Open Book
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
How to Read Othello
20 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Examine Shakespeare's tragedy of love, jealousy, and manipulation. From Venice's political intricacy to Cyprus's contested shores, we analyse how Shak...
How to Read Sir Philip Sidney's The Defence of Poesy
04 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sir Philip Sidney's The Defence of Poesy, written around 1580 and published posthumously in 1595, is the first significant work of literary criticism ...
How to Read Richard Wagamese’s Medicine Walk
22 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Richard Wagamese’s 2014 novel Medicine Walk is the story of Franklin Starlight’s journey of mutual discovery with his dying father. It’s a novel...
How to Read Tom McCarthy’s C
04 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Tom McCarthy’s C is a 2010 novel of ideas that addresses a wide array of scientific, historical, and cultural topics. Like McCarthy’s five other n...
How to Read E. M. Forster’s Howards End
03 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
An introduction to the major themes of Forster’s 1910 novel of modern life. It’s the story of two sisters, Helen and Margaret Schlegel, and their ...
How to Read Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights
10 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
An introduction to the biographical circumstances and major themes of Wuthering Heights, a novel by Emily Brontë published in two volumes in 1847 —...
How to Read Michael Cunningham's The Hours
04 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Cunningham’s 1998 Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel, The Hours, tells the intertwined stories of three 20th-century women: the modernist author V...
How to Read Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway
15 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Like a cubist painting, Virginia Woolf’s narrative style offers multiple simultaneous perspectives on simple objects: dogs, trees, a day in June 192...
How to Read Bernardine Evaristo's Girl, Woman, Other
25 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Bernardine Evaristo’s 2019 Booker-Prize-winning novel, Girl, Woman, Other, is a perfect illustration of the novel’s power to make you empathize wi...
How to Read Jane Austen's Emma
09 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like,” Jane Austen declared about Emma Woodhouse, the only heroine of her six novel...
How to Read Geoffrey Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, Book 2
19 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
An introduction to the second book of Geoffrey Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde.
How to Read Geoffrey Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, Book 1
19 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
An introduction to the life of Geoffrey Chaucer and to his five-book romance Troilus and Criseyde.
How to Read Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, Book 3
20 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We focus in this episode on the third book and final book of “one of the most important [novels] to come out of the English-speaking world in this g...
How to Read Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, Book 2
02 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Covering the second of three books in Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children (1981), in which the narrator Saleem Sinai recounts the history of his ...
How to Read Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, Book 1
20 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
An interpretive overview of the first Book of Salman Rushdie’s consummate novel of India, Midnight’s Children (1981). Page references throughout r...
Reading Keats' Endymion, Book 4
27 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is a recording of John Keats' "Endymion: A Poetic Romance (1818)," read by Michael Ullyot. The text is from the 21st-Century Oxford Authors serie...
Reading Keats' Endymion, Book 3
23 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is a recording of John Keats' "Endymion: A Poetic Romance (1818)," read by Michael Ullyot. The text is from the 21st-Century Oxford Authors serie...
Reading Keats' Endymion, Book 2
20 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is a recording of John Keats' "Endymion: A Poetic Romance (1818)," read by Michael Ullyot. The text is from the 21st-Century Oxford Authors serie...
Reading Keats' Endymion, Book 1
16 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is a recording of John Keats' Endymion: A Poetic Romance (1818), read by Michael Ullyot. The text is from the 21st-Century Oxford Authors series,...
Reading "Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift"
13 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is a recording of Jonathan Swift's "Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift," read by Michael Ullyot. The text is from the 6th edition of the Norton Ant...
Reading "The Scholar-Gypsy"
10 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is a recording of Matthew Arnold's "The Scholar-Gypsy," read by Michael Ullyot. The text is from the 6th edition of the Norton Anthology of Poetr...
Reading Sidney's Defence of Poesy, 3 of 3
05 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is a recording of Sir Philip Sidney's Defence of Poesy, or An Apology for Poetry, read by Michael Ullyot in three episodes. The text is fro...
Reading Sidney's Defence of Poesy, 2 of 3
03 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is a recording of Sir Philip Sidney's Defence of Poesy, or An Apology for Poetry, read by Michael Ullyot in three episodes. The text is fro...
Reading Sidney's Defence of Poesy, 1 of 3
29 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is a recording of Sir Philip Sidney's Defence of Poesy, or An Apology for Poetry, read by Michael Ullyot in three episodes. The text is fro...
Reading "Four Quartets," 2 of 2
27 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is a recording of T. S. Eliot's "Four Quartets," read by Michael Ullyot in two episodes. The text is from The Collected Poems, 1909-1962, p...
