Robert-Louis Abrahamson - Podcast Details

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$Dante\'s Paradiso$ Dante's ParadisoConversation: The Sphere of Venus, with Robert-Louis AbrahamsonA conversation about the main topics and purpose of the Third Sphere in Dante's Paradiso - the Sphere of Venus. We'll meet the souls of Carlo Martello, Cunizza, and Bishop Folchetto, and explore the themes of mercy, forgiveness, love, spiritual growth, and the transition out of the earthly shadow into the higher Divine realms from the Sun and beyond.We'll also discuss different forms of love, and how self-management of your soul can shape reality, your relationsships, and transform your perception of the world.Hosts are Richard Emerson, and English Professor Robert-Louis Abrahamson....2023-12-091h 07 $Dante\'s Paradiso$ Dante's ParadisoConversation: The Sphere of Mercury, with Robert-Louis AbrahamsonA Conversation about the Sphere of Mercury in Paradiso, and how the Transcendent and Divine Truth is shining through the bigger scales of Empires, Civilizations and Humanity at large.One of the main arguments in the Second Sphere is that on a cosmic scale, Humanity is a young species with a very recently emerged self-awareness, moral capacity, and Free Will. And over the longer time spans, we need to align both spiritually and with our Institutions and Civilizations with the Transcendent Good and Truth, argues Beatrice.Hosts are Richard Emerson and English Professor Robert-Louis Abrahamson.2023-12-081h 13 $Dante\'s Paradiso$ Dante's ParadisoConversation: The Sphere of the Moon, with Robert-Louis AbrahamsonA Conversation about the Sphere of the Moon in Paradiso, with some of the main themes and the idea of transformation of perspective and experience of Being. With English Professor and Podcaster about Dante, Robert-Louis Abrahamson.Robert-Louis Abrahamson is Emeritus Professor in English for the European Division of the University of Maryland, and he studied at Amherst College, University of Edinburgh and Rutgers University. Born in Philadelphia, he later moved to England in the 1980s and currently lives in the market town of Oundle, not too far from Cambridge, where he is the chairman of the Cambridge...2023-12-071h 07

Evening under Lamplight PodcastMigration AnnouncementI’m Robert-Louis Abrahamson, here to thank you for all your support over the past few years of Evening under Lamplight Podcasts. We have had over 14,000 attendances, which is a pretty good number. Today I want to let you know that the Evening under Lamplight Podcasts are migrating to Substack, an impressive platform that I’ve been following for many years, and now I’m joining it. To continue to receive our podcasts, or to access older ones, you will need to sign in to the Substack URL https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/1205469.rss. Just click the ne...2023-01-0701 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 3.21 Stevenson's Fables, "The Clockmaker"After an interval, we finish Series 3 with the twenty-second and final fable from the collection of Robert Louis Stevenson. "The Clockmaker" is the odd story of a civilisation of microbic creatures that parallels ours in many ways, and gives us a new, and comic perspective on our human limitations.2021-07-2526 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 4.18, Dante's Purgatorio 18More about love, and free will, and then the rushing crowd of those who'd been slothful, coming past so fast that Dante can hardly catch what's being said.2020-11-0500 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 4.17.2, Dante's Purgatorio 17We see the final rituals as Dante leaves the Terrace of Anger and then comes to a stop at the Terrace of Sloth, while Virgil gives us a lesson on the ways love goes wrong. [This is a re-posting after the previous posting contained an audio error.]2020-11-0500 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 4.17, Dante's Purgatorio 17We see the final rituals as Dante leaves the Terrace of Anger and then comes to a stop at the Terrace of Sloth, while Virgil gives us a lesson on the ways love goes wrong.2020-11-0300 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 4.16, Dante's Purgatorio 16We spend the canto in the dark, suffocating smoke of the terrace of Anger, and get an answer to the big question of why the world is so evil.2020-10-2700 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 4.15, Dante's Purgatorio 15More on Envy, and sharing, and then the rise up to the level where Anger is cleansed, with an internal video about meekness (which is not what you thought meekness meant). And then a very dark ending to the canto.2020-10-2300 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 3.20, Stevenson's Fables: "The Song of the Morrow"The masterpiece of the Fables, an eerie, haunting fairy tale about a "king's daughter" and her discovery of "the thought for the morrow" and "the power upon the hour".2020-10-2000 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 3.19, Stevenson's Fables: "The Tadpole and the Frog"Just two lines, a put-down by the rebellious teenager against the disapproving adult.2020-10-1900 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 3.18, Stevenson's Fables: "The Four Reformers"Four reformers discuss how to change the world. The conclusion is startling, but it makes good sense when we stop and think about it.2020-10-1800 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 3.17, Stevenson's Fables: The Persons of the TaleLong John Silver and Captain Smollett take a break between chapters of Treasure Island, and discuss the nature of life (or is it all just a fabrication by some "Author"?) and the morality of playing your part well.2020-10-1800 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 4.14, Dante's Purgatorio 