Desperate Readers

This week welcomes back to the pod Heinrich von Kleist and perhaps his most famous novella, "Michael Kohlhaas"! Niko and Tatiana discuss justice, certainty, and doubt in a story that even Kafka read with "true piety" 

This week Niko and Tatiana return to the Harlem Renaissance and discuss Langston Hughes's short story "Passing" from the collection The Ways of White Folks. They discuss identity, economic freedom, patronage, and the Kendrick-Drake feud. 

Niko and Tatiana discuss Flannery O'Connor's iconic short story "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" with special guest Sophie.

Spooky Season has come and gone but we're still talking about witches on the podcast. Niko and Tatiana read When I Sing, Mountains Dance by Irene Solà, translated from its original Catalan. Each chapter of the novel is told from a different narrator to weave a story crossing generations and mountain ranges. We discuss the Pyrenees, trauma, and the relationship between nature and poetry. 

Welcome back to the pod, William Faulkner! This week, Tatiana and Niko read the short story "Barn Burning," originally published in Harper's Magazine in 1939. They discuss cycles of violence within the structures of family, history, and class, make comparisons to Juan Rulfo, and try to figure out why so many people love American Southern Gothic literature. 

A underrated classic praised by Nobel winners. Niko and Tatiana read two short stories, "The Burning Plain" and "Tell Them Not to Kill Me!", from Juan Rulfo's El llano en llamas recently translated by Douglas J. Weatherford. 

On to the Booker International Shortlist! This week Niko and Tatiana read Not a River by Selva Almada, translated from the Spanish by Annie McDermott. They talk about water, fire, eco-criticism, masculinity, and girlhood, and touch on authors like Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, and Juan Rulfo.

We're back!! Niko and Tatiana read the 2024 Booker International Longlist and Strega-Prize winning The House on Via Gemito by Domenico Starnone. We talk about memory, family, painting, and touch on Starnone's possible connection to the mysterious writer Elena Ferrante. 

On the last episode of our pilgrimage, we meet one of the most colorful characters in Chaucer's tale: The Wife of Bath. Niko and Tatiana discuss experience, sovereignty, and what women most desire. Drop us a DM if you think you know! 

The pilgrimage continues! Niko and Tatiana dive into some of the most famous stories from the Canterbury Tales: the Miller's Tale and the Reeve's Tale. They discuss entertainment and morals, what it means to repay a tale, and why the Reeve's tale is a bad tale. A long digression on the Godfather at the end of the episode awaits. 

...with his shoures soote, Niko and Tatiana celebrate spring by starting the Canterbury Tales by Geoffery Chaucer. They focus on the General Prologue and the Knight's Tale while discussing Middle English, medieval life, storytelling, and chivalry. 

The Nordic trilogy wraps up with The Ice Palace by Norwegian novelist Tarjei Vesaas, which recounts the strange relationship between two girls, Siss and Unn, and the aftermath when one of them disappears. Niko and Tatiana discuss girlhood, the Other, the psyche, and community. 

The overdue Nordic winter trilogy continues: Tatiana and Niko read 2023 Nobel Prize Laureate Jon Fosse's most recent translated work, A Shining, about a man who begins to drive until he finds himself in the woods during a snow storm. They discuss modern inner monologues, psychoanalysis, and the limits of language. 

We're Back! After a long winter (and winter break), Niko and Tatiana read the classic Old English epic Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney. They discuss legacy, vigilance,  steadfastness, and how lads love lads.   This episode was recorded in January 2024.

In preparation for the new Yorgos Lanthimos movie, Niko and Tatiana read Poor Things by Alasdair Gray. They discuss Bella Baxter's story, ethics and aesthetics, nineteenth-century medicine, and muse a little on the movie starring Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo. 

This week, Niko and Tatiana read Woman at Point Zero by Egyptian feminist author and doctor Nawal El Saadawi, the "Simone de Beauvoir of the Arab world". Based on a true story, Woman at Point Zero recounts the life of Firdaus, a young prostitute on death row, allowing her to reclaim the meaning of her life and depict the lot of Egyptian women. Niko and Tatiana discuss consciousness, sex work, and the gaze of eyes. 

A true American classic! Niko and Tatiana read Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita and discuss eroticism, the English language, and America!