Reading "Four Quartets," 1 of 2
22 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is a recording of T. S. Eliot's "Four Quartets," read by Michael Ullyot in two episodes. The text is from The Collected Poems, 1909-1962, p...
Reading "Upon Appleton House"
20 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is a recording of Andrew Marvell's "Upon Appleton House," read by Michael Ullyot. The text is from The Complete Poems, edited by Elizabeth ...
Reading "The Deserted Village"
25 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A recording of Oliver Goldsmith's "The Deserted Village," read by Michael Ullyot. The text is from The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 6th edition, ...
Reading "Howl"
22 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A recording of Allen Ginsberg's "Howl," read by Michael Ullyot. The text is from The Collected Poems: 1947-1985, published by Penguin in 1995.
Reading "Adonais"
18 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A recording of Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Adonais," an elegy for John Keats, read by Michael Ullyot. The text is from The Major Works, edited by Za...
Reading "Hero and Leander," 2 of 2
15 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is the second of a two-episode recording of “Hero and Leander,” by Christopher Marlowe -- read by Michael Ullyot. It covers the second of the...
Reading “Hero and Leander,” 1 of 2
11 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is the first of a two-episode recording of “Hero and Leander,” by Christopher Marlowe -- read by Michael Ullyot. It covers the first of the p...
Reading "Pearl," 2 of 2
08 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is the second of a two-episode recording of “Pearl,” by an anonymous medieval poet, translated into modern English by Simon Armitage -- and r...
Reading "Pearl," 1 of 2
04 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is the first of a two-episode recording of “Pearl,” by an anonymous medieval poet, translated into modern English by Simon Armitage -- and re...
Reading "Song of Myself," 4 of 4
01 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is the fourth of a four-part recording of “Song of Myself,” by Walt Whitman -- read by Michael Ullyot. It covers sections 38-52 of the poem. ...
Reading "Song of Myself," 3 of 4
28 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is the third of a four-part recording of “Song of Myself,” by Walt Whitman -- read by Michael Ullyot. It covers sections 27-37 of the poem. T...
Reading "Song of Myself," 2 of 4
25 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is the second of a four-part recording of “Song of Myself,” by Walt Whitman -- read by Michael Ullyot. It covers sections 16-26 of the poem. ...
Reading "Song of Myself," 1 of 4
22 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This is the first of a four-part recording of “Song of Myself,” by Walt Whitman -- read by Michael Ullyot. It covers sections 1-15 of the poe...
Season 3 Trailer
22 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Season 3 of “Open Book” is about reading literature, specifically long-form poetry. Some are old favourites, and some are poems I’ve been meanin...
How to Read Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney
09 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The closing episode of Season 2 is about two giants of late-20th-century poetry: the Poet Laureate Ted Hughes and the Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney. We...
How to Read Philip Larkin
02 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Analyses of four poems about time and change by the midcentury poet Philip Larkin. In “Church Going,” “An Arundel Tomb,” “The Trees,” and ...
How to Read Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot
26 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
An introduction to Waiting for Godot (1954), by the Franco-Irish novelist, playwright, Nobel laureate, and nihilist Samuel Beckett (1906-1989). This i...
How to Read Dylan Thomas
20 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Readings and analysis of the three best-known poems by the Anglo-Welsh poet: “The Force That Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower,” “Fern Hi...
How to Read W. H. Auden
13 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Three poems about death, war, suffering, and other cheery 20th-century subjects by the Anglo-internationalist poet Wystan Hugh Auden: the elegy “Fun...
How to Read Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse
05 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
An introduction to the twentieth century’s most beautiful novel — with a simple plot but an astonishingly complex, even disorienting style. Ten ch...
How to Read W. B. Yeats
27 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Readings and interpretations of four poems by the Irish poet and playwright William Butler Yeats: the rustic simplicity of “The Lake Isle of Innisfr...
How to Read Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray
19 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The novel of a beautiful young English aristocrat whose painted portrait ages and declines while he himself stays eternally young, exhibiting no outwa...
How to Read Alfred Tennyson
06 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Readings and analysis of three poems by Alfred, Lord Tennyson — “Mariana,” “The Lady of Shalott,” and “Ulysses” — that fall into two c...
How to Read John Keats
29 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Readings and analysis of two poems, “To Autumn” and “The Eve of St. Agnes,” whose sensual richness and beauty counter the antipathies and hars...
How to Read William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge
22 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This episode reads Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” and Coleridge’s “Kubla Khan” in the context of Romantic poetry. We start with Coleridge’...
How to Read Alexander Pope and Anne Finch
16 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The first episode of Season 2 is about two poets in an early-18th-century battle of wits: Alexander Pope, the first professional poet in English; and ...
