Summer Reading with the Diehls

On this "way cool" final episode of Season 4, English teachers Adam + Whitney Diehl discuss the title Mrs. Dalloway (the 1925 novel by Virginia Woolf, FYI) for as close to 90 minutes as possible!

"When millions of things had utterly vanished"--including the counting of hours in these episodes!--English teachers Adam + Whitney Diehl continue to discuss Virginia Woolf's 1925 novel Mrs. Dalloway.

Another Hour, another episode of English teachers Adam + Whitney Diehl discussing Virginia Woolf's 1925 novel Mrs. Dalloway. This time, we focus on the characters (again)!

On the Third Hour (GMT), English teachers Adam + Whitney Diehl discuss Virginia Woolf's 1925 novel Mrs. Dalloway.

On the second (or third?) Hour of Season 4, Adam + Whitney Diehl continue to discuss Virginia Woolf's 1925 novel Mrs. Dalloway--w/r/t the prose/poetry/language/phrasing/syntax/readability. Is it "like running one's face against a granite wall in the darkness"????

On the second...Hour of Season 4, Adam + Whitney Diehl discuss Virginia Woolf's 1925 Novel Mrs. Dalloway.

On the zero-dark-thirty episode of Season 4 of Summer Reading with the Diehls, English teachers Adam and Whitney Diehl begin their discussion of Virginia Woolf's 1925 novel Mrs. Dalloway. 

Married English teachers discuss the opening monastery scene, the "onion" scene, and the "most important chapter in the novel," the "Cana at Galilee" scene in Fyodor Dostoevsky's magnum opus, The Brothers Karamazov. Thank you for listening!!!

Married English teachers Adam and Whitney Diehl discuss "The Grand Inquisitor" and "Ivan's Dream with the Devil" from Fyodor Dostoevsky's magnum opus, The Brothers Karamazov. 

Married English teachers Adam and Whitney Diehl discuss the "minor" characters in Fyodor Dostoevsky's magnum opus, The Brothers Karamazov.

Married English Teachers Adam and Whitney Diehl discuss the women (and sisters?) of Fyodor Dostoevsky's magnum opus, The Brothers Karamazov.

Married English teachers Adam and Whitney Diehl discuss the hero of Fyodor Dostoevsky's magnum opus, The Brothers Karamazov.

Married English teachers Adam and Whitney Diehl discuss the Emotional Superman Dmitri Fyodorovich Karamazov (aka the Big Stepper) from Fyodor Dostoevsky's magnum opus, The Brothers Karamazov. 

English teacher spouses Adam and Whitney Diehl discuss the intellectual superman Ivan Fyodorovich Karamazov from Fyodor Dostoevsky's magnum opus, The Brothers Karamazov. Picture unrelated!

Married English Teachers Adam and Whitney Diehl discuss the two fathers of Fyodor Dostoevsky's magnum opus, The Brothers Karamazov: Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov + Father Zosima!

English teacher spouses Adam and Whitney Diehl discuss the opening pages of Fyodor Dostoevsky's magnum opus, The Brothers Karamazov. They also discuss the (quite) memorable narrator...aka the True Detective?

In the opening episode of Season 3, English teacher spouses Adam and Whitney Diehl discuss why (on Earth!) they chose Fyodor Dostoevsky's magnum opus, The Brothers Karamazov.

On this Omega episode of Summer Reading with the Diehls, English teacher spouses Adam & Whitney Diehl discuss and reflect upon the captured lightning that is Flannery O'Connor's collection Everything That Rises Must Converge.

On this episode of Summer Reading with the Diehls, English teacher spouses Adam & Whitney Diehl discuss the humbling, hilarious, and beautiful story "Revelation" from Flannery O'Connor's collection Everything That Rises Must Converge.

On this episode of Summer Reading with the Diehls, English teacher spouses Adam & Whitney Diehl discuss the unforgettable story "Parker's Back" from Flannery O'Connor's collection Everything That Rises Must Converge.

On this episode of Summer Reading with the Diehls, English teacher spouses Adam & Whitney Diehl discuss the not-so-short story "The Lame Shall Enter First" from Flannery O'Connor's collection Everything That Rises Must Converge.

On this episode of Summer Reading with the Diehls, English teacher spouses Adam & Whitney Diehl discuss the short stories "A View of the Woods" and "Judgement Day" from Flannery O'Connor's magnificent collection Everything That Rises Must Converge.