14We eavesdrop on a conversation, which turns into a blast against current-day Italian wickedness, with Dante getting a few words in here and there. Dante is coming to the end of his stay on the region where Envy is healed, and is ready to head to the next level.2020-10-1700 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 4.13, Dante's Purgatorio 13Dante and Virgil arrive at the place where repentent souls cleanse themselves of the sin of envy, that sin that wants to see everyone else hurt so it can feel safe - safe, but still miserable. But the soul Dante meets proves herself well on the way to healing, graceful and self-aware.2020-10-1500 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 3.14, Stevenson's Fables: The Devil and the Innkeeper & The PenitentTwo short fables in one podcast this time, both addressing in typical sardonic fashion the problem of making too much of our guilty feelings.2020-10-1000 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 4.10, Dante's Purgatorio 10We're at the first terrace of Purgatory, and before we really get to see much of the souls suffering for pride, we first move along a gallery of carvings in the rock face, illustrating famous, and perhaps challenging, examples of humility.2020-10-0800 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 4.9, Dante's Purgatorio 9It's night; Dante has a dream. And he wakes up in a strange new place - just the place he wants to be, the Gate through which he'll begin his real journey up the mountain. But there's a ritual he must undergo before crossing the threshold.2020-10-0700 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 3.13, Stevenson's Fables: "The Touchstone"The elder son of a king rides off to win a princess's hand by finding the stone that will reveal all truth. But do the others really want the truth?2020-10-0400 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 3.12, Stevenson's Fables: "Something in It"We have a vivid Polynesian fable today, or fairy tale, or myth - but a myth that is disrupted in an odd way.2020-10-0400 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 3.11, Stevenson's Fables: "The Distinguished Stranger"A distinguished visitor arrives on earth, and is given a tour by a "great philosopher". The Stranger innocently (naively?) treats everything like a person; the philosopher sees the world in abstract, scientific terms. It's all very polite, up to a point.2020-10-0300 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 4.8, Dante's Purgatorio 8It's time for the big show just before the night closes in, but other people also appear to attract Dante's attention. And there is a meaningful change up in the starry sky.2020-10-0300 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 4.7, Purgatorio 7Dante is sidelined for a while as Virgil and Sordello talk about merit, and discuss the way no one in this region has the will to progress when it's night. And since it's soon going to be night, Sordello proposes to show them a nice place they can spend the night in: the Valley of the Princes. They go there and Sordello points out several of the rulers sitting together in the valley.2020-10-0117 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 4.6, Dante's Purgatorio 6We start with a game of dice, move on to more talk (perhaps evasive) about prayer, meet a new character, and get a bitter and sustained diatribe against the state of affairs in Dante's Italy.2020-09-3023 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 3.10.2 Stevenson's Fables, "The House of Eld", supplementHere's a bit more about "The House of Eld" - the poignant biographical details that lie behind this story.2020-09-2808 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 3.10 Fables, "The House of Eld"A Gothic fairy tale, as the young lad goes on a quest to correct the cruel injustices of society, and succeeds - but at what cost?2020-09-2823 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 3.9, Stevenson's Fables: "The Yellow Paint"A kind of fairy tale, though not like any fairy tale you've ever heard before, addressing the smug confidence of controlling religious leaders, though there's no direct reference to religion - that's what makes it a fairy tale, I suppose.2020-09-2618 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 4.5, Purgatorio 5Here are those who died a violent death, turning away from their selfish deeds only at the very last minute. This gives us the chance to hear accounts of some vivid and moving moments after a battle - an aspect of warfare we very seldom pay attention to.2020-09-2322 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 4.4, Dante's Purgatorio 4Dante exhausts himself after his first effort of climbing up the mountain, but meets an old friend, whose laziness contrasts with Dante's exertions.2020-09-2216 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 3.8 Stevenson's Fables, "The Cart-Horses and the Saddle Horse"A short beast fable set in Samoa, exposing snobbery that leads to ironic misconceptions.2020-09-2008 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 4.3, Dante's Purgatorio, Canto 3Dante and Virgil meet up with a new group of souls, who seem to act like sheep in a flock as they let go of the impulse to act individually and get used to being part of a community.2020-09-2029 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 3.7, Stevenson's Fables: The Man and His FriendA complex, and bitter, fable about naively misplaced trust, and its consequences.2020-09-1911 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 3.6, Stevenson's Fables: The Citizen and the TravellerA very short fable about provincial pride, inflated egos, and a fatal lack of tactfulness.2020-09-1807 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 4.2, Purgatorio 2Dante and Virgil meet