Cover image of SUBTEXT Literature and Film Podcast

SUBTEXT Literature and Film Podcast

SUBTEXT is a podcast about the human condition, and what we can learn about it from the greatest inventions of the human imagination: fiction, film, drama, poetry, essays, and criticism. Each episode,... Read more

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Friendship and Honor in “Becket” (1964)

Friendship and Honor in “Becket” (1964)

In Jean Anouilh’s 1959 play “Becket,” the titular character seems at first to be a Saxon collaborationist to the Norman ... Read more

3 Jul 2023

49mins

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Losing Your Head in Alice Munro’s “Carried Away”

Losing Your Head in Alice Munro’s “Carried Away”

Jack, a Canadian soldier recuperating in a European hospital during World War I, begins a correspondence with Louisa, th... Read more

5 Jun 2023

56mins

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Time and Taboo in “Back to the Future” (1985)

Time and Taboo in “Back to the Future” (1985)

In the parking lot of the Twin Pines Mall, Doc Brown plans to use his Delorean time machine to head 25 years into the fu... Read more

16 May 2023

51mins

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The Violence of Redemption in John Donne’s “Batter My Heart” (Holy Sonnet 14)

The Violence of Redemption in John Donne’s “Batter My Heart” (Holy Sonnet 14)

In “Holy Sonnet 14,” John Donne would like his “three person’d God” to break instead of knock, blow instead of breathe, ... Read more

10 Apr 2023

49mins

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Mortal Pretensions in John Donne’s “Death Be Not Proud” (Holy Sonnet 10)

Mortal Pretensions in John Donne’s “Death Be Not Proud” (Holy Sonnet 10)

A recusant Catholic turned Protestant, a rake turned priest, a scholar, lawyer, politician, soldier, secretary, sermoniz... Read more

13 Mar 2023

57mins

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Trauma and Repetition in Roman Polanski’s “Chinatown” (1974)

Trauma and Repetition in Roman Polanski’s “Chinatown” (1974)

Roman Polanksi’s 1974 film “Chinatown” seems to have little to do with its titular neighborhood, which is the setting fo... Read more

13 Feb 2023

48mins

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Better and Bested in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

Better and Bested in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

It’s a play full of contradictions, secrets, lies, and unspoken rules. It’s a play decidedly for adults, but about a chi... Read more

16 Jan 2023

59mins

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Pagan Poetics in “Sunday Morning” by Wallace Stevens

Pagan Poetics in “Sunday Morning” by Wallace Stevens

Wallace Stevens was an ungainly insurance executive, but his poetry is serene and secularly reverential. In particular, ... Read more

19 Dec 2022

1hr 14mins

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Production for Use in “His Girl Friday”

Production for Use in “His Girl Friday”

Before she settles down to life of homemaking, security, and insurance policies with Bruce Baldwin in Albany, star repor... Read more

21 Nov 2022

54mins

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Post-Doctoral Bedevilment in Christopher Marlowe’s “Dr. Faustus”

Post-Doctoral Bedevilment in Christopher Marlowe’s “Dr. Faustus”

Dr. Faustus expected more from his education. After a lifetime of study, his professional options—philosophy, medicine, ... Read more

24 Oct 2022

1hr 12mins

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