The Reading Hour
Host Andrew Osborn reads aloud from novels, stories, essays, and poems in the public domain—works of literary accomplishment published before 1930. Most episodes include parts of at least one long work read serially over a number of weeks; recent examples include Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, Henry David Thoreau's The Maine Woods, and Sarah Orne Jewett's A Country Doctor. A professor of literature and poetry-journal editor, Osborn sometimes offers interpretive commentary on what he voices, but the focus is always on sharing the language of great writers. Welcome!
Episodes
Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence, Book 1, chs. 4-6
Episode 49 relates the first of Newland Archer and May Welland's betrothal visits to the house of Mrs. Manson Mingott, Mr. Sillerton Jackson's dinner with the Archers, and the rarefied life of the New York elite "in a kind of hieroglyphic world, where the real thing was never said or done or even thought, but only represented by a set of arbitrary signs." A brief overview of Wharton's life is also
Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence, Book 1, chs. 1-3
In episode 48, The Reading Hour begins its fourth season with the opening three chapters of The Age of Innocence (1920), in which Edith Wharton introduces us to the milieu of New York City's Gilded-Age elite including the Pulitzer-winning novel's three main characters: Newland Archer, May Welland, and Countess Ellen Olenska. The relevance of Wharton's co-authoring the interior design manual The De
Willa Cather, My Ántonia, Book V, ch. 1B-3
Episode 47 concludes our reading of My Ántonia with the remaining two and a half chapters of Book V, "Cusak's Boys," in which Jim Burden recalls his lifelong Bohemian friend's generous, generative firing of "images in the mind that did not fade—that grew stronger with time."
Willa Cather, My Ántonia, Book IV, chs. 1-4 & Book V, ch. 1A
Episode 46 includes all of Book VI, "The Pioneer Woman's Story," in which the elderly Widow Steavens relates the tale of Ántonia Shimerda's betrothal and motherhood. Jim Burden then jumps forward to relate, in Book V ("Cusak's Boys"), his visit two decades later with her burgeoning family.
Willa Cather, My Ántonia, Book III, chs. 1-4
Episode 45 presents the whole of My Ántonia's short third book, entitled "Lena Lingard," in which narrator Jim Burden relates highlights of his first year as a student of Classics in Lincoln. (I offer my insights regarding Cather's references to Paestum, Virgil's Georgics, and Dante's Christian version of the epic Latin poet Statius in the Purgatorio.) The four chapters also relate Jim's interest
Willa Cather, My Ántonia, Book II, chs. 12-15
Episode 44 concludes the second book of Willa Cather's My Ántonia, "The Hired Girls," with chs. 12 through 15, in which Jim Burden delivers his Commencement address, enjoys a restful day on the river among the blossoming elders, and grapples with Ántonio's employer, Wick Cutter.
Willa Cather, My Ántonia, Book II, chs. 7-11 & two poems by Marianne Moore
Episode 43 begins with a warning about ch. 7 of Book II, in which the fictive narrator Jim Burden describes a "negro" entertainer in language that listeners may find prejudicially pejorative. (Those who wish to skip the chapter may scroll ahead to minute 21:00.) Much of today's reading from My Ántonia concerns how the arrival of a dancing tent in Black Hawk brought about Tony's departure from the
Willa Cather, My Ántonia, Book II, chs. 1-6
Episode 42 introduces the second of My Ántonia's five books, which begins a couple of years after Book I left off. First Jim then Ántonia move to Black Hawk and adjust to life in town.
Willa Cather, My Ántonia, Book I, chs. 15-19
Episode 41 concludes the first of My Ántonia's five books with Jim's account of his and the Shimerdas' first year in Nebraska. Even as spring and summer return, a chill settles over the former friendship between those on the Burdens' farm and the Bohemian family, but Grandfather Burden effects a reconciliation.
Willa Cather, My Ántonia, Book I, chs. 10-14 & two poems by Marianne Moore
Episode 40 continues with five chapters from Book 1 of My Ántonia in which Jim Burden describes his first Christmas in Nebraska, a blizzard, and a death in the Shimerda family. The hour ends with two poems by the modernist America poet Marianne Moore: "Critics and Connoisseurs" and "A Grave."
Willa Cather, My Ántonia, Book I, chs. 5-9
Episode 39 offers our second reading from Cather's 1918 novel, My Ántonia, in which Jim and "Tony" visit Russian Peter and Pavel, encounter an enormous rattlesnake, hear a harrowing tale of wolves at a winter wedding, and continue to befriend each other.
Willa Cather, My Ántonia, "Introduction" & Book I, chs. 1-4
Episode 38, the first of The Reading Hour's third season, begins the American novelist Willa Cather's fourth book of plainspoken narrative fiction, My Ántonia (1918), which seeks to depict the spark and tenacity of a Bohemian who has come with her family to farm in Nebraska as she matures from girlhood into womanhood.
