another, Echo in Narcissus's story. We take Narcissus far beyond the common use of his name to mean merely self-absorbed. Narci...
Series 9.6 Ovid's Metamorphoses, Arethusa
20 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The story of a chase, and the young woman's escape - through a death-experience into maturity? Anything's possible in these stories.
Series 9.5 Ovid's Metamorphoses, Callisto
19 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The terrible story of Callisto, vulnerable, abused by three deities, elevated to immortality - a troubling story in many ways, but that's all the more...
Series 9.4 Ovid's Metamorphoses, Phaethon
16 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Here's the cosmic story of Phaethon, the boy who had to prove his lineage, but went too far, dared too much, creating a global crisis.
Series 9.3 Ovid's Metamorphoses, Daphne and Apollo
15 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The first great love story, with tender moments and an ending that is - well, let's not label it. It's followed by a parallel story, more brutal and p...
Series 9.2 Ovid's Metamorphoses: Flood, Deucalion & Pyrrha
12 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Jupiter wipes out all the people in this evil world - except two wonderful, loving people, who then perform the promised miracle.
Series 9.1 Ovid's Metamorphoses: Creation & Lycaon
11 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We begin a journey through Ovid's great compilation of myths, with his version of the Creation story, and then the first of many evil characters who w...
Series 8.4 Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" 3
05 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We conclude our discussion of Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience", with Thoreau's reflections on his imprisonment and our own responses to the essay. And w...
Series 8.3 Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" 2
03 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How did Thoreau disconnect himself from a government that promoted unjust laws? He broke the law and went to prison - but not for very long. We hear h...
Series 8.2 Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" 1
02 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
"Unjust laws exist," Thoreau says. How do we define an unjust law, and then what do we do about it?
Series 8.1 Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience", Introduction
01 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We begin a discussion of Henry David Thoreau's seminal essay "Civil Disobedience" with an introduction to the man and the historical context he was li...
Series 3.21 Stevenson's Fables, "The Clockmaker"
25 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After an interval, we finish Series 3 with the twenty-second and final fable from the collection of Robert Louis Stevenson. "The Clockmaker" is the od...
Series 7.3, "Differing voices make sweet music": Diversity in Unity in Dante's Divine Comedy, part 3
07 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The third and concluding part of the talk to the Beshara Institute on Diversity in Unity in Dante's Divine Comedy.
Series 7.2, "Differing voices make sweet music": Diversity in Unity in Dante's Divine Comedy, part 2
06 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We continue with examples of Diversity in Unity in the Inferno and the Purgatorio.
Series 7, "Differing voices make sweet music": Diversity in Unity in Dante's Divine Comedy, part 1
05 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
An edited version of a talk given for the Beshara Institute, on the theme of Diversity in Unity in Dante's great poem. This is part 1 of 3.
Series 6.33, Dante's Paradiso 33
15 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Here, in the final canto of The Divine Comedy, Dante rises to his greatest height in a beatific vision of divinity itself, in a flash of insight, diff...
Series 6.32, Dante's Paradiso 32
01 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Bernard points out to Dante various pre-eminent souls seated in that huge Celestial Rose, and discusses the situation of those infants who have also b...
Series 6.31, Dante's Paradiso 31
25 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
More heavenly bliss, but Beatrice shifts away from Dante's side, up to her real place in the great community of heaven, with St Bernard now taking her...
Series 6.30, Dante's Paradiso 30
24 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Is it a geometry lesson as a point enlarges into a circle? Or a sparkling scene in nature? Or a theatre in the round? Or the Celestial Rose, now comin...
Series 6.29, Dante's Paradiso 29
23 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Angels, rebel angels, a question of time and eternity, wrong-headed lecturers and preachers, and back to the angels at the end of the canto - more ins...
Series 6.28, Dante's Paradiso 28
18 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
An inverted model of the universe and the nine orders of angels, Beatrice talking us through this ninth sphere.
Series 6.27, Dante's Paradiso 27
18 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The indescribably joyfulness of this highest heaven, but also the rage at the corruption on earth, with no spiritual or secular leadership.
Series 6.26, Dante's Paradiso 26
16 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dante passes the third and final part of his exams, and then has an encounter with none other than Adam himself.
Series 6.25, Dante's Paradiso 25
15 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Part 2 of Dante's final exam, on Hope, and then the third examiner arrives, but Dante peers too deeply for something that's not there, and blinds hims...
