Canonball
In this podcast we discuss the European literary canon and the history, culture, philosophy, art, and science that surrounds it.
Episodes
In this episode of Canonball, Evan and I discuss the play "Medea," which Euripides wrote and which was first performed in 431 BC.
The cover art for this episode is the painting "Jason and Medea," which John William Waterhouse completed in 1907.
In this episode of Canonball we discuss "Mozart On The Way To Prague" by Eduard Mörike, which was published in 1856.
Here is the final scene of Don Giovanni, Mörike's description of which we discuss at around 28:32
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ioc9shJa_lI
Here is a website of translations of Mörike's poetry:
In today's episode of Canonball we discuss Francis Petrarch's "Scattered Rhymes," which were written over 40 years and finalized as a collection shortly before Petrarch's death in 1374.
In this episode of Canonball we discuss "Where Is Science Going?" by Max Planck, which was published in 1932.
In this episode of Canonball we discuss "Novum Organum," which Francis Bacon wrote and which was published in 1620.
In this episode of Canonball, Evan and I discuss the play "Eumenides," which is the third part of Aeschylus' only extant trilogy "Oresteia," which premiered in 458 BC.
The cover art for this episode is from a painting titled Pallas Athena that Rembrandt completed in 1657.
This is a summary of what I think is the best approach to learning a language, based on my experience mastering a foreign language as an adult.
Here you can download the software that I mentioned, Anki: https://apps.ankiweb.net/
Here is a page of links to word-frequency lists for German; similar lists can be found online for many other languages:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Frequency_lists/German
The cov...
In this episode of Canonball we discuss "The Life Of Saint Louis," which Jean de Joinville completed in 1309.
The cover art for this episode is a painting titled Louis IX that Émile Signol completed in 1844.
The other painting I mentioned is Saint Louis Mediating Between the King of England and His Barons which Georges Rouget completed in 1820 and can be found here.
In this episode of Canonball we discuss the fragments of Heraclitus, who lived in the sixth and fifth centuries BC.
The cover art for this episode is The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, which JMW Turner completed in 1834 or 1835.
In this video, Evan and I discuss "The Libation Bearers," which is the second play in the Aeschylus' trilogy Oresteia.
The cover art for this episode is from Orestes Pursued by the Furies, which William-Adolphe Bouguereau completed in 1862.
In this episode of Canonball we discuss "The Civilization Of The Renaissance In Italy," which was written by Jacob Burckhardt and published in 1860.
Get a copy of my edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein at my website:
VollrathPublishing.com
The data below are in the format indicated in the first line: The first word given is the term that I searched on opensyllabus.org, followed by its frequency in 2008, its frequency in 2024, and the percent change. So, for example, the first term in the list, that of the name of Diderot, declined by 90 percent in 16 years.
Term 2008 frequency 2024 frequency percent change
Diderot 0.027714 0.0025916 -90...
In this episode of Canonball we discuss "The Revolt Of The Masses" which Jose Ortega y Gasset first published as a series of essays in 1929 before it was published as a book in 1930.
Get a copy of my edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein at my website:
VollrathPublishing.com
In this episode of Canonball we discuss the play "Agamemnon," by Aeschylus, which is the first part of Aeschylus' only extant trilogy "Oresteia," which premiered in 458 BC.
I was very pleased to have my good friend Evan join me for this discussion. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
The cover art for this episode is from the painting Clytemnestra Hesitating Before Striking Agamemnon, which...
In this episode of Canonball we discuss "The Protestant Ethic And The Spirit Of Capitalism," which was written by Max Weber and published in 1904.
Get a copy of my edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein at my website:
VollrathPublishing.com
This is a talk I gave at a bookstore in Western Maryland in October 2025 discussing the world in which Mary Shelley was living when she wrote Frankenstein.
Pick up my edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein at my website: https://www.vollrathpublishing.com
At 3:36 I reversed the names of the Islands of St. Helena and Elba; Napoleon was of course first imprisoned on Elba, then St. Helena.
<...
In this episode of Canonball we discuss "The Spirit Of The Laws," which was written by Montesquieu and published in 1748.
Get a copy of my edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein at my website:
VollrathPublishing.com
In this episode of Canonball we discuss "Fathers And Sons," which was written by Ivan Turgenev and published in 1862.
Get a copy of my edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein at my website:
VollrathPublishing.com
In this episode of Canonball we discuss "We," which was written by Yevgeny Zamyatin and first published in 1924.
Get a copy of my edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein at my website:
VollrathPublishing.com
In this episode of Canonball we continue discussing "The New Science," which was written by Giambattista Vico and first published in 1725, before being republished in a revised edition in 1730, and a final edition in 1744. See also Part I for more on Vico.
Get a copy of my edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein at my website:
VollrathPublishing.com
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