For this week's installment of our Short Story Summer Remix, we revisit a conversation Angelina and Cindy had covering George Orwell's essay "Why I Write." Our hosts kick off the discussion about how much they each identify with Orwell's description of his childhood. In his story of learning to write, we see many aspects of a good education, even his inclination to imitate other authors. An important point Angelina brings up is Orwell's own struggle against the calling he felt to write, in contrast to having an ambition to do so. Angelina brings up a related story about musician Gregory Alan Isakov, and Cindy reiterates the idea of why we need leisure in order to find our vocation.

Cindy and Angelina also bring out some of the qualities Orwell possessed that make a good writer. Maturity as a human being and as a master of a craft are crucial to certain forms of writing, as Orwell points out about his own work. Other topics of conversation include truth-telling in writing, the motives for writing according to Orwell, and the growing process of writers.

If you want to find replays of the 2019 Back to School online conference referenced in this episode, you can purchase them in Cindy's shop at MorningTimeforMoms.com. For replays of the How to Love Poetry webinar with Thomas, as well as all the current and upcoming classes at HHL you can find those at HouseofHumaneLetters.com.

Check out the schedule for the podcast's summer episodes on our Upcoming Events page.

And to view the full show notes for this episode, please visit our website at https://theliterary.life/336.

In this week's Short Story Summer Remix from Season 1, Angelina Stanford and Cindy Rollins discuss Guy de Maupassant's short story "The Necklace." Before getting into the short story discussion, Cindy and Angelina chat about what a "commonplace book" is and how they each go about recording quotes and thoughts.

First off, Angelina gives us a little background on the author Guy de Maupassant and some information on French naturalism. Then she digs into her thoughts on how this story is a fairy tale in reverse and what that might mean in context. Cindy points out the perfection of de Maupassant's writing and his economy of style. They also bring up some of the formal elements of the story, particularly the key role the reversal takes in the plot. The main themes they find in "The Necklace" touch on common human struggles with ambition, discontentment, loss, suffering and gratitude.

Check out the schedule for the podcast's summer episodes on our Upcoming Events page.

Sign up for the newsletter at HouseofHumaneLetters.com to stay in the know about all the exciting new things we have coming up!

Don't forget that you can find the full show notes for this episode at https://theliterary.life/335.

Today on The Literary Life, we continue our summer short story series of episodes from the archives. In this episode, Cindy Rollins and Angelina Stanford are joined by Angelina's husband, Thomas Banks. This week's selection for our summer series is Joseph Addison's "The Adventures of a Shilling."

Their conversation kicks off with an attempt at defining the "essay" form and giving a brief history on its development. Thomas shares a little background information on Joseph Addison and his writing, as well as several other essayists who came before and after Addison. Thomas also talks about why essays are a significant part of his reading life. The conversation also spins off into a discussion of the importance of how we spend our leisure time.

Finally, our hosts chat about this week's essay, which gives highlights of England's history from the perspective of a silver coin. Addison's tale is full of humor and satire, as well as layers of social commentary and pathos.

For the full show notes on this episode, including book links, quotes, and today's poem, please visit https://theliterary.life/334.

If you want to connect more with Cindy, you can visit MorningTimeforMoms.com. You can also check out Angelina and Thomas' current classes and summer events at HouseofHumaneLetters.com.

Check out the schedule for the podcast's summer episodes on our Upcoming Events page.

This week on The Literary Life, we continue our Summer of the Short Story replay series. On today's episode, Cindy and Angelina discussed Katherine Mansfield's short story "The Garden Party." They start with how Cindy found this story and the connections she was making to Little Women. Angelina gives a brief biographical sketch of Katherine Mansfield and highlights how Mansfield's own illness and death give us insight into how she deals with death in this story. Angelina walks us through how she looks at the use of figurative language and images, such as the Garden of Eden. They also touch on "The Garden Party" having the same structure of moving toward a moment of epiphany that we saw in "Araby."

Cindy brings up the disconnect between the world of the women at home and the working people outside the home, as well as between the classes in this story. They talk about the importance of Laura's new hat as a symbol of one type of person she can become. Another image that Angelina and Cindy take a look at is the descent from the garden into darkness. They discuss the parallels from the beginning of the story and the end of the story, as well as Laura's movement from innocence to experience, from blindness to sight.

