Episode 171: The Beauty and the Horror

Episode 171: The Beauty and the Horror

Author: SpectreVision Radio June 14, 2024 Duration: 1:09:28
This week on Weird Studies, Phil and JF explore the intersections of the beautiful and the terrible in art and literature. There is a conventional beauty that calms and placates, and there is a radical beauty which, taking horror’s pale-gloved hand, gives up all pretense to permanence and fixity and joins the danse macabre of our endless becoming. This episode is a preamble to a five-week course of lectures and discussions starting June 20th on Weirdosphere, JF and Phil’s new online learning platform. For more information and to enroll in The Beauty and the Horror, visit www.weirdosphere.org. REFERENCES JF Martel, Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice, the audiobook, with a new introduction written and read by Donna Tartt. Denis Villeneuve, Dune: Part Two William Blake, “The Tyger” Junichiro Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows Steven Spielberg, Raiders of the Lost Ark Walter Pater, The Renaissance David Lynch, Twin Peaks: The Return Anna Aikin, “On the Pleasure Derived from Objects of Terror Donna Tartt, The Secret History Keiji Nishitani, Religion and Nothingness Charles Baudelaire, “Le Voyage” Franz Schubert, “Death and the Maiden” Quartet Franz Schubert, Piano Sonata in C major, D. 840 J.R.R. Tolkein, The Hobbit Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the heart of Weird Studies, a podcast from SpectreVision Radio, you’ll find long-form conversations between Professor Phil Ford and writer J. F. Martel. Their discussions aren’t simple reviews or straightforward analyses; instead, they wander through the tangled undergrowth where art and philosophy meet, giving generous time to concepts that resist easy understanding and to creative works that fracture our ordinary sense of the world. This podcast deliberately lingers in that ambiguous space, treating the “weird” not as a genre but as a particular mode of experience-one that reveals the cracks in what we comfortably assume is real. Each episode feels like joining a deep, meandering dialogue between two friends who are both deeply knowledgeable and endlessly curious, covering a vast terrain that includes literature, film, music, and esoteric thought. It’s a show for anyone who suspects that the most profound truths are often found in the shadows, the anomalies, and the strangely beautiful. As part of the SpectreVision Radio network, which specializes in content that explores the uncanny edges of creativity, Weird Studies builds a unique community of listeners who are eager to think differently. You won’t find pat answers here, but you will encounter compelling questions and a shared sense of exploration that makes each installment a distinctive journey.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 230

Weird Studies
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