Mouse Book Club

Our Guest in this episode is Professor Emily Austin from the University of Chicago, and author of Grief and the Hero: the Futility of Longing in the Iliad.

Our guest for this episode is Professor Stanley Fish, who became one of the world's leading scholars of the work of John Milton upon the publication of Surprised by Sin: The Reader in Paradise Lost in 1967. His scholarly work on Milton is collected in the 2001 book How Milton Works. He has also solidified himself as one of the formidable public intellectuals of the last fifty years.   SHOW NOTES How to accidentally becoming a world-class expert on Milton [2:00] A bracing description of how the character of Satan works [4:30] Viewing Satan after realizing you've been duped [12:30] Milton's techniques for describing the indescribable [16:23] Paradise Lost as a presentation of the political and cultural conflicts [20:28] Introducing George Herbert: champion of stringency of thought [27:00] The core challenge of cultural literacy in the 21st century [30:50] An individual's intimate and immediate relationship to liberty [37:42] Inner versus worldly prosperity. Achieving the paradise within [41:50]

GUEST  William Cook is Professor of History, SUNY Geneseo (Retired). Professor Cook earned his PhD in History from Cornell and taught Medieval History for 42 years, lecturing and writing on Dante extensively for a variety of different audiences. Bill now runs the William Cook Foundation which provides educational opportunities in low resource communities.   SHOW NOTES Profound lesson from teaching Dante to murderers [2:15] Overcoming the bitterness of factionalism [5:15] Dante's identity and the bygone Roman Empire [12:30] Hearing the Italian and breaking down structure [17:45] Good translations and don't get lost in the notes  [20:30] Free Will understanding who you are [23:00] The journey of conversion [26:50] Finding your place in the Divine Comedy [33:15] Plug for the great work of the Bill Cook Foundation [37:00]

Guest:  Emily Austin is Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of Chicago, and author of Grief and the Hero: the Futility of Longing in the Iliad. Her area of expertise is emotion in the ancient world.   Show Notes:  Greek concepts of Hell [3:45] Repeating patterns of grief giving rise to anger [5:30] Digging into the character of Odysseus [14:20] Alice Oswald's Memorial as powerful excavation of Homer [16:450 Contemporary echoes of Electra [18:00] Jonathan Shay on Homer, PTSD, and Vietnam [20:00]   Professor Austin's Odyssey translation recommendation:  Robert Fitzgerald  

Guest: Lori Ginzberg is Professor of History and Women, Gender and Sexual Studies at Penn State University. Professor Ginzberg is the author of numerous books and articles on the history of the Suffrage movement, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton: An American Life.   Show Notes: Below are the topics covered in this conversation (with time stamps).  National Parks Service Suffrage Centennial WEBSITE [2:50] Context from which demand for women's rights emerged [5:15] Founding myths of the Suffrage Movement [8:00] Confronting brutal facts of commemoration as a feminist killjoy [10:30] Caty Stanton's disastrous, degrading racism [16:00] Stanton's hostility to the clergy manifest in the Women's Bible [22:15] The real question: what is the commemoration, really? [28:10] What would Caty Stanton think of Universal Health Care? [29:24] Suffrage today: contemporary efforts to suppress the vote [34:47] First steps down the path of advocating women's rights? [40:40]   Further Reading: Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All by Martha Jones Recasting the Vote: How Women of Color Transformed the Suffrage Movement by Cathleen D. Cahill Unceasing Militant: The Life of Mary Church Terrell by Alison Parker It's All About Love by Bell Hooks The Myth of Seneca Falls by Lisa Tetrault