Saturday Show #91: Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (+ Lecture on THEME)

Summary: On this episode of the podcast, Professor Jim gives a fascinating lecture on theme. Also, a member-submitted story is discussed. Pull quote: “William Shakespeare’s entire canon is concerned with the pathos of the irretrievability of time.” Discuss.<br> Listing of topics discussed and approximate time stamps are below:<br> 0:00 Podcast Teaser<br> 0:17 <a href="http://amzn.to/1yo6ho0" title="ie" target="_blank">Infinite Ending</a> Advert<br> 0:53 Podcast Intro<br> 1:46 Professorial lecture about THEME, including structures for academic papers, approaching arguments, different kinds of themes, differentiation from repitition, eating pizza, getting drunk, famous writer aura, messing with the students’ heads, the smaller something is being harder to write, an award-winning micro-fiction short story involving a hairbrush, Hair Jewelry, opening doors, meaning, Mick Jagger, differentiating kinds of theme, OVERT theme, Sideways, wine, motif, symbol, SUBTLE theme, William Shakespeare, the pathos of the irretrievability of time, theater and literary professors, two layers of subtle theme, Huckleberry Finn and symbols, Charles Bukowski, POLITICAL theme, 1984 by George Orwell, MESSAGE, the moral of the story, Clint Eastwood, racism, government interference into small business, science fiction, universal ideas, difference between philosophy and science, the ending of 1984, embracing Big Brother, ORGANIC theme, author didn’t mean to do it, least contrived kind of theme, the Jewish intellectual community literary movement, Seize the Day by Saul Bellow, Malamud, Ernest Hemingway, The Matrix, Midnight in Paris, Fight Club, Sigmund Freud, book vs. movie, Chuck Pahlaniuk, Nietzsche, Memento, scene where he pays a hooker to dress like his wife and play with a hairbrush, Joey Pants, monkey stories, Identity, Guy Pierce, Inception, Borgias, Labyrinths, Christopher Nolan, Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Eyes Wide Shut, Stanley Kubrick, Oliver Stone, the theme of masks, Minority Report, free will vs. determinism, Being John Malkovich, The Orchid Thief, Adaptation, creative plots that open up themes, Gran Torino, porno, Jesus, Ayn Rand, Natural Born Killers, American History X, Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Fountainhead, Objectivism, Christian philosophers, On the Road by Jack Kerouac, and the problem of representation.<br> 1:08:29 Group discussion of member-submitted story, including fiction vs. non-fiction, style, content, thematic elements, curmudgeon as main character, line editing errors, author authority, A Renegade History of the United States by Thaddeus Russell, stream of consciousness writing and flow, details doing work, male members, hating parties, being good at being drunk, marriage, universalized themes, political themes, love story, character, back story, and potential dialectics. <br>