Subtext: Conversations about Classic Books and Films

The Ethics of Seeing in Susan Sontag’s “On Photography” (Part 2)

23 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Photography is a technology of contradictions. It is at once mechanical and mysterious, even magical. It furnishes evidence of presence while bei...

The Ethics of Seeing in Susan Sontag’s “On Photography”

17 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Photography is a technology of contradictions. It is at once mechanical and mysterious, even magical. It furnishes evidence of presence while bei...

The Music of Longing in “Amadeus” (1984) – Part 2

09 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Are Mozart’s gifts a glitch in divine accounting? Or are his flaws attendant on or even the result of his genius? And how can we account for th...

The Music of Longing in “Amadeus” (1984)

03 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

If an understanding of music implies a love of structure, perhaps the musician’s relationship to his art mirrors the one he has with authority,...

The Character of Authority in Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” (Part 6)

23 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin continue their discussion of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” and its sustained reflection on how political power is construc...

The Character of Authority in Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” (Part 5)

18 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin continue their discussion of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” and its sustained reflection on how political power is construc...

The Character of Authority in Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” (Part 4)

09 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin continue their discussion of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” and its sustained reflection on how political power is construc...

The Character of Authority in Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” (Part 3)

02 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin continue their discussion of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” and its sustained reflection on how political power is construc...

The Character of Authority in Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” (Part 2)

26 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin continue their discussion of Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar,” and its sustained reflection on how political power is construc...

The Character of Authority in Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”

20 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Brutus is an honorable man, but Caesar is Caesar: at the beginning of Shakespeare’s play, his name is near the point of becoming synonymous wit...

Society as Swindle in “The Third Man” (1949) – Part 2

12 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin continue their discussion of the 1949 classic film “The Third Man,” about friendship and betrayal, and about the stories we te...

Society as Swindle in “The Third Man” (1949)

05 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The so-called “third man factor” is a phenomenon in which people in dire circumstances experience the presence of an extra person in their mi...

The Meaning of Christmas Spirit in “Elf” (2003) – Part 2

22 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Like many of its genre, the film “Elf” connects Christmas spirit to the sorts of bonds that hold together families and communities, despite ...

The Meaning of Christmas Spirit in “Elf” (2003)

16 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Half the plot involves a man reuniting with his father—and his species—after being raised by Christmas elves. The other involves saving Chris...

Erin’s New Book “Avail”

30 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Erin just published her first book, “Avail,” which you can order here: https://www.pauldrybooks.com/products/avail “Avail” features a long pr...

Bacchic Redemption in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975) (Part 2)

25 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Nurse Ratched likes a rigged game, according to R.P. McMurphy. And it’s true that the game he is playing—lawless and hedonistic, but also vital an...

Bacchic Redemption in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975)

17 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Nurse Ratched likes a rigged game, according to R.P. McMurphy. And it’s true that the game he is playing—lawless and hedonistic, but also vital an...

Spirit Unbound in Hawthorne’s “The Birth-Mark” and “Drowne’s Wooden Image” (Part 2)

03 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What’s the difference between collaborating with Nature and mining her secrets? Where is the line between imitation and interpretation? And can love...

Spirit Unbound in Hawthorne’s “The Birth-Mark” and “Drowne’s Wooden Image”

27 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The short stories we cover in this episode pit the magic of art against that of scientific discovery. In one story, a woodcarver transcends his materi...

Faith and Industry in “There Will Be Blood” (Part 2)

13 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What is a gift without control or discipline, a skill without purpose or meaning? And is there a difference between a gift and luck? Wes & Erin contin...

Faith and Industry in “There Will Be Blood”

07 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The clash between Eli Sunday and Daniel Plainview, between religion and industry, steeple and oil derrick, might come down to something like the diffe...

Freedom and Authority in Ibsen’s “An Enemy of the People” (Part 2)

22 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In Ibsen’s “An Enemy of the People,” two conceptions of communal health do battle. Dr. Stockmann’s is progressive, focused as it is on the vit...