Keep up to date on the current classes and offerings from both Cindy and Angelina by visiting their websites, MorningTimeforMoms.com and HouseofHumaneLetters.com. Also, for the full show notes on this episode, head over to our podcast page at https://theliterary.life/333.

On The Literary Life today we continue our re-airing of a series from our "Summer of the Short Story" that originally aired way back in Season 1 of the podcast! This week's episode features Angelina Stanford and Cindy Rollins discussing G. K. Chesterton's essay "A Defence of Penny Dreadfuls."

Angelina opens with a brief history of the Victorian era and the more prevalent availability of the novel to the masses. She also gives several examples of the "penny dreadful." Cindy and Angelina discuss why they agree with Chesterton that people need these simple, even formulaic stories. They remind us that childhood is a time for good books, not a time to worry about reading all the "Great Books."

Another topic that Cindy and Angelina chat about is the importance of developing imagination. They talk about the truth that fiction and story-telling are necessary parts of human culture. Cindy highlights the importance of the heroic adventure stories for boys. Angelina brings out the point that the elite critic is out of touch with the masses who long for stories of good winning over evil. The penny dreadful should not be judged as art, since that was never what it was intended to be.

If you want to find replays of the 2019 Back to School online conference referenced in this episode, you can purchase them in Cindy's shop at MorningTimeforMoms.com. You can also find out about all the current classes and summer events happening at HouseofHumaneLetters.com.

For the full show notes on this episode, please visit https://theliterary.life/332.

This week on The Literary Life we begin revisiting a series from our "Summer of the Short Story" that originally aired way back in Season 1 of the podcast! Today we return to Episode 11, in which Angelina and Cindy enjoyed a discussion of the short story "Araby" by James Joyce.

Delving into "Araby," Angelina talks about the history and development of the short story form. Cindy gives a little of her own background with reading James Joyce and why she loves his short stories. Angelina and Cindy also discuss the essential "Irishness" of this story and all the tales in The Dubliners. Angelina walks us through the story, highlighting the kinds of questions and things we should look for when reading closely. Themes discussed in this story include: blindness and sight, light and darkness, romanticism, religious devotion, the search for truth, money, courtly love, and the knight's quest.

If you want to find replays of the 2019 Back to School online conference referenced in this episode, you can purchase them in Cindy's shop at MorningTimeforMoms.com. You can also find out about all the current classes and summer events happening at HouseofHumaneLetters.com.

Check out the schedule for the podcast's summer episodes on our Upcoming Events page.

View the complete show notes for this episode at https://theliterary.life/331.

This week on The Literary Life Podcast, our hosts seek to answer your questions about reading ancient literature. Angelina and Thomas and joined by their colleague, Dr. Anne Phillips, and together they cover some of the most frequently asked questions about diving into the ancients, including the following:

• Which epic should a person start with, and why?
• How should kids be introduced to the epics?
• What is a good place to begin reading the Greek dramatists?
• Where to begin becoming familiar with Greek myth?
• Where should someone start to dip into ancient history?
• What if a person wants to read ancient philosophy?

Don't forget to check out everything going on over at HouseofHumaneLetters.com to stay up to date on all the upcoming new summer classes and webinars. Also, you can visit Cassiodorus Press to order Dr. Jason Baxter's newest books, and get on the email list so you don't miss any publication news!

Finally, if you want to view the full show notes for this episode, including links to books and authors mentioned, as well as today's poem and quotes, please visit https://theliterary.life/330.

On today's episode of The Literary Life, our hosts Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks are joined by Jenn Rogers for a new discussion of "On Fairy Stories" by J.R.R. Tolkien. After sharing some opening commonplace quotes, Jenn gives us background and context for how "On Fairy Stories" comes to us today. She talks about the conversations being had by Tolkien and other philologists and folklorists that set the stage for this essay. Angelina highlights the idea of the Tree of Tales and its importance to understanding all of literature. Other topics they discuss together include sub-creation, the soup of story, the real versus the ordinary, recovery and escape, plus so much more!

Don't forget to check out everything going on over at HouseofHumaneLetters.com to stay up to date on all the upcoming new summer classes and webinars, including Heather Goodman's May webinar on Mary Poppins.

To view the full show notes for this episode, please visit https://theliterary.life/329.