443 - Kale Zelden - There’s Still Time to Read the Great Books

Kale Zelden is a literature teacher and writer and in this video he joins me to discuss reading, the "Great books", and what it means to recover the reading tradition in a modern context. We talk about how to encounter old texts, what reading can contribute to our lives, and how to approach authors like Homer, Dante, and Shakespeare without reducing them to modern assumptions. We also explore the limits of the novel, modernism, postmodernism, irony, and the essential rediscovery of the epic.<br /><br />YouTube version: https://youtu.be/9zps7RIov44<br /><br />Kale’s Substack, The Underneath: https://kalezelden.substack.com/<br /><br />Join us at the Symbolic World Summit | May 14-16 | Ohio | Keynote speakers: Jonathan Pageau, Fr. Josiah Trenham, Mary Harrington, Dcn. Seraphim Rohlin, Kale Zelden, Annie Crawford, and Heather Pollington<br />Buy your tickets: https://symbolicworldsummit.com/ <br /><br />Learn more about Pavel Shchelin's phenomenal course on Plutarch, Live now: https://www.thesymbolicworld.com/courses/plutarch-symbolism-in-history<br /><br /><br />TIMESTAMPS<br />00:00 - Coming up<br />01:07 - Intro music<br />01:32 - Introduction<br />02:09 - The state of education<br />07:30 - First of all<br />10:47 - The power of analogy<br />13:11 - Select your curriculum<br />21:05 - What is canon?<br />33:24 - What are we moving towards<br />39:20 - Allegory<br />43:47 - What is modernism?<br />47:50 - Great books program<br />53:24 - What is the epic?<br /><br /><br />BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS DISCUSSION:<br />00:04:45<br /> Augustine — Confessions — Spiritual autobiography, early Christian thought<br /> Plato — Dialogues — Philosophy of truth, justice, knowledge<br /> Aristotle — (various works) — Ethics, logic, metaphysics<br /> Church Fathers — (various writings) — Foundations of Christian theology<br />00:06:20<br /> Anne Rice — (novels) — Modern popular fiction<br /> Shakespeare — (general works) — Foundational drama<br /> Beowulf — Anonymous — Old English epic poem<br />00:06:49<br /> Plato — Dialogues — Rediscovered philosophical texts<br />00:07:32<br /> Shakespeare — Hamlet — Tragedy of revenge and doubt<br /> Dante — Divine Comedy — Vision of Hell, Purgatory, Heaven<br /> Chaucer — Canterbury Tales — Medieval storytelling<br /> Mary Shelley — Frankenstein — Creation and responsibility<br /> Milton — Paradise Lost — Epic of the Fall<br />00:13:55<br /> Kerouac — On the Road — Modern freedom and experience<br /> Camus — (e.g. The Stranger) — Existential philosophy<br />00:14:31<br /> Homer — Iliad, Odyssey — Foundational epics<br /> Plato — Apology, Republic — Justice and philosophy<br /> Shakespeare —<br />Romeo and Juliet — Tragic love<br />Julius Caesar — Politics and betrayal<br />Macbeth — Ambition and guilt<br />A Midsummer Night’s Dream — Comedy and illusion<br />King Lear — Suffering and authority<br />Hamlet — Existential tragedy<br />The Tempest — Reconciliation<br />00:16:21<br /> Dostoevsky — Crime and Punishment — Guilt and redemption<br /> Dostoevsky — The Brothers Karamazov — Faith and morality<br />00:21:31<br /> Voyage of St. Brendan — Medieval Christian voyage<br /> Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius — Apocalyptic text<br /> The Golden Legend — Jacobus de Voragine — Saints’ lives<br />00:21:58<br /> Cervantes — Don Quixote — Satire of chivalry, early novel<br />00:22:51<br /> Jane Austen — Pride and Prejudice — Social psychology<br />00:23:59<br /> Milton — Paradise Lost — (revisited, epic psychology)<br />00:26:11<br /> Faulkner — (novels) — Fragmented modern storytelling<br />00:33:41<br /> C.S. Lewis — On Stories — Defense of story over psychology<br /> C.S. Lewis — Abolition of Man — Critique of modern values<br /> C.S. Lewis — Miracles — Defense of the supernatural<br />00:37:05<br /> Sondheim — Into the Woods — Modern fairy tale deconstruction<br />00:38:55<br /> Rabelais — Gargantua and Pantagruel — Satirical, playful text<br />00:44:06<br /> Melville — Moby-Dick — Epic-scale novel<br /> Hemingway — The Sun Also Rises — Modern disillusionment<br />00:49:42<br /> Ovid — Metamorphoses — Mythic transformations<br />00:46:13 (thinkers mentioned)<br /> Lyotard — Postmodern philosophy<br /> Derrida — Deconstruction<br /> Heidegger — Phenomenology<br />00:53:14<br /> Virgil — Aeneid — Roman epic<br /> Bible — (Moses narrative) — Epic of calling and suffering<br /><br />🔓 Become a patron to support us and unlock exclusive monthly symbolism content: https://thesymbolicworld.com/subscribe<br />💻 Website and blog: http://www.thesymbolicworld.com<br />🔗 Linktree: https://linktr.ee/jonathanpageau  <br />🎧 Listen to and review The Symbolic World podcast:<br />-Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0gI8bUwPtT3gkduHqNh6M5<br />-Apple podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-symbolic-world/id1386867488 <br />Our website designers: https://www.resonancehq.io/ <br />My intro was arranged and recorded by Matthew Wilkinson: https://matthewwilkinson.net/<br />