Spooky season comes late to the pod as Niko and Tatiana invite special guest Alex to talk about Henry James's ghost story, The Turn of the Screw. The three discuss psychoanalytic interpretation, turning, the unknowable, and of course, ghosts. 

For literature and literature lovers. Niko and Tatiana read The Most Secret Memory of Men by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, winner of the 2021 Prix Goncourt. They discuss plagiarism, fragmentation, and jokes, with lots of references to Roberto Bolaño and Yambo Ouologuem. 

What's Achilles's problem? Can we understand the classical mind? Tatiana and Niko read (arguably) the first book in the Western Canon, Homer's Iliad. They discuss glory, Homeric similes, and how war shapes our perspective on life. All your favorite Greek heroes are here!   Small corrections: at around minute 19, Niko says 'Achilles's house' instead of 'Odysseus's house,' and around minute 26, Tatiana says Hector instead of Patroclus.  Want to read along? Find out BookShop link here: https://bookshop.org/shop/desperatereaders  Find us on Substack here: https://desperatereaders.substack.com/ 

Welcome to the official first episode of Season Two! Niko and Tatiana go back to their roots and start with the book that gave the podcast its name: Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño. They discuss impending globalization, the consequences of literature, haunting writers, and jokes.   Want to read along? Find out BookShop link here: https://bookshop.org/shop/desperatereaders    Find us on Substack here: https://desperatereaders.substack.com/ 

In a special Bonus episode, Niko and Tatiana read the short story The House of Asterion by Jorges Luis Borges.  Read the short story here: https://klasrum.weebly.com/uploads/9/0/9/1/9091667/the_house_of_asterion.pdf  Follow us on Substack here: https://desperatereaders.substack.com/ 

This episode wraps up the metamorphosis trilogy with a short story about weird little guys. Niko and Tatiana read Axolotl by Julio Cortázar, in which a man imagines himself transformed into an axolotl at the Jardin des Plantes. They discuss sight, reflection, and morphing time and space.  

... I sing. The whole gang is here! Niko and Tatiana read Ovid's Metamorphoses, touching on everyone: Zeus, Medusa, Julius Caesar, Juno, Apollo, Diana, and all your other favorite Roman deities.

As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams… Niko and Tatiana are joined by special guest Zach McRae for Franz Kafka's novella The Metamorphosis. We talk about what it's like to be a bug, workers and artists, sadomasochism, body horror, and more. This episode gets very silly at times.  

Niko and Tatiana read Nigerian author Buchi Emecheta. They discuss The Joys of Motherhood, gender expectations, children, and city living.

The number one best mom award goes to…! Niko and Tatiana revisit Euripides and read his most famous play, Medea. They discuss Medea's motherhood, foreign status, cunning, and vengeance.  

A book surrounded by scandal and mythos: Niko and Tatiana read Bound to Violence by Yambo Ouologuem. The story follows an African tribe from precolonial times to the twentieth century and plots the evolution of violence. Niko and Tatiana discuss the significance and form of this violence, as well as fertility and power. The Other Press will release a new critical edition of Bound to Violence in September 2023.

April is the cruelest month. Niko and Tatiana welcome special guest Bart Bolander to talk about The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot. The three discuss Eliot's poetic philosophy, fragmentation, and the modernism, while scratching the surface of Eliot's symbolism and references.

This week, Niko and Tatiana read Potiki by Patricia Grace, one of the first published Māori writer, and discuss memory, the flavors of tragedy, and the interpretation of disaster.

An incredible short story taking place in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Niko and Tatiana discuss the human spirit, the spectacle of life, and the craft of the short story in Heinrich von Kleist's “The Earthquake in Chile.” Read the story before you listen here: https://www.scarsdaleschools.k12.ny.us/cms/lib5/NY01001205/Centricity/Domain/237/Reading%2019%20-%20Kleist-Earthquake.pdf 

As the clock strikes midnight, Saleem is born with the partition of India. Niko and Tatiana discuss the flavors of magical realism, the spread of democracy, and the power of scent as they talk about Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie.

The devil comes to Moscow, and Pontius Pilate meets Jesus of Nazareth in The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. Tatiana and Niko discuss magical realism and the evils of bureaucracy.

*MAJOR SPOILERS* in this episode on an award-winning Polish murder mystery. Niko and Tatiana discuss astrology, the ethics of hunting, and materialism in Olga Tokarczuk's Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, about a woman obsessed with William Blake and stars observing the mysterious deaths arising in her rural town.

