Paper Pilgrims

Listen on Patreon and find links to the readings for each episode.Join us for Part 4 of the Odyssey where Odysseus is finally back home in Ithaca after years away.  There are several rough encounters with the Suitors, a lot of testing of loyalty, and many more tearful reunions.  

Listen on Patreon and find links to the readings for each episode.Part 3 of the Odyssey bring some of its most iconic episodes: Odysseus' hoodwinking of the cyclops, the terrors of Scylla and Charybdis, the black magic of Circe, a start-studded trip through Hades, and Odysseus' arrival back in Ithaca.

Listen on Patreon and find links to the readings for each episode. Sink your teeth into Part 2 of the Odyssey, wherein Odysseus meets Princess Nausicaa in a scene of titillating nudity, a bard regales us with a raunchy tale of godly adultery, and the lotus eaters lure Odysseus' men with a tantalizing fruit.

Listen on Patreon and find links to the readings for each episode. The Odyssey begins with Odysseus held captive on the island of the goddess Calypso while, back home in Ithaca, his son Telemachus sets off in search of news of his father. Telemachus reaches Sparta and there hears the story of the Trojan Horse.A thanks to LibriVox and Mark Nelson for the readings.

Listen on Patreon and find links to this week's and next week's readings.The finale for our four-part Iliad series. This last section is chock full of engrossing scenes, from Achilles' fight with a river god to the death of Hector, the funeral games for Patroclus, King Priam's visit to the Greek camp, and more!Thanks again to Gene Kim, our reader for the week and a PhD student in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard.

Listen on Patreon. Things get rollin' in part three as major warriors on both sides incur grave wounds and fall dead. And Achilles at last launches out violently onto the battlefield, resplendent in heavenly armor.A big thanks to Gene Kim, our reader for the week and a PhD student in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard.

Listen on Patreon and find links to this week's and next week's readings.Homer takes us for a brief trip inside Troy, we wade through a some filler chapters, and Hera seduces Zeus.

Listen on Patreon and find links to this week's and next week's readings.We launch into the vast Greek war epic that is the Iliad and lay down some background.

Listen on Patreon and find links to this week's and next week's readings. Anton Chekov's In the Ravine is one of the longest stories he wrote. It is a microscopic view of the sociological changes afoot at the time. Greed and jealousy run rife through the narrative of this tragedy, but Chekov's humour and astute observations make this story an engrossing read.This episode is part of our 19th century Russian literature cycle.

Listen on Patreon and find links to this week's and next week's readings.   The second half of Tolstoy's novella provides masterful character descriptions of the Russian and Chechen leaders and draws to a spectacularly bloody and moving close.   This episode is part of our 19th century Russian literature cycle.

Listen on Patreon and find links to this week's and next week's readings.   This week, an underappreciated masterpiece from the great Leo Tolstoy. We're introduced to the Chechen protagonist and given a taste of the senselessness of the war being executed by the Russians.   This episode is part of our 19th century Russian literature cycle.

Listen on Patreon and find links to this week's and next week's readings.   In Dostoevsky's Notes from the Underground, a Russian George Costanza lays out his elaborate, neurotic philosophy, describes his awkward experience of a party, and reveals the cruelty with which he confronted a prostitute.   This episode is part of our 19th century Russian literature cycle.

Listen on Patreon and find links to this week's and next week's readings.   In part two of Asya, we learn of the forces that have shaped her into the strange, wonderful creature that she is and the narrator's innocent love affair comes to a head.   This episode is part of our 19th century Russian literature cycle.

Listen on Patreon and find links to this week's and next week's readings. This week we move on to a gem of a short story by Ivan Turgenev. We  enjoy a vicarious summer in the German countryside and follow in the first footsteps of the narrator's lover for the enigmatic Asya. A thanks to Lewis Wright, our reader for this week! And check out Street Orchestra Live here. This episode is part of our 19th century Russian literature cycle.

Listen on Patreon and find links to this week's and next week's readings. We end our journey through A Hero of Our Time with its final climactic duel and a discussion of the strange way in which Lermontov predicted the end of his own life. This episode is part of our 19th century Russian literature cycle.

Listen on Patreon and find links to this week's and next week's readings. We bite into the meatiest part of A Hero of Our Time. Pechorin displays the full depth of his manipulative psychology, weaponizing it against his rival and double, Grushnitsky. This episode is part of our 19th century Russian literature cycle.

Listen on Patreon and find links to this week's and next week's readings. This week we cover the Maxim Maximych and Taman chapters of Mikhail Lermontov's A Hero of Our time. Get ready for your fill of Gothic ambience, Romantic smugglers, and tricky water nymphs. This episode is part of our 19th century Russian literature cycle.

Listen on Patreon and find links to this week's and next week's readings. Mikhail Lermontov's A Hero of Our time is composed of five separate short stories that exhibit the full gamut of Romantic sensibilities and fiction genres popular in contemporary Russia. We begin this week with the first chapter: Bela. This episode is part of our 19th century Russian literature cycle.

Listen on Patreon and find links to this week's and next week's readings. Part two of Dead Souls closes out with some more farcical haggling, a tangent so strange we lose the main character, and then a final explanation of this protagonist's background and drives. This episode is part of our 19th century Russian literature cycle. Episode 14 — Dead Souls — Part 2

Listen on Patreon and find links to this week's and next week's readings. Dead Souls is widely considered to be the comic masterpiece of Russian literature. We dive into the first part of the novel and encounter a slick, scheming protagonist, a deluge of detail, and Russian landowners who range from the cloyingly chummy to the excitably pugilistic. This episode is part of our 19th century Russian literature cycle.

