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3 episodes with Janet Malcolm
4 episodes with Janet Malcolm
3 episodes with Janet Malcolm
4 episodes with Janet Malcolm
2 episodes with Janet Malcolm
3 episodes with Janet Malcolm
2 episodes with Janet Malcolm
2 episodes with Janet Malcolm
2 episodes with Janet Malcolm
Fin dove può spingersi uno scrittore di cronaca nera, fin dove può ingannare un sospettato fingendo sostegno per carpirne la fiducia, ravvivarne il ritratto, scrivere un libro di successo? Un controverso caso americano di qualche decennio fa pone un problema che risuona attuale, nell'Italia dei processi mediatici. Il giornalista e l'assassino di Janet Malcolm, Adelphi Questo e gli altri podcast gratuiti del Post sono possibili grazie a chi si abbona al Post e ne sostiene il lavoro. Se vuoi fare la tua parte, abbonati al Post. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Il giornalista e l'assassino di Janet Malcolm è un classico del reportage narrativo che esplora la zona grigia tra chi scrive e chi viene raccontato. Al Mast di Bologna sono in mostra i lavori rigorosi e nitidissimi dei fotografi tedeschi Bernd & Hilla Becher. Fenian è il titolo del nuovo album degli irlandesi Kneecap che mescolano hip hop e Edm per lanciare un forte messaggio politico. La terza stagione della serie tv The comeback, una satira dell'industria televisiva statunitense, vede i suoi protagonisti alle prese con l'arrivo dell'Ia. CONVincenzo Latronico, scrittoreDaria Scolamacchia, docente xxxxxxxxGiovanni Ansaldo, editor di musica di Internazionale Claudio Rossi Marcelli, giornalista di InternazionaleProduzione di Vincenzo De Simone.Musiche di Carlo Madaghiele, Raffaele Scogna, Jonathan Zenti e Giacomo Zorzi.Il giornalista e l'assassino: www.youtube.com/watch?v=viWbbODmfDw&t=99sBernd & Hilla Becher: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-1O0NxIWDcKneecap, Fenian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLDHQVJZuGQThe comeback: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WplONj0zIE Ci piacerebbe sapere cosa pensi di questo episodio. Scrivici a podcast@internazionale.it Se ascolti questo podcast e ti piace, abbonati a Internazionale. È un modo concreto per sostenerci e per aiutarci a garantire ogni giorno un'informazione di qualità. Vai su internazionale.it/abbonatiConsulenza editoriale di Chiara NielsenProduzione di Claudio Balboni e Vincenzo De SimoneMusiche di Tommaso Colliva e Raffaele ScognaDirezione creativa di Jonathan Zenti
Quali sono le qualità di un ottimo romanzo noir? E che differenza c'è tra noir e giallo? Quando si scrive di cronaca nera fino a che punto si può spingere il giornalista? Quando si racconta un delitto si deve seguire solo la bussola della verità o anche l'etica conta? E più in generale, cosa porta un autore a scrivere… di qualunque cosa? Queste sono solo alcune delle domande che ci poniamo in questa nuova puntata di “Alice”, dedicata all'intersezione tra detective story e scrittura. Il primo ospite del giorno è François Morlupi, un autore di romanzi noir di successo, due volte vincitore del premio Scerbanenco. Morlupi, creatore della serie noir dei Cinque di Monteverde, ha appena pubblicato per Feltrinelli il primo volume di una nuova saga, Il cielo degli invisibili.Si parlerà poi di giornalismo d'inchiesta e cronaca nera con Enzo D'Antonio, traduttore di Il giornalista e l'assassino di Janet Malcolm. Il reportage, che secondo Emmanuel Carrère dovrebbe essere inserito nei manuali di scrittura, è stato pubblicato pochi giorni fa per la prima volta in italiano da Adelphi. Infine, il consiglio di lettura. Questo mese il critico Roberto Galaverni ci propone il Dizionario del grafomane (Sellerio) di Antonio Castronuovo. Si tratta di un volume enciclopedico che riunisce voci su qualsiasi cosa sia legata alla letteratura, da “Baker Street” a “Falsario”.
Si parlerà poi di giornalismo d'inchiesta e cronaca nera con Enzo D'Antonio, traduttore di Il giornalista e l'assassino di Janet Malcolm. Il reportage, che secondo Emmanuel Carrère dovrebbe essere inserito nei manuali di scrittura, è stato pubblicato pochi giorni fa per la prima volta in italiano da Adelphi.
Quali sono le qualità di un ottimo romanzo noir? E che differenza c'è tra noir e giallo? Quando si scrive di cronaca nera fino a che punto si può spingere il giornalista? Quando si racconta un delitto si deve seguire solo la bussola della verità o anche l'etica conta? E più in generale, cosa porta un autore a scrivere… di qualunque cosa? Queste sono solo alcune delle domande che ci poniamo in questa nuova puntata di “Alice”, dedicata all'intersezione tra detective story e scrittura. Il primo ospite del giorno è François Morlupi, un autore di romanzi noir di successo, due volte vincitore del premio Scerbanenco. Morlupi, creatore della serie noir dei Cinque di Monteverde, ha appena pubblicato per Feltrinelli il primo volume di una nuova saga, Il cielo degli invisibili.Si parlerà poi di giornalismo d'inchiesta e cronaca nera con Enzo D'Antonio, traduttore di Il giornalista e l'assassino di Janet Malcolm. Il reportage, che secondo Emmanuel Carrère dovrebbe essere inserito nei manuali di scrittura, è stato pubblicato pochi giorni fa per la prima volta in italiano da Adelphi. Infine, il consiglio di lettura. Questo mese il critico Roberto Galaverni ci propone il Dizionario del grafomane (Sellerio) di Antonio Castronuovo. Si tratta di un volume enciclopedico che riunisce voci su qualsiasi cosa sia legata alla letteratura, da “Baker Street” a “Falsario”.
Si parlerà poi di giornalismo d'inchiesta e cronaca nera con Enzo D'Antonio, traduttore di Il giornalista e l'assassino di Janet Malcolm. Il reportage, che secondo Emmanuel Carrère dovrebbe essere inserito nei manuali di scrittura, è stato pubblicato pochi giorni fa per la prima volta in italiano da Adelphi.
Joining Louis in the studio today is award-winning writer and investigative journalist, Patrick Radden Keefe. Patrick tells Louis about his investigation into the Sackler family's involvement in the opioid crisis, how professional criminals keep career longevity, and why he thinks access is overrated. Plus he discusses his latest book, London Falling. Warnings: Strong language and adult themes. Links/Attachments: Book: London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth, Patrick Radden Keefe (2026) https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/patrick-radden-keefe/london-falling/9781035056279 Book: Say Nothing, Patrick Radden Keefe (2019) https://www.waterstones.com/book/say-nothing/patrick-radden-keefe//9780008159269?sv1=affiliate&sv_campaign_id=259955&awc=3787_1770820651_da19805aca482f3e2f7cdd8da31aca44&utm_source=259955&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=Genie+Shopping+CSS Book: Empire of Pain, Patrick Radden Keefe (2022) https://www.waterstones.com/book/empire-of-pain/patrick-radden-keefe//9781529063103?sv1=affiliate&sv_campaign_id=863943&awc=3787_1770820691_38f3f451369dd9c047c37137a0cb0d42&utm_source=863943&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.octer.co.uk%2F TV Show: ‘Say Nothing' (2024) - Hulu https://www.channel4.com/programmes/say-nothing Wolf of Wall Street (2013) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0993846/ War Dogs (2016) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2005151/ Nightcrawler (2014) https://tv.apple.com/gb/movie/nightcrawler/umc.cmc.1h8fjzqshxpg22pa0bm7iho27?action=play American Psycho (2000) https://tv.apple.com/gb/movie/american-psycho/umc.cmc.4k3idfzm0x9j5okdedo2s4l50?action=play Book: Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks, Patrick Radden Keefe (2022) https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/patrick-radden-keefe/rogues/9781035001767 Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104348/ Article: Larry Gagosian Piece, Patrick Radden Keefe (2023) https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/07/31/larry-gagosian-profile Book: Hillbilly Elegy, JD Vance, (2017) https://www.waterstones.com/book/hillbilly-elegy/j-d-vance/9780008220563 Book: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Amy Chua (2012) https://www.waterstones.com/book/battle-hymn-of-the-tiger-mother/amy-chua//9781408822074?sv1=affiliate&sv_campaign_id=259955&awc=3787_1770824539_3e1fda19a55aa22e32d76f01e79f390b&utm_source=259955&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=Genie+Shopping+CSS Article: The Sinaloa Drug Cartel, Patrick Radden Keefe (2012) https://archive.nytimes.com/6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/18/behind-the-cover-story-patrick-radden-keefe-on-the-sinaloa-drug-cartel/ Book: Nazi Billionaires, David De Jong (2023) https://www.waterstones.com/book/nazi-billionaires/david-de-jong/9780008299798 Book: Some People Need Killing, Patricia Evangelista (2023) https://www.waterstones.com/book/some-people-need-killing/patricia-evangelista/9781804710081 Book: Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann (2017) https://www.waterstones.com/book/killers-of-the-flower-moon-adapted-for-young-adults/david-grann/9781398528482 TV Show: Industry (2020 – present) - BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m000pb89/industry Podcast: Wind of Change (2020 – 2022) - Crooked Media https://crooked.com/podcast-series/wind-of-change/ Song: ‘Wind Of Change', The Scorpions (1990) https://open.spotify.com/track/3ovjw5HZZv43SxTwApooCM Song: ‘Piano Man', Bill Joel (1973) https://open.spotify.com/track/70C4NyhjD5OZUMzvWZ3njJ Book: The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcolm (1989) https://www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/stock/the-journalist-and-the-murderer-janet-malcolm Article: Carl Icahn, Patrick Radden Keefe (2017) https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/08/28/carl-icahns-failed-raid-on-washington Credits: Producer: Millie Chu Production Manager: Francesca Bassett Music: Miguel D'Oliveira Audio Mixer: Tom Guest Video Mixer: Scott Edwards Shownotes compiled by Elly Young Executive Producer: Arron Fellows A Mindhouse Studios Production for Spotify www.mindhouse.co.uk __ Open a Moneybox Cash ISA at https://moneybox.onelink.me/Cqlx/y3xncge Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
What a pleasure it was to talk to Ruth Scurr, author of John Aubrey: My Own Life, about the great man himself, who was born four hundred years ago this month. Aubrey is best know for his splendid Brief Lives but he preserved a huge amount of knowledge which historians still rely on. There are many things we only know because of Aubrey—things about people Hobbes and Hooke, Stonehenge, architectural history. We also talked about Janet Malcom, the genre of biography, and modern fiction.HENRY OLIVER: Today I'm talking to Ruth Scurr. Ruth is a fellow of Gonville and Caius College in the University of Cambridge, where she specializes in the history of political thought. But more importantly, she is the biographer of John Aubrey, one of my favorite writers, who is celebrating 400 years of his birth this year. Ruth, hello.RUTH SCURR: Hi, Henry.OLIVER: Can you begin by giving us a brief life of John Aubrey?SCURR: So born in 1626, 17th-century antiquarian, collector, early fellow at the Royal Society. Well connected to scientific and the literary circles of his day. Someone who sees himself more as a whetstone: a person who could help sharpen other people's ideas. As a recorder, someone who treasured the details, the minutiae of the lives he encountered, and pass those details on to posterity.He's nonjudgmental, witty, kind, inventive. Very, very sociable. Very good friend. But he's hopeless at self-advancement. Begins his life as a gentleman, but he inherits debts from his father and he can never really achieve financial stability.Never marries, ends up homeless and worried about being arrested for his debts. And he has to sell his precious collection of books periodically through his life to raise some much-needed cash, but he keeps his manuscripts safe. And he does this at the end of his life by putting them into the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, afterwards known as the Bodleian, and where they still are today.OLIVER: So how many manuscripts did he save for us?SCURR: Of his own manuscripts or other people's manuscripts?OLIVER: Other people's. Because he was collecting all sorts of precious things.SCURR: Oh, absolutely. He was the person who, when someone died, would go round if he could to their house and ask what was happening about the manuscripts. He's particularly concerned, obviously, with his friends. So he had a close relationship with Robert Hooke and he wanted to make sure that Hooke's many inventions and scientific contributions were recorded.And he has this wonderful line in the life of Hooke where he says, “It's so hard to get people to do right by themselves.” And in his childhood, he had seen the fallout from the dissolution of the monasteries. He'd become very troubled by the habit of using manuscript pages which had been displaced in the dissolution. He saw them being used in schools to cover textbooks. He saw them being used to—or he heard about them at least being used—to wrap up gloves or to create