Great Books Podcast
Great Books Podcast – Series 2 – 2023
In the year commemorating the 400th anniversary of the legendary William Shakespeare’s First Folio, the Ramsay Centre is proud to pay its own tribute to the great bard – with the release of a new podcast series dedicated to exploring four iconic Shakespeare plays.
The 2023 Ramsay-Campion Great Books Podcast series – Shakespeare – comprises eight podcasts, focusing on the plays King Lear, Othello, Julius Caesar, and Twelfth Night (or What You Will).
These four works are some of Shakespeare’s most performed and admired plays and will expose listeners to some of the remarkable range of genres Shakespeare mastered, through two tragedies, a comedy, and a Roman play.
Available via this website and the Campion College website, or via Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Buzzsprout.
To subscribe to this podcast, copy and paste the URL below into the podcast app of your choice.
Reference Books:
- William Shakespeare King Lear
- William Shakespeare Othello
- William Shakespeare Julius Caesar
- William Shakespeare Twelfth Night (or What You Will)
Podcasts:
Ramsay – Campion Great Books Podcast: Episode 1 Shakespeare’s King Lear – Part 1
Dr Stephen McInerney, Dr Kishore Saval, Professor Renée Köhler-Ryan
Description:
Welcome to the 2023 Ramsay – Campion Great Books Podcast Series.
The series commences with the first of two conversations on Shakespeare’s King Lear – the story of a King who abdicates his throne and divides his kingdom between his two oldest daughters while disavowing his most devoted daughter, Cordelia.
In this podcast Dr Stephen McInerney, Director of the Centre for the Study of the Western Tradition at Campion College is joined by Dr Kishore Saval, Senior Lecturer in the Western Civilisation Program at ACU, together with Professor Renée Köhler-Ryan, National Head of the School of Philosophy and Theology at the University of Notre Dame Australia.
In this conversation, we explore the meaning of “nothing”, the meaning of tragedy and what it means to be brought to tears and speechlessness by a work of art. The conversation ends with a cliff-hanger…
Ramsay – Campion Great Books Podcast: Episode 2 Shakespeare’s King Lear – Part 2
Dr Stephen McInerney, Dr Kishore Saval, Professor Renée Köhler-Ryan
Description:
Welcome to the 2023 Ramsay – Campion Great Books Podcast Series.
The series continues with the second of two conversations on Shakespeare’s King Lear — the story of a King who divides his kingdom between two sinister daughters while disinheriting and disavowing the daughter who is most devoted to him.
In this podcast Dr Stephen McInerney, Director of the Centre for the Study of the Western Tradition at Campion College is joined by Dr Kishore Saval, Senior Lecturer in the Western Civilisation Program at ACU, together with Professor Renée Köhler-Ryan, National Head of the School of Philosophy and Theology at the University of Notre Dame Australia.
This conversation opens on the cliff’s edge, with Edgar (‘Poor Tom’) and his father, Gloucester. It explores what it means for a child to realise his parent is no longer an authority figure, that the parent has in fact become like the child, and the child like the parent. In addition, we explore the often conflicting meanings of the concept of Nature in the play, why mothers are absent from the play, and why Lear goes mad.
Ramsay – Campion Great Books Podcast: Episode 3 Shakespeare’s Othello – Part 1
Dr Stephen McInerney, Dr Colin Dray, Dr Kishore Saval
Description:
Welcome to the 2023 Ramsay – Campion Great Books Podcast Series.
The series continues with the first of two conversations on Shakespeare’s Othello, the story of a general who, under the influence of the villain Iago, becomes convinced that his wife has been unfaithful to him and so murders her, only to realise he’s made a terrible mistake.
In this podcast Dr Stephen McInerney, Director of the Centre for the Study of the Western Tradition at Campion College is joined by Dr Colin Dray, Lecturer in Literature at Campion College together with Dr Kishore Saval, Senior Lecturer in the Western Civilisation Program at Australian Catholic University.
In this conversation, the presenters focus on the difference between tragedies of fate and tragedies of character, why it is that Othello listens to Iago, and the problem of trying to ascertain a character’s true motivation.