Freedom and Authority in Ibsen’s “An Enemy of the People”

15 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In Ibsen’s “An Enemy of the People,” two conceptions of communal health do battle. Dr. Stockmann’s is progressive, focused as it is on the vit...

(post)script: Post-Gatsby

08 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin continue their discussion of "The Great Gatsby"; the ongoing development of our approach to the discussions; Arnold Rothstein and the fixin...

The American Dream in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” (Re-Release for 100th Anniversary)

02 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We all know this story, in part because it captures a period that will always have a special place in the American imagination. Prosperous and boozy, ...

Containment and Play in “Jaws” (Part 2)

25 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What is it about the activity of play that might be dangerous? How do we accommodate our impulses, relationships, and communal strivings, without bein...

Containment and Play in “Jaws”

18 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We’re never told exactly how Martin Brody ended up as sheriff of a small beach community, despite his fear of the water. But his ultimate confrontat...

The Door Slam Heard ‘Round the World: Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House” (Part 2)

04 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin continue their discussion of Henrik Ibsen’s "A Doll’s House."

The Door Slam Heard ‘Round the World: Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House”

29 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Nora Helmer begins Act I as a devoted wife to her respectable husband, Torvald, and a devoted mother to her young children. She ends Act III by walkin...

Anti-Mystery in “Picnic at Hanging Rock” (Part 2)

14 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What happens, this film asks, when an event resists the imposition of order, stands beyond the reach of logic or even language? Wes & Erin continue th...

Anti-Mystery in “Picnic at Hanging Rock”

08 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It’s Valentine’s Day in the state of Victoria, Australia in the year 1900. A group from a local girls’ school goes on an excursion to the foot o...

“The Indian to His Love” by William Butler Yeats

30 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin discuss "The Indian to His Love."

“Leda and the Swan” by William Butler Yeats

23 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin discuss "Leda and the Swan."

The Artifice of Eternity in Yeats’s “Sailing to Byzantium” (Part 2)

16 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin continue their discussion of Yeats’s "Sailing to Byzantium," and whether creativity can help us transcend mortality, and how artists shou...

The Artifice of Eternity in Yeats’s “Sailing to Byzantium”

09 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Yeats’s poem “Sailing to Byzantium” begins and ends with the concept of reproduction. In the first stanza, this reproduction is natural and sexu...

The Evil of Banality in “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968) – Part 2

26 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin continue their discussion of Roman Polanski’s 1968 classic, and why it is that Satanic evil, when confronted with life’s very frighteni...

The Evil of Banality in “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968)

18 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On the surface, “Rosemary’s Baby” is a horror film about a woman who gets taken advantage of by a satanic cult and impregnated by the Devil. In ...

“Where the Meanings Are” – Four Poems by Emily Dickinson – Part 4

28 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Erin & Wes continue their discussion of four of Dickinson’s best-loved poems, whose little rooms contain some of the definitive poetic statements on...

“Where the Meanings Are” – Four Poems by Emily Dickinson – Part 3

20 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Erin & Wes continue their discussion of four of Dickinson’s best-loved poems, whose little rooms contain some of the definitive poetic statements on...

“Where the Meanings Are” – Four Poems by Emily Dickinson – Part 2

07 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Erin & Wes continue their discussion of four of Dickinson’s best-loved poems, whose little rooms contain some of the definitive poetic statements on...

“Where the Meanings Are” – Four Poems by Emily Dickinson

31 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If only because of its seeming incongruity with a brain “wider than the sky,” the central fact of Emily Dickinson’s life has become her seclusio...

The Weight of Memory in Hitchcock’s “Rebecca” (1940) – Part 2

24 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin continue their discussion of the 1940 Best Picture winner "Rebecca," starring Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier.

The Weight of Memory in Hitchcock’s “Rebecca” (1940)

17 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Alfred Hitchcock’s first American film—part love story, part ghost story, part courtroom melodrama—centers on a poor, timid young woman who fall...