stoppers in bottles. And this really troubled him from, from a very early age.And I think he has another beautiful line where he says after the dissolution of the monasteries, whereas these manuscripts had been kept safe, they flew around like butterflies. And he wanted to catch them and preserve them and to stop people letting the papers and the precious manuscripts of their relatives do the same. So he was very instrumental in rescuing manuscripts, other people's manuscripts. And then fortunately with his own, he knew Ashmole and they had the shared astrology interest.Ashmole was a very different sort of person who basically said to Oxford, look, I'll give you my collections, but there has to be a museum for them. And luckily Aubrey was able to use that museum as a safe place for his own manuscripts.OLIVER: So we know things about Robert Hooke and Thomas Hobbes and all these other luminaries of the 17th century, thanks to Aubrey. What else do we know, thanks to him?SCURR: We know what Stonehenge looked like in his day because he was a very good draftsman. He drew pictures of Stonehenge. He'd grown up in Wiltshire, he'd known those stones from childhood. He understood that Avebury nearby was a comparable monument, and he took Charles II to see it, and persuaded the king to get the locals to stop breaking up the stones, to reuse the stones, which was the practice.He also made drawings of windows because he was possibly the first person as a historian of architecture to realize that you could date buildings by the style of their windows. So we have those drawings. He was also interested in the history of costume. He did a survey of Surrey, of Wiltshire.So these are all sort of focuses in his manuscripts and people who've used them come to really appreciate how pioneering Aubrey was. But of course he doesn't finish them. He doesn't publish those manuscripts. So it's very easy really to overlook the innovation and the contribution and the wonderful imagination that he had.OLIVER: You mean if he'd published a book, he would have a much bigger reputation?SCURR: Well, I think there's two things. Yes, but in a sense, you know, the Brief Lives have been published after his death in various forms. But I think one of the most engaging things about Aubrey is that he's a modest and self-effacing person. And I already mentioned the idea he had of himself as a whetstone to other people's talents.There aren't that many people—certainly not in my life, maybe there are in yours—but who would effortlessly describe themselves as a whetstone to other people's talents. Most people want to be at the center. They're happy to have clever and literary friends, but they want a place there at the table as well.And Aubrey really was very, very invested in helping other people to do right by themselves, as he said about Hooke. And he very movingly—this is one of the inspirations really for my book that I wrote about him—he spent all that time collating the information about other people's lives. And for his own life, he puts down a few lines, a couple of facts and everything.He says, well, this could be used as the binding of a book. You know, it's sort of waste paper really. So he doesn't write his own life. Other people's lives he's going to convey to posterity. He doesn't see his own life as really being at that level of needing the attention that he gave, for example, to Milton or to Harvey or Hobbes, as you mentioned.OLIVER: He's born the year after Charles I comes to the throne. So he obviously lives through a fairly terrible period of history and very tumultuous, changeable in lots of different ways. The new world, the new learning, new religion, new politics, everything is changing. And he's obsessed with the old ways. How did these historical events—is he reacting against his time? Is he just born in a lucky time in a way?SCURR: So he was a student in Oxford during the Civil War. And you are right. The upheaval is very disturbing for his generation. It means he gets called back from Oxford by his father because it's dangerous to be there. And he's really, really upset by that because, it's like us, when we were students or our students today. You finally get away from your family and there you are in this place with all these exciting peers and access to books that you've never had before or at least to that extent, libraries, et cetera.And suddenly there's a war on and you've got to go home. So there's that disturbance. Then there is the fact that actually he was close to Hobbes. Hobbes actually was a Malmesbury man, so Wiltshire, very near Aubrey. And had come back to visit the school where Hobbes had been, which was where Aubrey was at school. And so they had met in Aubrey's childhood, and then he would've been aware of Hobbes having to go into exile. And then Hobbes coming back, of course. And that's a very important time in his life.And it's not an accident that Hobbes asks Aubrey to write his life because Hobbes knows how careful Aubrey is. And he knows that Aubrey has information that he can convey in the life. So that is really the first life that he writes. And it's different from the others. There's a different sort of origin. And it's after he's done that, that he starts to think, well, actually, you know, I can think of at least 50, 55 other people's lives. And now I've got my hand in, I might start on those as well.So in that period of upheaval there are wonderful stories. Maybe we'll look at some of the Brief Lives, but there's this amazing story that he captures in the life of William Harvey, which is a description of Harvey having been at the battlefield in Edgehill and recording one of the people who had been fighting and wounded, surviving by having the good sense to pull a dead body on top of himself, to keep himself warm on the battlefield. Things like that, which make the war very much alive. This is brutal, this civil war. It's a long time ago and we think we passed over it, but the really brutal reality of war is captured in the Brief Lives through the anecdotes and the stories of that generation that Aubrey preserves.OLIVER: How English is he?SCURR: Well, as opposed to what?OLIVER: Welsh.SCURR: Okay. Well he goes to Wales often and is very interested in Wales. I think he sees himself as English. I think he's very invested in English customs and stories and people. He's not nationalistic in any sense like that. What he's interested in is the inherited ways of living.And he's very interested in language and different dialects. That's one of the other things; he starts to collect different words. He was very aware of the Cornish dialect, for example. So I'd say it's a very decentered England that's rooted in customs, traditions, inherited stories.And there's a big place there for both the future and the past. Huge excitement about The Royal Society, English science, what can be achieved through the sharing of knowledge. But again, Aubrey's not an insular person in that respect. So, he wished he could go on the Grand Tour when he was a student. He would really have loved to have done that. It's one of the things that he actually talked to Harvey about, going and traveling as his contemporaries, for example, John Evelyn did.But Aubrey actually says—this is very typical of Aubrey—that his mother persuaded him out of it. His mother didn't want him going off on the Grand Tour. She was afraid for him. And he regretted it later in life. But it's so typical of Aubrey that he would pay attention to his mother and her anxieties.OLIVER: This interest in the present and the past—so he loves all the history, but he's in the Royal Society. One thing I like in your book is the way he talks about, oh, my grandfather still dresses in the old ways, like he's an Elizabethan, but at the same time he's doing a very sort of Baconian project. He's influenced by Bacon. Is Aubrey a sort of paradox? Does this make sense in a way?SCURR: Only in so far as lots of other people are as well. I was just looking at the Harvey life, and there's a story there about how when Harvey was a student he was meant to be setting sail with some friends. And he's stopped and told, “No, you can't get on this boat. You have to wait.” And he says, “Well, what have I done wrong? Why can't I get on this boat?” He said, “No, honestly, we need to have a word with you. You are not going on the boat.” And then the boat sinks, everyone dies. And this is apparently because the guy who stopped him had a dream that he needed to stop Harvey going. Harvey told Aubrey that story.Harvey also is—as Aubrey sort of slightly inaccurately puts it, is the inventor of the circulation of the blood. And you think, well, that's going a little bit far, perhaps not actually the inventor, but certainly the first person to discover, to understand about circulating blood.So there's another example of someone's life includes, I wouldn't be alive unless somebody had had this premonition and dream that I was about to die. Which is from a completely different world, from the rational, scientific understanding of the body or the other scientific advances that are going on at the time.OLIVER: And Aubrey's happy to just sort of coexist with both of those because of his interest in astrology?SCURR: And not just astrology. He's very interested in astrology and nativities, as he called it. In some of the Brief Lives, you see the sort of recording of the information that would be needed to cast an astrological shape for the life.But he is also interested in the fact that people believe in fairies and ghosts. He doesn't look down on those beliefs. Nor does he say that he necessarily believes in the presence of fairies or the interventions of the supernatural. But he's got a very open mind in relation to that. And certainly being simultaneously interested in early astronomy and astrology together is, to us, very striking. But then I think it was much more normal.OLIVER: Why do you think he resisted ordination?SCURR: Because he said the cassock stinks. He considered ordination several times because he knew it would be a living, it would be a way of being able to have some income, probably not very onerous duties. Some of his friends say to him, “Come on, Aubrey, it really won't be that much work. You'll just get a curate who'll do it all, and you'll get the living, and then you won't have to be worrying all the time about your paycheck. You haven't got a paycheck. It would be a living coming to you.”And on one occasion, one of the reasons he gives for not doing that is he thinks well, what if there's another religious upheaval and I have to change sides again? What if Roman Catholicism comes back and I ended up on the wrong side of it?And, again, would it really have been that difficult to go with the flow? But I think, in his own way, he had found his way of living, which was intensely sociable. And perhaps he didn't want that constraint of being a member of the clergy around him.OLIVER: Do you think he was a nonbeliever?SCURR: Well. I don't know the answer to that. I don't think so at all. I think he probably was a straightforward Christian believer. I think perhaps he'd seen enough of the religious conflicts and wars to be afraid of fanaticism on both sides. And that would fit certainly with his relationship with Hobbes.I don't have any reason to think he's an atheist. He's got a beautiful way of writing about death and there's this wonderful line he has when he says, “God bless you and me in our in and out world.” So the fact that we refer to his works as the Brief Lives because they're short, but everybody's life is brief.And even those who live, as he did, into his 70s, it feels brief. And there's these very moving descriptions of him at funerals. I was thinking about this the other day because he often records where someone's buried. And I recently wrote my first entry for the Dictionary of National Biography. I did the one for Hilary Mantel, which was a great honor and extremely interesting.And when I came back to the Brief Lives, I thought, gosh, I wish I'd put at the end of that DNB entry where she's actually buried, that would've made sense to do that. And I didn't do it because the DNB is quite formalized; they've got their formula and you need to stick to it.But maybe I'll add it in. Because it seems to me very moving to record where people are actually buried. That would fit I think with her religious sensibility, with a regard for the afterlife, and with the rites of passage at the end of life.OLIVER: What is it that makes Aubrey such a good biographer?SCURR: So I think the modesty that is in his spirit, the noticing, the minutiae that he both notices and values and his wit. He has a sensitivity to these funny and revealing quirky stories about the people that he knows. Or he finds them in the stories he's told by people who did know them.There's an eyewitness account aspect to it as well. Or at least it's an oral history. “I was told this by . . .” He's extremely precise. He'll try to assemble the facts so far as he can, and then he'll tell you what people's close friends said about them, and he will do so very, very carefully so that you know this is a story