The escapades of the American Imperial War Faction in the Black Sea. Corruption investigation in Victoria, political patronage, branch stacking, Red Shirts and political decay. Rene Girard on scapegoating. Tennyson's temper of heroic hearts. Regenerated tradition.
Flowers of the Mind 8.
Beowulf, polyphony and Mikhail Bakhtin. RussiaGate indictments approach the spider. Peter Frankopan and Fiona Hill. Jordan B Peterson. Elena Shvarts. Jonathon Sumption on how fear has undone democracy.
Podcast 26 – Beowulf
In October 1731 there was a fire in the Ashburnham House residence of the Keeper of the King’s libraries in Westminster London. The fire threatened the one and only manuscript of the Old English poem, Beowulf. It was rescued by the librarian and others leaping from the window, clasping manuscripts. Singed but intact, Beowulf was literally saved from a Burning Archive. The episode is available on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.
Podcast 24 & 25 – The decline and Fall of Rome, Parts I and II
In Part I Jeff Rich sets out the story arc of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, and sets the scene for a more detailed discussion of why it fell and its legacy in Part II. The episode is available on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.
Flowers of the Mind 7. Asvina (week 5) 2021
Michael Anton, Machiavelli, and the way. David Starkey, rootedness and Chaucer. Dalai Lama. Jordan B. Peterson and self-transformation. Zbigniew Herbert and dreams.
Flowers of the Mind 6. Asvina (week 4) 2021
Glenn Greenwald, Havana Syndrome and Anglophone Russophobia. Vladimir Putin, Nikolai Berdyaev and the Free Academy of the Infinite Conversation. The return of history and the last democracy. Woke cults. Saint Thomas More and Thomas a Kempis. Elena Shvarts. Culaincourt and the retreat from Moscow.... and Afghanistan. Gideon Haigh, Melbourne lockdowns, wastelands, and the false freedom event.
Podcast #23 – The Eight Hour Working Day
How did the eight hour working day come into being, and is it still relevant to us today? In this episode the Burning Archive Jeff Rich will talk about how the eight hour day emerged in response to the industrial revolution, and what it means in the stressed out contemporary world after the “fourth industrial revolution”.
Flowers of the Mind 5. Asvina (week 3) 2021
Karamzin, Memoir on Ancient and Modern Russia. Thomas Gray Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard and lockdown. Andrew Marvell's "The Garden". Elena Shvarts. Poetry. Prophecy. The traditions of St Petersburg and modernism.
Podcast #22 – A Canon of One’s Own
This episode of The Burning Archive podcast features a special guest - young lawyer, Freya Rich, who speaks to the Burning Archive about the questions and topics from history and culture her generation would like to know more about; what from the past is not past for her; and what might become A Canon of her Own
Flowers of the Mind 4. Asvina (week 2) 2021
Konstantin Leontyev and Byzantism. Henry Lawson, Past Carin'. Hart Crane. Tomas Tranströmer. Supply chain fragility. Alexander I and the defeat of Napoleon in 1812. Every poet is an émigré. Nobel Peace Prize misses the point.
Podcast #21 – Special on 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature
Join the The Burning Archive Podcast on Apple or Spotify and other platforms for a special feature on the 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature, and learn not only about the hushed excitement of the winner (sshh no spoilers), but the history of the prize, favourite winners, best losers, and most contentious scandals. Congratulations to Abdulrazak … Continue reading Podcast #21 – Special on 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature
Flowers of the Mind 3. Asvina (week 1) 2021
Wallace Stevens. COVID zero fanatics. The Novel is dead. Saint Galgano. Louise Glück. How democracies die. Solzhenitsyn.
The Burning Archive 