Ramsay – Campion Great Books Podcast: Episode 4 Shakespeare’s Othello – Part 2
Dr Stephen McInerney, Dr Colin Dray, Dr Kishore Saval
Description:
Welcome to the 2023 Ramsay – Campion Great Books Podcast Series.
The series continues with the second of two conversations on Shakespeare’s Othello – the story of a general who kills his wife, having become convinced of her infidelity, only to realise he’s made a terrible mistake.
In this podcast Dr Stephen McInerney, Director of the Centre for the Study of the Western Tradition at Campion College is joined by Dr Colin Dray, Lecturer in Literature at Campion College, together with Dr Kishore Saval, Senior Lecturer in the Western Civilisation Program at Australian Catholic University.
In this conversation, the presenters consider the role of women in the play, and in particular Desdemona’s position as one of the most challenging female characters in Shakespeare’s entire body of work. We then explore how the action of the play collapses inward, from the broad field and high seas of war to a particular home, a particular chamber, and a particular bed, the scene of murder. We conclude with a consideration of Iago and the enigma of evil.
Ramsay – Campion Great Books Podcast: Episode 5 Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar – Part 1
Dr Stephen McInerney, Dr Colin Dray, Dr Kishore Saval
Description:
Welcome to the 2023 Ramsay – Campion Great Books Podcast Series.
We turn now to Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Julius Caesar, the story of Julius Caesar’s downfall, the demise of his assassins and the rise of Mark Antony.
In this podcast Dr Stephen McInerney, Director of the Centre for the Study of the Western Tradition at Campion College is joined by Dr Colin Dray, Lecturer in Literature at Campion College, together with Dr Kishore Saval, Senior Lecturer in the Western Civilisation Program at Australian Catholic University.
In this episode we ask: What motivates the conspirators and how are our sympathies towards different characters determined simultaneously by Shakespeare’s language and by the assumptions we bring to the play? Should we side with the conspirators or Caeasar, and why? And how do we manipulate language not only to convince others of the justness of our actions but to convince ourselves? We consider all of these other questions in light of the framing question: Is this really Caesar’s tragedy or Brutus’s?
Ramsay – Campion Great Books Podcast: Episode 6 Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar – Part 2
Dr Stephen McInerney, Dr Colin Dray, Dr Kishore Saval
Description:
Welcome to the 2023 Ramsay – Campion Great Books Podcast Series.
We continue our discussion on Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Julius Caesar, the story of Julius Caesar’s downfall, the demise of his assassins and the rise of Mark Antony.
In this podcast Dr Stephen McInerney, Director of the Centre for the Study of the Western Tradition at Campion College is joined by Dr Colin Dray, Lecturer in Literature at Campion College, together with Dr Kishore Saval, Senior Lecturer in the Western Civilisation Program at Australian Catholic University.
We begin this episode with a discussion of the two contrasting speeches made to the crowd by Brutus and Mark Antony in the immediate aftermath of Caesar’s assassination. Why do subtle nuances and differences of language, and a speaker’s sense of occasion, have such a dramatic influence over the crowd? How does Mark Antony create a shared space with the crowd, and how does he say what he is not supposed to say while maintaining plausible deniability? Why is Mark Antony’s poetic utterance more effective in persuading the crowd than Brutus’ prose speech?
Ramsay – Campion Great Books Podcast: Episode 7 Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (or What You Will) – Part 1
Dr Stephen McInerney, Dr Colin Dray, Dr Kishore Saval
Description:
Welcome to the 2023 Ramsay – Campion Great Books Podcast Series.
“If Music be the food of love, play on…” We turn now to Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (or What You Will), a romantic comedy with tragic undertones, about the glories and vagaries of love, mistaken identity, fulfillment and loss.
In this podcast Dr Stephen McInerney, Director of the Centre for the Study of the Western Tradition at Campion College is joined by Dr Colin Dray, Lecturer in Literature at Campion College, together with Dr Kishore Saval, Senior Lecturer in the Western Civilisation Program at Australian Catholic University.
In this episode we consider a range of topics, including narcissistic love, the blurred and porous boundaries between the self and the other, and whether desire is something we ‘hunt’ or by which we are hunted. What are the comic and possibly tragic results of the disguises we adopt, for ourselves and others? And what are the consequence for someone who desires but is not desired in turn.