that he's been told that he's passing on.And then he doesn't pass moral judgment. He doesn't adjudicate. And finally, he thinks of himself as doing all of this for posterity and that posterity, i.e. us or the people who come after us, will find things there and he's not going to tell them what to find. He's not going to shape the life and say, this is what you should think about it.He will give you the raw materials, he'll give you the stories, he'll give you a flavor of the details of the life, and then posterity can look there and can see, for example, the disagreements between Hobbes and Isaac Newton. There are people who've written lives of Hooke and Newton. And there are people who've written lives and you can be team Newton or team Hooke. Interestingly, Aubrey is team Hooke. He doesn't write a life of Newton. And he wants, as I said, to do well by Hooke. But his way of doing that isn't to say Mr.Hooke was fantastic and Newton robbed him of lots of his ideas. He says, let me show you, let me assemble and make a catalog, if I can, of all these hundreds of contributions that Hooke made.OLIVER: When did you discover Aubrey?SCURR: So I discovered Aubrey because I was reviewing for the LRB, The Biographer's Tale, and I had come across a really interesting—and it's still in the introduction to my book—a really interesting reflection on the difference between Aubrey and Lytton Strachey, a reflection made by Anthony Powell, and I had quoted it or alluded to it in my review. And I had gone and started to read Aubrey as a result of that. So I was led to it through reviewing, via Anthony Powell, and then into the Brief Lives.But then another very strange thing happened, which is I met for the very first time, Janet Malcolm, who is someone who became very important in my life. And because she knew or had been told that I'd written this review, she read the review before we met. And she said to me, she said, “Ruth, I read your review”—and I doubt Janet Malcolm was a massive fan of A.S. Byatt, to be absolutely honest. We never really discussed that further, but she said, “I read your review and I was really interested in this Aubrey. I was so interested in what you quoted about Aubrey and the difference between his biographical approach and Lytton Strachey.”And then it sort of stuck in my mind and suddenly as I was coming toward the end of my first book, which was a totally different book on Robespierre and the French Revolution, I just knew I wanted to write about Aubrey. And I think at the time my then-husband really thought I'd gone mad actually, because you're not supposed to do that, are you?I mean, you're supposed to stick in your period and certainly build on it. So, you know, a book on Marra or even Napoleon would've been okay, that would've made sense. But to circle back to the 17th century and write about Aubrey seemed extremely eccentric.OLIVER: Well, what was Janet Malcolm like?SCURR: Oh, Janet was absolutely wonderful. She has this reputation of being sort of terrifying. And, of course, I was extremely interested in her forensic examination of biography which we had very interesting conversations about. She was a deeply kind person, extremely nurturing of younger writers, and extremely funny as well.That's the other thing that you don't associate with her sometimes from this sort of public image of a very austere interviewer, The Journalist and the Murderer, In the Freud Archives, et cetera. Actually, she was a really warm and extremely witty person.OLIVER: A lot of historians don't think biography is real history. Why do you take biography seriously?SCURR: Well, Michael Holroyd writes Works on Paper—and I love Michael Holroyd so much. And he has this wonderful line—I won't remember it exactly—but it's about biography being the b*****d offspring of history and the novel, and both are ashamed of it.And I think some of those distinctions actually have broken down. I know lots of historians who are very interested in biographical writing. I think it depends. There are certain historical schools that maybe are not so interested in lives.And to be fair, the history of ideas is—which I belong to, and in a sense I'm a rebel from—is one of those. I remember there coming a point where I had spent so much time thinking about the constitutional ideas for the representative republic in the middle of the French Revolution, that actually the French Revolution could have been happening on Mars for all it mattered about the actual sequence of events. What mattered was the structure of the ideas.And it's difficult because the school I belong to in Cambridge wants to put the ideas into context all the time. But again, by context you don't really mean people's lives; more the discourses and the conversations and the ideas of the time that are the landscape, the intellectual landscape, if you like.So I rebelled at a certain point and I was like, well, you know, I'm actually going to go through the revolution day by day because that period is short. And I think it really matters, the lived experience there. I think many, many history books quote Aubrey with enormous respect and say, “as Aubrey says,” or, “according to Aubrey,” and pull those details forwards.I suppose some history is quite instrumental in its use of biography, so it wants to draw the reader in with a few anecdotes and a little bit of what does somebody wear on their head? And who was their first love, that kind of thing. But it's perhaps not very engaged with the real work of trying to capture the shape or the feel of a life.OLIVER: And of a temperament, right? I think one thing biography gives us is that sense that a lot of these big decisions or events in history are quite temperamental. As well as being based in ideas and events.SCURR: Oh, yeah. Absolutely.OLIVER: Your life of Aubrey, at one point you tried to write as a novel.SCURR: Yeah. I had to stop that quite fast.OLIVER: Why?SCURR: Because Aubrey is too important. I didn't want to make up things for him. As someone who's come right up to that line of the history and the novel, I do think it's very clear to be on one side or the other. And again, going back to Hilary Mantel, she wrote those wonderful Reith Lectures on historical fiction.And, like her, I think that it's not about ignoring the facts or embellishing the facts. It is about the gaps. It's about imagining what isn't in the record and should have been, and trying to reconstruct that inside the novel. But at the time, I felt that the gaps with Aubrey didn't actually matter that much.There was so much there that I could pull together to give a sense of him and his sensibility. Now actually, scholars in this field will all be very, very keen to advance our knowledge of those gaps. And that's wonderful. You know, what exactly was Aubrey doing when he visited France? You know, at the time I wrote my book that seemed very unclear.I think my colleague in Oxford, Kate Bennett, knows that now and will write her own biography. And she will fill in many of these gaps that I sort of happily included in the form that I'd found for his life because giving him that first person voice, I was able to focus on the evidence that I thought had been very underused at that point.OLIVER: Now Kate Bennett did a wonderful edition of the Brief Lives with lots of excellent footnotes and investigations. And you wrote that it gave us a new understanding of Aubrey.SCURR: Absolutely. And of the lives themselves. And Kate and I got to know each other and became friends while we were both writing our books. And people we knew before we met were very keen to sort of set us against each other. So they would wind us up. I would meet someone and they'd say, “Ruth, there you are. You've written a book about the French Revolution and now you are going to write a book about Aubrey. But don't you know there is a scholar in Oxford who spent her entire academic life working on Aubrey?” And it built up a picture of fear that you shouldn't trespass on somebody else's ground.And then people would do a sort of reverse thing to her that they would say, “Oh, Kate, gosh, you've been working a long time on Aubrey and where is your Clarendon edition after all? And did you know there's somebody in Cambridge who's going to write this popular book about Aubrey?”Anyway, finally we met at a conference and we really actually just liked each other and we decided it's fine. I was doing my thing. She's doing something very different. And we became friends, and I see that as a triumph over a sort of more traditional, maybe even dare I say, male and territorial approach to academic life and to knowledge in general actually.OLIVER: Yeah. Because the two books are great complements to each other. They're not rivalrous in that sense.SCURR: Absolutely not. Kate's book, it's not just an addition. It's as much as you can ever do. It's a reconstruction of the manuscript as Aubrey left it and intended it with all the gaps and the notes to himself to fill this in. And his changes of mind and his deletions and all of that. And so it's an astonishing thing. Because it's not just a copy of it. It takes you in, it helps you understand what he was intending with those collections, as you called them, my pretty collections.And so that edition that she had been working on for a very long time came out in 2015, the same year as my book came out. And it felt like an amazing year for Aubrey. And now, we'll be celebrating the 400th anniversary of his birth. But that year, 2015, was a very special, obviously for us, but I think for Aubrey more broadly.OLIVER: How much of an influence has Aubrey had on English biography?SCURR: As we know, there's the huge influence in terms of “Aubrey says.” Open any book on the 17th century, and it will be “Aubrey says,” “according to Aubrey,” et cetera. So a huge influence in that respect. With regard to the actual form, I think it's very, very pervasive and important, and we have to look at it very carefully.I mentioned earlier the very important difference between what Aubrey does and what Lytton Strachey did. There are some similarities in so far as Strachey will go for the vivid detail. He give you these powerful anecdotes. But actually he spins them as well.And that's what Anthony Powell so brilliantly showed. And the example was of Francis Bacon, the life of Francis Bacon who Aubrey has a description of Bacon right at the end of his life, the circumstances leading up to Bacon's death where he is on Highgate Hill and he decides to conduct an experiment to see if snow will preserve a chicken or a hen as well as salt. So he is stuffing this carcass of the hen with snow. Catches a cold, ends up having to stay with a friend, sleeps in a bed that hasn't been aired for a long time, and dies. And that's the end of Lord Bacon.So Aubrey gives us all this, and then along comes Lytton Strachey. And he takes it, and he says an old man disgraced, shattered, alone on Highgate Hill, stuffing a dead foul with snow, which makes it sound like he's lost his mind at the end of his life. And then Anthony Powell examined that and he said, look, the story of stuffing the hen with snow is Aubrey's.Bacon was certainly an old man at the time of the incident. He was disgraced. He may have been shattered. No doubt at times he was alone. But Aubrey's story of stuffing the foul on Highgate Hill shows Bacon accompanied by the king's physician, conducting a serious experiment to test the preservative properties of snow and, on becoming indisposed, finding accommodation in the house of the Earl of Arundel.And so you take that same story and, as Anthony Powell says, you combine the story, the fragment preserved by Aubrey with some epithets, and you convey an oblique point. It's a biographical method for actually building up a picture of the person. And it really matters what you do with those fragments.So I think the fact that Aubrey is pretty pure about this, he gives you the fragments and another biographer might come along and think, okay, what's going on here with Venetia Stanley and dying in her bed after drinking Viper wine? Let's build up a story about that. And there was a rumor at the time that her husband had murdered her, et cetera. Aubrey doesn't comment. He just gives you the fragment. And I think afterwards, people have not only used the fragments in their own work, but they've also developed a technique of working up those fragments into whatever picture you decide as a biographer you are going to draw.OLIVER: Now as well as a historian, you are a literary critic. You review novels. You are a Hilary Mantel admirer. Who else among the modern fiction writers do you admire?SCURR: Amongst the modern fiction writers? I'm getting quite old, Henry. Lots of my people are dead now. Alice Monroe is someone I'm extremely interested in. Hilary Manel, obviously, Beryl Bainbridge, Penelope Fitzgerald. And I love the fact Penelope Fitzgerald was a biographer simultaneously with becoming a novelist.And I was thinking back to this actually, that Charlotte Mew and Her Friends—that's the title. And then the Anthony Powell is John Aubrey and His Friends. And I was thinking, is there something about