a shipload of new souls coming to the mountain, one of whom is an old friend of Dante's. There is singing, and beauty, and a rush to the mountain at the end.2020-09-1617 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 3.5, Fables: The Scientific ApeA longer fable, addressing the controversy between science and morality, or head and heart - a bitter but comic tale in the manner of Jonathan Swift.2020-09-1613 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 4.1, Purgatorio 1We begin Series 4 as we follow Dante and Virgil as they come up to and ascend Mount Purgatory, a story dramatising what we do when we cleanse ourselves of the stains within us. Come along: the scenery is beautiful, the encounters are striking, the wisdom resonates. And we can do it together as we read/listen. In Canto 1 we meet the mysterious figure of Cato, their first encounter, the Guardian of the Gate.2020-09-1624 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 3.4, Stevenson's Fables: "The Two Matches"A short, timely fable, about devastating fires in California (back in 1879), and about how projecting our fears onto the future can keep us from any kind of action.2020-09-1418 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 3.3, Stevenson's Fables: The Sick Man and the FiremanHere's another fable about thinking too much in a time of crisis, but it also expands into a consideration of just what makes each of us valuable and worthy of compassion. But watch out: there's another unexpected and perhaps disturbing ending here.2020-09-1110 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 3.2, Stevenson's Fables: The Sinking ShipHere is a short drama, set aboard a ship at sea, the men on board facing certain death as the ship sinks. What do they do in such a crisis? The unexpected climax has absurd, Zen overtones.2020-09-0812 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastSeries 3.1, Stevenson's Fables: The ReaderWe begin a series of podcasts featuring the Fables of Robert Louis Stevenson, odd, biting, little tales, or dramas. "The Reader" aims at narrow-minded readers who are ready to dismiss anyone whose views do not match theirs. (You can make the contemporary applications yourself.)2020-09-0213 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 34We come to the end of the journey through Hell, the final stage: no encounters, but a sight of the Devil himself, enormous and hideous, with no intelligence at all. And then the long climb back out to the fresh air, and the stars.2020-07-1521 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 33The two final encounters with damned souls, and two of the most gruesome and weird stories on the whole journey.2020-07-0920 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 32Here we are at the bottom of Hell, a frozen lake, only the heads of the traitors down here appearing up out of the ice. And nothing but malice, both towards themselves and towards everyone else. It's a bad way to live, but it can make for an interesting story line.2020-07-0919 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 31It's the transition from Fraud to Treachery, and Dante and Virgil have to pass through a ring of giants, requesting the least hostile of them to give them a lift down to the next level.2020-07-0417 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 30We come to the end of the Circle of Fraud, in a confused, insane, inhuman chaos of disease and rancour - deceit and malice just dumped down here.2020-07-0322 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 29Now we come to the final ditch of Fraud, featuring the falsifiers, and featuring diseases of various kinds. In this canto we see the alchemists who claim to be able to falsify material, turning it from one thing to another - a kind of genetic modification? The other three kinds of falsifiers will have to wait till the next canto.2020-07-0115 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastThe Tempest, Act V, Scene 1.6The conclusion of the play, in which Prospero can be a model of gracious ageing, and we are given the power to bless and dismiss the whole show.2020-07-0112 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastThe Tempest, Act V, Scene 1.5Further reconciliations, including Prospero and his dark side, an essential integrating healing.2020-07-0111 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastThe Tempest, Act V, Scene 1.4The lovers are "discovered", lovingly playing a game of chess, of all things. Father and son are reconciled, and the engagement gets official blessings.2020-07-0112 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastThe Tempest, Act V, Scene 1.3The big confrontation, with some resolution, some uncertainty, and a build-up of suspense.2020-06-2908 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastThe Tempest, Act V, Scene 1.2More about forgiveness and freedom, as we rapidly head to the conclusion of this Revenge Comedy.2020-06-2908 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastThe Tempest, Act V, Scene 1.1Here we come to the climax of the play, which turns everything around.2020-06-2908 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 28A very bloody ditch for those who encouraged others to shed blood. Come along with us if you dare.2020-06-2715 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 27Probably the most fascinating story within the Inferno. We hear Guido da Montefeltro's inside story about how he, who prided himself in his cleverness, tried to trick his way into heaven and was tricked out of heaven by the Pope himself. (This pope, Boniface VIII, is the real villain of the poem.)2020-06-2624 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 26Here's the famous episode where Dante hears from Ulysses, wrapped in a quivering flame, who describes