Possibility and Loss in the Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke (Part 2)

17 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin continue their discussion of Rainer Maria Rilke's “You Who Never Arrived" and “Be Ahead of All Parting” (II.13 from his “Sonnets to...

Possibility and Loss in the Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke

11 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In his poem “You Who Never Arrived,” Rainer Maria Rilke suggests that we can mourn love as an unrealized possibility, and see this loss signified ...

Irony as Anesthetic in Robert Altman’s “M.A.S.H” (1970) – Part 2

03 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin continue their discussion the 1970 classic “M.A.S.H,” and whether irony ought always to be our anesthetic, when confronted with traumas...

Irony as Anesthetic in Robert Altman’s “M.A.S.H” (1970)

27 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It begins with the “stupidest song ever written,” as Robert Altman called it, and ends with a self-referential jab at the very idea of finding com...

Aesthetic Humility in Marianne Moore’s “The Jerboa” (Part 2)

20 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin continue their discussion of Marianne Moore’s poem, “The Jerboa,” first published in 1932, and whether power and wealth might paradox...

Aesthetic Humility in Marianne Moore’s “The Jerboa”

12 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Of all the great American Modernists, the poetry of Marianne Moore is perhaps the most idiosyncratic, even the most radical, of them all—no small fe...

Word and Image in “Sunset Boulevard” (1950) – Part 2

06 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What can the contrast between silent and talking pictures teach us about the nature of film itself? And how might it reflect the age-old rivalries bet...

Word and Image in “Sunset Boulevard” (1950)

29 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When the film starts, its two leads are already dead, more or less. Silent Screen legend Norma Desmond’s career is dead, and because she’s nothing...

The Sublime Mundane in Conrad Aiken’s “Morning Song of Senlin” (Part 2)

23 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin continue their discussion of Aiken’s “Morning Song of Senlin,” and whether humanity’s religious impulses can be fully compensated w...

The Sublime Mundane in Conrad Aiken’s “Morning Song of Senlin”

16 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Where the repetitions of ordinary life threaten to overwhelm any sense of the sublime, the poet Conrad Aiken seems to suggest that they can be transfo...

The Aesthetics of Death in “Beetlejuice” (1988) (Part 2)

09 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Wes and Erin continue their discussion of “Beetlejuice,” and what its battle royale between conflicting aesthetic sensibilities—rustic, gothic, ...

The Aesthetics of Death in “Beetlejuice” (1988)

02 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Adam and Barbara Maitland are dead, but their troubles have just begun. The farmhouse decor of their home is under threat from the pretentious moderni...

A Strange Fashion of Forsaking in the Poetry of Thomas Wyatt (Part 2)

25 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin discuss Thomas Wyatt’s “Whoso List to Hunt” and “They Flee from Me.” Thanks to our sponsor, the incredible online language school...

A Strange Fashion of Forsaking in the Poetry of Thomas Wyatt (Part 1)

18 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As an advisor to Henry VIII and ambassador to France and Italy, poet Thomas Wyatt was something of a professional court-surfer, practiced in riding th...

Formal Meets Feral in “A New Leaf” (Elaine May, 1971) – Part 2

28 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin continue their discussion of the 1971 film "A New Leaf," written and directed by Elaine May.

Formal Meets Feral in “A New Leaf” (Elaine May, 1971) – Part 1

21 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Henry Graham belongs to the most exclusive clubs, dines regularly at the most lavish restaurants, drives a Ferrari, employs a butler, and owns somethi...

Love Dishonored in Euripides’ “Medea” (Part 6)

14 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin continue their discussion of Ancient Greece’s most notorious battle of the sexes, and Euripides' rumination on the question of whether th...

Love Dishonored in Euripides’ “Medea” (Part 5)

07 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin continue their discussion of Ancient Greece’s most notorious battle of the sexes, and Euripides' rumination on the question of whether th...