these people who have a lot of friends and the biographical genre? It's interesting.In terms of younger people writing, I just read a wonderful short story by Gwendoline Riley in the latest Paris Review. “A–Z” it's called—very disturbing. Very, very good story. And Gwendoline has a novel coming out later this year, which I shall read with enormous interest. It's going to be called Palm House. I absolutely revered George Saunders, although I haven't yet read Vigil. I'm only on Substack for George Saunders and you Henry. That's it, basically.OLIVER: That shows very good taste.SCURR: Very good taste. Yeah. And a couple of others. My friend Danielle Allen's The Renovator, I also subscribe to, but very few. But George Saunders wrote a wonderful post on his Substack about maybe a year and a half, maybe more even ago, about how he found the solution to the beginning of Lincoln in the Bardo. And he wanted to find a way to tell the story of the death of Lincoln's son. It's so typical of him—and I love this—he said he didn't want the ghosts. He knew it was going to be narrated by the ghosts in the morgue. And he couldn't have them coming home one evening saying, “Oh, you know, I just popped over the wall and had a look in through the White House window. And guess what I saw?” So how was he going to get the voices in?And then he said he'd got these extracts from the letters and from the literature that he needed. And he ended up putting them all on the floor and thinking, what order shall I put them in? And that reminded me of when I was struggling to find a way to write about Aubrey. I suddenly had the idea that I could just put them as diary entries without comment.I would sort of curate these entries and things like that. So, that was a very interesting moment for me about sort of the construction and the choices that go in both to writing a novel and to writing, in my case, a sort of experimental biography.OLIVER: So Hilary Mantel, Lincoln in the Bardo, Penelope Fitzgerald, Beryl Bainbridge—there's a lot of historical fiction here. This is the genre you most enjoy. It's been a sort of golden age for historical fiction.SCURR: But those people aren't just historical fiction writers. It's very important. They have all written historical fiction, but actually they write other novels as well. It doesn't matter the order in their careers, they go in and out of it. So I would say that actually it's those people as writers and sensibilities that attract me.Anita Brookner is another example. I love Anita Brookner's novels. I also love her book on David, the revolutionary painter, that she wrote—Jacques-Louis David—that's a fantastic book. So there's a sense in which I see them as writers and the genre of historical fiction, you are right, it does cut across, but I don't think that's what I'm following. I think I'm following what I find on the page from a particular sensibility and of course a command of language, which is in all of those cases, absolutely extraordinary.OLIVER: Because they're all quite innovative as historical novelists as well. And it's not the main part of what is recognized as their achievement in a way.SCURR: No, no.OLIVER: It's been quietly a second great period of the historical novel. It seems crazy to say Hilary Mantel is our Walter Scott, but that is quite high praise.SCURR: So I think you deal much more definitely than I do with these sort of epoch-defining ideas. I think I'm just more intermittently focused on particular things that I like. I used to do an enormous amount of reviewing. I've had to stop it because—talk about being the whetstone.I was constantly reviewing when I was in my 30s and much of my 40s actually. And I don't regret it in the least. And one of the reasons I don't regret it, especially with novels, was because I would never have read all those novels if I hadn't been reviewing them.And even some of the nonfiction, I wouldn't. But here's an example: Because I'd been reviewing so much, I ended up quite early 2007, becoming a Booker judge. And part of that process is that anyone who's been on the list before they automatically get entered by the publisher—McEwen and Barnes, et cetera. Fine.And then the publisher can put forward two books they choose and they can be anything. And then they assemble a list of so-called call-ins. And those are the books where the publisher says, “Oh, please, please call this in. I mean, we didn't make it one of our two, but we think it's absolutely amazing and you must read it.” And you think, well, if it's so amazing, what were you doing not making it one of your two. But anyway, whatever, we call it in. And on that call-in list there was actually, Anne Enright's novel, The Gathering, and that ended up winning the year I was a judge.And I knew Anne Enright's writing because I had reviewed several of her earlier books, especially one called What Are You Like?, which is quite obscure. It's not the book people think of when they think about Anne Enright. But I knew because I'd done all that time in the reviewing trenches, as it were, how extraordinary Anne Enright is as a writer. And we were able to say, well, absolutely go ahead and call this in. And then sure enough it won.OLIVER: What about biography? Modern biography? You like Michael Holroyd?SCURR: Well, we've already talked about Janet Malcolm. She's a sort of anti-biographer in some respect, sort of subversive of the entire genre. I very much like and respect Antonia Fraser's historical biographies and especially her one of Marie Antoinette which, again, came out very close to when my Robespierre book came out. And it's like seeing the other side of the story and that was absolutely extraordinary.And one of the biographies I go back to over and over again I'm extremely interested in Virginia Woolf. You are obviously a fan with The Common Reader. I was looking at it, preparing for this, that she's got this absolutely hilarious short biography of John Evelyn, and it is called Rambling Round Evelyn. Do you know it?OLIVER: Yes.SCURR: It's so beautifully constructed. It's got the butterflies landing on the dahlias pretty much throughout the actual text of the short biography. But then it's got this brilliant bit where she sort of makes fun of John Evelyn. And she says, the difference between then and now is, if we saw a red admiral, we would admire it, but we wouldn't—and this is very mean of her—we wouldn't rush into the kitchen and get a kitchen knife in order to dissect the red admiral's head. Right? It's so ridiculous and it so makes fun of Evelyn.I was listening to the podcast you made with Hermione Lee. And Hermione was saying that she thought what made Woolf such a good critic was that she was very empathetic. But I also think she's capable of that kind of sharp, wicked distance as well, where she goes, I see you, John Evelyn, you are so proud of your garden, and you're actually—looked at from my point of view—a bit of an idiot in some respects as well.OLIVER: I like her because she's so judgmental, which is not a very popular thing to say, but she is. She is really capable of saying that, you know, as long as prose will be read, Addison will be read. But on the other hand, he's boring and rambling and not very good in many ways. Absolutely cutting.SCURR: No, totally, totally. Yeah.OLIVER: What about some of the sort of big names: Richard Holmes, Claire Tomalin?SCURR: Yeah. Oh, Claire, absolutely. I mean, goodness, they've been such influences on me, both of them. Absolutely Richard and his Footsteps and then of course, and those other books, The Ratters of Lightning Ridge and then The Age of Wonder. That's so important, so wonderful.Claire, I revere, I loved and still recommend to my students her book on Mary Wollstonecraft. I also, by the way, love Virginia Woolf's essay on Mary Wollstonecraft. I think that's a different sort of thing where Woolf describes Mary Wollstonecraft pursuing her lover like a dolphin. She won't let him go. He thought he'd hooked a minnow. He wasn't expecting a dolphin to come after him. It was Mary Wollstonecraft. So, Claire Tomalin, her Peyps, Hardy, absolutely hugely important books and deeply, deeply humane actually.And that's the other thing, I think biography, by definition, you do get the sharpness of Woolf or Strachey, but I think to put someone else's life at the center of your book, that's a humane act. It's to say, no, I'm going to spend this number years of my life preserving and communicating this other person's life. And that's a very wonderful thing to do.OLIVER: What do you think of the sort of standard criticism of biography, that it's just not accurate enough? So, for example, Austen Scholars will point to various things in the Tomalin biography where she's deleted the facts or said things to make the narrative flow, but it's just not really accurate enough. The novelistic tendency overwhelms the historical one or whatever. You've obviously avoided that with various decisions you made in the Aubrey book, but as a genre.SCURR: I'd never say that. That would be a real hostage to fortune, wouldn't it?OLIVER: Well, you know what I mean?SCURR: And saying, look at, look at this—OLIVER: Page 28.SCURR: —at this piece of nonsense you introduced. Well, accuracy is extremely important. What I think about that is it all contributes to knowledge. If someone comes along and finds a mistake or wants to bring in some other evidence—And actually Kate Bennett, she does this with Aubrey as well. She says that, oh, Aubrey's really got this wrong, or he's gotten in a muddle about that. She's not saying, and therefore let's just chuck it out because it's inaccurate. You need to see this as well as that. So I think of it more as a collaborative relationship about adding to knowledge and if somebody corrects a previous book or previous claim or something, or point something, then that's fine actually.Again, going back to Holroyd, he thought that that biography was an art form constrained by the facts. So he's got a place for art in it. And I know what he means by that. And I think ultimately that's probably why I couldn't write a novel about a biographical subject because of being constrained by the facts. And yet Hilary Mantel has written many historical novels that are absolutely constrained by the facts. It's just what they're doing besides the facts, alongside the facts. So perhaps some people are going to come along and contribute other information and other people will come along and contribute some imaginative answer to the whole. And both are fine. I think we should be liberal broad church here.OLIVER: Is the genre dying?SCURR: Not so far as I'm aware. We are always doing this about genres dying, aren't we? Those things are always dying.OLIVER: People talk about biography dying a lot.SCURR: Well, perhaps they do. I haven't been listening to that. Why do they say it's dying?OLIVER: Because you can't sell these 700-page lives of people.SCURR: We can't sell most books. I mean, if we're going to go buy sales . . .OLIVER: This, yeah. Well, this story in The Times recently as well, that all the nonfiction that sells now is trash and that the serious books aren't there. And the whole civilization's dying routine.SCURR: Well if it is, we just have to carry on doing what we are doing.OLIVER: Yeah. What do you think is going to be the future of biography? Because I think more than a lot of other nonfiction genres, it's so changeable, it's so flexible. If you look at any decade, you see so much variety in structure and form. What do you think is coming next?SCURR: I'm like Aubrey; I think that's going to be for posterity to decide. As long as there are human beings, we will tell stories and we will want to tell stories about ourselves, and we will want to tell stories about the people we have loved and or hated, or the people who we think matter, for whatever reason, in science, in art, in literature. There will always be a need for the story of the human life.I think it will inevitably change enormously in ways that we couldn't possibly imagine. Just as Aubrey knew that he couldn't possibly imagine what posterity was going to make of the information that he had collected, and he didn't think that was something that he should be constrained by. He thought it was about passing it on.OLIVER: And what will Ruth Scurr do next?SCURR: I'll ask her. I think she's supposed to be writing about Rousseau and is very excited about that, but has been massively distracted by the Royal Society of Literature and becoming chair of that. So, I'm trying to pull myself back into my project. And I was very excited actually, because again, when I was looking at The Common Reader I saw Woolf refer to the Montaigne, Pepys, and Rousseau as people who had provided these spectacular portraits of themselves. And I was very excited by that. So I'm going to write a book about Rousseau and his time in England.OLIVER: Very exciting. I look forward to it. Ruth Scurr, author of John Aubrey: My Own Life, thank you very much.SCURR: Thank you, Henry. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.commonreader.co.uk
