Sydney, Thursday 15 September 2022: Interested in exploring the Great Books of the Western Canon but don’t know where to start? In need of guidance to help you through some of the most challenging passages within the texts so that you can appreciate and enjoy them?
To encourage more people to engage with these profound works, which bring the ancient world into conversation with our modern world, the Ramsay Centre is proud to launch the Ramsay-Campion Great Books Podcast series.
The series will be co-produced with Campion College’s Centre for the Study of the Western Tradition. Listeners will be guided through the works by a panel comprising academics from The Ramsay Centre and some of its partner universities, Campion College, as well as academics from further afield.
In 2022, we will release six podcasts, focussing on the works of four legendary ancient and classical Greek authors – Homer, Sophocles, Thucydides, and Plato. The podcasts will discuss themes and passages from some of their most celebrated works, The Odyssey, Antigone, The History of the Peloponnesian War and The Symposium.
Ramsay Centre Academic Consultant and Director of Campion College’s Centre for the Study of the Western Tradition, Dr Stephen McInerney, said the discussions are non-scripted, leisurely, and lively explorations of the Great Books.
“It is our hope that these talks will inspire you to read these books for the first time or to return to them again,” Dr McInerney said.
“You don’t need to do any assigned reading ahead of listening to the podcast. You can read the works and listen to these conversations at your own pace for your own enjoyment alone, or perhaps as part of a Great Books reading group.”
Tune in to our first podcast today on Homer’s The Odyssey, Books 1-4. This podcast’s panel will comprise Dr Stephen McInerney, Campion College Literary Lecturer Dr Colin Dray and Sydney writer and researcher Dr Laurel Moffatt. Also available today are two additional podcasts on The Odyssey, covering Books 5-12 and 13-24.
Listeners can access the podcasts via the Ramsay Centre website and Campion College website.
They will be also be posted to the Ramsay Centre’s Facebook and LinkedIn.
You can also find them via the following podcast channels:
Media contact: Sarah Switzer 0407 816 098/ sarah.switzer@ramsaycentre.org