About Majorly Useless: A Philosophy and Literature Podcast
A philosophy and literature podcast inspired by the question, "What are you going to do with an arts major?”
Find the show on Instagram @majorlyuseless
This episode explores French existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre’s concept of ‘mauvaise foi’ or Bad Faith as presented in Being and Nothingness.
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PRIMARY TEXT
Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology
Jean-Paul Sartre, trans. Hazel E. Barnes (Routledge Classics)
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AUDIO SAMPLE
Death of a Salesman (1985), dir. Volker Schlöndorff
For more Majorly Useless content you can find the show on Instagram @majorlyuseless (//www.instagram.com/majorlyuseless)
www.instagram.com/majorlyuseless (//www.instagram.com/majorlyuseless)
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Thank you for listening to another episode of Majorly Useless: A Philosophy and Literature Podcast.
15 Apr 2021
07. Exploring Magical Realism
What do movies like The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Amélie and Pan’s Labyrinth have in common with literary works like Beloved, Like Water for Chocolate, Kafka on the Shore and Midnight's Children?
You guessed it. They all fall under the magical realism category, which happens to be the topic for this episode of Majorly Useless.
One of my favourite literary modes, this episode will cover what magical realism is, a brief history of it in literature and then, of course, its application in different literary works, namely the four texts from my initial question.
Also, magical realism is NOT fantasy. So if you aren’t a fantasy fan, please don’t tune out just yet (although I do love fantasy too).
For more Majorly Useless content, you can find the show on Instagram @majorlyuseless
https://www.instagram.com/majorlyuseless/ (https://www.instagram.com/majorlyuseless/)
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PRIMARY TEXTS COVERED (in order)
Like Water for Chocolate - Laura Esquivel
Beloved - Toni Morrison
Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami
OTHER WORKS MENTIONED
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez
The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie
Joseph Anton - Salman Rushdie
REFERENCES
Le Mystère Laïc - Jean Cocteau
Scheherazade’s Children: Magical Realism in Postmodernist Fiction - Wendy Faris
Magical Realism and the Fantastic: Resolved versus Unresolved Antinomy - Amaryll Beatrice Chanady
Speaking the Unspoken: Rewriting Identity Loss and Memory of Slavery through Magical Realism in Toni Morrison’s Beloved - Md Abu Abdullah
Privileging Oddity and Otherness: A Study of Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore - Rasleena Thakur and Vani Khurana
AUDIO SAMPLES
Salman Rushdie on Magical Realism: True Stories Don't Tell the Whole Truth:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZtdhLndVYg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZtdhLndVYg)
Narcos Season 01 Episode 03:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG852G-pDS4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG852G-pDS4)
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Thank you for listening to another episode of Majorly Useless: A Philosophy and Literature Podcast.
9 Mar 2021
06. Diogenes the Cynic
Out of all the ancient greek philosophers, Diogenes is by far the funniest.
Known as both Diogenes of Sinope and Diogenes the Cynic, he was one of the most influential philosophers in the school of Cynicism.
For more Majorly Useless content, you can find the show on Instagram @majorlyuseless
https://www.instagram.com/majorlyuseless/
23 Feb 2021
05. On the Apathy of the Human Mind | Anton Wilhelm Amo
Welcome back to yet another episode of Majorly Useless: A Philosophy and Literature Podcast.
This week's episode will be covering the work of philosopher Anton Wilhelm Amo, specifically his 1734 PhD thesis: On the Apathy of the Human Mind.
For more Majorly Useless content, you can find the show on Instagram @MajorlyUseless.
RESOURCES
Anton Wilhelm Amo: Introduction & English Translation by Dwight K. Lewis Jr.
