The Spouter-Inn; or, A Conversation with Great Books

Plato's philosophical dialogue about love (and catty drinking parties).

Homer’s epic poem about war and anger. (And family?)

Geoffrey Chaucer's narrative poem Troilus and Criseyde.

Dick Davis, translator of Layli and Majnun, The Conference of the Birds, and other Persian poetry.

Nezami Ganjavi's 12th century poem, Layli and Majnun (also known as Layla and Majnun).

Mark Sundaram and Aven McMaster from The Endless Knot on etymology.

Isidore of Seville's medieval encyclopedia, The Etymologies.

The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius.

The erotic/devotional poetry of The Song of Songs.

Sophocles's play Antigone.

The ancient Mesopotamian poem The Epic of Gilgamesh.

We are joined by poet and scholar Sassan Tabatabai, who translated Blind Owl.

Sadeq Hedayat's hauting novel Blind Owl.

Bernadette Mayer's book-length poem Midwinter Day.

T.S. Eliot's poem The Waste Land on its 100th birthday.

Suzette Haden Elgin's feminist science-fiction novel Native Tongue.

Writer and artist Jared Pechaček joins in a discussion of Tolkien's The Two Towers.

The second part of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

Louise Fitzhugh's children's novel Harriet the Spy.

Ralph Ellison's novel is, among other things, a portrait of New York City.

James Joyce’s novel takes place in a single day in Dublin.

Virginia Woolf's novel takes place in a single day in London.

Artist Sandow Birk joins us to discuss his work on the Divine Comedy and the American Qur'an.

The final section of Dante’s Divine Comedy.

W.G. Sebald's curious book The Rings of Saturn.

Augustine's autobiography reckons with time itself.

Frantz Fanon’s essay collection, on colonialism’s effects on the psyche.

Lee Maracle’s book, subtitled “A Native Perspective on Sociology and Feminism”.

The Hereford Mappa Mundi is a medieval map of the world — what does it mean to “read” it?

Watchmen, the comic book by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

Melissa Moreton, codicologist, joins us to discuss an exhibit at the Aga Khan Museum that Suzanne co-curated.

Virginia Woolf’s genre-bending novel Orlando.

Daniel Heath Justice, author of the books "Badger" and "Raccoon", on animals in literature and in real life.

E.B. White’s children’s novel, Charlotte’s Web.

Medievalist and fanfiction scholar Anna Wilson puts Marian Engel's Bear in new contexts.

Marian Engel’s controversial but classic novel Bear.

Farid ud-Din Attar’s medieval poem The Conference of the Birds.

Oriana Schwindt (from Tolkien podcast By-The-Bywater) on The Fellowship of the Ring.

The first part of J.R.R. Tolkien’s foundational fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings.

Robin Wall Kimmerer’s collection of essays about botany and Indigenous knowledge.

Medievalist Nahir I. Otaño Gracia joins us to talk about Laxdæla Saga and other Icelandic sagas.

The medieval Icelandic Laxdæla Saga, also known as The Saga of the People of Laxárdalr.

Eli Clare’s memoir and call to activism, Exile and Pride.

Mart Crowley’s groundbreaking 1968 play about gay lives.

Poems by Andrew Marvell and John Donne.

Luther Obrock, scholar of Sanskrit poetry, joins us to talk about the Mahabharata and read from the Bhagavad Gita.

An enormous Sanskrit epic of ancient India, which includes the Bhagavad Gita.

Samuel R. Delany's memoir/theoretical tract about sex and the city.

Shamma Boyarin, assistant professor at the University of Victoria, joins us to discuss Petrus Alfonsi's Disciplina Clericalis.

Petrus Alphonsi’s twelfth-century collection of aphorisms and (often salacious) short stories.

Director Loretta Todd on her feature film adaptation of Eden Robinson’s Monkey Beach.

Eden Robinson’s debut novel is a coming-of-age story that has elements of horror and magic realism, but is deeply rooted in the writer’s own Indigenous Haisla and Heiltsuk culture.

Karla Mallette, scholar of medieval Mediterranean literature, on Dante’s Purgatorio.

The second part of Dante’s Divine Comedy, Purgatorio.

George Perec's curious novel braids together a story of a sport-obsessed island with an autobiographical attempt to remember a childhood haunted by loss.