What if one of the founders of the English novel was also a spy? In this episode of Spymasters, host Paul Burke speaks with historian Marc Mierowski about the extraordinary secret career of Daniel Defoe. Today Defoe is remembered as the author of Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders, and Roxana: The Fortunate Mistress. But long before he became a novelist, he operated in the murky world of intelligence, propaganda, and political influence. Working for the powerful minister Robert Harley, Defoe became a key government agent during the negotiations that led to the Acts of Union 1707. He infiltrated political networks, shaped public opinion through pamphlets, and gathered intelligence across Scotland as Britain struggled to create a new unified state. In this fascinating conversation, we explore: How Daniel Defoe became a government spy The intelligence war behind the Act of Union Pamphlets as the “social media” of the 18th century The economic and political crisis after the Darien Scheme The hidden networks of spies, propagandists and political operatives Why Defoe may have been one of Britain's earliest modern intelligence agents This is the hidden world of espionage behind one of the most important political transformations in British history. The Club — Leo Damrosch The Lunar Men — Jenny Uglow King Leopold's Ghost — Adam Hochschild The Wife of Bath — Marion Turner Parallel Lives — Phyllis Rose Also mentioned Janet Malcolm — discussed as an admired writer William Dalrymple — referenced in relation to his books on the East India Company Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The original trio Steve, Dana, and Julia convene for a right cracker of a Gabfest as they discuss How to Get to Heaven from Belfast, the new comedic mystery from Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee. In the Netflix series, three longtime Belfast friends must revisit their childhood trauma to unravel the mystery of a fourth friend's disappearance— raucous Northern Irish hijinks ensue.Next, they step into the unhinged dystopian Los Angeles of Gore Verbinski's new film Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die. In it a beleaguered time traveler played by Sam Rockwell must visit the same Norm's diner 117 times to save the world from the menace of A.I..Finally, they welcome Slate senior writer Christina Cauterucci to unpack her recent piece “My Gun and Me” about her unlikely journey towards gun ownership during Trump 2.0—and how she's not alone in doing so in her left-leaning, queer community.In an exclusive bonus episode for Slate Plus subscribers, they determine if there are indeed no comfortable reading positions, as a recent Slate essay by Luke Winkie attests. EndorsementsDana: The latest Today in Tabs entry from Rusty Foster "A.I. Isn't People."Julia: In lieu of an endorsement, a gripe: the much-hyped New York Times two-player word game Crossplay is just Scrabble! (If only there were a German word for this specific form of disappointment...)Steve: Rereading J.D. Salinger with some distance from one's own adolescence— particularly Franny and Zooey and the short story "For Esmé—with Love and Squalor." And for a good critical reassessment, read Janet Malcolm's New York Review of Books essay "Justice to J.D. Salinger." --Email us your thoughts at culturefest@slate.com. Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The original trio Steve, Dana, and Julia convene for a right cracker of a Gabfest as they discuss How to Get to Heaven from Belfast, the new comedic mystery from Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee. In the Netflix series, three longtime Belfast friends must revisit their childhood trauma to unravel the mystery of a fourth friend's disappearance— raucous Northern Irish hijinks ensue.Next, they step into the unhinged dystopian Los Angeles of Gore Verbinski's new film Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die. In it a beleaguered time traveler played by Sam Rockwell must visit the same Norm's diner 117 times to save the world from the menace of A.I..Finally, they welcome Slate senior writer Christina Cauterucci to unpack her recent piece “My Gun and Me” about her unlikely journey towards gun ownership during Trump 2.0—and how she's not alone in doing so in her left-leaning, queer community.In an exclusive bonus episode for Slate Plus subscribers, they determine if there are indeed no comfortable reading positions, as a recent Slate essay by Luke Winkie attests. EndorsementsDana: The latest Today in Tabs entry from Rusty Foster "A.I. Isn't People."Julia: In lieu of an endorsement, a gripe: the much-hyped New York Times two-player word game Crossplay is just Scrabble! (If only there were a German word for this specific form of disappointment...)Steve: Rereading J.D. Salinger with some distance from one's own adolescence— particularly Franny and Zooey and the short story "For Esmé—with Love and Squalor." And for a good critical reassessment, read Janet Malcolm's New York Review of Books essay "Justice to J.D. Salinger." --Email us your thoughts at culturefest@slate.com. Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Undaunted: How Women Changed American Journalism (Knopf, 2023) is a representative history of the American women who surmounted every impediment put in their way to do journalism's most valued work. From Margaret Fuller's improbable success to the highly paid reporters of the mid-nineteenth century to the breakthrough investigative triumphs of Nellie Bly, Ida Tarbell, and Ida B. Wells, Brooke Kroeger examines the lives of the best-remembered and long-forgotten woman journalists. She explores the careers of standout woman reporters who covered the major news stories and every conflict at home and abroad since before the Civil War, and she celebrates those exceptional careers up to the present, including those of Martha Gellhorn, Rachel Carson, Janet Malcolm, Joan Didion, Cokie Roberts, and Charlayne Hunter-Gault. As Kroeger chronicles the lives of journalists and newsroom leaders in every medium, a larger story develops: the nearly two-centuries-old struggle for women's rights. Here as well is the collective fight for equity from the gentle stirrings of the late 1800s through the legal battles of the 1970s to the #MeToo movement and today's racial and gender disparities. Undaunted unveils the huge and singular impact women have had on a vital profession still dominated by men. Jane Scimeca is Professor of History at Brookdale Community College. @JaneScimeca1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies
Undaunted: How Women Changed American Journalism (Knopf, 2023) is a representative history of the American women who surmounted every impediment put in their way to do journalism's most valued work. From Margaret Fuller's improbable success to the highly paid reporters of the mid-nineteenth century to the breakthrough investigative triumphs of Nellie Bly, Ida Tarbell, and Ida B. Wells, Brooke Kroeger examines the lives of the best-remembered and long-forgotten woman journalists. She explores the careers of standout woman reporters who covered the major news stories and every conflict at home and abroad since before the Civil War, and she celebrates those exceptional careers up to the present, including those of Martha Gellhorn, Rachel Carson, Janet Malcolm, Joan Didion, Cokie Roberts, and Charlayne Hunter-Gault. As Kroeger chronicles the lives of journalists and newsroom leaders in every medium, a larger story develops: the nearly two-centuries-old struggle for women's rights. Here as well is the collective fight for equity from the gentle stirrings of the late 1800s through the legal battles of the 1970s to the #MeToo movement and today's racial and gender disparities. Undaunted unveils the huge and singular impact women have had on a vital profession still dominated by men. Jane Scimeca is Professor of History at Brookdale Community College. @JaneScimeca1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/gender-studies
Undaunted: How Women Changed American Journalism (Knopf, 2023) is a representative history of the American women who surmounted every impediment put in their way to do journalism's most valued work. From Margaret Fuller's improbable success to the highly paid reporters of the mid-nineteenth century to the breakthrough investigative triumphs of Nellie Bly, Ida Tarbell, and Ida B. Wells, Brooke Kroeger examines the lives of the best-remembered and long-forgotten woman journalists. She explores the careers of standout woman reporters who covered the major news stories and every conflict at home and abroad since before the Civil War, and she celebrates those exceptional careers up to the present, including those of Martha Gellhorn, Rachel Carson, Janet Malcolm, Joan Didion, Cokie Roberts, and Charlayne Hunter-Gault. As Kroeger chronicles the lives of journalists and newsroom leaders in every medium, a larger story develops: the nearly two-centuries-old struggle for women's rights. Here as well is the collective fight for equity from the gentle stirrings of the late 1800s through the legal battles of the 1970s to the #MeToo movement and today's racial and gender disparities. Undaunted unveils the huge and singular impact women have had on a vital profession still dominated by men. Jane Scimeca is Professor of History at Brookdale Community College. @JaneScimeca1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/gender-studies
Undaunted: How Women Changed American Journalism (Knopf, 2023) is a representative history of the American women who surmounted every impediment put in their way to do journalism's most valued work. From Margaret Fuller's improbable success to the highly paid reporters of the mid-nineteenth century to the breakthrough investigative triumphs of Nellie Bly, Ida Tarbell, and Ida B. Wells, Brooke Kroeger examines the lives of the best-remembered and long-forgotten woman journalists. She explores the careers of standout woman reporters who covered the major news stories and every conflict at home and abroad since before the Civil War, and she celebrates those exceptional careers up to the present, including those of Martha Gellhorn, Rachel Carson, Janet Malcolm, Joan Didion, Cokie Roberts, and Charlayne Hunter-Gault. As Kroeger chronicles the lives of journalists and newsroom leaders in every medium, a larger story develops: the nearly two-centuries-old struggle for women's rights. Here as well is the collective fight for equity from the gentle stirrings of the late 1800s through the legal battles of the 1970s to the #MeToo movement and today's racial and gender disparities. Undaunted unveils the huge and singular impact women have had on a vital profession still dominated by men. Jane Scimeca is Professor of History at Brookdale Community College. @JaneScimeca1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/journalism
Undaunted: How Women Changed American Journalism (Knopf, 2023) is a representative history of the American women who surmounted every impediment put in their way to do journalism's most valued work. From Margaret Fuller's improbable success to the highly paid reporters of the mid-nineteenth century to the breakthrough investigative triumphs of Nellie Bly, Ida Tarbell, and Ida B. Wells, Brooke Kroeger examines the lives of the best-remembered and long-forgotten woman journalists. She explores the careers of standout woman reporters who covered the major news stories and every conflict at home and abroad since before the Civil War, and she celebrates those exceptional careers up to the present, including those of Martha Gellhorn, Rachel Carson, Janet Malcolm, Joan Didion, Cokie Roberts, and Charlayne Hunter-Gault. As Kroeger chronicles the lives of journalists and newsroom leaders in every medium, a larger story develops: the nearly two-centuries-old struggle for women's rights. Here as well is the collective fight for equity from the gentle stirrings of the late 1800s through the legal battles of the 1970s to the #MeToo movement and today's racial and gender disparities. Undaunted unveils the huge and singular impact women have had on a vital profession still dominated by men. Jane Scimeca is Professor of History at Brookdale Community College. @JaneScimeca1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
