Phi Fic means Philosophical Fiction. Each episode, we have a candid dicussion on a heady work of of fiction, full of SPOILERS. Join host Nathan Hanks and readers Cezary Baraniecki, Daniel St. Pierre, Laura Davis, and Mary Claire, plus the occasional guest.
https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/phifipodcast/Repost_Phi_Fic_12_Stories_by_James_Baldwin.mp3Podcast (phi-fi-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:37:51 — 89.8MB) Join us with Mark Linsenmeyer in a previous discussion on two short stories by James Baldwin: “This Morning, This Evening, So Soon” and “Sonny’s Blues.” Both are included in the collection Going to meet the Man (1965). This is an unprecedented and critical time to listen to this remarkable man. For the first Continue Reading …
PhiFic #34 The Canterbury Tales-Part One
https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/phifipodcast/Canterbury_Part_1_A.mp3Podcast (phi-fi-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:14:44 — 85.5MB)It happened in that season that one day In Southwark, at The Tabard, as I lay Ready to go on pilgrimage and start For Canterbury, most devout at heart, At night there came into that hostelry Some nine and twenty in a company Of sundry folk happening then to Continue Reading …
PhiFic #33 Repost: The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster
http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/phifipodcast/Repost_The_Machine_Stops_720p_Phi-Fic_edit.mp3Podcast (phi-fi-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:24:03 — 88.7MB)We are Reposting our Discussion on The Machine Stops by EM Forster because The Machine is stopping. Stay Safe! ‘Cannot you see, cannot all you lecturers see, that it is we that are dying, and that down here the only thing that really lives is the Machine? We created Continue Reading …
Phi Fic #32 Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/phifipodcast/TENDER_IS_THE_NIGHT.mp3Podcast (phi-fi-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:42:14 — 117.2MB)There was some element of loneliness involved—so easy to be loved—so hard to love. -Tender is the Night This episode we are reading Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Reflected upon by Ernest Hemingway: “…in retrospect, Tender is the Night gets better and better,” which came a Continue Reading …
Phi Fic #31 Sula by Toni Morrison
Because each had discovered years before that they were neither white nor male, and that all freedom and triumph was forbidden to them, they had set about creating something else to be.
Phi Fic #30 One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Márquez Part 2
We also discuss the themes which Nathan, Laura, Jennifer and Daniel each found to be what resonated most: the circularity of time, memory, loss, humanity, and the caution the novel leaves us with about living life.
Phi Fic #29 (Part 1 of 2) One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Cezary Baraniecki, Laura Davis, Nathaniel Hanks, Daniel Johnson, and Jennifer Tejada. In this episode, we discuss the classic Latin American novel by Gabriel Garcia Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude.
Phi Fic #28 A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Join Cezary Baranieckli, Laura Davis, Nathaniel Hanks, Daniel Johnson, and Jennifer Tejada, as we all struggle with what is defined as truly “evil”.
.
I see what is right and approve, but I do what is wrong.
-A Clockwork Orange
Phi Fic #27 Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust
Join Cezary Baranieckli, Laura Davis, Nathaniel Hanks, Daniel Johnson, and Jennifer Tejada, as we spend a very long (and with audio issues) episode deconstructing and being reshaped, by our reading of this unspeakably remarkable novel.
Phi Fic #26 The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster
Cezary Baraniecki, Laura Davis-Chanin, and Nathaniel Hanks are joined again by the irrepressible Dan Johnson and Jennifer Tejada as we explore this fascinating and prescient story!
Phi Fic #25 “At the Mountains of Madness” by H. P. Lovecraft
“I could not help feeling that they were evil things—mountains of madness whose farther slopes looked out over some accursed ultimate abyss.”
Join Nathan and Laura, with Mark Linsenmayer, Daniel Johnson, and Jennifer Tejada, as we follow H.P. Lovecraft up the Mountain and discover where true madness lies!
Hear more Phi Fic discussions at PhiFicPodcast.com.
PhiFic #24 “Ulysses” by James Joyce
Every life is in many days, day after day. We walk through ourselves, meeting robbers, ghosts, giants, old men, young men, wives, widows, brothers-in-love, but always meeting ourselves. –Ulysses
For our discussion of this historically difficult but wholly worthwhile classic, Nathan, Laura, and Daniel are joined by Phillip Cherny. It was recorded for our original Not School group, long before that group evolved into a podcast.
Hear more Phi Fic discussions at PhiFicPodcast.com.
Phi Fic #23 “To The Lighthouse” by Virginia Woolf
This discussion first appeared in our Not School Group and the readers at the time were Nathan, Laura, Daniel, and Dan Johnson. As an early recording, please bear with the sound quality—many thanks!
Hear more Phi Fic discussions at PhiFicPodcast.com.
Phi Fic #22 “Mrs. Dalloway” by Virginia Woolf
Listen as Dylan Casey from The Partially Examined Life Podcast joins us to discuss this remarkable novel, in which many scholars believe Woolf found her voice. Written in a stream of consciousness, the plot of the book is written inside the souls, struggles. and angst of the characters.
Phi Fic #21 “Foe” by J.M. Coetzee
Join us as we delve into Coetzee’s rich, complex exploration of story and authorship in this novel that presents an origin story of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. Coetzee writes about Susan Barton, a castaway at sea who discovers an island inhabited by two men, Robinson Crusoe and Friday. Once rescued, she seeks the renowned author Daniel Defoe to help tell her story, but struggles to communicate her experiences.
Hear more Phi Fic discussions at PhiFicPodcast.com.
Phi Fic #20 “Lord Jim” by Joseph Conrad
It is my belief no man ever understands quite his own artful dodges to escape from the grim shadow of self-knowledge. –Lord Jim
Listen along as we discuss this richly complex novel of responsibility, guilt, shame, and redemption.
Hear more Phi Fic discussions at PhiFicPodcast.
Phi Fic #19 “Death in Venice” by Thomas Mann
To rest in the arms of perfection is the desire of any man intent upon creating excellence… –Death in Venice
Join us for our discussion of the extraordinary novella of beauty, desire, and morality.
Hear more Phi Fic discussions at PhiFicPodcast.
Phi Fic #18 “The Trouble with Being Born” by E.M. Cioran
“This very second has vanished forever, lost in the anonymous mass of the irrevocable. It will never return. I suffer from this, and I do not. Everything is unique—and insignificant.” –Emil Cioran
Join us as we dive into this beautiful work of nonfiction (yes, we veered from the path a bit) and luxuriate in the charmingly dismal prose of one of life’s master skeptics.
Hear more Phi Fic discussions at PhiFicPodcast.
Phi Fic #17 “Invisible Cities” by Italo Calvino
“The inferno of the living is not something that will be; if there is one, it is what is already here, the inferno where we live every day, that we form by being together. There are two ways to escape suffering it…”
Hear more Phi Fic discussions at PhiFicPodcast.
Phi Fic #16 Stories by Clarice Lispector
Our chinwag this time concerns two works by the remarkable Clarice Lispector, the novella The Hour of the Star and the short story “The Departure of the Train.”
Hear more Phi Fic discussions at PhiFicPodcast.