H. D. Thoreau, The Maine Woods, "The Allegash and East Branch," §10; Wallace Stevens, "Sunday Morning"
Episode 37 concludes Thoreau's The Maine Woods with the final three days of the journey south and east along the East Branch of the Penobscot. An excerpt from the Appendix about how to outfit oneself for such an excursion is included. We finish out the hour with a reading of the American modernist poet Wallace Stevens's "Sunday Morning."
H. D. Thoreau, The Maine Woods, "The Allegash and East Branch," §9
In Episode 36, Thoreau loses track of his companion as night sets along the Webster Brook, a cow-moose is shot and skinned, and the party heads south and east on the Grand Lake Matagamon to the East Branch of the Penobscot, eating handfuls of blueberries and raspberries at each carry.
H. D. Thoreau, The Maine Woods, "The Allegash and East Branch," §8
Episode 35 is only the second of season 2's episodes not to include a reading from Sarah Orne Jewett's A Country Doctor, which concluded in Episode 34; the full hour is devoted to "The Allegash and East Branch," in which Thoreau and his companions begin to return from their north-most excursion, making their way toward then along the headwaters of the Penobscot River's east branch.
Sarah Orne Jewett, A Country Doctor, ch. 20; H. D. Thoreau, The Maine Woods, "The Allegash and East Branch," §7
Because we conclude A Country Doctor therein, Episode 34 begins with Jewett then rounds out the hour with additional pages from the third essay of The Maine Woods, in which Thoreau enters Apmoojenegamook (the largest of the Allegash lakes) and then the Allegash River itself, heading north.
H. D. Thoreau, The Maine Woods, "The Allegash and East Branch," §6; Sarah Orne Jewett, A Country Doctor, ch. 20
Episode 33 continues with Thoreau and his companion striving to navigate the carry to Mud Pond on foot then catalogues the molesting insects encountered before concluding the day with observations about the loon; the climactic, penultimate chapter of Jewett's A Country Doctor follows.
H. D. Thoreau, The Maine Woods, "The Allegash and East Branch," §5; Sarah Orne Jewett, A Country Doctor, ch. 19B
In Episode 32, Thoreau paddles through narrow waterways and seeks to carry his sixty-pound sack to Mud Pond by a path more swamp-like than muddy; we then conclude the 19th "Friends and Lovers" chapter of Jewett's A Country Doctor, the second half which registers Nan's perspective on her relationship with George Gerry.
H. D. Thoreau, The Maine Woods, "The Allegash and East Branch," §4; Sarah Orne Jewett, A Country Doctor, ch. 19A
Episode 31 continues with Thoreau's third adventure in the Maine woods, during which he interests himself in his Indian guide's sensibilities regarding how to conduct oneself on a Sunday; the episode concludes with the first half of A Country Doctor's 19th chapter, in which the young Dunsport lawyer recognizes ponders the degree to which his affection for Nan is reciprocated.
H. D. Thoreau, The Maine Woods, "The Allegash and East Branch," §3; Sarah Orne Jewett, A Country Doctor, ch. 18
Episode 30 continues our reading from "The Allegash and East Branch," wherein Thoreau wakes in the night to discover "phosphorescent wood," which delights him; following a re-cap of Nan's adventures with George Gerry on the river, we then eavesdrop upon "A Serious Tea-Drinking" at Mrs. Fraley's in ch. 18 of A Country Doctor.
H. D. Thoreau, The Maine Woods, "The Allegash and East Branch," §2; Sarah Orne Jewett, A Country Doctor, ch. 17
In Episode 29, we venture further up Moosehead Lake with Thoreau and Joe Polis to camp and do a bit of botanizing at Mount Kineo, which rises on a peninsula within the lake. We then continue with Nan's visit to Dunport in chapter 17 of A Country Doctor.
H. D. Thoreau, The Maine Woods, "The Allegash and East Branch," §1; Sarah Orne Jewett, A Country Doctor, ch. 16
Episode 28 introduces the third, final essay of Thoreau's The Maine Woods, "The Allegash and East Branch," then continues Jewett's A Country Doctor with its 16th chapter, in which Nan acquaints her Dunport aunt and a new friend with her vocational plans.
H. D. Thoreau, The Maine Woods, "Chesuncook," §7; Sarah Orne Jewett, A Country Doctor, ch. 15
In Episode 27 (2.15) we conclude "Chesuncook," the second of three essays in The Maine Woods, where Thoreau stirringly expresses how an ecological regard for the wild may promote the health of a democracy. The episode's second half is devoted to chapter 15 of Jewett's novel, in which Nan finally becomes acquainted with her aunt during an extended visit to Dunport.
