The TLS Podcast - podcast cover

The TLS Podcast

A weekly podcast on books and culture brought to you by the writers and editors of the Times Literary Supplement.

To read more, welcome to the TLS.

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Episodes

Hardy's London & the modern Middle East

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Mark Ford on Thomas Hardy's unlikely London romance; Hirsh Sawhney on Aravind Adiga's captivating new novel and his messy portrait of India; to tie in with a special run of features on the Middle East, TLS editors Robert Irwin and Toby Lichtig discuss the challenges, historical and present, facing the region; and finally, Mark Ford reads Thomas Hardy's poem "Coming Up Oxford Street: Evening", from 1872. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informa...

Sep 21, 201648 min

Ideas of Englishness

With Stig Abell and Lucy Dallas.Including Ferdinand Mount on what defines England and its inhabitants;David Horspool on responses to Hitler and his ideas; and Mika Ross-Southall on Nick Cave's savagely sad album. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sep 14, 201651 min

Beginnings of life and the end of the NHS

With Stig Abell and Lucy Dallas.Raymond Tallis on the ongoing threat to the NHS; Bee Wilson on descriptions of pregnancy and childbirth; and Marjorie Perloff on seeing O.J. Simpson as Othello. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sep 07, 201643 min

Clare Lowdon on Safran Foer's great big dazzling novel

With Stig Abell and Lucy Dallas: Clare Lowdon on Safran Foer's great big dazzling novel; Mary Beard on what makes Classics relevant; and Can Dundar on being imprisoned by the Turkish state for telling the truth. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aug 31, 201646 min

Eimear McBride on The Lesser Bohemians

Toby Lichtig from The TLS chats to author Eimear McBride about her latest novel, The Lesser Bohemians. Find out more: the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aug 23, 201639 min

Panama Papers, the Nero enigma & women in Hollywood

With Thea Lenarduzzi and Toby Lichtig – Edward Luttwak on the global unravelling occasioned by the Panama Papers; Mary Beard on the enigmatic Emperor Nero, matricidal monster and lover of music; and Hermione Hoby on the difficult beauties of Hollywood, from Babra Streisand to Meryl Streep; plus, a look ahead to next week's special edition of the show. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aug 17, 201637 min

Brazil, Bloomsbury, and Geoff Dyer

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Patrick Wilcken brings us the real Brazil, a country at breaking point; Francesca Wade considers the radical interior designs, and desires, of the Bloomsbury Group; Toby Lichtig on the failures and successes of Geoff Dyer; and Rachel Hadas reads her poem, "Raw Jute". Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aug 10, 201643 min

Edmund White on Nabokov

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Thomas Meaney on death (and what to do with the remains) in the West; Professor Amy Knight on how Putin keeps getting away with murder; Edmund White reconsiders Pale Fire, Nabokov's "great gay comic novel", and reads from the novel's opening. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aug 03, 201644 min

Andrew Motion on Housman

This week: Andrew Motion on Housman's hidden corners; Trev Broughton on rediscovering Charlotte Bronte; and DJ Taylor on the myths of the Sixties. Plus Andrew Motion reads from Housman's A Shropshire Lad. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jul 27, 201639 min

The view from Istanbul

The TLS podcast, with Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – this week: why eat meat?; how political was Shakespeare, and does it matter?; the ethics of dust at the Houses of Parliament; a report from Taksim Square, as Turkey reels. Discover more: the-tis.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jul 20, 201644 min

Richard Ford on Donald Trump

The TLS podcast, with Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – this week: the complexities of modern Irish history; the ups and downs of historical fiction; Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Richard Ford gets to know Donald Trump; finally, Robert Potts reads a poem by Seamus Heaney. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jul 13, 201642 min

Tim Parks on translating Leopardi

The TLS podcast, with Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – this week featuring: Tim Parks on reviving and translating Giacomo Leopardi; Pamela Haag on America's surprisingly modern love affair with guns; Kate Webb on the category defying life and work of Angela Carter; finally, Alan Jenkins reads a poem by the late, great Geoffrey Hill, who died last week. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jul 06, 201646 min

