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The Literary Life Podcast

The Literary Life Podcast

Episode 332: "A Defence of Penny Dreadfuls" by G. K. Chesterton, Short Story Summer Series Remix

Jun 9, 2026 · 1h 19m

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About this episode

On The Literary Life today we continue our re-airing of a series from our "Summer of the Short Story" that originally aired way back in Season 1 of the podcast! This week's episode features Angelina Stanford and Cindy Rollins discussing G. K. Chesterton's essay " A Defence of Penny Dreadfuls ." Angelina opens with a brief history of the Victorian era and the more prevalent availability of the novel to the masses. She also gives several examples of the "penny dreadful." Cindy and Angelina discuss why they agree with Chesterton that people need these simple, even formulaic stories. They remind us that childhood is a time for good books, not a time to worry about reading all the "Great Books."…