H. D. Thoreau, The Maine Woods, "Chesuncook," §6; Sarah Orne Jewett, A Country Doctor, ch. 14
In this episode, Thoreau tries to determine from several Native Americans in a Maine camp what some of the Abenaki place names mean; then, in ch. 14 of A Country Doctor, we move to Dunport and make the acquaintance of Nan's aunt, Miss Anna Prince.
H. D. Thoreau, The Maine Woods, "Chesuncook," §5; Sarah Orne Jewett, A Country Doctor, ch. 13
Episode 25's substantial reading from Thoreau's "Chesuncook" includes some of the most moving prose of the essay as Thoreau moralizes about hunting and poetry; he also expresses Transcendentalist enthusiasm for "the living spirit of the [pine] tree." The episode concludes with Jewett's thirteenth chapter of A Country Doctor, "A Straight Course."
H. D. Thoreau, The Maine Woods, "Chesuncook," §4; Sarah Orne Jewett, A Country Doctor, ch. 12
Episode 24 (2.12) includes only a short passage from Thoreau's second essay in The Maine Woods, "Chesuncook," to leave time for the whole of Jewett's long chapter 12.
H. D. Thoreau, The Maine Woods, "Chesuncook," §3; Sarah Orne Jewett, A Country Doctor, ch. 11
Episode 23 offers a long passage from Thoreau's "Chesuncook," much of it concerning the tracking and hunting of moose, and the short chapter 11 of Jewett's A Country Doctor.
H. D. Thoreau, The Maine Woods, "Chesuncook," §2; Sarah Orne Jewett, A Country Doctor, ch. 10
Episode 22 includes only a short passage of Thoreau's second essay from The Maine Woods so that the long tenth chapter of Jewett's A Country Doctor may be shared in full.
H. D. Thoreau, The Maine Woods, "Chesuncook," §1; Sarah Orne Jewett, A Country Doctor, ch. 9B
With Episode 21 (2.9), we begin the second of the three essays comprising The Maine Woods, "Chesuncook," in which Thoreau navigates from Boston to Bangor, then travels by wagon to the foot of Moosehead Lake, then by canoe to its head, before porting to the Penobscot River. The episode concludes with the second half of Jewett's long ninth chapter, "At Dr. Leslie's."
H. D. Thoreau, The Maine Woods, "Ktaadn," §7; Sarah Orne Jewett, A Country Doctor, ch. 9A
Episode 20 concludes the first of The Maine Woods's three essays, "Ktaadn," then begins the 9th chapter of Jewett's A Country Doctor.
H. D. Thoreau, The Maine Woods, "Ktaadn," §6; Sarah Orne Jewett, A Country Doctor, chs. 7 & 8
Episode 19 takes us up Mount Katahdin with Henry David Thoreau, whose essay "Ktaadn" delivers its rhetorical climax in today's reading. By extending the episode beyond its usual length, we make time for two chapters of Jewett's A Country Doctor.
H. D. Thoreau, The Maine Woods, "Ktaadn," §5; Sarah Orne Jewett, A Country Doctor, ch. 6
Episode 18 presents more of Thoreau's long essay "Ktaadn" and chapter 6 of Jewett's A Country Doctor.
H. D. Thoreau, The Maine Woods, "Ktaadn," §4; Sarah Orne Jewett, A Country Doctor, chs. 4B & 5
In Episode 17, we continue our readings from Thoreau's "Ktaadn" and Jewett's A Country Doctor.
H. D. Thoreau, The Maine Woods, "Ktaadn," §3; poems by Frederick Goddard Tuckerman; Sarah Orne Jewett, A Country Doctor, chs. 3B & 4A
Episode 16 continues our reading from "Ktaadn." Thoreau's mention of poisoning wolves is the occasion for sharing a Tuckerman sonnet that addresses the topic as well as the 19th-century American poet's well-regarded pastoral ode, "The Cricket." The episode concludes with more of Jewett's A Country Doctor.
H. D. Thoreau, The Maine Woods, "Ktaadn," §2; Sarah Orne Jewett, A Country Doctor, chs. 2 & 3A
Episode 15 picks up where we left off with Thoreau's trek northward toward Mr. Katahdin in The Maine Woods. Then, having so far presented only the short initial chapter of Sarah Orne Jewett's A Country Doctor, The Reading Hour forges into the story of young Nan Prince.
