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Category: Features

Moby Dick: The Lee Shore, by Rockwell Kent

CR Episode 177: Moby Dick, Part III

29 May 2023 Critical Readings

The panel discusses chapters 16-25, with a particular attention to characterisation beyond Ishmael and Queequeg–particularly that of Peleg, Bildad, Elijah, and Bulkington–and to the overarching Old Testament Biblical influences upon the narrative.

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Moby Dick: The Sermon, by Rockwell Kent

CR Episode 176: Moby Dick, Part II

22 May 2023 Critical Readings

The panel reads chapters 5-15, with a special focus on the description and narrative use of religious symbolism and devotional practice, contrasting the Christian Ishmael and the pagan Queequeg to illustrate Ishmael’s welcoming, fraternal worldview.

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Herman Melville FEATURED

CR Episode 175: Moby Dick, Part I

15 May 2023 Critical Readings

The panel reads the prologues and first four chapters of Moby Dick, provides an overview of the publication history of the text, and discusses the character and reliability of the jocular, circuitous narrator, who commands the reader to ‘Call me Ishmael.’

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Helen of Troy and the Trojan War FEATURED

CR Episode 174: Shakespeare’s Lucrece, Part III

8 May 2023 Critical Readings

The panel concludes with an examination of Lucrece’s central role as a Shakespearean protagonist, addressing her attitude towards the conflict between Roman shame and the natural law, and how her speech is situated across historical contexts.

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