Series 6.24, Dante's Paradiso 24
11 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Beatrice enrols Dante for his final exams, part one, examined by St Peter on the nature of Faith. Our challenge: how to make this question come alive ...
Series 6.23, Dante's Paradiso 23
09 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dante adjusts his vision here on the eighth sphere, briefly seeing the Source of Divine Light, and Mary, and all the saved souls in heaven coming down...
Series 6.22, Dante's Paradiso 22
05 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dante meets St Benedict here on Saturn, the region dedicated to the contemplative life, and then rises even higher, up to his birthsign, Gemini. And f...
Series 6.21, Dante's Paradiso 21
03 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Now on the sphere of Saturn, a place of auterity, and a love that rises above the personal, perhaps a place of preparation for things higher up, up th...
Series 6.20, Dante's Paradiso 20
02 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Who are these just rulers here on Jupiter, and how does justice connect with humility, and in what way do the "violent bear it away"? All this and mor...
Series 6.19, Dante's Paradiso 19
28 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Will someone who has never had the chance to learn about salvation but nevertheless lives a completely righteous life - will this person be damned to ...
Series 6.18, Dante's Paradiso 18
24 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We have our final words and final dance on Mars and then ascend to Jupiter, the home of Justice, with a whole different kind of verbal dance put on fo...
Series 6.17, Dante's Paradiso 17
21 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
More from Cacciaguida, Dante's great-great-grandfather here on the sphere of Mars: the climactic and poignant revelation of Dante's exile from Florenc...
Series 6.16, Dante's Paradiso 16
17 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
More from Cacciaguida, Dante's great-great-grandfather, here on the sphere of Mars, and more about pride, elevation above one's lower self, and a lot ...
Series 6.15, Dante's Paradiso 15
11 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dante meets his great-great-grandfather on the sphere of Mars, and hears about what an ideal place Florence used to be. It's a canto full of loving co...
Series 6.14, Dante's Paradiso 14
09 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Our final encounter on the sphere of the Sun, as we find out what kind of splendour we'll experience after we have been reunited with our bodies after...
Series 6.13, Dante's Paradiso 13
04 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
An almost impossible exercise for our imagination, an account of creation, and a warning about making hasty conclusions - it all fits together for us....
Series 6.12, Dante's Paradiso 12
03 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A new group of souls appears, circling around the circle of lights circling around Dante and Beatrice. St Bonaventure speaks out from this new group, ...
Series 6.11, Dante's Paradiso 11
01 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Most of the canto is dedicated to celebrating probably the best-loved saint in the calendar: St Francis of Assisi, with the praise coming from a membe...
Series 6.10, Dante's Paradiso 10
28 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We come to the sphere of the Sun, the place of divine light, where we are introduced to some great thinkers, though the only real back-and-forth here ...
Series 6.9, Dante's Paradiso 9
26 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Still on Venus, we meet some reformed promiscuous souls, and get a divine perspective on the violence and greed that overtakes the world we live in. T...
Series 6.8, Dante's Paradiso 8
24 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On the sphere of Venus, we learn the more heavenly way of loving, a reaching out to give joy to the other person, creating a unity in variety. Dante m...
Series 6.7, Dante's Paradiso 7
21 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Still on the planet Mercury, with its characteristic intellectual interplay, we hear about the way the Incarnation restored the relationship between d...
Series 6.6, Dante's Paradiso 6
19 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A famous Roman Emperor takes up the whole canto to show us the sweep of history and our paradoxical place in it.
Series 6.5, Dante's Paradiso 5
17 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How do you make up for a broken promise or vow? We get the answer, and much more here, and then rise up to the next planet, where we get a brilliant g...
Series 6.4, Dante's Paradiso 4
13 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We have some questions answered, which helpfully shift our perspective on things so we see the world, and the poem, in a rich way.
Series 6.3, Dante's Paradiso 3
11 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dante meets some of the souls in the sphere of the Moon, and learn their story, which is puzzling, if not shocking. There is a lot of turning around h...
Series 6.2, Dante's Paradiso 2
06 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Some advice to the readers, followed by a complicated explanation of the spots on the moon, setting out for us the whole arrangement of the heavens, f...
Series 6.1, Dante's Paradiso 1
04 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We begin Series 6, as we move into the third part of Dante's Divine Comedy - the Paradiso. The canto opens with an odd kind of invocation, and then Da...
