THE INVISIBLE COLLEGE: D.H. Lawrence’s The Rainbow
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit grandhotelabyss.substack.com (https://grandhotelabyss.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7)
Welcome back to The Invisible College, my series of literature courses for paid subscribers. The introduction to and schedule for the 2026 season is here (https://grandhotelabyss.substack.com/p/the-invisible-college-introduction-58b). The 2024 and 2025 archives are here (https://grandhotelabyss.substack.com/t/invisible-college). This episode, of which the first 10 minutes are free, is about D. H. Lawrence’s banned book of 1915, The Rainbow, the family saga of the Brangwens from the introduction of industrialism to rural England in the mid-19th century to the cultural modernity of the early 20th century. We discuss Lawrence’s many productive contradictions and conflicts, his style’s mix of the Biblical and the modern-abstract, his creation of characters that are not stable egos but zones of affect, his critique of Christianity and elevation of antinomian and gnostic ideas, his portrayal of sexuality and nature, his anti-natalism and rejection of family, his attack on political abstractions like the state and democracy, his anarchic individualism and attraction to power, and more. Please like, share, comment, and subscribe! The slideshow corresponding to the episode can be downloaded behind the paywall:
9 Oct 2026
THE INVISIBLE COLLEGE: Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit grandhotelabyss.substack.com (https://grandhotelabyss.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7)
Welcome back to The Invisible College, my series of literature courses for paid subscribers. The introduction to and schedule for the 2026 season is here (https://grandhotelabyss.substack.com/p/the-invisible-college-introduction-58b). The 2024 and 2025 archives are here (https://grandhotelabyss.substack.com/t/invisible-college). This episode, of which the first 10 minutes are free, is about Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles. We consider Hardy’s unique status as great novelist and great poet and his role as transitional figure between Victorian and modernist; we discuss common criticisms of his fiction, rehearse his biography, and broach his views on literature. Then we examine the contradictory views of nature and society offered by his most famous novel, paying special attention to the mythic roots of his modern tragedy, or his reinvention of the ancient rite of tragedy to renew its purpose in modern times. Please like, share, comment, and subscribe! The slideshow corresponding to the episode can be downloaded behind the paywall:
2 Oct 2026
THE INVISIBLE COLLEGE: Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit grandhotelabyss.substack.com (https://grandhotelabyss.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_7)
Welcome back to The Invisible College, my series of literature courses for paid subscribers. The introduction to and schedule for the 2026 season is here (https://grandhotelabyss.substack.com/p/the-invisible-college-introduction-58b). The 2024 and 2025 archives are here (https://grandhotelabyss.substack.com/t/invisible-college). This episode, of which the first 15 minutes are free, is about Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. We consider the novel’s mix of Gothic romance with social realism, its invitation to a psychological reading and projection of the psyche onto exteriors and landscapes, its allegorical and Christian quality, its nostalgia for the Romantic era, its political implications for questions of gender and empire and class, its changing reputation in modern criticism, and more. Please also like, share, comment, and subscribe! The slideshow corresponding to the episode can be downloaded behind the paywall:
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
4.8 / 5
16 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
3 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 55 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
80
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
77
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