The Canon Ball

It’s an Intelligent Speech miracle! Not only will Daniel and Claude discuss Borges, Claude will also appear on a panel with Ray Belli of Words for Granted, Kevin Stroud of History of English, and Dan Morris of Tracing the Path on Lost Connections in Language and Literature. Claude’s part of the panel will entail a short consideration of the possible personal relationship between John Milton, Andrew Marvell, and John Dryden. So tonight we talk Marvell, a somewhat overlooked poet who was perhaps unfairly pigeonholed in the 20th century as a metaphysical. Can he give Donne a run for his money in the best of his poems? Sure! But there’s a lot more to consider… The Intelligent Speech Conference is THIS SATURDAY, April 24, starting at 10 AM EST (3 PM GMT)! For more information and to purchase tickets, visit intelligentspeechconference.com The Canon Ball is a member of the Agora podcast network. If you’re online check us out at thecanonballpodcast.wordpress.com, find us on Facebook @TheCanonBallPodcast, and on Twitter @CanonBallPod.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It’s that time of year again. The Intelligent Speech Conference is just around the corner! The theme this year is “Escape,” and out of sheer perversion Daniel and Claude are going to discuss the works of Jorge Luis Borges, a writer mostly known for writing tales involving inescapable intellectual mazes. Can Borges find a way out? Can Claude and Daniel? Come see us at Intelligent Speech and find out! Intelligent Speech is Saturday April 24th beginning at 10 AM EST (3 PM GMT). Tickets are $30 each, $20 if you register before March 24th. Use promo code “canon” for a special discount and to support the show! https://www.intelligentspeechconference.com/product/intelligent-speech-spring-2021/  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Dear Listeners: will you be our valentine? In this special romantic bonus episode, Claude and Dan take a look at the romantic poetry of John Donne. There is even more hidden meaning and beauty than just the superficial double entendres and suggestive verse. The Canon Ball mingles the erotic and the divine once again! Seems like a theme in the canon... The Canon Ball is a member of the Agora podcast network. If you’re online check us out at thecanonballpodcast.wordpress.com, find us on Facebook @TheCanonBallPodcast, and on Twitter @CanonBallPod.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Claude takes Dan back to school for a crash course in poetics. We take a dive into the structure and rhythm of poetry, how people who study poetry talk about it, and what the seasoned poetry reader should keep an ear out for. Learn to tell your iambs from your dactyls! The Canon Ball is a member of the Agora podcast network. If you’re online check us out at thecanonballpodcast.wordpress.com, find us on Facebook @TheCanonBallPodcast, and on Twitter @CanonBallPod.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We did it! Out of the Faustian Aristocratic Age fire and into pure, straight up, uncut romanticism by way of Lyrical Ballads, the joint production of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Did Lyrical Ballads break new ground? … no. Did it shatter the poetic norms of British poetry all at once, brushing stuffy aristocratic heroic couplet satires into the dustbin of history? … no. Did it incite a literary revolution, breaking down the barriers for entry into the domain of poetry for the common British subject? … no. But it still was a major watershed production in the history of poetry in English, and though we deflate some expectations on this preliminary background episode on the historical context of the book, we do still recognize that Wordsworth and Coleridge made a major intervention on the function and purpose of poetry. The Canon Ball is a member of the Agora podcast network. We’ve added a couple of great new shows to the network, like Pontifacts, a light hearted, only slightly blasphemous, papal history podcast that ranks the popes from Peter to Francis. And launching this month is Revolution 1, a podcast examination of the Tunisian Uprising and the Arab Spring that followed. If you’re online check us out at thecanonballpodcast.wordpress.com, find us on Facebook @TheCanonBallPodcast, and on Twitter @CanonBallPod.     See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This is it! The final two acts of Faust Part II! It’s the surprisingly straight-forward, if somewhat fragmented, acts IV and V of Goethe’s life’s work. Will Faust be saved? Yes! Will we applaud that fact? No! Will we get sidetracked with a disgusted and frustrated meditation on Faust’s proto-fascist designs and how those designs can be seen at work in the contemporary American culture of this the year of our lord 2020? Damn straight! But we do get to take a look back at where we’ve been in the podcast and try to wrap our heads around what we can take away from Bloom’s “Aristocratic Age” [Spoiler: Montaigne and Don Quixote]. The Canon Ball is a member of the Agora Podcast Network. If you like our show check out some of the others on the roster, such as Ten American Presidents. Join Roifield Brown as he explores the legacies and contexts of some of the more consequential occupiers of the White House. If you’re online check us out at thecanonballpodcast.wordpress.com, find us on Facebook @TheCanonBallPodcast, and on Twitter @CanonBallPod. And if you enjoy the show, please rate and review wherever you listen.    