Series 4.33, Dante's Purgatorio 33
28 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We're at the final canto of the Purgatorio, with the final words of Beatrice before they ascend, and Dante's renewing dip in the waters of the Eunoë,...
Series 5.3, "Another Faithful Failure": Stevenson's Christmas Sermon, part 3
24 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The third and final part of the discussion, taking us through that inspiring essay "A Christmas Sermon" and its call to us to be "faithful failures".
Series 5.2, "Another Faithful Failure": Stevenson's Christmas Sermon, part 2
24 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Part 2 of the discussion of Stevenson's "Christmas Sermon", this episode focusing on a slightly earlier essay, "A Chapter on Dreams".
Series 5.1, "Another Faithful Failure": Stevenson's Christmas Sermon, part 1
24 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Here's a three-part podcast looking at "A Christmas Sermon", an unconventional Christmas essay that appeared in the December, 1888, issue of Scr...
Series 4.32, Dante's Purgatorio 32
10 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Beatrice, no longer scolding, shows Dante a masque, or allegorical drama, featuring destructive monsters and the original Tree of the Knowledge of Goo...
Series 4.31, Dante's Purgatorio 31
08 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dante's formal confession, contrition, and absolution as he moves through Lethe Water, into new life, and glorious vision.
Series 4.30, Dante's Purgatorio 30
03 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
And finally, the long-awaited Beatrice makes her appearance, but not in the sweet, affectionate way we may have expected.
Series 4.29, Dante's Purgatorio 29
01 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Here is a pageant put on in the Garden of Eden, at the top of the mountain, vivid with colours and meaning.
Series 4.28, Dante's Purgatorio 28
30 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We're now in the Garden of Eden, and we have to adjust to the experience of primal innocence.
Series 4.27, Dante's Purgatorio 27
27 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We come to the climax of the healing, that frightening wall of fire that must be entered, and then, we're out of Purgatory, into the next stage of the...
Series 4.26, Dante's Purgatorio 26
26 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We engage with those suffering on the Terrace of Lust and learn a few things about where lust may lurk.
Series 4.25, Dante's Purgatorio 25
23 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We learn how babies are made and how souls after death can project themselves onto aerial bodies, and we arrive at the Terrace of Lust, walking a narr...
Series 4.24, Dante's Purgatorio 24
20 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Friendship, poetry, love, gratitude - these are the themes here, helping us get a clearer view of the wider meaning of gluttony.
Series 4.23, Dante's Purgatorio 23
17 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dante meets an old pal, an old companion in gluttony, and we discuss all the unexpected examples of gluttony, some of which might not have occurred to...
Series 4.22, Dante's Purgatorio 22
16 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We find out more about the opposite extreme of avarice, and about Statius's debt to Virgil, and arrive up at the terrace of Gluttony, where a talking ...
Series 4.21, Dante's Purgatorio 21
12 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dante and Virgil meet someone who's just releasing himself from his Purgatorial suffering, who explains more about the process of healing, and finally...
Series 4.20, Dante's Purgatorio 20
11 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
More on the terrace of Avarice, with a condemnation of evil French kings, and examples of avarice and its opposite, which we're calling the virtue of ...
Series 4.19, Dante's Purgatorio 19
09 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dante's dream of the bewitching siren's glamour, then the rituals for leaving the terrace of Sloth. Next comes the terrace of Avarice - too much love ...
Series 4.18, Dante's Purgatorio 18
05 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
More about love, and free will, and then the rushing crowd of those who'd been slothful, coming past so fast that Dante can hardly catch what's being ...
Series 4.17.2, Dante's Purgatorio 17
05 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We see the final rituals as Dante leaves the Terrace of Anger and then comes to a stop at the Terrace of Sloth, while Virgil gives us a lesson &...
Series 4.17, Dante's Purgatorio 17
03 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We see the final rituals as Dante leaves the Terrace of Anger and then comes to a stop at the Terrace of Sloth, while Virgil gives us a lesson on the ...
Series 4.16, Dante's Purgatorio 16
27 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We spend the canto in the dark, suffocating smoke of the terrace of Anger, and get an answer to the big question of why the world is so evil.
Series 4.15, Dante's Purgatorio 15
23 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
More on Envy, and sharing, and then the rise up to the level where Anger is cleansed, with an internal video about meekness (which is not what you tho...