his final "mad flight" into the unknown, and forbidden, world, and there meets his doom.2020-06-2421 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastThe Tempest, Act IV, Scene 1.3The farcical adventures of Caliban and his confederates, drunk, trifling, and deceived by Prospero's "trumpery".2020-06-2208 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastThe Tempest, Act IV, Scene 1.2Here's the big spectacle of the play: a Masque, formal and ornate, a mythic celebration of the marriage between Ferdinand and Miranda.2020-06-2213 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastTempest, Act IV, Scene 1.1The lovers are formally engaged, and get ready for a spectacular performance to celebrate and bless their upcoming marriage.2020-06-2210 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 25The second part of the horror story of the ditch of thieves, the most spectacular canto in the Inferno.2020-06-1816 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 24We enter the horrible ditch of the thieves. If you get the creeps from snakes, you might want to be on your guard. But don't run away: there's a fascinating incident here.2020-06-1716 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastThe Tempest, Act III, Scene 3A scene with magic spectacle and guilt, and triumph for Prospero. But his plans are not finished.2020-06-1509 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastThe Tempest, Act III, Scene 2A drunken scene, an inept plot to overthrow Prospero, some other nasty business, and some etherial magic. On the surface, a simple, comic moment in the play, but a closer look shows a few deeper aspects here.2020-06-1510 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastThe Tempest, Act III, Scene 1The beautiful love scene in the middle of the play, where the world beyond becomes irrelevant as they declare their love.2020-06-1509 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 23Dante and Virgil flee from the demons of corruption and slide down into the doleful ditch of the hypocrites, for the next round of surprises.2020-06-1217 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 22We're now in the middle of the public corruption episode, where you can't trust anyone, and the sin sticks to them all.2020-06-1113 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 21Canto 21 begins an extended episode about public corruption, a sin both horrible and, in an odd way, comic. And because we're in the region of fraud, there's a lot to say about whom to trust and whom to be suspicious of.2020-06-1119 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastThe Tempest, Act II, Scene 2And now for some comic relief, a comic, or perhaps pathetic version of the insubordination theme.2020-06-0909 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastThe Tempest, Act II, Scene 1We watch the King and his nobles to see how they are faring on the island, and there's conspiracy and insubordination here, very cleverly dramatised.2020-06-0910 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastThe Tempest, I, 2.4The final section of the second scene of the play, in which the two lovers meet for the first time, and are charmed in different ways, always overseen by Prospero, and his magic, who wants to stir things up and make sure things don't go too smoothly.2020-06-0708 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastThe Tempest, I, 2.3We are now introduced to Caliban, and our sympathies are challenged as we watch Prospero, Miranda, and Caliban together on the stage.2020-06-0709 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 20It's a twisted canto: twisted bodies and twisted knowledge. 2020-06-0313 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 19At the third ditch of the circle of fraud, we meet a former Pope, now positioned head-first into a hole in the ground, his feet and legs exposed, and kicking in pain because there are flames of fire playing back and forth on the soles of his feet. What has he done wrong? He used the sacred things of the Church to make money for himself. That's called simony, and he's called a simoniac.2020-06-0320 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 18We're now at the half-way point in the Inferno, and we'll spend the whole rest of the poem looking at the various forms of Fraud, the sin that destroys all social cohesion, a sin that we'll all recognise in our world, of course. First, then, we meet the pimps and seducers, and then the flatterers.2020-06-0119 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastThe Tempest, I, 2.2We're on the second part of Act I, Scene 2, and meet Ariel, the tricksy spirit who is Prospero's stage manager and technical crew. We learn more about the magic behind the tempest, and more about Prospero's relationship with his agent Ariel. 2020-05-3112 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastThe Tempest, I, 2.1We move on to the opening part of Scene 2 of Act 1, shifting from the storm we'd just witnessed to a behind-the-scene account of what was behind the storm, setting things up for the revenge Prospero is planning for his enemies, watching the father-daughter interplay as he explains all this to Miranda, and her response. Many questions here, as we move more deeply into the plot of The Tempest.2020-05-3014 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastThe Tempest, Act I, Scene 1We begin a new series of Evening under Lamplight Podcasts with a series on Shakespeare's play The Tempest. Here is the first episode, on the startling, action-filled, chaotic opening scene.2020-05-2918 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 17We've come to the end of Violence, at the spot where it begins to merge into Fraud, with the presence of the hybrid monster who will take Dante and