See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Boo! Did we scare you? Well, ‘tis the season. We’re back with an extra special bonus episode for Halloween on Poe, Freud, and “The Tell-Tale Heart.” The Canon Ball is a member of the Agora Podcast Network, and as part of our embrace of all things creepy in the month of October, the network has pooled much of its talent to produce a set of spooky episodes under the heading of Agoraphobia. Here’s a link to the first episode which features two Celtic themed horrors, with Ben Jacobs from Wittenberg to Westphalia talking on the Highland Clearances and Same Hume of Pax Britannica walking us through the Buggane. https://play.acast.com/s/theagorapodcastnetwork/agoraphobiammxx-ep.1-monsterofthehighlandclearances-buggane  And if you’re a fan of our show, check out our discussion of Ambrose Bierce and the origins of weird fiction. Here’s the link: https://play.acast.com/s/theagorapodcastnetwork/agoraphobiammxx-ep.2-theweirdfictionofambrosebierce And on episode 3 Raven from Tiny Vampires gets buggy with it and Claude offers a maybe too personal meditation on monsters and the Spanish baroque. https://play.acast.com/s/theagorapodcastnetwork/agoraphobiammxx-ep.3-gutted-monstermeditations There are going to be upcoming episodes from others in the Agora roster, so subscribe and listen and enjoy some not unreasonably researched chills. And here’s a link to a general conversation on the gothic we had last year that we reference in the episode: https://play.acast.com/s/theagorapodcastnetwork/agoraphobiaiv-ep.4-theraven-gothiclit- If you’re online check us out at thecanonballpodcast.wordpress.com, find us on Facebook @TheCanonBallPodcast, and on Twitter @CanonBallPod. And if you enjoy the show, please rate and review wherever you listen.    See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

And here we are with Faust Part 2, Act 3, in which Daniel and Claude make much of a little. The act may be short, but there’s a lot to say with a long digression on Byron.  The Canon Ball is a member of the Agora Podcast Network, and as part of our embrace of all things creepy in the month of October, the network has pooled much of its talent to produce a set of spooky episodes under the heading of Agoraphobia.  The first episode features two Celtic themed horrors, with Ben Jacobs from Wittenberg to Westphalia talking on the Highland Clearances, and Same Hume of Pax Britannica walking us through the Buggane: https://play.acast.com/s/theagorapodcastnetwork/agoraphobiammxx-ep.1-monsterofthehighlandclearances-buggane  If you’re a fan of our show, check out our discussion of Ambrose Bierce and the origins of weird fiction: https://play.acast.com/s/theagorapodcastnetwork/agoraphobiammxx-ep.2-theweirdfictionofambrosebierce And on Episode 3, Raven from Tiny Vampires gets buggy with it, and I offer a maybe too personal meditation on monsters and the Spanish baroque. https://play.acast.com/s/theagorapodcastnetwork/agoraphobiammxx-ep.3-gutted-monstermeditations There are going to be upcoming episodes from others in the Agora roster, so subscribe and listen and enjoy some not unreasonably researched chills. If you’re online check us out at thecanonballpodcast.wordpress.com, find us on Facebook @TheCanonBallPodcast, and on Twitter @CanonBallPod.  And if you enjoy the show, please rate and review wherever you listen.    See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ok, major sexual content warning on this one. And if that’s not going to get you to listen, we don’t know what will. We’re discussing the metaphysical ramifications of a floating, glowing, sentient jar of semen which must mean that we’ve made it to Act 2 of Goethe’s Faust Part 2. Come for the university humor (literally: Mephistopholes takes a whole scene out just to prank on a grad student), stay for the attempts (on the part of Goethe, not us) to conjure a realm of guilt-free pornography. And you thought the first act was weird… The Canon Ball is a member of the Agora podcast network. Check out some more shows on the network like Sam Hume’s Pax Britannica. It’s a narrative history podcast on the British empire, with the first season being an exploration of early English colonization and the upcoming second season centering on the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. And if after all this Walpurgisnacht stuff you’re still