Entitled Opinions (about Life and Literature)

This week we offer a recording of a talk that was originally given by professor Robert Harrison in 2014, for the Stanford lecture series “Memory and the Arts”. Topics of discussion include: cultural memory, the enigma of beginnings, and special reference to Dylan Thomas' play “Under Milk Wood”.

With our recording studio at KZSU temporarily closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, professor Robert Harrison has decided to open the Entitled Opinions Happy Hour Bar, offering up some small shots of poetry, on the house! This Happy Hour (our second of the season) features a few choice lyrics from Jethro Tull, a British rock […]

This episode is a pre-recorded show that originally aired on March 4th, 2019 on Christopher Lydon’s “Open Source” podcast.In this conversation, Christopher Lydon and professor Robert Harrison discuss René Girard and his theory of mimetic desire. Additionally, professor Harrison also comments on social media, and recent advancements in biotechnology.

Professor Watkin is a Senior Lecturer in French Studies at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. At its broadest, his research explores how people make sense of the world, and how they interact with ideas and positions different from their own. His previous publications include: “Phenomenology or Deconstruction?”, “Difficult Atheism”, and “French Philosophy Today: New Figures […]

With our recording studio at KZSU temporarily closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, professor Robert Harrison has decided to open the Entitled Opinions Happy Hour Bar, offering up some small shots of poetry, on the house! We inaugurate our happy hour this week with a few choice lyrics from Jimi Hendrix. If you are interested […]

This show is a recording of an online meeting that was held on Sunday April 5th, 2020. In this discussion professor Robert Harrison speaks on Boccaccio's Decameron, with particular emphasis on the following novelle: Second Day, story #5; Third Day, story #1 and story #10; Fourth Day, story #5; Fifth Day story #9; Sixth Day, […]

In this episode, professor Robert Harrison reflects on the ways in which the present Coronavirus pandemic gives new resonance to Boccaccio’s Decameron, which was written in the immediate aftermath of the Black Death of 1348.  This monologue was recorded from Robert’s home. It will be followed in a day or two by the recording of […]

In this episode, professor Harrison reflects on the symbolism of willows and their connection to thresholds. He includes discussions of Japanese willow stories, Algernon Blackwood, and poems by the pre-rafalite poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his sister Christina Rossetti.

Pau is a graduate student in the ILAC (Iberian and Latin American cultures) department at Stanford University. He recently submitted his dissertation, and he will be graduating this year (2019). Pau has studied Philosophy, History, Greek Tragedy and Cinema. He has published three books about his travel experiences and one on the relation between archaeology […]

Marisa Galvez is Associate Professor of French at Stanford University. She specializes in medieval literature and culture, especially the lyric and romance of Continental Europe during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Her scholarship focuses on such topics as crusade, performance, and the European lyric tradition from the Middle Ages to the present day. Her forthcoming […]