How to Read John Milton’s Paradise Lost, Books 10-12
30 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The grand finale of Milton’s epic: in which we learn the consequences of the fall for Adam and Eve — but also for Satan, Sin, Death, the Son of Go...
How to Read John Milton’s Paradise Lost, Book 9
21 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The climax of Milton’s epic poem, in which Satan — spoiler alert — convinces Eve to eat the forbidden fruit.
How to Read David Treuer’s The Translation of Dr Apelles, Part 2
17 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The second of two episodes on a 2006 novel by the Ojibwe writer David Treuer, about a translator retelling the story of two lovers, and writing his ow...
How to Read David Treuer’s The Translation of Dr Apelles, Part 1
17 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The first of two episodes on a 2006 novel by the Ojibwe writer David Treuer, about a translator retelling the story of two lovers, and writing his own...
How to Read Metaphysical Love-Poems
15 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Four poems of love and friendship that happen to be written by women, including Anne Bradstreet, the first woman to publish a book of original poems i...
How to Read Andrew Marvell’s Poems
01 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Readings of five poems by the metaphysical poet Andrew Marvell, including his best-known carpe diem poem “To his Coy Mistress,” but also a beautif...
How to Read William Shakespeare’s Richard II
31 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Shakespeare’s 1595 history play tells the story of one king’s abdication, and provokes questions about the difference between legitimate authority...
How to Read John Milton’s Paradise Lost, Books 7-8
25 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Adam and Raphael exchange stories — of the creation of the universe, and of human beings — and Adam learns what subjects and questions God wants u...
How to Read Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, Volume 2
25 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Catherine Morland — described as “open, candid, artless, guileless, with affections strong but simple, forming no pretensions, and knowing no disg...
How to Read Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, Volume 1
19 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The first of two episodes on Austen’s 1818 novel about heroine Catherine Morland’s character, reading, romantic misadventures, and engagement. Ref...
How to Read John Milton’s Paradise Lost, Books 5-6
18 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This, the fourth of seven episodes on Milton's epic, covers events preceding the start of the poem's story: the War in Heaven, in which Satan leads a ...
How to Read John Donne’s Poems
13 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Readings and interpretations of seven poems by the 17th-century metaphysical poet John Donne, namely "Elegy: To his Mistress Going to Bed"; "The Good ...
How to Read Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote, Part 2
13 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing from Episode 8 in this series, today’s topic is Part 2 of Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote (1615). A Spanish aristocrat, imitatin...
How to Read Shakespeare's Villains: Othello
09 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A study of the rise and fall of Iago, from Shakespeare's Othello: focusing on his motives, his rhetoric, and the role of a villain in a tragedy. This ...
How to Read Shakespeare's Villains: Titus Andronicus
07 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A study of the rise and fall of Aaron, from Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus: focusing on his motives, his rhetoric, and the role of a villain in a trag...
How to Read Shakespeare's Villains: Richard III
05 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A study of the rise and fall of Richard of Gloucester, from Shakespeare's 3 Henry VI and Richard III: focusing on his motives, his rhetoric, and the r...
How to Read Metaphysical Nature-Poems
04 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
An introduction to four metaphysical nature-poems: George Herbert’s “Life”; Henry King’s “A Contemplation upon Flowers”; and Andrew Marvel...
How to Read Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote, Part 1
04 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s topic is the first part of the first novel ever written, Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote (1605): in which a mild-mannered Spanish aristoc...
How to Read John Milton’s Paradise Lost, Book 4
27 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This is the 3rd episode on Milton’s epic poem, covering Book 4: in which Satan arrives at the Garden of Eden; Milton describes the garden and its hu...
How to Read to Cure Yourself
25 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s topic is bibliotherapy, or “literary remedies for the mind and body,” as Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin write. They’re the authors o...
How to Read John Milton’s Paradise Lost, Books 2-3
22 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
There are three parts of this episode, which follows Episode 3 of this season: First, we’ll consider how Milton, the blind poet, deals with the di...
How to Read Dante’s Inferno, Canto 5
22 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The three parts of today’s episode surround each other like the concentric rings of hell. (Maybe not the best metaphor?) First I’ll briefly desc...
How to Read John Milton’s Paradise Lost, Book 1
10 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The first in a projected 7-episode series on Milton's epic poem, Paradise Lost (1667, 1674). Covering how to read Milton's language; his Christi...
How to Read Plato’s Phaedrus
10 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is about written language, as the Greek philosopher Plato describes it in his dialogue Phaedrus. The Latin proverb I cite is Verba volant...
The What and the How
10 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this inaugural episode, I describe the podcast's coverage and format, and then introduce myself and my motives for hosting the series. I conclu...
Trailer
10 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Introducing a new podcast series on how to read like an English Professor -- with Michael Ullyot of the University of Calgary.