We’re joined by David Hadbawnik, poet, translator, and scholar, to talk about his exciting translation of the Aeneid.

Virgil’s epic poem about the founding of Rome (and a day of sports on the beach).

C.L.R. James's book discusses cricket, but it's also an autobiography, an analysis of colonialism, and an inquiry into aesthetics.

We check in with more friends to ask how the months of social isolation and the recent activism against police violence are affecting them and their reading habits.

William Makepeace Thackeray massive novel about two intertwined lives: sweet and pure Amelia Sedley, and cunning and manipulative Becky Sharp.

Lee Maracle, author of Memory Serves, joins us to discuss Great Expectations (and much more).

Charles Dickens's novel about a young blacksmith’s apprentice who is unexpectedly given the means to become a gentleman of leisure.

Jess Henderson recently led a virtual reading group on Emma, so we asked her to join us to share some hot takes.

Jane Austen’s novel about a young woman determined to use her powers of matchmaking to do a little good in the world.

Checking in during the early days of the pandemic.

Giovanni Boccaccio’s collection of 100 short stories told during a plague.

Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi, Professor of History and Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto, on Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis and modern Iran.

Marjane Satrapi's comics memoir about growing up in Tehran during the Iranian Revolution.

Upton Sinclair’s 1906 novel takes place around the slaughterhouses of Chicago.

We talk with Lesley S. Curtis about Stella, Émeric Bergeaud’s allegory of the Haitian Revolution and the first Haitian novel.

C.L.R. James’s history of the Haitian Revolution.

Memory Serves is a challenging and compelling collection of oratories by author, activist, and Elder of the Stó:lo Nation Lee Maracle.

Toni Morrison's difficult and stunning novel Beloved.

Roald Dahl’s classic work of children’s literature.

Irina Dumitrescu is a professor of medieval literature at the University of Bonn, but she also has a secret life as a food essayist.

M.F.K. Fisher’s book about food, written during World War 2.

Simone de Rochefort from Polygon joins us to share her enthusiasm for Hemingway.

A Moveable Feast is Ernest Hemingway’s memoir of being a young and often hungry writer surrounded by the writers, artists, and waiters of 1920s Paris.

Liza Blake, Margaret Cavendish scholar, joins us to give a bit more context to The Blazing World and its glittering glories.

A philosophical flight of fancy by Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle.

Abu Bakr ibn Tufayl’s novel is a curious philosophical thought experiment from twelfth-century al-Andalus.

Writer, podcaster, and personal trainer Michael Collins joins us to talk about his favourite book, George Eliot's Middlemarch.

We begin our cluster on Philosophical novels with Middlemarch, George Eliot’s massive and masterful “study of provincial life”.

Emily Wilson, professor and translator of the Odyssey, joins us to discuss the art of translation.

Homer's epic poem about a long sea voyage.

Professor Steve Mentz emerges from the Atlantic to discuss The Tempest, blue humanities, and what happens when you consider the ocean's perspective.

One of William Shakespeare’s last plays—and one of his most curious.

Virginia Woolf’s novel about two days separated by ten dramatic yers.

Medievalist and Moby-Dick fan Damian Fleming joins us to keep the conversation going about this great book.

Herman Melville’s massive book about obsession, encyclopedia of whale facts, and unexpected love story.

The Autobiography of Malcolm X (as told to Alex Haley) remains a powerfully written book.

Peter Coviello, author of Tomorrow’s Parties: Sex and the Untimely in Nineteenth-Century America, joins us to talk about Walt Whitman and Leaves of Grass.

Celebrate Walt Whitman’s 200th birthday with the book of poetry that he kept writing, revising, and expanding throughout his life.

Sarah Chamberlain, host of the Canadian horror movie podcast A Part Of Our Scare-itage, joins us to talk about the many movie adaptations of Frankenstein.

Mary Shelley’s novel about a scientist and his creation.

Anthony Oliveira is host of The Devil’s Party, a podcast that has been slowly and lovingly working its way through Paradise Lost. He joins us to talk about Milton's epic poem.

John Milton’s epic retelling of the Biblical tale of Adam and Eve.

The first section of Dante’s Divine Comedy offers a tour of Hell.

Gertrude Stein recounts early twentieth-century life in Paris.