Sometimes older literary works provide fascinating insights into their historical moments and into our ongoing quest to understand the human. And sometimes they’re dull as dirt. On this week’s episode, part two of our Samuel Johnson three-parter, we finally hit a major dud with Johnson’s Rasselas. And yet, there are a few good entertaining rambles to be had out of our frustration with the text and in Daniel’s ruminations on the oddities of Johnson locating his philosophical romance in Abyssinia, or modern day Ethiopia. We also talk “The Vanity of Human Wishes” and 18th century poetics, something maybe three people besides Claude will be utterly fascinated by. Look, they can’t all be Don Quixote… If you’re online check us out at thecanonballpodcast.wordpress.com, find us on Facebook @TheCanonBallPodcast, and on Twitter @CanonBallPod. The Canon Ball is a member of the Agora podcast network. Check out some of the other shows on the network at agorapodcastnetwork.com. One last note: if you’re in the New York area and need reading and writing tutoring, or are interested in online tutoring, let us know. Claude has a tutoring business on the side and a newborn, so he’s always looking looking for a few more clients. If you need some help, send an email to [email protected]. We can also produce literary lectures on demand. I’m not entirely certain what situations would call for that, but for some quality literary infotainment hit us up! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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