Coffee with Hardcore Literature (Q&A Episode XIX) (Patreon)

Thank you all for your wonderful questions. They have, once again, resulted in a great bookish conversation for this episode of our Q&A Show.

Topics of discussion include: closet dramas, stage vs page, how to appreciate Shakespeare, Stanislavski, the wisdom literature of Harold Bloom, psychologically complex characters, near death experiences, negative capability, the poetry of Walt Whitman, and much more.

Feel free to jump to any topic/question you’re most interested in by using the timestamps below.

We had a lot of amazing questions come in, so the ones we didn't get to this time will roll forward into our next show.

Video Timestamps:

• 0:00 best way to engage with Shakespeare? Stage vs page?
• 12:40 most autobiographical Harold Bloom work?
• 19:52 recommended contemporary writers of criticism?
• 22:00 recommended playwrights apart from Shakespeare?
• 27:18 tips for readers accustomed to psychological realism?
• 34:14 book club visions for the future?
• 37:57 Joyce: realism vs modernism?
• 41:50 are literary definitions arbitrary?
• 43:10 E. M. Forster? And Wordsworth Classics?
• 44:12 your thoughts on negative capability?
• 48:00 Whitman, mystery & near death experiences
• 55:00 thank you & questions rolling forward

A Platter of Shakespeare:

As this episode involved a lot of Shakespeare discussion, here is a choice selection of further talks about his dramas:

• A Guide to Shakespearean Tragedy 
• How to Read Shakespeare's King Lear 
• How to Produce a Play in the Theatre of Your Mind 
• A Book Club Reader Discusses Her Experience with Shakespeare 
• Showing You My Complete Works of Shakespeare from the 1890s 

Thank you all for your great questions, and let us know your thoughts on anything we discussed today. 

Please do let us know any questions you might have for the next Q&A Show.

Happy reading, everybody!