Sensational and violent, Sanctuary was written by William Faulkner to be a "pot boiler" and make money; it ended up being the novel that brought him critical and commercial attention. Niko and Tatiana read this sensational, southern novel, and discuss the story of Temple Drake, drinking, vanity, and corruption.

A little-known novel in the Anglophone world, The Last Summer of Reason by Tahar Djaout reveals the quite rebellion of a bookseller living under a fundamentalist regime. Niko and Tatiana briefly go over the history of the author and the Algerian Civil War, before diving into themes of faith, purity, and the power of books in this short but powerful story published after Djaout's assassination.  

Get in your final winter reads—the podcast is covering Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak. For this 20th century epic, Niko and Tatiana discuss history, life, love triangles (again), and the metaphor of snow. Read about the translation history of Doctor Zhivago in the Los Angeles Review of Books: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/giving-doctor-zhivago-another-chance/ Learn about how the CIA helped bring Doctor Zhivago to the western world: https://lithub.com/the-cia-scheme-that-brought-doctor-zhivago-to-the-world/ Technical Notes: We had technical difficulties at the end of this episode. Apologies in advance for the distorted noise at the end.

Wrapping up the mini Valentine's day series, Niko and Tatiana read about Janie and her three husbands in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. They discuss self-fulfillment, storytelling, primordial imagery, and more.

The second installment in the Valentine's day series. Tatiana and Niko discuss their first text of philosophy with Plato's Symposium. We go through the arguments of the drinking party and ask What is Eros?

Niko and Tatiana start their Valentine series with a classic by the bard. We discuss young love, warring families, and the colorful host of characters in Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.

Niko and Tatiana discuss beauty, delusions, violence, and heritage in Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima, based on the real life burning of the Kinkakuji in Kyoto in 1950. To find Mishima's body-building photos posted, go to our Instagram page: @desperatereaderspod

Heathcliff, it's me! Niko and Tatiana talk about Emily Brontë's gothic, melodramatic novel and discuss ghosts, winds, and whether Wuthering Heights is actually a love story. Apologies in advance for Niko's terrible Kate Bush impression.

In this week's episode, we settle into the English seaside. Niko and Tatiana discuss sailors, longing gazes, character, and courtship in Jane Austen's Persuasion.   You can read John Michael Colón's article "On the End of the Canon Wars" here: https://thepointmag.com/letter/on-the-end-of-the-canon-wars/ 

Niko and Tatiana welcome their first guest, Sophia, to discuss 20th century French literature. While tackling Le ravissment de Lol V. Stein (The Ravishing of Lol Stein), the three talk about desire, obsession, reality in fiction, and the works of Marguerite Duras.

Niko and Tatiana read the last story in James Joyce's Dubliners. They discuss food, Irish heritage, and long lost loves in “The Dead.” "The Dead" is easily accessible online at Project Gutenberg.

A classic why-dunnit. Niko and Tatiana talk about honor, the significance of marriage, Angela and Bayardo, and the death of Santiago Nasar in this short novella by Gabriel García Márquez. Production notes: There is a consistent tapping noise in the background. Apologies in advance.

In this episode Niko and Tatiana share a glass of wine to honor the god Dionysus while discussing ceremonial violence, bodily ecstasy, and the divine madness. This play is easily available online for your reading pleasure.

According to the Yoruba tradition in Nigeria, the King's Horseman, Elesin, must die by ritual suicide 30 days after the king's death. Conflict arises as District Officer Pilkings tries to put a stop to it with universe-altering effects—Niko and Tatiana discuss metaphysics, traditions, and dance in this multifaceted play by Wole Soyinka. In the last 10 minutes they discuss the film adaptation (now available on Netflix) and who they would want to cast in the play. The play is easily available online for your reading pleasure. Production notes: We dive in pretty quickly to this episode and may have skipped over some plot details. Apologies in advance.

Why is no one talking about the Odyssey by Homer? We discuss translation, violence, and the possibility of homecoming in the story that started story-telling.

The podcast starts strong with the novel that opened the twenty-first century, 2666 by Roberto Bolaño. Niko and Tatiana introduce themselves and discuss the critics, Amalfitano, Fate, the murders, and Archimboldi.