Wandering through Samuel Beckett's 1953 absurdist play Waiting for Godot.

Did Beckett actually have an interpretation in mind, or did he deliberately write a maximally vague story that everyone could map their own interests onto?

How well does the humour hold up over time? Where does Beckett rank in the canon of absurdist and existentialist writers? What proportion of reported suicides are actually autoerotic asphyxiation accidents? etc

CHAPTERS

• (00:00:00) gooning oneself to death
• (00:05:28) synopsis (nothing happens, twice)
• (00:07:32) Initial reactions + arguing about interpretation
• 00:17:16) What are we waiting for?
• (00:22:09) Religious, Freudian, Marxist interpretations
• (00:26:56) tHaT’s sOOO RANdoM!!
• (00:31:00) Beckett’s fame
• (00:35:01) Beckett vs Camus
• (00:38:02) The One True Interpretation

Our final session with W. Somerset Maugham's The Razor's Edge (chapters 5-7).

Elliot Templeton as the last relic of a dying age. Was he really happy? We consider his self-worship and clout-chasing Catholicism as a counterpoint to Larry's spirituality. Rest in power queen.

Sophie MacDonald attempts to climb off the wheel of suffering via more prosaic means. Did she get what she wanted? An argument over whether Isabel is a total psycho or only a minor-league bitch.

Larry's spiritual journey as a synthesis of the best parts of the Eastern tradition. Was this whole book just a delivery mechanism for Vedic philosophy? On the transmigration of souls, God as a deadbeat dad, and whether it's bad for society to encourage serenity-maxxing.

CHAPTERS

• (00:00:00) tattoo discourse
• (00:02:18) The sad (?) saga of Elliott Templeton
• (00:16:31) The sad saga of Sophie MacDonald
• (00:29:25) Is this whole book just a delivery vehicle for vedic philosophy?
• (00:36:18) Larry’s struggle with the problem of evil
• (00:42:11) Oneness and universality of transcendent experience
• (00:47:03) Buddhism as a mind-killing philosophy
• (00:52:22) The boys experience with meditating

Discussing chapters 4 and 5 of W. Somerset Maugham's The Razor's Edge.

Larry becomes aloof and reserved. Is he really bringing anything to the table besides his sexy forearms? Has he gone full woo-woo granola cruncher? Why can Kosti only talk about spirituality when he's drunk? Why aren't muses a thing these days?

CHAPTERS

• (00:00:00) Synopsis
• (00:02:23) What do we think of Larry now?
• (00:13:54) Curing Gray’s headache
• (00:16:50) Christian mysticism as thinly veiled Buddhism
• (00:20:05) What does Kosti’s character represent?
• (00:28:30) Why we can take Larry more seriously than typical hippie
• (00:33:10) This book would hit way harder at age 18 or 20
• (00:41:28) What happened to muses? (these old service sector jobs)