Love Dishonored in Euripides’ “Medea” (Part 4)

30 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin continue their discussion of Ancient Greece’s most notorious battle of the sexes, and Euripides' rumination on the question of whether th...

Love Dishonored in Euripides’ “Medea” (Part 3)

23 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin continue their discussion of Ancient Greece’s most notorious battle of the sexes, and Euripides' rumination on the question of whether th...

Love Dishonored in Euripides’ “Medea” (Part 2)

16 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin continue their discussion of Ancient Greece’s most notorious battle of the sexes, and Euripides' rumination on the question of whether th...

Love Dishonored in Euripides’ “Medea” (Part 1)

09 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Known for casting mythical heroes in human proportions, Eurpides has his hands full with Medea—homocidal sorcerous, granddaughter of the sun, and a ...

Love and Loneliness in “Arthur” (1981) – Part 2

02 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What is it about working class Linda Marolla, whom Arthur first encounters in the process of shoplifting a tie for her father’s birthday, that helps...

Love and Loneliness in “Arthur” (1981) – Part 1

26 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It’s awful being alone, according to millionaire playboy Arthur Bach, and nobody should be alone. And so he forestalls this feeling by getting drunk...

Courtly Reciprocity in “Laustic” and “Guigemar” by Marie de France (Part 2)

19 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin continue their discussion of two of Marie de France's most famous lais—”Laustic” and “Guigemar”—and how their narratives marry ...

Courtly Reciprocity in “Laustic” and “Guigemar” by Marie de France (Part 1)

11 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The lai, a short narrative poem from the Middle Ages that treats themes of courtly love, was originally accompanied by music and sung by minstrels. Bu...

Sight and Solitude in Le Samouraï (1967) by Jean-Pierre Melville (Part 2)

05 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin continue their discussion of Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1967 noir thriller “Le Samouraï,” and the surprising power of love to capture it...

Sight and Solitude in Le Samouraï (1967) by Jean-Pierre Melville (Part 1)

29 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jef Costello is a hit-man with airtight alibis, impeccable style, and a strict code of honor. Add to this a masterful ability to evade his pursuers, m...

“Notes from the Underground” by Fyodor Dostoyevsky: An Anatomy of Human Self-Destructiveness (Part 2)

22 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What is the cause of human self-destructiveness? Wes & Erin continue their discussion of “Notes from the Underground” and its agonized rumination ...

“Notes from the Underground” by Fyodor Dostoyevsky: An Anatomy of Human Self-Destructiveness (Part 1)

15 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What is the cause of human self-destructiveness? According to Dostoyevkys’s underground man, this “most advantageous advantage” is designed to s...

Staking Claims in “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” (1948) (Part 2)

08 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin continue their discussion John Huston’s 1948 classic, "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre."

Staking Claims in “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” (1948) (Part 1)

02 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It’s considered the definitive film on greed, a demonstration of just what the lust for gold can do to a man’s heart. Fred C. Dobbs starts out as ...

Psychedelic Regrets in “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (Part 6)

24 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Why do we rebel against our position within the natural world, even to the point of self-destruction? What is required to restore us? Wes & Erin conti...

Psychedelic Regrets in “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” Part 5

16 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Why do we rebel against our position within the natural world, even to the point of self-destruction? What is required to restore us? Wes & Erin conti...

Psychedelic Regrets in “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (Part 4)

11 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Why do we rebel against our position within the natural world, even to the point of self-destruction? What is required to restore us? Wes & Erin conti...

Psychedelic Regrets in “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (Part 3)

03 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Why do we rebel against our position within the natural world, even to the point of self-destruction? What is required to restore us? Wes & Erin conti...

Psychedelic Regrets in “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (Part 2)

27 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The ancient Mariner kills his Albatross with a carelessness that stands in stark contrast to his impulse for confession. For several days he and his s...

Psychedelic Regrets in “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

20 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The ancient Mariner kills his Albatross with a carelessness that stands in stark contrast to his impulse for confession. For several days he and his s...