feeling itchy for witches, Sam also does the History of Witchcraft which covers the witch hysteria of the early modern period as well as an assortment of other spooky stuff all in an educational vein. If you’re online check us out at thecanonballpodcast.wordpress.com, find us on Facebook @TheCanonBallPodcast, and on Twitter @CanonBallPod. One last note: if you’re in the New York area and need reading and writing tutoring, or are interested in online tutoring, let us know. Claude has a tutoring business on the side and two kids, so he’s always looking for a few more clients. If you need some help, send an email to claudemoinc@gmail.com. We can also produce literary lectures on demand. I’m not entirely certain what situations would call for that, but for some quality literary infotainment hit us up!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We interrupt our Faust-a-palooza to bring you a sneak preview of our presentation for the upcoming Intelligent Speech Conference, a day-long virtual conference on June 27, featuring education and historical podcasters presenting on their fields of expertise. For all the details on how to attend, head over to https://www.intelligentspeechconference.com/  Ever get baffled by a high school English teacher who convinces you that you’ll never be able to understand the “hidden meanings” in poetry? Ever wonder why poetry’s so difficult? Ever wonder why there were no women poets or poets of color before the 20th century? On June 27 during our presentation for the Intelligent Speech Conference, we’ll tell you about why you’ve never heard of the most popular American poets of the 19th century (except maybe Longfellow). On this episode we’re covering Lydia Sigourney’s “Death of an Infant” (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52036/death-of-an-infant), Francis Ellen Watkins Harper’s “The Slave Mother” (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51977/the-slave-mother-56d23017ceaad), and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “The Day is Done” (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45896/the-day-is-done). We’ll also take a look at the opening lines of T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47311/the-waste-land) in order to get a handle on just what the sea change was between the 1800s and the early 1900s. If you want to hear the full story of the shift in poetics and the emergence of the modern canon, join us on June 27th at the Intelligent Speech Conference (sign up now at https://www.intelligentspeechconference.com/).  The Canon Ball is a part of the Agora podcast network. Please check out some of the other great shows on the network such as our new addition Black Wall Street 1921, a podcast chronicling the history and events before, during, and after the Tulsa race massacre. For more information go to https://www.blackwallstreet-1921.com/. If you’re online check us out at thecanonballpodcast.wordpress.com, find us on Facebook @TheCanonBallPodcast, and on Twitter @CanonBallPod. One last note: if you’re in the New York area and need reading and writing tutoring, or are interested in online tutoring, let us know. Claude has a tutoring business on the side and two kids, so he’s always looking for a few more clients. If you need some help, send an email to claudemoinc@gmail.com. We can also produce literary lectures on demand. I’m not entirely certain what situations would call for that, but for some quality literary infotainment hit us up!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Note: Due to technical difficulties, there's some interference and muffled audio on Daniel's side of the conversation but it shouldn't disrupt things too much. We'll make sure it's sorted out by the next episode. Some days you just want to pass out in a pleasant field and have all your major misdeeds wiped from existence. Welcome to the first act of Faust Part 2 in which the whole of Faust Part 1 is either negated or ignored. Will Faust find redemption? Is Gretchen damned? Who cares! There’s a new emperor in town and he wants to party and man is Faust lucky that this rowdy king is in need of a conjuror! Let’s ignore the ponderousness and follow Faust and Mephistopheles as they pull their P.T. Barnum act and put on a show. Join Daniel and Claude as they discuss how co-opted characters from Shakespeare absolve Faust at the outset, why Mephistopheles is so keen to switch the economy to paper money, and what exactly the Mothers are in terms of chthonic deities.  The Canon Ball is a member of the Agora Podcast Network. Be sure to check out some of the other shows on the network like Mid Atlantic, which looks at politics and current events in Britain and the US. Each show consists of American and British pundits reviewing and commenting on the most important US and British pieces of news that week with host Roifield Brown officiating. Find out more at midatlanticshow.com.  