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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

Against nature

With Stig Abell and Lucy Dallas:Mary Beard shares her experience of election night in America; Mark Bostridge discusses Queen Victoria and the stinginess of the Royal Archive; and Nick Groom makes the case for wondrous nature writing.Find out more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nov 09, 201645 min

Violence and poetry

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – our History editor David Horspool on the (uniquely?) violent English and seven centuries' worth of pacification; Mark Hutchinson on the lesser-known modernist poet Basil Bunting and his love-hate relationship with T. S. Eliot; Fiona Green on a bold new collection of Emily Dickinson poems – does it bring us closer to the reclusive poet herself?; and finally, we have a recording of the late Robert Conquest, a man best known for his groundbreaking work as a his...

Nov 03, 201643 min

Halloween story special

With Stig Abell, Thea Lenarduzzi and Michael Caines.Three extracts of spooky stories for Halloween. Stig reads from Dracula by Bram Stoker; Thea from Mr Jones by Edith Wharton; and Michael from Two Doctors by MR James.Find out more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oct 28, 201637 min

Shades of censorship

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Elaine Showalter on how extreme misogyny turned Clinton vs Trump into woman vs man; Jonathan Barnes on the long shadow of Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'; Houman Barekat on 250 years of 'Index on Censorship' and the mutable and myriad threats to free speech; Lara Feigel on two books, by the late Sue Lloyd-Roberts and Lara Pawson, about violence and the sufferings of women around the world – how much progress is there? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more ...

Oct 26, 201644 min

Ali Smith on Autumn

Toby Lichtig talks to Ali Smith about her new novel, Autumn; plus, an exclusive extract read by the author. Find out more: the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oct 21, 201633 min

Life, writing and life-writing

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Ruth Scurr on Beryl Bainbridge's life, love and works; Jessica Loudis on two memoirs, of New York City and the Chelsea Hotel; ruthless and high-minded or likeable and good-natured? Dinah Birch on the ever-enigmatic J. M. W. Turner; and finally, we're joined by the TLS's resident Shakespearean Michael Caines to talk us through a new compendium of writing on the playwright. Just don't call him the Bard. Find out more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See aca...

Oct 19, 201648 min

The mythical Lévi-Strauss

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Adam Kuper on French structuralist and hoarder of myths Claude Lévi-Strauss; Joe Paul Kroll on what happened when a slightly belligerent group of eminent German writers visited America; Laura James on the intractable paradox of aid in Africa and different approaches to nation-building; finally, TLS Poetry Editor Alan Jenkins discusses the enigmatic poet Louis Aragon, and reads his new translation "Elsa at the Mirror".Find out more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted...

Oct 12, 201645 min

A lecture by Terry Eagleton

Terry Eagleton gives the Theos annual lecture, on the not un-problematic, not un-high-stakes, and not un-incendiary twin matters of The Death of God and the War on Terror. Find our more: www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oct 07, 201642 min

Duck or Rabbit?

With Stig Abel and Thea Lenarduzzi: Tim Crane guides us through our philosophy special edition (including on how the brain works); Lisa Hilton helps to recover the voices of Parisian wartime women; Anna Katharina Schaffner explains why the Nazis were all high. Plus Andrew Motion reflects on his freedom from the role of Poet Laureate, and reads his poem "Evening Traffic". Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oct 05, 201648 min

Rose Tremain at the Wimbledon Bookfest

The novelist in conversation, with Michael Caines, about her latest novel, The Gustav Sonata, and forty years as a published author.www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oct 03, 201637 min

Beatrix Potter, marriage, and data

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Marcia Zug on marriage in America (plus the pros and cons of mail-order brides); Laura Freeman on Beatrix Potter's naughty charm; Paul Duguid considers the implications of unrestrained information for all – is more necessarily better?; and finally, Robert Potts reads "Gift", a poem by the concrete poet Ian Hamilton Finlay, first published in the TLS in 1960. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....

Sep 28, 201642 min

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
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