Ramsay – Campion Great Books Podcast: Episode 8 Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (or What You Will) – Part 2
Dr Stephen McInerney, Dr Colin Dray, Dr Kishore Saval
Description:
Welcome to the 2023 Ramsay – Campion Great Books Podcast Series.
“If Music be the food of love, play on…” We turn finally to Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (or What You Will), a romantic comedy with tragic undertones, about the glories and vagaries of love, mistaken identity, fulfillment and loss.
In this podcast Dr Stephen McInerney, Director of the Centre for the Study of the Western Tradition at Campion College is joined by Dr Colin Dray, Lecturer in Literature at Campion College, together with Dr Kishore Saval, Senior Lecturer in the Western Civilisation Program at Australian Catholic University.
In this last episode of the series we look closely at the first interaction between Olivia and Viola, in Act 1 Scene 5 and go on to explore a series of questions, including: How do our disguises (such as Viola’s in pretending to be a young man) sometimes reveal more of our true desires than our ‘everyday’ selves, and allow the inner self to come forth? And what are the comic and possibly tragic results of the disguises we adopt, for ourselves and others?
Panel:
Host: Dr Stephen McInerney
Stephen McInerney is Senior Lecturer in Literature and Director of the Centre for the Study of the Western Tradition at Campion College, Sydney. Part of the original faculty at Campion, he has taught across the entire literature curriculum offered by the College. From 2017-2021, he was a member of the Executive of the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation, first as Executive Officer and then Academic Director and Deputy CEO, and continues part-time at Ramsay as Academic Consultant. Representing the Ramsay Centre, he has been part of scholarship selection panels at the University of Queensland, the University of Wollongong and Australian Catholic University, and has also served on the Ramsay Postgraduate Scholarship selection panel. His published works include The Enclosure of An Open Mystery: Sacrament and Incarnation in the Writings of Gerard Manley Hopkins, David Jones and Les Murray (Peter Lang, 2012) and two volumes of poetry, In Your Absence (2002), chosen by Les Murray as a Times Literary Supplement ‘Book of the Year’, and The Wind Outside (2016).
Dr Colin Dray
Dr Colin Dray is a Lecturer in Literature at Campion College of the Liberal Arts, and author of the novel Sign (Allen & Unwin, 2018). He has a PhD in English from the University of Sydney, where his thesis offered an interdisciplinary study in English Literature and Language Philosophy, and his research interests include the Australian poets Gwen Harwood and J.S. Harry. Previously he has taught Creative Writing Prose at the University of Wollongong. His writing has appeared in Meanjin, Ginninderra Press, Australian Literary Studies, and Antipodes.
Prof Renée Köhler-Ryan
Professor Renée Köhler-Ryan is a philosopher by training and is the National Head of the School of Philosophy and Theology at the University of Notre Dame Australia. Her research interests are in Aesthetics, the thought of St. Augustine, and twentieth-century personalism. Her first philosophical love is Plato and her most recent monograph publication is Companions in the Between: Augustine, Desmond, and their Communities of Love (2020). She is preparing publications on the Catholic imagination in the thought of St. Augustine, and Edith Stein’s essays on Woman.
Dr P. Kishore Saval
Dr P. Kishore Saval is Senior Lecturer for the Bachelor of Arts (Western Civilisation) at ACU. He has a PhD from Harvard University and a J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law.
Among other appointments, Dr Saval was an assistant professor of Comparative Literature at Brown University, where he taught many of the great tragic, lyric, epic, and prose works of European culture in the Greek, Latin, Italian, French, Spanish, and English traditions.
His principal areas of research include the relationship between literature and philosophy, and the multidisciplinary contexts of Renaissance literature.
Dr Saval has published widely on literature from Aeschylus to the present day. He is the author of two books, Reading Shakespeare through Philosophy (Routledge, 2014), and Shakespeare in Hate (Routledge, 2016). He has also published several articles, including ‘Shakespeare and Leibniz: Julius Caesar and the Baroque’ (Arcadia, 46.1), and ‘Hatred and Civilisation in the Oresteia’ (Social Research, February 2018). Among other projects, his current research studies the relationship between Shakespeare and metaphysics.