One more announcement: Last year Claude presented at Intelligent Speech, a conference for educational podcasters. The Canon Ball will be represented again this year, but this time both Daniel and Claude will be in attendance. In light of the current pandemic the conference will be online with approximately 40 of the best educational podcasters presenting in their fields. At any point there will be up to four different conference streams to choose from. There will also be solo presentations and a series of roundtable debates between podcasters; one of them, on the gains and losses of a historical understanding, will be moderated by Claude. A one-day pass for the conference is currently priced at $10. For more information on the conference visit www.intelligentspeechconference.com. Check us out online at thecanonballpodcast.wordpress.com, find us on Facebook @TheCanonBallPodcast, and on Twitter @CanonBallPod. One last note: if you’re in the New York area and need reading and writing tutoring, or are interested in online tutoring, let us know. Claude has a tutoring business on the side and two kids, so he’s always looking for a few more clients. If you need some help, send an email to claudemoinc@gmail.com. We can also produce literary lectures on demand. I’m not entirely certain what situations would call for that, but for some quality literary infotainment hit us up!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Listener, have you ever been violently ambivalent about a work? So overwhelmed by your lack of ability to come up with a sensible reading that you doubt your own ability even to take a side? Well, we have… So here’s Faust Part 1 part 2! Ummm… maybe put the kids to bed for this one. We get a little rowdy and very raunchy. But it’s not us, we swear! It’s Goethe making us contemplate the metaphysics of blueballing! In any case, if you have listeners under 18 or are listening to this in the office, maybe just put the headphones on. And if Goethe gets you interested in things Germanic beyond just the literary, check out what Travis and Pete get up to at Podcastnik.com. Podcastnik puts out the History of Germany, a podcast about… well, the history of Germany. They also produce the Youtube show Past Access and the podcast The Secret Cabinet, a personal favorite about some of the weirder aspects of history. You can find them at Podcastnik.com. If you’re online check us out at thecanonballpodcast.wordpress.com, find us on Facebook @TheCanonBallPodcast, and on Twitter @CanonBallPod. The Canon Ball is a member of the Agora podcast network. Check out some of the other shows on the network at Agorapodcastnetwork.com. One last note: if you’re in the New York area and need reading and writing tutoring, or are interested in online tutoring, let us know. Claude has a tutoring business on the side and two kids, so he’s always looking for a few more clients. If you need some help, send an email to claudemoinc@gmail.com. We can also produce literary lectures on demand. I’m not entirely certain what situations would call for that, but for some quality literary infotainment hit us up!    See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this very special episode of Space is the Place, we're thrilled to be joined by Pete Johannsen of the science fiction podcast Podside Picnic for a rough and ready outline of two centuries of SF history and a glance at some of the works we'll be reading during this series.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Well, we’ll be damned, it’s the first part of our dive into Goethe’s Faust. Technically this is part one of Faust Part 1. We cover everything from the three introductions to the beginning of the Gretchen plot. Essentially, this is the episode where we get bogged down in Goethe’s ontological/epistemological outlook, theological reconfiguration, and existential meditations. The pervy stuff comes next episode when we tackle the Gretchen plot. If you’re online check us out at thecanonballpodcast.wordpress.com, find us on Facebook @TheCanonBallPodcast, and on Twitter @CanonBallPod. The Canon Ball is a member of the Agora podcast network. Check out some of the other shows on the network at Agorapodcastnetwork.com. One last note: if you’re in the New York area and need reading and writing tutoring, or are interested in online tutoring, let us know. Claude has a tutoring business on the side and a newborn, so he’s always looking for a few more clients. If you need some help, send an email to claudemoinc@gmail.com. We can also produce literary lectures on demand. We're not entirely certain what situations would call for that, but for some quality literary infotainment hit us up!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this inaugural episode of the Canon Ball side project Space Is the Place, Daniel and G.G. take a look at the beginnings of science fiction with Jules Verne's From Earth to the Moon.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.