H. D. Thoreau, The Maine Woods, "Ktaadn," §1; Thomas Gray, "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard"; Sarah Orne Jewett, A Country Doctor, ch. 1
In episode 14 (2.2), we begin two longer works related to Maine: Henry David Thoreau's nonfictional account of his adventures in the state, The Maine Woods (1864), and the York County author Sarah Orne Jewett's novel A Country Doctor (1884). Because "Ktaadn," the opening essay of Thoreau's three-part book, quotes from Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard," that poem is read aloud
H. D. Thoreau, "A Winter Walk" & two poems ("Sic Vita," "Conscience . . .")
Episode 13 (or season 2, episode 1 = §2.1) introduces Henry David Thoreau's ecological prose to The Reading Hour with the essay "A Winter Walk" (1843) and serves us as a preface to the longer Thoreauvian work to come: The Maine Woods (1864). The hour concludes with two of Thoreau's poems: "Sic Vita" and "Conscience is instinct bred in the house").
V. Woolf, To the Lighthouse, Part 3, chs. 12 & 13; Emerson, "The Tragic," "The Senses and the Soul"
Episode 12 concludes our reading of Woolf's To the Lighthouse then presents two short essays that Ralph Waldo Emerson published in The Dial between 1840 and 1844: "The Tragic" and "The Senses and the Soul.".
V. Woolf, To the Lighthouse, Part 3, chs. 8-11
Episode 11 opens with interpretive remarks about Woolf's project and several of her characters' concerns in To the Lighthouse's final part; chapters 8-11 of "The Lighthouse" are then presented.
V. Woolf, To the Lighthouse, Part 3, chs. 4-7; Dickinson poems
Episode 10 departs from The Reading Hour's usual format by beginning with a few short works by the 19th-century American poet Emily Dickinson, with whom episode 9 had concluded. The Reader Hour then presents chapters 4-7 of To the Lighthouse's third part, "The Lighthouse."
V. Woolf, To the Lighthouse, Part 3, chs. 1-3; Dickinson poems
With Episode 9, we begin the third, final part of Woolf's To the Lighthouse, which is titled "The Lighthouse," and which relates the events of a day at the Ramsay summer house in the Scottish Hebrides roughly a decade after Part 1. The episode concludes with a brief introduction to Emily Dickinson and a reading of several of her poems.
V. Woolf, To the Lighthouse, Part 2
Episode 8 presents the whole of To the Lighthouse's relatively short middle section, "Time Passes," during which the novel speeds through the human events of a decade while focusing on inhuman nature's effects upon the summer house and the care required to restore human order.
V. Woolf, To the Lighthouse, Part 1, chs. 18 & 19; three lyric poems (Elton, Browne, Shakespeare)
Episode 7 concludes our reading of To the Lighthouse's first part, "The Window." Between its final two chapters, one Victorian and two early-modern lyric poems excerpted in those chapters, are present in full: Charles Isaac Elton's "The Garden Song," William Browne's "The Siren's Song," and William Shakespeare's Sonnet 98 ("From you have I been absent in the spring").
V. Woolf, To the Lighthouse, Part 1, ch. 17
Episode 6 briefly explains the title of To the Lighthouse's first of three parts, "The Window," then presents most of the novel's longest chapter, which relates Mrs. Ramsay's dinner part.
V. Woolf, To the Lighthouse, Part 1, chs. 13-16; Bergson, from "Introduction to Metaphysics"; Whitman, "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry"
In Episode 5, our reading of Woolf's To the Lighthouse continues, followed by a relevant excerpt on duration from Henri Bergson's "Introduction to Metaphysics" (1904) and Walt Whitman's poem "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry."
V. Woolf, To the Lighthouse, Part 1, chs. 10-12; Bros. Grimm, "The Fisherman & His Wife"
Episode 4 continues our reading from Part 1 of Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse and concludes with a brief introduction to the Brothers Grimm's linguistic scholarship as background for "The Fisherman & His Wife," which Mrs. Ramsay has been reading to young James.
V. Woolf, To the Lighthouse, Part 1, chs. 7-9; Tennyson, "The Charge of the Light Brigade"
Episode 3 prefaces the continuation of our reading from Part 1 of Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse by briefly acknowledging some similarities between Woolf's family and the fictional Ramsays. Because Mr. Ramsay has been intoning a line from Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade," the episode concludes with a reading of that poem about an event in the Crimean War in its entirety.
V. Woolf, To the Lighthouse, Part 1, chs. 4-6; H. Bergson on Duration (Creative Evolution)
Episode 2 continues our reading from Part 1 of Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse and concludes with an excerpt of the French philosopher Henri Bergson's Creative Evolution on the concept of le durée (duration or felt time).
V. Woolf, To the Lighthouse, Part 1, chs. 1-3; W. James, "Stream of Consciousness"
Episode 1 inaugurates The Reading Hour radio show and podcast with the first three chapters of Virginia Woolf's modernist British novel To the Lighthouse, part 1, The Window and the late-19th-century American philosopher William James's chapter "The Stream of Consciousness."
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