Episode 32: The Literary Life of James Banks
01/14/20 • 95 min
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On today’s episode of The Literary Life, Angelina and Cindy interview James Banks. James is a civil servant, veteran, teacher, former academic and writer living in Austin, Texas. Prior to moving to the Lone Star State, he studied Renaissance Literature and taught at the University of Rochester. But it was only after leaving the academy that he rediscovered his passion for Shakespeare, Spenser, Chaucer and all things literary. His essays and reviews have appeared in The Weekly Standard, the Literati Quarterly, the Intercollegiate Review and elsewhere, but he is best known for being the brother of Thomas Banks and brother-in-law of Angelina Stanford.
James talks about his childhood relationships with books and stories, and the massive leap he took from not being able to read to being a reader. He tells about his desire to be a teacher and his undergraduate experience. He also elaborates on how he came to his love of Shakespeare and Renaissance literature. James tells why he ended up leaving academia and how he rediscovered his love of literature. He also gives some examples of how he reads so much and makes the most of his time.
The Cross of Snowby Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
In the long, sleepless watches of the night, A gentle face — the face of one long dead — Looks at me from the wall, where round its head The night-lamp casts a halo of pale light. Here in this room she died; and soul more white Never through martyrdom of fire was led To its repose; nor can in books be read The legend of a life more benedight. There is a mountain in the distant West That, sun-defying, in its deep ravines Displays a cross of snow upon its side. Such is the cross I wear upon my breast These eighteen years, through all the changing scenes And seasons, changeless since the day she died.
Book List:(Amazon Affiliate Links)
Big Wonderful Thing by Stephen Harrigan
John Buchan by His Wife and Friends by Susan Tweedsmuir
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
Good Things Out of Nazareth: Uncollected Letters of Flannery O’Connor and Friends
The Shooting Party by Anton Chekhov
The Sword of Honour Trilogy by Evelyn Waugh
Cultural Amnesia by Clive James
The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare
The Meaning of Shakespeare, Vol. 2 by Harold Goddard
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Silas Marner by George Eliot
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fennimore Cooper
The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll
On the Edge by Edward St. Aubyn
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
The Adventures of Ibn Battuta by Ibn Battuta
On today’s episode of The Literary Life, Angelina and Cindy interview James Banks. James is a civil servant, veteran, teacher, former academic and writer living in Austin, Texas. Prior to moving to the Lone Star State, he studied Renaissance Literature and taught at the University of Rochester. But it was only after leaving the academy that he rediscovered his passion for Shakespeare, Spenser, Chaucer and all things literary. His essays and reviews have appeared in The Weekly Standard, the Literati Quarterly, the Intercollegiate Review and elsewhere, but he is best known for being the brother of Thomas Banks and brother-in-law of Angelina Stanford.
James talks about his childhood relationships with books and stories, and the massive leap he took from not being able to read to being a reader. He tells about his desire to be a teacher and his undergraduate experience. He also elaborates on how he came to his love of Shakespeare and Renaissance literature. James tells why he ended up leaving academia and how he rediscovered his love of literature. He also gives some examples of how he reads so much and makes the most of his time.
The Cross of Snowby Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
In the long, sleepless watches of the night, A gentle face — the face of one long dead — Looks at me from the wall, where round its head The night-lamp casts a halo of pale light. Here in this room she died; and soul more white Never through martyrdom of fire was led To its repose; nor can in books be read The legend of a life more benedight. There is a mountain in the distant West That, sun-defying, in its deep ravines Displays a cross of snow upon its side. Such is the cross I wear upon my breast These eighteen years, through all the changing scenes And seasons, changeless since the day she died.
Book List:(Amazon Affiliate Links)
Big Wonderful Thing by Stephen Harrigan
John Buchan by His Wife and Friends by Susan Tweedsmuir
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
Good Things Out of Nazareth: Uncollected Letters of Flannery O’Connor and Friends
The Shooting Party by Anton Chekhov
The Sword of Honour Trilogy by Evelyn Waugh
Cultural Amnesia by Clive James
The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare
The Meaning of Shakespeare, Vol. 2 by Harold Goddard
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Silas Marner by George Eliot
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fennimore Cooper
The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll
On the Edge by Edward St. Aubyn
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
The Adventures of Ibn Battuta by Ibn Battuta
Previous Episode
Episode 31: Our Year in Reading
In this last episode of 2019, our Literary Life podcast hosts chat all about their past year in books, as well as what they hope to read in the coming year. Cindy, Angelina and Thomas begin by sharing some commonplace quotes from books they read in 2019. They discuss their strategies for planning their reading goals and how they curate their "to be read" lists. Each host also share some highlights from their year in books.