On this episode of Summer Reading with the Diehls, English teacher spouses Adam & Whitney Diehl discuss Flannery O'Connor's short stories "Greenleaf" and "The Enduring Chill" from her posthumous collection Everything That Rises Must Converge.

On this episode of Summer Reading with the Diehls, English teacher spouses Adam & Whitney Diehl discuss "The Comforts of Home" and the title story "Everything That Rises Must Converge" from Flannery O'Connor's second and final short story collection.

Married English teachers Adam and Whitney Diehl return with a new season, where they discuss why they picked Flannery O'Connor's short story collection EVERYTHING THAT RISES MUST CONVERGE.

In this seventh (and final) episode proper of Summer Reading with the Diehls Season 1, Adam Diehl and his wife Whitney discuss the lasting value—and place in American literary history— of William Faulkner's 1936 novel Absalom, Absalom!. Is this book in the running for the mythical Great American Novel? Why or why not? As Whitney said in the previous episode, Absalom, Absalom! is a “meditation on Time, Power, Survival”; this final podcast of the season analyzes and synthesizes this estimation.   Also, after considering the length, width, density, mass, and volume, they attempt to answer the question: to what height does this novel soar?

In this sixth episode proper of Summer Reading with the Diehls Season 1, Adam Diehl and his wife Whitney take a break from the content and themes of the novel and discuss the style of William Faulkner's 1936 novel Absalom, Absalom!. Do the words, sentences, and designs of this novel combine to make realistic, impressionistic, or abstract portraits of the characters? Would this story "hit different" if the prose was more straight-forward and simplified?   This episode also considers the importance of short sentences (there aren't that many of them!) in the book, especially in regard to when the different characters use them.    

In this fifth episode proper of Summer Reading with the Diehls Season 1, Adam Diehl and his wife Whitney discuss the original and final titles of William Faulkner's 1936 novel Absalom, Absalom!. What does an Old Testament story have to do with Thomas Sutpen & co.? How does the Civil War parallel the story of David, Absalom, Amnon, and Tamar? For a title so brief and mysterious, it is surprisingly fitting for the content (and design!) of the novel.   This episode also considers this question: could this have been the same novel if Faulkner had stuck with his original title: The Dark House?  

In this fourth episode proper of Summer Reading with the Diehls Season 1, Adam Diehl and his wife Whitney discuss the second dynamic duo of William Faulkner's 1936 novel Absalom, Absalom!: Quentin Compson and Shreve McCannon. Are these two narrators merely LARPing the Civil War through Henry Sutpen and Charles Bon (respectively)? Or are they the True Detective(s) that will solve the mysteries of the Sutpen family?   This episode also considers Shreve's line of questioning to Quentin: “Tell me about the South. What's it like there. What do they do there. Why do they live there. Why do they live at all” (Faulkner 142).

In this third episode proper of Summer Reading with the Diehls Season 1, Adam Diehl and his wife Whitney discuss the first dynamic duo of William Faulkner's 1936 novel Absalom, Absalom!: Charles Bon & Henry Sutpen. According to Adam, the two characters make up “a world-class bromance.” Why, then, would Henry shoot Charles at the front gates of Sutpen's Hundred?   This episode also considers the novel's sub-genre: Murder-Mystery?

In this second episode proper of Summer Reading with the Diehls Season 1, Adam Diehl and his wife Whitney discuss the man whom Faulkner called the protagonist of his 1936 novel Absalom, Absalom!: Thomas Sutpen. They consider him as a name, as a person, and as a design. Does this novel give readers an accurate portrait of Thomas Sutpen?   In addition to Sutpen and his vision, they also cover a central word for the novel: innocence.

In this first episode proper of Summer Reading with the Diehls Season 1, Adam Diehl and his wife Whitney discuss the first main character of William Faulkner's 1936 novel Absalom, Absalom!: Rosa Coldfield. They analyze her place and purpose in the novel, her power as a narrator (and possibly as a heroine), and her predicament in regard to Thomas Sutpen (a.k.a. "demon"). Is she a persuasive voice in Quentin Compson's life?  

In this introductory episode of Summer Reading with the Diehls Season 1, English teachers Adam Diehl and his wife Whitney discuss why they chose to begin the series with a discussion of William Faulkner's 1936 novel Absalom, Absalom!, which overlaps with his classic 1929 novel The Sound and the Fury through the father-son-college roommate trio Jason Compson, Quentin Compson, and Shreve McCannon. They give a detailed overview of the characters, the plot, the themes, and the design.   They also tell the story of how this novel helped them find each other at the University of Georgia!