Listen on Patreon and find links to this week's and next week's readings. We're back this week with The Queen of Spades by Alexander Pushkin. In this first episode of our 19th century Russian literature cycle, we cover one of the classic stories by the originator of modern Russian fiction and get our fill of gambling, ghosts, masonic rituals, and a whole lot of numerology.

Get a taste of our upcoming 19th century Russian literature cycle with this promo episode where we discuss the stories and authors we'll be reading over the next few months. Find a list of all the works we mention, along with links to read them online, on our Patreon page.

Listen on Patreon. The final act of this lengthy Tanizaki novel. The climactic drama of illness, childbirth, and a promising marriage proposal finally provides some easy reading. This episode is part of our post-war Japanese literature cycle.

Listen on Patreaon. The Makioka Sisters continues onward, picking up the pace and adding a little drama as it chronicles a powerful flood, the affairs of modern minded Taeko, and a cruel illness caused by an incompetent doctor. And there are little Nazis and a sushi jerk to boot. This episode is part of our post-war Japanese literature cycle.

Listen on Patreon. Tanizaki Junichiro wrote some strange and obsessive novels but the one heralded as a masterpiece among his works is a family epic. The Makioka Sisters, is a detailed depiction of an upper middle class family from Kansai or West Japan. Set in pre-war Japan, the tale follows four sisters and how they adapt to a rapidly changing society. Tanizaki's observations of a society soon to be transformed by war are on point. Join us in this episode, where we discuss the Makiokas' background, their search for a suitable husband for one of the sisters, and the pain of having to keep up appearances. This episode is part of our post-war Japanese literature cycle. The version we are reading is translated by Edward G. Seidensticker, Vintage Books.

Listen on Patreon. Part two of Nip the Buds closes out with pandemic hysteria, Zainichi Koreans, and a strange youthful love store. A special thanks to the translators of the novel, Maki Sugiyama and writer and poet Paul StJohn Mackintosh, for letting us read selections of their work. You can find the latter at his website, here. This episode is part of our post-war Japanese literature cycle.

Liston on Patreon. Join us for a discussion of our first Nobel Prize winner, Oe Kenzaburo, and his first novel, Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids. In part one we get a glimpse at wartime Japan from the eyes of young reformatory boys and have our first taste of Oe's distinct grotesque realist style. A special thanks to the translators of the novel, Maki Sugiyama and writer and poet Paul StJohn Mackintosh, for letting us read selections of their work. You can find the latter at his website, here. This episode is part of our post-war Japanese literature cycle.

Listen on Patreon. Mizoguchi takes a trip to the Sea of Japan and has his first visit to a brothel. Then the Golden Pavilion burns. This episode is part of our post-war Japanese literature cycle. The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima, translated by Ivan Morris. Copyright © 1959 by Ivan Morris. Reprinted by permission of Georges Borchardt, Inc., on behalf of the author's estate.

Episode 5 — The Temple of the Golden Pavilion — Part 2 Listen on Patreon. In part two of The Golden Pavilion, Mizoguchi witnesses a stunningly erotic act at Nanzenji Temple, becomes perplexed by a Zen riddle, and is goaded into abusing a prostitute by an American GI. We also meet the novel's consummate Dostoevskyan nihilist: Kashiwagi. This episode is part of our post-war Japanese literature cycle. The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima, translated by Ivan Morris. Copyright © 1959 by Ivan Morris. Reprinted by permission of Georges Borchardt, Inc., on behalf of the author's estate.

Episode 4 — The Temple of the Golden Pavilion — Part 1 Listen on Patreon. Mishima Yukio had one of the most fascinating lives in Japanese literature. The Temple of the Golden Pavilion was perhaps his most famous work and in part one we discuss the temple's meaning to the novel's protagonist, the relevance of German philosophy to the work, and how the translation holds up to the original. This episode is part of our post-war Japanese literature cycle. The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima, translated by Ivan Morris. Copyright © 1959 by Ivan Morris. Reprinted by permission of Georges Borchardt, Inc., on behalf of the author's estate.

Episode 3 — No Longer Human — Part 3 Listen on Patreon. No Longer Human comes to an end, but not before introducing us to a new word game and dragging us farther down the path of Yozo's tortured life. Also, we learn that Yozo is peddling antique smut. This episode is part of our post-war Japanese literature cycle.

Episode 3 — No Longer Human — Part 3 Listen on Patreon. No Longer Human comes to an end, but not before introducing us to a new word game and dragging us farther down the path of Yozo's tortured life. Also, we learn that Yozo is peddling antique smut. This episode is part of our post-war Japanese literature cycle.

Episode 2 — No Longer Human — Part 2 Listen on Patreon. We continue our walkthrough of No Longer Human and explore communist reading groups, hook-ups, and suicide in 1930s Tokyo. This episode is part of our post-war Japanese literature cycle.

Episode 1 — No Longer Human — Part 1 Listen on Patreon Getting things started with Dazai Osamu's classic post-war novel of alienation and bleak unraveling. No Longer Human is considered to be a literary masterpiece in Japan and consistently shows up on best-seller lists. We discuss the background and relationships of the novel's main narrator and introduce you to the dark trenches of his psyche. This episode is part of our post-war Japanese literature cycle.