Angelina then introduces The Literary Life Podcast 20 for 2020 Reading Challenge. She talks about how to approach this reading challenge. Then our hosts talk a little about each category in the challenge and give some of their possible book picks for 2020. Cindy mentions a list of Shakespeare's plays in chronological order. She also has a list of "Books for Cultivating Honorable Boys."
Thanks to Our Sponsor:Located in beautiful Franklin Tennessee, New College Franklin is a four year Christian Liberal Arts college dedicated to excellent academics and discipling relationships among students and faculty. We seek to enrich and disciple students intellectually, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, to guide them to wisdom and a life of service to God, neighbors, and creation
In Memoriamby Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light: The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.
Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true.
Ring out the grief that saps the mind For those that here we see no more; Ring out the feud of rich and poor, Ring in redress to all mankind.
Ring out a slowly dying cause, And ancient forms of party strife; Ring in the nobler modes of life, With sweeter manners, purer laws.
Ring out the want, the care, the sin, The faithless coldness of the times; Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes But ring the fuller minstrel in.
Ring out false pride in place and blood, The civic slander and the spite; Ring in the love of truth and right, Ring in the common love of good. Ring out old shapes of foul disease; Ring out the narrowing lust of gold; Ring out the thousand wars of old, Ring in the thousand years of peace.
Ring in the valiant man and free, The larger heart, the kindlier hand; Ring out the darkness of the land, Ring in the Christ that is to be.
Book List:(Affiliate links are used in this content.)
Winter Hours by Mary Oliver
Rules for the Dance by Mary Oliver
Characters of Shakespeare’s Plays by William Hazlitt
The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Faerie Queen by Edmund Spenser
Miracles by C. S. Lewis
Kristen Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset
Letters from Father Christmas by J. R. Tolkein
Leaf by Niggle by J. R. Tolkein
Time and Chance by Sharon Kay Penman
Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev
The Home of the Gentry by Ivan Turgenev
The Killer and the Slain by Hugh Walpole
Trent’s Last Case by E. C. Bentley
Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner by James Hogg
The Constant Nymph by Margaret Kennedy
The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare
Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
The Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham
The Crane Wife by Sumiko Yagawa
Next Episode
Episode 33: An Introduction to A Winter's Tale
Welcome to our first episode on Shakespeare’s play A Winter’s Tale. Hosts Angelina Stanford and Cindy Rollins start off with some ideas of how to approach a Shakespeare play, especially if you feel new or intimidated by Shakespeare. Angelina talks about the use of poetry and prose in these plays, as well as the different types of plays within Shakespeare’s body of work. She also discusses the history and development of drama from the time of the Greeks to the Renaissance.
James Banks joins the podcasts again to lend his perspective to our study of Shakespeare. He recommends the Oxford, Norton and Riverside editions for reading Shakespeare. He also encourages people to see screen adaptations, audio versions and, of course, watching a live play when possible. James also talks a little about the challenge of the older English language and how to deal with that as you read and listen. Our hosts also take a look at the culture and history surrounding Shakespeare and his theatre company.
The Winter’s Tale Show Schedule:- January 28: Act I
- February 4: Act II
- February 11: Act III
- February 18: Act IV
- February 25: Act V
- March: Live Q&A for Patreon Fellows
by W. H. Auden
Earth, receive an honoured guest: William Yeats is laid to rest. Let the Irish vessel lie Emptied of its poetry.
In the nightmare of the dark All the dogs of Europe bark, And the living nations wait, Each sequestered in its hate;
Intellectual disgrace Stares from every human face, And the seas of pity lie Locked and frozen in each eye.
Follow, poet, follow right To the bottom of the night, With your unconstraining voice Still persuade us to rejoice;
With the farming of a verse Make a vineyard of the curse, Sing of human unsuccess In a rapture of distress;
In the deserts of the heart Let the healing fountain start, In the prison of his days Teach the free man how to praise.
Book List:(Amazon Affiliate Links)
Home Education by Charlotte Mason
A Christmas Dream and How it Came True by Louisa May Alcott
Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare by E. Nesbit
Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb
The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser
The Old Arcadia by Philip Sidney
The Re-write (film)
Shakespeare: a Critical Study of His Mind and Art by Edward Dowden
Characters of Shakespeare’s Plays by William Hazlitt
Shakespeare Wars by Ron Rosenbaum
Support The Literary Life:Become a patron of The Literary Life podcast as part of the “Friends and Fellows Community” on Patreon, and get some amazing bonus content! Thanks for your support!
Connect with Us:Find Angelina at https://angelinastanford.com, on Instagram @angelinastanford, and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ANGStanford/
Find Cindy at https://cindyrollins.net, on Instagram @cindyordoamoris and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cindyrollins.net/. Check out Cindy’s own Patreon page also!
Follow The Literary Life on Instagram, and jump into our private Facebook group, The Literary Life Discussion Group, and let’s get the book talk going! http://bit.ly/literarylifeFB
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