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Talk Write

Talk Write

By: Brandon Cook
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 Excerpts and commentary on great writing

brandoncookwriter.substack.comBrandon Cook Art Literary History & Criticism Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Brilliant Beginnings: Bleak House

    Brilliant Beginnings: Bleak House
    Feb 2 2026

    In this series, I’ll be looking at some opening pages and talking about what makes them so great. Today, I’m beginning with Dickens’s “Bleak House.” It’s an opening I’ve covered before on my podcast, but there’s still so much to talk about. In twopages, Dickens not only manages to create one of the most unforgettable images of London fog, he does so while combining character, theme, and even plot, and all in a luxurious prose style that relishes words and never comes across as merely descriptive.



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    17 mins
  • Shakespeare's Most Enigmatic Poem

    Shakespeare's Most Enigmatic Poem
    Jan 14 2026

    Among Shakespeare’s least-read works are his early, long poems: Venus and Adonis (1593), and The Rape of Lucrece (1594), and “The Phoenix and the Turtle” (1601). The last poem remains deeply enigmatic. What can it teach us today? And what sort of light does it shed on the rest of Shakespeare’s work?



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    12 mins
  • War and Peace: The Best Battle Scene

    War and Peace: The Best Battle Scene
    Jan 7 2026

    In 2025 I got to reread one of my all-time favorites, "War and Peace." While it's widely considered the gold standard for lengthy, 'classic' novels, this title can often discourage would-be readers from this work, which, while long, never drags. Here, I give you one of my favorite scenes that occurs midway through book one.



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    16 mins
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