https://www.academia.edu/32648027/Anton_Wilhelm_Amo_Introduction_and_English_Translation (https://www.academia.edu/32648027/Anton_Wilhelm_Amo_Introduction_and_English_Translation)
Anton Wilhelm Amo's Philosophical Dissertations on Mind and Body, Edited and Translated by Stephen Menn and Justin E. H. Smith
https://www.bookdepository.com/Anton-Wilhelm-Amos-Philosophical-Dissertations-on-Mind-Body-Stephen-Menn/9780197501627 (https://www.bookdepository.com/Anton-Wilhelm-Amos-Philosophical-Dissertations-on-Mind-Body-Stephen-Menn/9780197501627?pdg=dsa-41622881829:cmp-1695787335:adg-71757145128:crv-329359919451:pos-:dev-c&gclid=CjwKCAiAyc2BBhAaEiwA44-wW1NcHv45AcEbw21isXxzvGP7Bq5ZBZUkI09kkTGSPpeHlM_vZWF69xoCtqMQAvD_BwE)
A. W. Amo: First Great Black Man of Letters by Reginald Bess. A journal article from the Journal of Black Studies
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2784391?read-now=1&seq=1 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/2784391?read-now=1&seq=1)
Note: Even if you don’t have an institution login, this article is accessible with a free JSTOR account. You get up to 100 free articles per month.
Anton Wilhelm Amo, A Black Philosopher in 18th Century Europe by Temitope Ajileye
https://medium.com/@temitopeajileye/anton-wilhelm-amo-a-black-philosopher-in-18th-century-europe-16d29ff3f165 (https://medium.com/@temitopeajileye/anton-wilhelm-amo-a-black-philosopher-in-18th-century-europe-16d29ff3f165)
8 Feb 2021
04. Did Chaucer invent Valentine's Day?
With Valentine's Day just around the corner, it made sense that this ep should look at the poem that might be responsible for it all, The Parliament of Fowles by medieval English poet, Geoffrey Chaucer.
This ep will cover a brief history of Valentine's Day, the poem itself, and whether or not it's the reason we celebrate Valentine's Day today.
Find the show on Instagram @majorlyuseless.
RESOURCES
Read The Parliament of Fowls in Middle English: http://www.librarius.com/parliamentfs.htm (http://www.librarius.com/parliamentfs.htm)
Read The Parliament of Fowls in Modern English: https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/English/Fowls.php (https://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/English/Fowls.php)
Listen to The Parliament of Fowls in Middle English: https://youtu.be/4O_ztmu1FxE (https://youtu.be/4O_ztmu1FxE)
Thank you for listening to Majorly Useless: A Philosophy and Literature Podcast, new episodes drop every second Tuesday.
27 Jan 2021
03. Meditations | Marcus Aurelius
Welcome back to Majorly Useless, a philosophy and literature podcast. In this episode, I wanted to explore the life and work of Roman Emperor and stoic philosopher, Marcus Aurelius. He is, of course, the author of Meditations, one of the most influential and practical philosophical texts of all time.
Find the show on Instagram @majorlyuseless
19 Jan 2021
02. Intro to Ethics | The Trolley Problem
Hello and welcome back Majorly Useless, a philosophy and literature podcast. In today’s episode, we’ll be exploring some basics of ethics and moral philosophy. The canvas for which will be the famous ethical dilemma, the trolley problem.
Find the show on Instagram @majorlyuseless
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RESOURCES:
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/03/got-99-problems-but-a-trolley-aint-one/556805/
https://www.wired.com/story/trolley-problem-teach-self-driving-car-engineers/
https://qz.com/1196243/test-how-moral-or-immoral-you-are-with-this-utilitarian-philosophy-quiz/
https://opentextbc.ca/ethicsinlawenforcement/chapter/2-1-major-ethical-systems/
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/would-you-kill-one-person-to-save-five-depends-if-you-re-a-millennial-or-not-1.4173661
12 Jan 2021
01. Essays in Idleness | Yoshida Kenkō
Hello and welcome to the very first episode ever of Majorly Useless, a philosophy and literature podcast. In this episode, we’re going to be talking about Yoshida Kenkō, a poet, Monk, essayist and philosopher from medieval Japan.
Find the show on Instagram @majorlyuseless
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RESOURCES:
Kenkō and Chōmei: Essays in Idleness and Hojoki (Meredith McKinney translation): https://www.bookdepository.com/Essays-in-Idleness-none-Kenko/9780141192109
A Cup of Sake Beneath The Cherry Trees:
https://www.booktopia.com.au/a-cup-of-sake-beneath-the-cherry-trees-kenko/book/9780141398259.html
The Timeless Wisdom of Kenko - Lance Morrow: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/the-timeless-wisdom-of-kenko-159972347/
Explaining an old Japanese essay The Monk of Ninna-ji Temple : https://youtu.be/gznR-eumRm4
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