The Retiring Room

Episode 4 - Oxford(s)

Welcome back to the Retiring Room for episode 4 on the city (or cities) of Oxford. Today, we are really excited to take you on a little tour of Oxfords, both real and imaginary, from the comfort of your own front room. Expect the improbable, the mythical, and the ridiculous from England's oldest university and the city that holds it. You can find all our podcast providers, social media, and weblinks here [http://hyperurl.co/dclvm6], and we'll be back in two weeks' time to take a dive in on the enigmatic Lord Asriel. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode!

Episode 3 - The Alethiometer

Welcome back for our third episode, all about the alethiometer. Not content to spend an hour solely arguing over whether it is made of brass or gold, we have a great episode lined up for you that covers Renaissance memory theatres, ancient stargazing, epistemology, and some slightly brain-bending questions about the nature of Dust, Angels, Daemons, and knowledge. Find the episode on your favourite podcast provider here [http://hyperurl.co/dclvm6], and we'll be back in two weeks' time (Coronavirus notwithstanding!) to talk about Oxford. Which one? Tune in to find out!

Episode 2 - Serafina Pekkala

Welcome back to the Retiring Room for this fortnight's episode on Serafina Pekkala! We're really excited to be talking about probably the most important witch of the trilogy, and delving a little into her story, folklore, and why she's so brilliant. We undertake more plant-based speculation, get into some of the trivia around names, go deep on some more folklore, and explore what Serafina Pekkala means for magic, femininity, and some of our other favourite characters. Find the episode on your favourite podcast provider here [http://hyperurl.co/dclvm6] and our episode notes here [https://retiringroompodcast.wordpress.com/?p=105]. We'll be back in two weeks to talk about the Alethiometer - see you there!

Episode 1 - The Witches

Welcome to our first full-length episode! We're really excited to be chatting about the witches this week, so grab a brew, settle in, and join us. Today we chat through various things, starting with a brief rundown on what we know about the witches in the story. We take a look at possible folkloric influences on them as characters and their spirituality, speculate about what Cloud Pine is, fangirl wildly about Ruta Skadi, and bitch about the patriarchy. Find the episode on your favourite podcast provider here [http://hyperurl.co/dclvm6]. We'll look forward to seeing you in two weeks for when we get to chat more in depth about Serafina Pekkala.

Episode 0 - Trailer

Welcome to the Retiring Room! This is a brand new podcast for a thematic dive in on Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. In our first mini-episode, you get to meet your co-hosts, Caity and Charlotte, and find out a bit about the podcast in preparation for our first full-length episode next week.