Rooting for the Anti-Hero
Young Heretics
Spencer Klavan
4.9 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 11 July 2023
⏱️ 67 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It's the age of the anti-hero, and Machiavelli can help explain why. Talking through the life of Agathocles, tyrant of Syracuse, and discussing the portrayal of him in The Prince, Spencer probes deeper into the uneasy line between recklessness and courage, shamelessness and virtue. Can we find our way out of the war between the sexes to a real vision of what it means to tame the lion of the soul? Plus: a close reading of Taylor Swift. Sort of.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's me. |
| 0:03.5 | Hi. |
| 0:06.2 | I'm the problem. |
| 0:08.2 | It's me. |
| 0:09.2 | Oh boy, welcome back to Young. |
| 0:14.6 | There it takes. |
| 0:15.6 | If you follow me on Twitter, I promise that I would perform a close reading of a Taylor |
| 0:21.2 | Swift song. |
| 0:22.2 | I feel I've somewhat overpromised here because I'm not really going to perform a close |
| 0:26.9 | reading on the model of the TikTok Swifties who pick apart every possible reference in |
| 0:34.0 | every new album drop and re-release. |
| 0:37.3 | I'm not even competent. |
| 0:38.8 | I don't have the relevant expertise. |
| 0:41.0 | My PhD is in Ancient Creek literature and not in Swiftiana or Taylor Swift studies. |
| 0:49.2 | So I'm really not the person to give you the minute line by line reading of a Taylor |
| 0:54.2 | Swift song that you might like, but I did just want to bring up this line. |
| 0:59.1 | I'm the problem. |
| 1:00.1 | It's me from the Taylor Swift song Antihero because we're talking all these episodes. |
| 1:05.7 | We're talking about virtue and specifically these last couple episodes we've been talking |
| 1:09.8 | about courage and rea, which is excellence of the thumas. |
| 1:14.9 | That is to say the part of the soul that feels anger and righteous indignation and spirit |
| 1:20.9 | and passion. |
... |
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