Notes and Links to Joe McGinniss' Work Joe McGinniss Jr. is the author of DAMAGED PEOPLE, CAROUSEL COURT and THE DELIVERY MAN. Buy Damaged People: A Memoir of Fathers and Sons Joe's Wikipedia Review of Damaged People in Kirkus Reviews People Magazine Article about Damaged People At about 1:30, Joe talks about wonderful feedback he's gotten from readers of his memoir At about 2:40, Pete and Joe reflect on his father's work and ideas in relation to the “public intellectual” At about 4:45, Joe expands on the hard work and determination that led to him being so revered, even by Robert F. Kennedy At about 8:10, Joe gives purchasing information for Damaged People At about 9:30, Joe gives seeds and background for his memoir, including a catalyst in a 2016 New Yorker article At about 10:45, The two discuss the book's epigraphs and Joe remarks on writing about such personal experiences and close friends and family At about 13:50, Joe responds to Pete's questions about the book's Prologue setting At about 16:50, Joe expands on the analogy of his father put forth by his brother of their father as a “puppy pissing on the rug” At about 21:40, Pete references Lorenzo Carcaterra's A Safe Place and connections to Joe's book At about 23:00, Joe expands upon cycles involving sons and fathers and reflects on the line from the book that “progress is being made” At about 28:00, Joe responds to Pete's questions about a telling photo opp for a magazine article on Heroes by his father At about 30:50, Pete and Joe give background on Joe, Sr.'s breakthrough with The Selling of the President, and Joe discusses connections between the events of the book and today's politics At about 33:00, the two discuss Joe's father's triumphs and the parts he was lacking as a father, in connection to his own father's treatment of him; Joe emphasizes that his son knew he “was loved” by his grandfather At about 36:20, Pete lays out some of the book's flashforward scene to beautiful memories of his growing son and wonderful wife, and then the two talk Rex Chapman and basketball inspiration At about 40:10, Joe talks about his first book's tour, and how he built great memories, and he talks about the juxtaposed At about 41:40, The two discuss the “idyllic” life lived by Joe's father (and Joe for a while), and Joe shares some amazing anecdotes from those days At about 44:40, Joe relates the story of his dog Lucy being stolen by a 19-year-old Kiefer Sutherland (!) At about 45:30, Joe expands on his father's experience researching Fatal Vision At about 49:50, Joe gives background on the importance of the saying, “Everything's blowin' away” in connection to his father's energy and ambition and anxiety At about 52:45, Joe responds to Pete's questions about his father's treatment of Jeffrey McDonald in Fatal Vision At about 53:30, Pete reflects on changes in Joe's relationship with his son as he grows up At about 54:30, Joe recounts the story that Janet Malcolm wrote regarding the MacDonald case and how Joe, Sr. was sued At about 59:20, Joe traces the late 80s and 90s for his father, and his bold decision to turn down an O.J. Simpson trial book and write instead about Italian soccer At about 1:05:30, Joe shares his perspective on apology letters and confession letters written by his father to him and his siblings At about 1:08:00, Joe reflects on the times in which he knew he had been too overbearing and strict with his son in his basketball career At about 1:11:50, Joe reflects on ideas of life and father-son relationships as “process[es]” in connection to his father's death and “gaps” left behind At about 1:15:10, Joe responds to Pete's question about how he now sees sons after these years of writing and reflection At about 1:17:30, Joe charts his dad's reactions to hip-hop You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow Pete on IG, where he is @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where he is @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both the YouTube Channel and the podcast while you're checking out this episode. Pete is very excited to have one or two podcast episodes per month featured on the website of Chicago Review of Books. The audio will be posted, along with a written interview culled from the audio. His conversation with Hannah Pittard, a recent guest, is up at Chicago Review. Sign up now for The Chills at Will Podcast Patreon: it can be found at patreon.com/chillsatwillpodcastpeterriehl Check out the page that describes the benefits of a Patreon membership, including cool swag and bonus episodes. Thanks in advance for supporting Pete's one-man show, DIY podcast and extensive reading, research, editing, and promoting to keep this independent podcast pumping out high-quality content! This month's Patreon bonus episode features an exploration of flawed characters, protagonists who are too real in their actions, and horror and noir as being where so much good and realistic writing takes place. Pete has added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show. This is a passion project, a DIY operation, and Pete would love for your help in promoting what he's convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form. The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com. Please tune in for Episode 315 with Cole Cuchna, the host and the creator of Dissect, a serialized music podcast that examines a single album per season, one song per episode. Dissect was named "Best podcast of 2017" by Quartz, and the following year was named "Best podcast of 2018" by the New York Times. It has done deep dives on albums by Kendrick Lamar, Beyonce, Childish Gambino, Tyler the Creator, MF Doom, Radiohead, Frank Ocean, and more. The episode airs on December 30. Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people.
This week on Sinica, I speak with Zhong Na, a novelist and essayist whose new piece, "Murder House," appears in the inaugural issue of Equator — a striking new magazine devoted to longform writing that crosses borders, disciplines, and cultures. In January 2024, a young couple, both Tsinghua-educated Google engineers living in a $2.5 million Silicon Valley home, became the center of a tragedy that captivated Chinese social media far more than American outlets. Zhong Na explores how the case became a collective Rorschach test — a mirror held up to contemporary Chinese society, exposing cracks in the myths of meritocracy, the prestige of global tech firms, and shifting notions of gender, class, and the Chinese dream itself. We discuss the gendered reactions online, the dimming of America's appeal, the emotional costs of the immigrant success story, and the craft of writing about tragedy with compassion but without sentimentality.5:06 – How the story first reached Zhong Na, and the Luigi Mangione comparison 7:05 – Discovering she attended the same Chengdu high school as the alleged murderer Chen Liren 8:10 – The collaboration with Equator and Joan Didion's influence 10:30 – Education, class, and the cracks in China's meritocracy myth 16:01 – Tiger mothers vs. lying flat: two responses to a rigged system 19:12 – The pandemic and the dimming of the American dream 22:49 – Chinese men as perpetrators: immigrant stress and the loss of patriarchal privilege 25:56 – The gender war online: moral autopsy and victim-blaming 30:25 – The obsession with the ex-girlfriend and attraction to the accused 34:37 – The murder house, Chinese numerology, and the rise of Gen Z metaphysics 37:08 – Geopolitics, the China Initiative, and rethinking America as a destination 39:42 – Craft and moral compass: learning from Didion and Janet Malcolm 42:31 – Zhong Na's fiction: writing Chinese experiences without catering to Western expectationsPaying it forward: Gavin Jacobson and the editorial team at EquatorRecommendations: Zhong Na: Elsewhere by Yan Ge Kaiser: Made in Ethiopia, documentary by Xinyan Yu and Max Duncan (available on PBS)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Sylvia Plath, Janet Malcolm and our thoughts on writing style – welcome to episode 144! In the first half of this episode, we discuss whether we prefer writing style to be ornate or simple. In the second half, we compare
Nobody likes being criticized. Nobody likes it when someone highlights your mistakes. In Meditations, Marcus Aurelius tries to remind himself that he has the freedom to take correction and criticism. He knew he didn't control what the person said or how they said it, but he did control how he handled it.
Louis speaks to John Wilson, fellow documentarian and creator of the cult-favourite series, How To...with John Wilson. The pair swap stories about their respective work, including discussing John's collaborations with writer and producer Nathan Fielder, how joining an acapella group exposed him to the NXIVM sex-cult, and their shared disdain for mockumentaries. Plus, John turns the tables on Louis… Warnings: Strong language and some adult themes. Links/Attachments: TV Show: ‘How To with John Wilson' (2020-2023) - HBO https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0cltlm3/how-to-with-john-wilson TV Show: ‘Louis Theroux: Gambling in Las Vegas' (2007) - BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b007957z/louis-theroux-gambling-in-las-vegas TV Show: ‘Louis Theroux's LA Stories' (2014) - BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b03zjc67/louis-therouxs-la-stories Pitch Perfect (2012) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mbsapmW0bg Song: ‘Roxanne', The Police (1978) https://open.spotify.com/track/3EYOJ48Et32uATr9ZmLnAo 'El Tango de Roxanne/Roxanne Medley' - Simply Human https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAwbG5tq6yY TV Show: ‘Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult' (2020) - Starz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch_4jn_m6-g TV Show: ‘The Vow' (2020) - HBO https://www.hbo.com/the-vow-2020 TV Show: ‘Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends' (1998-2000) - BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p02q5prq/louis-therouxs-weird-weekends-series-1-1-christianity?seriesId=unsliced The Amazing Johnathan (2019) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9358084/ TV Show: ‘When Louis Met...Jimmy Savile' (2000) - BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0g3zjn9/when-louis-met-series-1-jimmy-savile TV Show: ‘Louis Theroux: America's Most Dangerous Pets' (2011) - BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b016yklh/louis-theroux-americas-most-dangerous-pets TV Show: ‘Nathan For You' (2013-2017) - Comedy Central https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2297757/ TV Show: ‘The Rehearsal' (2022 – Present) - HBO https://www.hbo.com/the-rehearsal Book: The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcolm (1989) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Journalist-Murderer-Janet-Malcolm/dp/1847085342 Book: The Silent Woman: Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, Janet Malcolm (1994) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silent-Woman-J-Malcolm/dp/0679751408 Book: Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession, Janet Malcolm (1977) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Psychoanalysis-Impossible-Profession-Janet-Malcolm/dp/0394710347 Credits: Producer: Millie Chu Assistant Producer: Emilia Gill Production Manager: Francesca Bassett Music: Miguel D'Oliveira Audio Mixer: Tom Guest Video Mixer: Scott Edwards Shownotes compiled by Immie Webb Executive Producer: Arron Fellows A Mindhouse Production for Spotify www.mindhouse.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com“Would you have Elon Musk's baby?” Sarah texted Nancy the other day, to which she responded, “Fuck no.” Thus launches the latest Smoke ‘Em debate, in which our co-host who is without child confesses she'd take some of that SpaceX sperm. Has she lost her mind, or is she merely responding to nature's imperative? We discuss this, as well as Musk's new babymama, Ashley St. Clair.Then it's on to a double-dip from New York Times Magazine: “Why Gen X Women are Having the Best Sex” and “How I Learned That the Problem in My Marriage Was Me.” Is 20th-century licentiousness dead? Has therapy bled too far into the culture?Also discussed:* Diet Pepsi > Diet Coke* “On accident” vs. “by accident”?* Sperm ice cubes at the 7-Eleven* Milo Yiannopoulos has entered the chat* Can you make yourself sexy or nah?* Netchix and flill* Nancy declares she does not like declarative sentences* The saddest divorce book* Why does Nancy get so annoyed when people talk about their sex lives?* Sarah's string of younger men* Moynihan's not kicking those bikini-clad girls out of bed* Women have rage problems, too* Announcement: CHEFS TALK!!!* “The thing about Led Zeppelin songs is, none of the names make sense.”Plus, the speedball of intimacy, the obsession with being obsessed, Nancy gets a crush on Jimmy Page, and much more!Correction: Listener Mavis wrote: “In ‘Iphigenia in Forest Hills,' she killed her child's father, not her daughter!” Absolutely correct! Nancy regrets the error, and for more Janet Malcolm, see this week's hot boxes
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.comNancy and Sarah celebrate Valentine's Day with a civil disagreement on how stupid the holiday actually is. Also: Sex trivia! The conversation ranges from how people can masturbate in an MRI to Super Bowl controversies and the greatness of Janet Malcolm. Also discussed:* All New Yorkers go to Miami?* Sarah explains women to Nancy* Gifts are not meant to be manipulations* Kanye and AI nonsense* “Swat-sticker” (!!!!!)* Bill Gates on the upside of AI* The low rattle of unhappiness* Salmon sperm facials* Tafv, we want your blood* Something strange is afoot at the Kinsey Institute* How often do people over 45 masturbate, and why is that number a lie?* Orgasms in your sleep* “How are you masturbating in an MRI?”* Taylor Swift booed* Farewell to the penny!! You served us well.* Great new Janet Malcolm story by Katie Roiphe* People vs. the story: A journalism debate!
