Canonball

Alex
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In this podcast we discuss the European literary canon and the history, culture, philosophy, art, and science that surrounds it.

  1. Discussing "The Civilization Of The Renaissance In Italy" By Jacob Burckhardt

    4D AGO

    Discussing "The Civilization Of The Renaissance In Italy" By Jacob Burckhardt

    Send us a text 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

    47 min
  2. Colleges Are Abandoning the Classics — Down 70% Since 2008

    JAN 31

    Colleges Are Abandoning the Classics — Down 70% Since 2008

    Send us a text 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 -90.64876957 Thucydides 0.10137 0.011824 -88.33579955 Petrarch 0.060532 0.0074508 -87.69113857 Aristophanes 0.090434 0.0115 -87.2835438 Tacitus 0.039382 0.0053452 -86.42730181 Boccaccio 0.040112 0.0055071 -86.27069206 Erasmus 0.026255 0.0037254 -85.81070272 Francis Bacon 0.033548 0.0051832 -84.54989865 Virgil 0.061991 0.010042 -83.80087432 Victor Hugo 0.009481 0.0016197 -82.91635903 Xenophon 0.035736 0.006317 -82.32314753 Montesquieu 0.040841 0.0076128 -81.35990794 Dostoevsky 0.060532 0.011338 -81.26941122 Voltaire 0.080953 0.015388 -80.99143948 John Dryden 0.012041 0.0023654 -80.3554522 Horace 0.078036 0.015388 -80.280896 Hesiod 0.040112 0.0084227 -79.00204428 Thomas Hobbes 0.080953 0.017331 -78.59128136 Aeschylus 0.058344 0.012634 -78.34567393 Tolstoy 0.080953 0.018303 -77.39058466 Homer 0.18451 0.042923 -76.73676224 Seneca 0.081682 0.019923 -75.60906932 Dante 0.11231 0.028669 -74.47333274 Moliere 0.043758 0.011338 -74.08930938 Euripedes 0.081682 0.021381 -73.82409833 Samuel Johnson 0.032089 0.0084227 -73.75206457 Goethe 0.030631 0.0082607 -73.03156933 Ovid 0.061991 0.017169 -72.30404414 Sophocles 0.14149 0.041303 -70.80853771 Edmund Burke 0.034277 0.010366 -69.75814686 Friedrich Nietzsche 0.18816 0.057339 -69.52646684 John Locke 0.074593 0.022806 -69.42608556 Edmund Spenser 0.010279 0.0031979 -68.88899698 Chaucer 0.11742 0.037092 -68.41083291 David Hume 0.057615 0.018303 -68.23223119 Cicero 0.064179 0.020409 -68.19987846 Cervantes 0.053239 0.017007 -68.05537294 Christopher Marlowe 0.014684 0.0050494 -65.61291201 Herodotus 0.043029 0.014902 -65.36754282 John Milton 0.044488 0.01555 -65.04675418 Charles Dickens 0.032089 0.011662 -63.65732806 Kant 0.30631 0.11176 -63.51408704 Jonathan Swift 0.048134 0.018465 -61.63834296 Plato 0.46019 0.17671 -61.60064321 Shakespeare 0.48863 0.19226 -60.65325502 Marcus Aurelius 0.013127 0.0055071 -58.04753561 Aristotle 0.39966 0.17655 -55.82495121 Schiller 0.098456 0.046163 -53.11306573 Descartes 0.199983 0.096699 -51.64638994 John Donne 0.026431 0.012876 -51.28447656 John Keats 0.037195 0.018465 -50.35623068 Mary Shelley 0.039382 0.019761 -49.82225382 Epictetus 0.024067 0.017817 -25.9691694 Edgar Allan Poe 0.02555 0.028276 10.66927593 Average decline: -69.83809964

    8 min
  3. Discussing "The Revolt Of The Masses" By Jose Ortega y Gasset

    JAN 25

    Discussing "The Revolt Of The Masses" By Jose Ortega y Gasset

    Send us a text 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

    36 min
  4. Discussing "Agamemnon" By Aeschylus With Evan

    JAN 18

    Discussing "Agamemnon" By Aeschylus With Evan

    Send us a text 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 French painter Pierre-Narcisse Guerin completed in 1817.  Get a copy of my edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein at my website:  VollrathPublishing.com

    1h 9m
  5. Discussing "The Protestant Ethic And The Spirit Of Capitalism" By Max Weber

    12/13/2025

    Discussing "The Protestant Ethic And The Spirit Of Capitalism" By Max Weber

    Send us a text 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

    1h 2m

  6. 10/23/2025

    Bookstore Talk: Exploring Frankenstein And The World In Which Mary Shelley Created A Monster

    Send us a text 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. 00:00 Intro 00:40 The French Revolution, The Napoleonic Wars, And Mary's Parents 04:51 The Industrial Revolution And Science Fiction 11:49 Mary's Influences And Education 14:50 Mary's Elopement With Percy  17:15 The Mt. Tambora Eruption 19:28 Bringing It All Together 20:50 Reading German Ghost Stories In A Mansion Overlooking Lake Geneva 22:36 Did Mary Really Write A Short Story At The Villa Diodati? 25:37 Artificial Intelligence And Creating Consciousness – The Relevance Of Frankenstein Today 26:57 Closing

    28 min
  7. Discussing "The Spirit Of The Laws" By Montesquieu

    09/05/2025

    Discussing "The Spirit Of The Laws" By Montesquieu

    Send us a text 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

    48 min
  8. Discussing "Fathers And Sons" By Ivan Turgenev

    06/23/2025

    Discussing "Fathers And Sons" By Ivan Turgenev

    Send us a text 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

    37 min
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About

In this podcast we discuss the European literary canon and the history, culture, philosophy, art, and science that surrounds it.

Information

  • Creator
    Alex
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    83
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Vollrath Publishing
  • Show Website
    Canonball