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

Anthony Burgess at 100

With Stig Abell and Thea LenarduzziPaul Howard brings us an unpublished Burgess essay on an untranslatable poet; J. Michael Lennon links the writing of Joan Didion with Trump's America; and Simon Armitage reads us a brand new poem. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Feb 22, 201748 min

Writing The Russian Revolution

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Caryl Emerson on poetry and prose forged in the immediacy of the Russian Revolution of 1917; Phil Baker considers the strange split legacy of British writer Colin Wilson, a curious and often hateful figure with an extreme superiority complex; finally, Clive James reads his beautiful new poem "Anchorage International" Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Feb 15, 201746 min

Cowgirls, Hockney, and how to write a bestseller

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Gerri Kimber on the role of women in the rise of the Western (plus the notorious case of Mrs Clem); as Tate Britain unveils the most extensive David Hockney retrospective yet, one of the show's curators talks us though some key moments, and themes, in a long and eclectic career; what makes a bestseller? Daisy Hildyard considers four new books that purport to tell us why some books succeed while others flop. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more inf...

Feb 08, 201745 min

The age of mass incarceration

Clive Stafford Smith, lawyer and campaigner against miscarriages of justice, joins us in the studio to discuss his time defending death-row prisoners in Guantánamo and elsewhere, the "integrity" of the system, why torture doesn't work, and whether the age of mass incarceration might finally be drawing to a close. We end with Helen Mort reading her new poem, "Glasgow".Presented by Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi. Discover more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more in...

Feb 02, 201745 min

March on

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Paul Collier on the new "hard" pragmatism and the future of capitalism; Michael Chabon discusses his invigorating new novel, Moonglow; Mary Beard on women in academia (the troubles and the triumphs, past and present), and why the Trump inauguration protests were a step in the right direction.Discover more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jan 26, 201749 min

Reboots and reputations

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Devoney "Stone Cold Jane Austen" Looser on the slew of Jane Austen reincarnations (and why it's nothing to worry about); David Wheatley on the long-awaited final volume of Samuel Beckett's letters and its "black diamonds of pessimism"; and J. Michael Lennon on the titan of publishing Robert Gottlieb, and the writer-editor relationship. Discover more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....

Jan 19, 201746 min

Bad sex, 'the Malala effect', layers of place

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Eimear McBride on the dark side of bad sex writing and why a new anthology is nothing to be snickered at; Diana Darke on the stories of two young women who have fled war in the Middle East and the new pressures they face; and Jenny Hendrix joins us from New York to discuss new works of imaginative cartography that portray that city – indeed any city – in full, kaleidoscopic complexity.Discover more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy ...

Jan 11, 201746 min

Chilling, glitzy and dark

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Andrew Scull on the deeply unsettling – and surprisingly recent – history of lobotomy, and the sorry tale of Patient H. M.; Lisa Hilton on the sometimes mystifying appeal of the French Riviera and the vapid aristocrats who holidayed there; Kate Symondson on an all but forgotten novel by Joseph Conrad and a clutch of new books that scrutinize his philosophical and political scepticism – a man for our times? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more info...

Jan 05, 201743 min

The many faces of King’s Cross

A recording from the TLS’s 2016 London Lit Weekend at King’s Place, London: Historians Simon Bradley and Rosemary Ashton and the architect Paul Williams (of Stanton Williams Architects) discuss the literary and architectural heritage of King’s Cross, London, an area which has seen tremendous upheaval in the past century.Discover more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jan 02, 201749 min

A monster success

A recording from the TLS’s 2016 London Lit Weekend at King’s Place, London: 2016 was the 200th anniversary of a dark and stormy night with an extraordinary literary legacy: Frankenstein. Frances Wilson and Benjamin Markovits recount the three days in June, 1816, at the Villa Diodati near Lake Geneva, when a group of young writers – among them Mary Godwin – sheltered from the gloom.Find out more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....

Dec 30, 201651 min

From book to box and beyond

A recording from the TLS’s 2016 London Lit Weekend at King’s Place, London: Cinema and television are brimming with literary adaptations. But how does the page translate to the screen? To discuss the ins and outs, successes and failures, we brought together Mary Beard, David Farr (whose screenwriting credits include The Night Manager), and the novelist and literary adaptee Alan Hollinghurst. Discover more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....

Dec 26, 201648 min

Overrated/Underrated

A recording from the TLS’s 2016 London Lit Weekend at King’s Place, London: Overrated/Underrated, a favourite TLS game in which a panel of critics (David Collard, Alex Clark and Michael Caines) select the esteemed writers they would like to build up or knock down a peg or two. Discover more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dec 23, 201659 min

Brexit, bubbles, and the best arts of 2016

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – James O'Brien on Brexit and the battle for Britain's soul; a (rather idiosyncratic) round-up of the best arts of 2016 with Arts editor Lucy Dallas; finally, in honour of the season, Philosophy editor and oenophile Tim Crane on the "champagne phenomenon"; see you in 2017. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dec 21, 201648 min

God, sex and the arts / science divide

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Rupert Shortt on why Christianity has been more help than hindrance to social and intellectual progress; Fiction editor Toby Lichtig meets Emily Witt to discuss sex, drugs and a new novel by Dana Spiotta; Terri Apter on new essays by Siri Hustvedt, the (narrowing?) gap between art and science, and the persistent gender biases that underpin experience. Discover more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....

Dec 15, 201651 min

Defiance, good death and Mexico

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Frances Wilson on the eccentric life of Lady Anne Barnard, loved by men and bad girls alike; Michael Caines on death and women, and indeed, dead women, on the Shakespearean stage; Scott Esposito on Mexico's violence transmogrified into art, including music made using human vertebrae; finally, seven new (and rare) poems from the critic Barbara Everett. Discover more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....

Dec 07, 201649 min

Controlled violence

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi: – Jennifer Howard on the threats and thrills of the internet: what price for online freedom?; Rebecca Lemov considers the neurological effects of torture, plus the chilling account of a man who survived Guantanamo; Tom Shippey on the liberated and oppressed societies of Scandinavia, where light meets dark.Find out more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nov 30, 201642 min

Books of the Year

Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi are joined by Fiction editor Toby Lichtig and Arts editor Lucy Dallas to discuss their favourite books of 2016, plus the titles they guiltily haven't read (yet), old favourites, and a few disappointments; to end the show, Alan Jenkins, TLS Poetry editor, reads "The Song of the Swimmer" by J. A. Symonds, a feverish poem which could never have been shared in the writer's lifetime and which is published for the first time in this week's issue of the TLS. Hosted on Aca...

Nov 23, 201644 min

Lionel Shriver: "Terror as recreation"

Catharine Morris, at the 2016 Singapore Writers Festival, interviews the American novelist and journalist Lionel Shriver about Trump, Brexit and her unsettling new novel, The Mandibles. Find out more at www.the-tls.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nov 18, 201622 min

The life in the work

With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – Seamus Perry on the difficult, "spiritually dyspeptic" life and work of D. H. Lawrence; Ruth Scurr on two new books by Elena Ferrante, and the struggle over her name; Kathryn Hughes on the knotty, globe-spanning cultural life of hair; and finally, a snippet from our recent interview with the American author Lionel Shriver: can fiction contain the real-life Trump? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....

Nov 16, 201647 min

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
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