The seventh installment of Matthew's Five Big Questions Posed to an Extremely Thoughtful Person. Sam Adler-Bell is a journalist, political theorist, and co-host of one of Matthew's favourite podcasts, Know Your Enemy—a show about the American right. They discuss the normalization of genocide, the stark comforts of Freud and Janet Malcolm, the relief of DW Winnicott, how we can't avoid playing the role of our own mothers, and also good advice from his dad, a labour lawyer who knows something about long, uncertain, but always worthwhile battles for the common good. Show Notes Sam Adler-Bell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
EPISODE 485 - Wendy Dale - Memoir Writing for Geniuses, Peru and Grandma's PiesAbout Wendy Dale"Wendy is the best instructor I've had, bar none. She continually pushes you and never lets you settle for good enough. She is knowledgeable, patient, helpful, and has an excellent sense of humor! I would take a class again with her anytime." -- Sandra Carpenter"Wendy is phenomenal! I've taken dozens of writing courses and completed an MFA in creative writing. Never have I received such useful instruction. I'm happy that I'll be starting her advanced course next week." -- Mary Rowland"Wendy exceeded my expectations. I was stunned by how much practical information I learned and by how much I grew as a writer. The class was, in a word, invaluable!" -- Carly Van Thomme"Wendy encourages her students to dig deeper -- and the results show. I highly recommend her. She is insightful, conscientious, and supportive. I couldn't ask for more." -- Michele Meek"Wendy is that tough critic who can be the best thing that happens to your manuscript." -- Lucey BowenAcclaim for Wendy's memoir"Deeply funny." – Vogue Magazine"Wry, funny." – Outside Magazine"Mix David Sedaris, Lucille Ball, and a fifth of tequila in a blender [and] you get Wendy Dale, who is quite possibly the funniest travel writer since Homer. But strain off the foamy giggles and you're left with a raw, smart, and passionate woman in search of herself and awestruck at the beauty of even the ugliest corners of the earth." – Deborah C. Kogan, author of Shutterbabe""Dale has an amazing ability not only to find intrigue and drama and hardship but to meet them all with an undampened sense of humor and a roving eye for the absurd. And by getting entangled in other people's lives, as opposed to hiking through rain forests, she enjoys glimpses into worlds forever closed to the average tourist. A few years ago, Janet Malcolm, writing in the New Yorker, complained that she ‘always found travel writing a little boring' because ‘travel itself is a low-key emotional experience, a pallid affair in comparison with ordinary life' … which is absolutely true, unless you travel like Wendy Dale." – Thomas Swick, travel editor of the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel"This is a wonderful book – not a subversive treatise on rule-breaking as the title might suggest, but a witty, insightful memoir of a young woman from an offbeat, though well-traveled family." – Bookpage"With grace, charm and abundant humor, Dale narrates her meandering story of a childhood regained, ‘a chance to make rash decisions, to take wild risks, to lose everything knowing I'd still have plenty of time to earn it all back.'" – Time Out New York"Funny, impulsive, and alluringly naïve, Wendy Dale is repeatedly swept into adventure and trouble and love, mostly when she's looking the other way. I had a great time going along on her wacky journey. I read the book in one sitting, reluctantly getting up midway to make a sandwich, placing the open book on the counter so I didn't have to stop reading." – Rita Golden Gelman, author of Tales of a Female Nomad https://www.geniusmemoirwriting.com/Support the show___https://livingthenextchapter.com/podcast produced by: https://truemediasolutions.ca/Coffee Refills are always appreciated, refill Dave's cup here, and thanks!https://buymeacoffee.com/truemediaca
The episode with two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times op-ed columnist Nick Kristof focused on his recent inspirational and hope-filled book, "Chasing Hope." The conversation began with Kristof speaking to Michael Krasny about the effects on him and the moral challenges he faced covering Tiananmen Square, as well as the lessons he gleaned from his early reporter's work in Cambodia and the U.S. He opined on the fight for democracy and weighed the effect on him of the oppression and suffering of children.Krasny then brought up the role and impact of Kristof's parents, and Kristof spoke of compassion fatigue and what he believes needs to be done. He emphasized the need for more stories that call attention to humanitarian crises and the public good. The two then spoke of journalism as an act of hope and discussed contrasts between former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and President-elect Donald Trump, as well as Kristof's past decision to run for Governor of Oregon.When Krasny asked Kristof about his views on race versus class and New York Times coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Kristof spoke about rising anti-Semitism, the meaning of the word genocide, and his feelings of frustration at the slow pace of change despite remarkable progress on many fronts. The conversation turned to journalistic ethics, human rights, and Kristof's wife Sheryl's Chinese ancestry.Kristof also addressed the concept of "white saviors" and answered a listener's question about the effect of Artificial Intelligence. The two then returned to further consideration of journalistic ethics, Janet Malcolm, journalists as storytellers, Tiananmen Square, and Gaza. Kristof spoke of making the ineffable effable and of David Brooks' dichotomy of a resume versus a eulogy. It was a brilliant and enlightening conversation with one of America's leading journalists.
Convidem Ses Majestats liter
His earlier episodes on this show have been huge hits, and as he completes a trilogy of books, he returns to complete a trilogy of episodes. Amitava Kumar joins Amit Varma in episode 408 of The Seen and the Unseen to talk about writing, noticing, painting, travelling, trees, and unfulfilled train journeys. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out 1. Amitava Kumar on Instagram, Substack, Twitter, Amazon, Vassar, Granta and his own website. 2. The Green Book: An Observer's Notebook -- Amitava Kumar. 3. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life — Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 4. Amitava Kumar Finds His Kashmiri Rain -- Episode 364 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. The Blue Book: A Writer's Journal — Amitava Kumar. 6. The Yellow Book: A Traveller's Diary — Amitava Kumar. 7. My Beloved Life: A Novel -- Amitava Kumar. 8. A Million Mutinies Now -- VS Naipaul. 9. The Trees — Philip Larkin. 10. Before the Storm -- Amitava Kumar. 11. Wanderers, Kings, Merchants: The Story of India through Its Languages — Peggy Mohan. 12. Understanding India Through Its Languages — Episode 232 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Peggy Mohan). 13. A Suitable Boy -- Vikram Seth. 14. Caste, Capitalism and Chandra Bhan Prasad — Episode 296 of The Seen and the Unseen. 15. ‘Indian languages carry the legacy of caste' — Chandra Bhan Prasad interviewed by Sheela Bhatt. 16. The Refreshing Audacity of Vinay Singhal — Episode 291 of The Seen and the Unseen. 17. Stage.in. 18. Laapataa Ladies -- Kiran Rao. 19. Kanthapura -- Raja Rao. 20. All About H Hatterr -- GV Desani. 21. From Phansi Yard: My Year with the Women of Yerawada -- Sudha Bharadwaj. 22. India is Broken -- Ashoka Mody. 23. Being Mortal -- Atul Gawande. 24. Earwitness to Place -- Bernie Krause interviewed by Erin Robinsong. 25. All That Breathes -- Shaunak Sen. 26. Frog: 1 Poetry: 0 -- Amitava Kumar. 27. The Heat Will Kill You First -- Jeff Goodell. 28. Danish Husain and the Multiverse of Culture — Episode 359 of The Seen and the Unseen. 29. The Artist's Way -- Julia Cameron. 30. An excerpt from Wittgenstein's diary — Parul Sehgal on Twitter. 31. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus — Ludwig Wittgenstein. 32. Burdock -- Janet Malcolm. 33. Hermit in Paris — Italo Calvino. 34. Objects From Our Past -- Episode 77 of Everything is Everything. 35. The Wisden Book of Test Cricket (1877-1977) — Compiled & edited by Bill Frindall. 36. Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India — Akshaya Mukul. 37. The Gita Press and Hindu Nationalism — Episode 139 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Akshaya Mukul). 38. The Ferment of Our Founders — Episode 272 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Kapila). 39. Private Truths, Public Lies — Timur Kuran. 40. The Incredible Insights of Timur Kuran — Episode 349 of The Seen and the Unseen. 41. Bhavni Bhavai -- Ketan Mehta. 42. All We Imagine as Light -- Payal Kapadia. 43. Secondhand Time -- Svetlana Alexievich. 44. Amitava Kumar's post with Danish Husain's postcard. 45. Fire Weather -- John Vaillant. 46. Ill Nature -- Joy Williams. 47. Hawk -- Joy Williams. This episode is sponsored by Rang De, a platform that enables individuals to invest in farmers, rural entrepreneurs and artisans. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Amit and Ajay also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must! And have you read Amit's newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It's free! Also check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: ‘Gulmohar' by Simahina.
In meditation, let us focus on compassion for those who are overlooked—minor characters in stories and in life. Reflect on the figures of Deborah, Rachel's nursemaid, and Eliezer of Damascus. Their lives, like Rachel's own tragic death, are often reduced to mere footnotes in the grand narrative of Genesis. Janet Malcolm observed that biographers and storytellers may sacrifice the humanity of such “flat” characters to serve the greater arc. Yet these are three-dimensional souls with full, untold stories. In meditation, honor them and others who are marginalized or forgotten. Hold space for their dignity, their silent contributions, and their humanity. With each breath, expand your compassion, embracing those whose lives ripple unseen beneath the surface of larger tales.