Virgil down, down, into what will face them next.2020-05-2616 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 16Here at Canto 16 we become overwhelmed with the roar of a waterfall, while three august figures from the generation before Dante try to steer him in the wrong direction. We are almost out of the region of Violence - but the final, and worst region remains: Fraud.2020-05-2217 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 15We come next in The Inferno to Brunetto Latini, a writer and public servant whom Dante reverse, but who is here with those who were violent against Nature, specifically for his sexual sin, but really - as we explore - for something much deeper, much more problematic.2020-05-2117 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 14We're now at Canto 14, the first of three cantos describing those who are Violent against God, nature, and art - a place of flames of fire descending above, onto a vast plain of sand, which is catching fire from the flames coming down. We focus in on one huge man, stretched out on the ground, defying God, proclaiming that these flames aren't hurting him: "You can't make me cry!" What's going on here? Come along and explore this with us.2020-05-2016 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 13In Canto 13 we find ourselves in an eerie, dead forest, and meet those who have been violent to themselves, and to their property, who are suffering surreal and horrible fates.2020-05-1522 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 12Here is the psychological state of being violent towards other people - and this can range from mass murder and genocide all the way down to making fun of someone you don't like for having buttoned his shirt the wrong way today. Your blood boils, and you keep yourself in a violent state with all the backstories you tell yourself.2020-05-1516 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 11Canto 11, one of the shortest cantos in The Inferno, provides a rest from the action, as Virgil explains to Dante what they're about to face as they enter down into Lower Hell, the area of malice, the intentional desire to harm others. 2020-05-1017 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 10Here, just inside the walls of the Inner City of Hell, Dante finds the souls of the heretics, boxed in with their own limited vision of reality, almost comic in the absurd way they mistake what's going on around them. Dante learns here more, perhaps, than he wanted to.2020-05-0819 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 9In Canto 9, we encounter the Furies, we just miss being turned to stone by Medusa, we are saved by a heavenly presence, and we move on into enemy territory - the Inner City of Hell. What do we find there first? 2020-05-0514 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 8In Canto 8 we come face to face with anger, and then are stopped by over a thousand hostile demons blocking the entrance into the lower regions of Hell.2020-04-3016 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 7We come to Canto 7, where we encounter two groups of sinners: those who took money to an extreme, and those whom anger conquered. We also learn about Fortune, who controls the distribution of worldly goods.2020-04-2917 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 6We come to Circle Three of the Inferno, the disgusting home of the gluttons.2020-04-2819 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 5, part 2More about the circle of the Lustful, and the seductive Francesca.2020-04-2513 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 5, part 1We come to the Circle of the Lustful - and beware of whom we trust around here!2020-04-2518 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 4Come with Dante to the First Circle of Hell, the region of Limbo, where we see the souls of the dead who have been good, but not good enough, and it's not really their fault. It's not an unpleasant place to be, but it's not Heaven.2020-04-2215 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 3 (part 2)We continue the discussion of Dante's first encounters in Hell: the puny souls blindly rushing behind a nameless flag, representing most of the people who have ever lived, who have done nothing with their lives; and the fearful souls waiting to be ferried across the river. And why does Dante faint at the end of the canto?2020-04-2010 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 3 (part 1)In Canto 3 we encounter the hard words written over the Gate of Hell, and then enter into the Infernal Regions. First Dante encounters those souls who never made any choices in life, just following what drew them along, and now we see them doing this in an exaggerated and gruesome way. And we come to the River Acheron, where the newly dead souls wait to be transported over the river where they will then fall down through the levels of Hell into their final place of torment. The discussion of this canto is continued in the second part of...2020-04-2019 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 2Dante pulls back from the journey into Hell, thinking he's not qualified to survive such an enterprise, but Virgil tells him of the three saintly ladies whose concern for him provides all the qualifications he needs. And we examine the way we can shift from cowardice to courage.2020-04-1618 min

Evening under Lamplight PodcastDante's Inferno, Canto 1The first episode in a series of talks bringing to life Dante's Inferno, that great journey through Hell and all he sees there. We begin with Dante lost in a dark wood, and explore what it means to be lost, to lose control, to be stuck in the middle of things, and we get introduced to Virgil, who will guide Dante (and us) down through the nine circles of Hell.2020-04-0912 min