Mary Beard on referenda

Books, culture and more from the TLS podcast, with Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – this week featuring: Athelstan – Britain's forgotten king; Mary Beard on the ancient precedent of our very modern referendum; a philosophical look at the ugly; English Country Houses, real and literary; and a poem, "Visiting Europe", by Bill Manhire Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jun 29, 201643 min

Fiction and the refugee crisis

Books, culture and more from the TLS podcast – this week featuring: responses to the refugee crisis, political and literary; the new Tate in London; Turkey's secular spaces; and a poem by Stephen Knight. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jun 22, 201633 min

Svetlana Alexievich and the Russian-Soviet soul

Svetlana Alexievich, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, gives the Elliott Lecture at St Antony's College Oxford, taking as her subject "The history of the Russian-Soviet soul". Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jun 06, 20161 hr 2 min

Tessa Hadley and Sarah Hall in conversation

Michael Caines talks to two authors who have been shortlisted for the 2016 South Bank Sky Arts Awards.Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jun 01, 201625 min

Utopia – Then and Now (live from Kings Place)

Matthew Beaumont, Michael Caines, Chloe Houston and Nicole Pohl discuss Thomas More's Utopia, first published 500 years ago in 1516, and utopianism in its many and varied forms.Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

May 27, 20161 hr 3 min

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Alan Jenkins introduces and reads a selection of the poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

May 17, 201615 min

Casanova's escape

Adrian Tahourdin and Mika Ross-Southall dip their toes in Casanova's celebrated memoirs.Find out more: www.the-tis.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

May 16, 201613 min

Thomas De Quincey

Catharine Morris and Michael Caines take a look at the English essayist, best known for his Confessions of an English Opium-Eater.Find out more at the-tis.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

May 13, 201615 min

Robert Browning's Poetic Characters

Sam Graydon looks at the poet Robert Browning, exploring the major role he played in the development of the dramatic monologue, with a selection of readings from his works. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Apr 28, 201616 min

Shakespeare and Cervantes, 400 years on

To mark the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare and Cervantes, Mika Ross-Southall introduces a talk on these two giants of world literature. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Apr 22, 201653 min

Utopia at 500

Michael Caines and Lucy Dallas take a tour of Thomas More's imaginary commonwealth, where private property has been abolished and reason rules all. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Apr 20, 201614 min

Being Jewish, being American

Toby Lichtig talks to Morris Dickstein about the ever-evolving relationship between Judaism and American literature. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Apr 15, 201614 min

Oscar Wilde and the Chatterton myth

Mika Ross-Southall and Michael Caines look at the enduring appeal of Thomas Chatterton, an icon of thwarted Romantic genius, and how he became a figure of especial importance for Oscar Wilde. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mar 07, 201614 min

Henry James in the TLS

To mark the centenary of Henry James's death, Catharine Morris and Michael Caines trace the course of his work as it was discussed in his lifetime – and as some of it appeared in the TLS itself. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mar 02, 201611 min

Mary Beard

On the 10th anniversary of her blog, A Don's Life, The TLS' Classics Editor Mary Beard joins Rozalind Dineen to discuss its success. Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Feb 02, 201617 min

Jane Austen's Emma

Michael Caines and Catharine Morris celebrate the bicentenary of Jane Austen's magnificent novel and its quixotic heroine.Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jan 21, 201616 min

"Tea at the Midland" by David Constantine

Michael Caines reads a short story about a man and a woman taking tea, watching the surfers at Morecambe Bay – and falling out over art.For more information, head to www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jan 13, 201615 min

Jacob Tonson's poets

A selection of poems by Aphra Behn, John Milton, Alexander Pope and the Earl of Rochester.Read by Michael Caines, Mika Ross-Southall and Alan Jenkins. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jan 11, 201615 min
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