The Common Reader
af Henry Oliver
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Shruti Rajagopalan: The Political Economy of Gulliver’s Travels
Shruti Rajagopalan: The Political Economy of Gulliver’s Travels
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De nyeste 20 af 45 episoder
- Shruti Rajagopalan: The Political Economy of Gulliver’s Travels · 1 t. 0 min.Last week, the day after the 300th anniversary of the publication of Gulliver’s Travels, I sat down with my colleague Shruti Rajagopalan to discuss Swift’s great novel. Shruti is…
- James Marriott and the Death of Civilization · 53 min.Obviously, this is mostly about the literacy crisis, whether we understand it properly, whether it is happening in Spain, whether the PISA data supports James’ thesis, and so on…
- Philip Hensher: How Can You Kill a Book Like That? · 1 t. 28 min.Philip Hensher and I discussed the history of the novel in Britain from Defoe to Hollinghurst. Philip is remarkably well-read and happy to share his real opinions. He can go from…
- Zena Hitz: Gulliver's Travels and the Failures of Human Understanding · 50 min.What a lot of fun I had talking to Zena Hitz about Gulliver’s Travels. As well as discussing Swift, slavery, genocide, rationality, Christianity, and science, Zena told me that…
- Oliver Traldi: Jane Austen and the Defence of Virtue · 1 t. 14 min.My colleague Oliver Traldi recently published an essay called ‘Jane Austen’s Virtuous Liberalism’. It’s a very nice discussion of the ways in which Austen understand the…
- Laura Thompson on Agatha Christie: Shakespeare, Murder, and the Art of Simplicity · 1 t. 20 min.What a delight to talk to laura thompson about Agatha Christie. Above all, this episode was fun. Laura really does know more than anyone about Agatha and we covered a lot. What…
- Ruth Scurr: The Life and Work of John Aubrey · 1 t. 1 min.What a pleasure it was to talk to Ruth Scurr, author of John Aubrey: My Own Life, about the great man himself, who was born four hundred years ago this month. Aubrey is best know…
- Naomi Kanakia: How Great Are the Great Books? · 53 min.Ahead of her new book What’s So Great About the Great Books? coming out in April, Naomi Kanakia and I talked about literature from Herodotus to Tony Tulathimutte. We touched on…
- Hermione Lee: Tom Stoppard. “It’s Wanting to Know That Makes Us Matter” · 57 min.Hermione Lee is the renowned biographer of Virginia Woolf, Edith Wharton, Penelope Fitzgerald, and, most recently, Tom Stoppard. Stoppard died at the end of last year, so…
- Literature, politics, and the future of the humanities · 1 t. 3 min.This episode of The Common Reader podcast is a little different. I spoke to both Jeffrey Lawrence and Julianne Werlin about literature, politics, and the future of the academic…
- John Mullan. What makes Jane Austen great? · 1 t. 11 min.Tuesday is the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth, so today I spoke to John Mullan, professor of English Literature at UCL, author of What Matters in Jane Austen. John and…
- Rebecca Lowe: the container theory of time in On the Calculation of Volume · 1 t. 11 min.I was delighted to talk to Rebecca Lowe, who is, like me, a great admirer of Solvej Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume series. We discussed Calculation as a philosophical…
- Peter Pan video · 18 min.I made a video of my recent essay ‘What I Learned Reading Peter Pan to my Children’. I made this video because it is one of the things I am most pleased with having written. You…
- Shanon Chamberlain: what is a novel? · 53 min.Shannon Chamberlain is a former tutor at St. Johns College, an expert in the influence of fiction upon Adam Smith, a mystery writer, Substacker, and amateur pilot. She is no…
- Rhodri Lewis: Shakespearean Tragedy · 1 t. 22 min.I was delighted to talk to Rhodri Lewis, author of Shakespeare’s Tragic Art. We discussed Shakespeare’s most under appreciated plays, the best films, how to teach Shakespeare…
- Video of my discussion with Catherine Lacey about Iris Murdoch's The Sea, The Sea · 49 min.My thanks to Catherine Lacey for a great discussion! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit…
- Frances Wilson: T.S. Eliot is stealing my baked beans. · 1 t. 5 min.Frances Wilson has written biographies of Dorothy Wordsworth, Thomas De Quincey, D.H. Lawrence, and, most recently, Muriel Spark. I thought Electric Spark was excellent. In my…
- Victoria Moul. Poetry for life. · 1 t. 3 min.Victoria Moul has been reading and memorising poetry since she was nine. She recites it at the dentist (‘Aubade’, rather alarmingly) and she recited poems all through her labours…
- Lamorna Ash. Don't Forget We're Here Forever · 1 t. 7 min.In this interview, Lamorna Ash, author of Don’t Forget We’re Here Forever: A New Generation's Search for Religion, and one of my favourite modern writers, talked about working at…
- Helen Castor: imagining life in the fourteenth century. · 1 t. 11 min.I was delighted to talk to the historian Helen Castor (who writes The H Files by Helen Castor) about her new book The Eagle and the Hart. I found that book compulsive, and this…
