This week on The Hope Axis, Dylan O’Sullivan joins to talk about the classics and their second life online.
We get into reading in the age of TikTok and AI, and whether people today can still take on long, difficult books, along with the experience of going back to books and seeing them differently over time. Hope you enjoy.
For the full transcript of our conversation, click here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fGdRmgt7ZO6MKGzd6sHUX15n3q5QBINl/view?usp=sharing
Important Links:
X (Twitter) – https://x.com/DylanoA4?lang=en
Essayful - https://substack.com/@essayful
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylanoa4/
The Spectator - https://spectator.com/writer/dylan-osullivan/
Show Notes:
(00:00) Introduction
(02:33) The Right Age to Start Reading The Classics
(07:53) The Feeling of Cultural Stagnation
(12:22) How to Find Good Books
(21:53) Finding What to Read and Where to Think
(31:09) Dylan's Most Quoted Authors
(39:03) Modern World of Self-publishing
(41:38) What Do You Write About If You Don't Live First
(48:19) What's up with Dostoevsky
(56:14) Ulysses and End Notes
Books, Essays & References Mentioned:
C.S. Lewis — The Abolition of Man
C.S. Lewis — Mere Christianity
Arthur Koestler — Darkness at Noon
Arthur Koestler — The Act of Creation
Leo Tolstoy — War and Peace
Leo Tolstoy — Anna Karenina
Fyodor Dostoevsky — The Brothers Karamazov
Fyodor Dostoevsky — Notes from Underground
Fyodor Dostoevsky — White Nights
James Joyce — Ulysses