Sins of Omission in “On the Waterfront” (1954) (Part 2)

13 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin continue their discussion of "On the Waterfront."

Sins of Omission in “On the Waterfront” (1954) (Part 1)

06 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Terry Malloy and his fellow longshoremen on the New York docks are witnesses to union corruption under labor boss Johnny Friendly, but won’t testify...

Consciousness Bemoaned in “Aubade” by Philip Larkin (Part 2)

29 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the medieval tradition of courtly love, the aubade inverts the serenade. Where one heralds an evening arrival, the other laments a morning departur...

Consciousness Bemoaned in “Aubade” by Philip Larkin (Part 1)

22 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the medieval tradition of courtly love, the aubade inverts the serenade. Where one heralds an evening arrival, the other laments a morning departur...

Identity and Infamy in “Citizen Kane” (1941) (Part 2)

15 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin continue their discussion of Orson Welles’s "Citizen Kane." Thanks to our sponsor for this episode, HelloFresh. Go to HelloFresh.com/su...

Identity and Infamy in “Citizen Kane” (1941) (Part 1)

08 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It’s a film bursting with objects—the treasure troves of Xanadu, a snowglobe, jigsaw puzzles, a winner’s cup, the famous sled. Even the conceptu...

Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” (Part 6)

25 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Part 6 of Wes & Erin's discussion of Shakespeare’s "The Winter’s Tale." Thanks to our sponsor for this episode, St. John's College. Learn more a...

Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” (Part 5)

18 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Part 5 of Wes & Erin's discussion of Shakespeare’s "The Winter’s Tale." Thanks to our sponsor for this episode, St. John's College. Learn more a...

Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” (Part 4)

11 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Part 4 of Wes & Erin's discussion of Shakespeare’s "The Winter’s Tale." Thanks to our sponsor for this episode, HelloFresh. Go to HelloFresh.com...

Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” (Part 3)

04 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Part 3 of Wes & Erin's discussion of Shakespeare’s "The Winter’s Tale." Thanks to our sponsor for this episode, St. John's College. Learn more a...

Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” (Part 2)

27 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Part 2 of Wes & Erin's discussion of Shakespeare’s "The Winter’s Tale." Thanks to our sponsor for this episode, St. John's College. Learn more a...

The Emptiness of Signification in Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” (Part 1)

20 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When King Leontes accuses his pregnant wife of adultery, the nobleman Antigonus assumes that Leontes has been “abused and by some putter-on”—in ...

(post)script: Post-Tryst (Woody Allen’s “Hannah and Her Sisters”)

13 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin continue their discussion of Woody Allen's "Hannah and Her Sisters." For bonus content, become a paid subscriber at Patreon or directly on ...

The Tyranny of the Good in Woody Allen’s “Hannah and Her Sisters”

06 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Hannah supports her sisters. She’s a source of money, encouragement, and advice, and seems to ask for nothing in return. In fact, she’s so giving ...

Odysseus and Penelope’s Comedy of Remarriage (“The Odyssey,” Postscript to Part 3)

30 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin conclude their discussion of "The Odyssey," with a focus on Odysseus and Penelope getting re-acquainted with each other in Books 19 and 23....

Terminal Wooings in “The Odyssey” (Part 3 of 3)

23 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin discuss the final 12 books of "The Odyssey." Having learned the lessons of the murder of Agamemnon, Odysseus does not rush straight home to...

Foolish Adventures in “The Odyssey” (Part 2 of 3)

25 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Wes & Erin continue their discussion of the Odyssey, translated by Emily Wilson. In this episode, part 2 of our 3-part series, they look closely at th...

Home as Identity in “The Odyssey”

28 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

He was famously a man of many ways, whether we interpret these as abilities or norms; designs or deceptions; reasons or identities. Yet despite such r...

Competing Affections in “The Lion in Winter”

31 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Before Henry VIII changed history for lack of a son, Henry II had too many. His eldest, Richard, a fierce soldier who controls the wealthy Aquitaine, ...