Island Idylls riffs on books and life with Barry Menikoff. Author of Stone Mother, Brooklyn born and bred, retired Hawaii university professor, international scholar. Evangelical pastor Aaron Menikoff, author of Politics and Piety, spices this dialogue between father and son. Both chasing that elusi…
Barry Menikoff, Aaron Menikoff
Do you have questions for us? Email us at islandidylls@gmail.com
Do you have questions for us? Email us at islandidylls@gmail.com
Do you have questions for us? Email us at islandidylls@gmail.com
Do you have questions for us? Email us at islandidylls@gmail.com
Nine StoriesCatcher in the Rye Do you have questions for us? Email us at islandidylls@gmail.com
Nine StoriesCatcher in the Rye Do you have questions for us? Email us at islandidylls@gmail.com
Rich Man, Poor ManThe Young LionsShort Stories: Five DecadesIRWIN SHAW, EXTOLLED FOR SHORT STORIES, DIES by Herbert Mitgang, New York Times Obituary Do you have questions for us? Email us at islandidylls@gmail.com
Do you have questions for us? Email us at islandidylls@gmail.com
Do you have questions for us? Email us at islandidylls@gmail.com
Do you have questions for us? Email us at islandidylls@gmail.com
Do you have questions for us? Email us at islandidylls@gmail.com
Episode 25 tackles the subject of the short story. What is it (yes, of course, it’s short)? But there’s more to it than that. In this episode Barry defines terms and gives us a crash course in some of the most important, twentieth-century, writers.In Episode 26 we’ll take a deep dive into Barry’s introduction to The Complete Short Stories of Robert Louis Stevenson.One more thing: if you missed the writers Barry talked about in this episode, here’s a guide:Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)Katherine Ann Porter (1890-1980)F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1949)D. H. Lawrence (1880-1930)William Faulkner (1897-1962)Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)Richard Wright (1908-1960)Eudora Welty (1909-2001)Truman Capote (1924-1984)Do you have questions for us? Email us at islandidylls@gmail.com
As Barry and Aaron think about season three, drop them a note at islandidylls@gmail.com and let them know what you think of Island Idylls. Meanwhile, listen and enjoy!
Do you have questions for us? Email us at islandidylls@gmail.com
Do you have questions for us? Email us at islandidylls@gmail.com
Do you have questions for us? Email us at islandidylls@gmail.com
Do you have questions for us? Email us at islandidylls@gmail.com
Do you have questions for us? Email us at islandidylls@gmail.com.
Do you have questions for us? Email us at islandidylls@gmail.com.
Please, listen in and email us your comments: islandidylls@gmail.com
Please, listen in and email us your comments: islandidylls@gmail.com
Questions, comments, or ideas? Email islandidylls@gmail.com
Listen and enjoy. If you have any feedback or questions, email us at islandidylls@gmail.com
Everybody has a story, but most people don’t write them down. Barry did! In his memoir, Stone Mother, Barry shares what he remembers about his early years. A family that escaped persecution in Poland. Growing up poor. Being alone. Being Jewish. Escaping New York. In this episode, Aaron asks his father to define a memoir. Why doesn’t his memoir read like a novel? Does it matter? They move on to discuss why his family preferred not to discuss the Old Country they left behind to settle in America and how Barry came to be shaped by the Holocaust (he prefers the Hebrew term, shoah). We meet Barry’s father, known as Zeyde, a man of deep, Jewish faith deeply respected by children and neighbors alike. We also meet Ephrain, Barry’s father, a kind but indifferent man. We only briefly meet Barry’s mother--the person who shaped him the most. It’s a conversation about family history, but it’s also a window into the thoughts of an immigrant, a Jewish-American, navigating life in the New World.
Barry and Aaron dive into the deep end of the pool as they discuss Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem, “System,” found in his famous Child’s Garden of Verses. What do most people think about religion? Is it a “system” that blesses the good and punishes the bad--as the poem suggests? Barry argues Stevenson found comfort (and helped scores of others find comfort) by rejecting this system and seeing Chance as the backdrop of the universe. Resigning oneself to the unknown is the only way one will be better. Aaron presses the question of what the Old and New Testament actually teach about providence and chance, not a tit-for-tat “system,” but a theology of mysterious providence and divine grace. On the answer to these questions, father and son agree to differ, and that’s what makes Island Idylls so interesting. Robert Louis Stevenson, “System”: Every night my prayers I say. And get my dinner every day; And every day that I’ve been good, I get an orange after food. The child that is not clean and neat, With lots of toys and things to eat, He is a naughty child I’m sure-- Or else his dear papa is poor.
As a newly minted PhD at the young age of 26, less than 25 years after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Barry said goodbye to Madison, and found himself teaching Hawaiians just a few miles off Waikiki Beach. There are worse places to work! Today, Barry is known as a renowned Robert Louis Stevenson scholar. Thanks to his plain prose and books like Treasure Island, the Scottish writer had been primarily considered a children’s author. Barry challenged that narrative and reintroduced Stevenson to a new generation of readers. In the months ahead, Island Idylls will be exploring several works that have stood the test of time. This episode helps us understand why Barry is a reliable guide. For some of Barry’s writings, check out his introductions to the following works by Robert Louis Stevenson: The Beach of Falesa, The Complete Stories of Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped, and David Balfour. See also Menikoff, Narrating Scotland: The Imagination of Robert Louis Stevenson. To prepare for upcoming conversations, consider reading the memoir of his Brooklyn years, Stone Mother. Finally, the Stevenson poem Aaron and Barry struggled to recall is called, “System,” and goes like this: Every night my prayers I say. And get my dinner every day; And every day that I’ve been good, I get an orange after food. The child that is not clean and neat, With lots of toys and things to eat, He is a naughty child I’m sure-- Or else his dear papa is poor.
You’ve found Island Idylls! In this inaugural episode, Barry and Aaron get to the bottom of the title. What island are they talking about (hint: Aloha) and what exactly is an “idyll”? They explain the origin of the podcast. Long story short, it begins with a father who spent his life as an English professor and a son who loves to ask lots of questions. Barry is a literature expert, and Aaron gets him to discuss the importance of expertise in a world where the transfer of knowledge has been democratized. There is so much to be thankful for in this data-driven digital age, but there’s a time to kick back and learn from those who have given extended time to study a particular subject. Aaron and Barry explain what sets this podcast apart. It’s not just that they are father and son--thought that’s fun. But the one asking the questions--the son--is, gasp, an evangelical pastor. The one answering grew up on the streets of Brooklyn in an orthodox Jewish community. It’s always a lively conversation.
© 2020-2025 Ivy Podcast Discovery LLC