Series 3.20, Stevenson's Fables: "The Song of the Morrow"
20 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The masterpiece of the Fables, an eerie, haunting fairy tale about a "king's daughter" and her discovery of "the thought for the morrow" and "the powe...
Series 3.19, Stevenson's Fables: "The Tadpole and the Frog"
18 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Just two lines, a put-down by the rebellious teenager against the disapproving adult.
Series 3.18, Stevenson's Fables: "The Four Reformers"
18 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Four reformers discuss how to change the world. The conclusion is startling, but it makes good sense when we stop and think about it.
Series 3.17, Stevenson's Fables: The Persons of the Tale
18 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Long John Silver and Captain Smollett take a break between chapters of Treasure Island, and discuss the nature of life (or is it all just a fabricatio...
Series 4.14, Dante's Purgatorio 14
17 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We eavesdrop on a conversation, which turns into a blast against current-day Italian wickedness, with Dante getting a few words in here and there. Dan...
Series 4.13, Dante's Purgatorio 13
15 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dante and Virgil arrive at the place where repentent souls cleanse themselves of the sin of envy, that sin that wants to see everyone else hurt so it ...
Series 4.12, Dante's Purgatorio 12
14 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
To finish his healing of pride, Dante is shown a series of carvings on the ground depicting the self-destructive nature of pride. Then an angel approa...
Series 3.16, Stevenson's Fables: "The Poor Thing"
13 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
An eerie fairy tale about a fisherman who is "bitter poor in goods and bitter ugly in countenance", who is met by the ghostly figure of his future son...
Series 3.15, Stevenson's Fables: "Faith, Half Faith, and No Faith at All"
12 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Here's another three-part drama, involving a priest, a virtuous person, and a Viking rover. Whose faith is most loyal - the priest's faith, based on a...
Series 4.11, Dante's Purgatorio 11
11 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Our first encounter with the suffering souls in Purgatory, with confessions of pride, and the admission that fame is so short-lived that it's hardly w...
Series 3.14, Stevenson's Fables: The Devil and the Innkeeper & The Penitent
10 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Two short fables in one podcast this time, both addressing in typical sardonic fashion the problem of making too much of our guilty feelings.
Series 4.10, Dante's Purgatorio 10
08 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We're at the first terrace of Purgatory, and before we really get to see much of the souls suffering for pride, we first move along a gallery of carvi...
Series 4.9, Dante's Purgatorio 9
06 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It's night; Dante has a dream. And he wakes up in a strange new place - just the place he wants to be, the Gate through which he'll begin his real jou...
Series 3.13, Stevenson's Fables: "The Touchstone"
04 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The elder son of a king rides off to win a princess's hand by finding the stone that will reveal all truth. But do the others really want the truth?
Series 3.12, Stevenson's Fables: "Something in It"
04 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We have a vivid Polynesian fable today, or fairy tale, or myth - but a myth that is disrupted in an odd way.
Series 3.11, Stevenson's Fables: "The Distinguished Stranger"
03 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A distinguished visitor arrives on earth, and is given a tour by a "great philosopher". The Stranger innocently (naively?) treats everything like a pe...
Series 4.8, Dante's Purgatorio 8
02 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It's time for the big show just before the night closes in, but other people also appear to attract Dante's attention. And there is a meaningful chang...
Series 4.7, Purgatorio 7
01 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dante is sidelined for a while as Virgil and Sordello talk about merit, and discuss the way no one in this region has the will to progress when ...
Series 4.6, Dante's Purgatorio 6
30 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We start with a game of dice, move on to more talk (perhaps evasive) about prayer, meet a new character, and get a bitter and sustained diatribe again...
Series 3.10.2 Stevenson's Fables, "The House of Eld", supplement
28 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Here's a bit more about "The House of Eld" - the poignant biographical details that lie behind this story.
Series 3.10 Fables, "The House of Eld"
27 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A Gothic fairy tale, as the young lad goes on a quest to correct the cruel injustices of society, and succeeds - but at what cost?
Series 3.9, Stevenson's Fables: "The Yellow Paint"
26 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A kind of fairy tale, though not like any fairy tale you've ever heard before, addressing the smug confidence of controlling religious leaders, though...
Series 4.5, Purgatorio 5
23 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Here are those who died a violent death, turning away from their selfish deeds only at the very last minute. This gives us the chance to hear accounts...