Mirin Fader is a staff writer for The Ringer and the author of Dream: The Life and Legacy of Hakeem Olajuwon.The book chronicles the personal and professional transformation of a transformational figure in wonderful, lucid detail.Newsletter: Rage Against the AlgorithmShow notes: brendanomeara.comSupport: Patreon.com/cnfpod
A wide-ranging discussion featured acclaimed author and podcaster Malcolm Gladwell. Michael Krasny began by exploring Malcolm's entry into podcasting. Malcolm shared his love for the medium and how his podcast, Revisionist History, showcases his "mischievous side." They discussed the success of podcasters Joe Rogan and Bill Simmons and the importance of curiosity and listening skills. Malcolm touched on his experience with Paul Simon and the cultural effects on cardiologists, as detailed in his latest book. The conversation covered diverse topics. These included elite schools and college admissions processes, a town with a suicide epidemic, and the homogeneity of cheetahs. Malcolm also spoke about OxyContin and COVID, his favorite published book, and his current writing project. He expressed a growing interest in character-driven writing and his admiration for journalist Janet Malcolm. The dialogue then shifted to the role of faith in Malcolm's writing and his thoughts on Kamala Harris and popular music. They explored the impact of popular culture on Holocaust discussions and Malcolm's views on Pastor Rick Warren. The importance of journalism and Malcolm's increasing skepticism were also addressed. The conversation concluded with topics like white flight, fame, and Malcolm's earlier work at The New Yorker.
"Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that [...] he is a kind of confidence man, preying on people's vanity, ignorance or loneliness, gaining their trust and betraying them without remorse." Some fighting talk from Janet Malcolm, back in 1989. But is there truth in her words? This week on Whale Hunting, Bradley talks to Steve Fishman, the legendary journalist who got big names like fraudster Bernie Madoff and killer Son of Sam to open up. Steve's latest podcast My Friend, The Serial Killer reflects on his first big break in journalism, which came about after a close encounter with serial killer Robert Carr. He talks about why the story has continued to trouble him, and what it was like to revisit his early reporting decades later. Bradley and Steve also discuss the intimacy of telling stories in podcasts, how to get sources to talk, and the careful balance between sincerity, compassion and ruthless reporting. To listen to Steve's podcast, search for Smoke Screen: My Friend, The Serial Killer in your favourite podcast app. There's also the special director's cut of his show Empire on Blood, with three new episodes, coming soon to the Smoke Screen feed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Notes and Links to Will Sommer's Work For Episode 229, Pete welcomes Will Sommers, and the two discuss, among other topics, his early relationship with the written word, his all-encompassing relationships with and love for student journalism, formative times at Georgetown, his lifelong interest in conservative media, and salient themes in his book, including the growth of QAnon through 4chan and 8chan and Trump's rise to power, QAnon's pop culture connections, questions of true believers and grifters in QAnon, key personalities in the movement, as well as possible remedies for loosening the hold QAnon has on some many people featured in his book. Will Sommer covers right-wing media, political radicalization and right-wing conspiracy theories in the United States. His 2023 book is Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Reshaped América. He is also featured as an expert on QAnon in HBO's Q: Into the Storm. He has previously written for The Daily Beast, and now works as a media reporter for The Washington Post. Buy Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America Will's Wikipedia Page Review of Trust the Plan in The New York Times Review of Trust the Plan in The Guardian Will Discusses his Book with Terri Gross on NPR's Fresh Air At about 1:50, Will gives background on the inspiration for QAnon's motto, derived from the movie White Squall At about 3:20, Will talks about being “bookish and into writing,” unspooling stories,” high school and college newspapers, and his early love for journalism At about 6:25, Will talks about inspiring and formative texts and writers, including Patrick Radden Keefe, Janet Malcolm, Charles Bowden, and Mike Sager At about 10:00, Pete shouts out Mark Arax and a particularly unforgettable piece At about 10:50, Will responds to Pete's questions about his upbringing in Texas and Will expounds upon his appetite for conservative media and trends and feuds that he has observed over the years At about 14:10, Will traces his career journey from Georgetown to The Patch and on At about 17:20, Pete and Will discuss the book's Introduction, set during the January 6 rallies and riots; Will expounds upon his mindset during the day, the incredible things he heard rioters say, and the importance of his attendance for his research At about 21:00, Pete asks about QAnon's beginnings, its placement in the Trump presidency, and Will gives background on Q's connections to 4chan At about 24:05, Will gives a summary of QAnon's beliefs and the idea of “The Storm” At about 24:45, Will provides history on “Pizzagate” and its early connections to QAnon At about 26:05, Will replies to Pete's questions about QAnon representation at the January 6 rally, and Pete cites a telling quote from the book by Will at the January 6 rally At about 29:00, Will gives examples of feedback and conversation with QAnon believers, as well as many of their mindsets/motivations and targets for their anger/frustrations At about 30:20, Pete cites Chapter One's “Easter eggs” for QAnon, and Will talks about “Q Proofs” and other indicators, according to the believers At about 32:10, Will points to a definition of “conspiracy theory” from the book and connects to real-life theories passed on by QAnon believers At about 33:05, Will puts into perspectives some statistics about QAnon tenets and American beliefs in these, as measured by polls from the last few years At about 35:55, Will gives some history of 4chan and more connections to QAnon At about 38:15, Will opines on Trump's ignorance of QAnon versus his manipulating and using their support for him At about 41:25, Pete asks Will about his views on people who believe in QAnon tenets and about those who promote QAnon At about 44:00. Pete traces social media's connections to QAnon and Will describes how Covid led to a resurgence of QAnon At about 46:00-QAnon Anonymous Podcast shout out-incredible episode regarding Jim Caviezel At about 47:00, Pete and Will focus on stories of individuals from the book and on QAnon's future based on its move outside the borders of the United States At about 49:50, Will, while not extremely optimistic, talks about remedies for breaking the QAnon hold You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow me on IG, where I'm @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where I'm @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both my YouTube Channel and my podcast. I am very excited to be able to share one or two podcast episodes per month on the website of Chicago Review of Books. The audio will be posted, along with a written interview culled from the audio. A big thanks to Rachel León and Michael Welch at Chicago Review-I'm looking forward to the partnership! Sign up now for The Chills at Will Podcast Patreon: it can be found at patreon.com/chillsatwillpodcastpeterriehl Check out the page that describes the benefits of a Patreon membership, including cool swag and bonus episodes. Thanks in advance for supporting my one-man show, my DIY podcast and my extensive reading, research, editing, and promoting to keep this independent podcast pumping out high-quality content! This is a passion project of mine, a DIY operation, and I'd love for your help in promoting what I'm convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form. The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com. Please tune in for Episode 230 with Chelsea T. Hicks, a Wazhazhe writer with an MA from UC Davis and an MFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts. Her writing has been published in The Paris Review, Poetry, McSweeney's, and elsewhere. She was selected as a 5 Under 35 honoree by Louise Erdrich for the National Book Award, and her first book, A Calm and Normal Heart, was longlisted for the PEN America Robert W. Bingham Prize. The episode will air on April 2.
Reading List:* Oh, Mr Hitchens! by Laura Kipnis* The Journalist and the Editor, by Laura Kipnis* Sexual Paranoia Strikes Academe, Laura Kipnis* My Title IX Inquisition, by Laura Kipnis* Christopher Hitchens' last years: Islam, the Iraq war and how a man of the left found his moment by breaking with the left, by Daniel OppenheimerMy guest on the show today is Laura Kipnis. Laura is a cultural critic and essayist whose work focuses on sexual politics, aesthetics, shame, emotion, acting out, moral messiness, and various other crevices of the American psyche. She is the author of, among other books, Unwanted Advances: Sexual Paranoia Comes to Campus; Men: Notes from an Ongoing Investigation; How to Become A Scandal; Against Love: A Polemic; The Female Thing: Dirt, Sex, Envy, Vulnerability; and Bound and Gagged: Pornography and the Politics of Fantasy in America–have been translated into fifteen languages. Her latest book, just out this past year, is Love in the Time of Contagion: A Diagnosis.I've admired Laura's writing for many years, but the specific reason I was prompted to invite her on the show today were two essays of very recent vintage. One was a review, for Bookforum, of the last book by Janet Malcolm, which was published after her death. And a short essay for Critical Quarterly on Christopher Hitchens that had the lovely title, “Oh, Mr. Hitchens!”These essays resonated with me both on their own terms and because Janet Malcolm and Christopher Hitchens were—are—profoundly important to me. In very different ways I think they provided templates of what kind of things I might want to do as a writer. I also just loved reading them, and think my understanding of the world has been shaped by them. And Laura kind of got them. The Hitchens piece, in particular, captured something about the man that I've seen captured by no one else. Take this passage, for instance, in which Laura is recounting an evening when she was drinking with Hitchens, before he was scheduled to give a talk at Northwestern. They get on the subject of Bill Clinton:Something about Bill Clinton's sex life seemed to derange him. He was off the rails on the subject, literally sputtering. I tried to put it to him that he seemed, well, overinvested. It seemed way too personal, somehow off. What was it about Bill Clinton that had this unhinging effect on him? (I was kind of drunk at that point myself.) I suppose I expected him to at least pretend to ponder the question, devote maybe a few seconds to a show of self-examination. Anyone would. Not him. He was barricaded against anything I could say, also against the ‘what is this “about” for you' sort of conversation that drunk people are known to have, which is one of the fun things about drinking, Something obdurate and hardened switched on instead. Thinking was not what was taking place, just pre-rehearsed lines and a lot of outrage.This is exceptional writing. It's also very perceptive about Hitchens in a way that sidesteps so many of the posthumous takes on Hitchens, which tend to divide far too cleanly between those who like or dislike his late politics. The problem with late Hitchens wasn't that his politics changed, but that his thinking got more rigid and therefore writing got worse.Laura and I talk about Hitch, Malcolm, her own backstory as a writer, and more.Eminent Americans is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Eminent Americans at danieloppenheimer.substack.com/subscribe
Aunque le sirvió para celebrar –de nuevo– a Karl Kraus, que cumple siglo y medio, reconvino duramente a Santos por hacerle jugar con la pelotita fachosfera. ¡Última vez que los adultos se ocupan de cosas de niños! Pueril, precisamente, es un Estado que tiene que negociar en Bruselas algo como la renovación del Consejo General del Poder Judicial. Una democracia tutelada, de guardería. No obstante, reconoce que no es un asunto fácil, acordar algo con un Gobierno fundamentado en el pacto con un prófugo de la justicia, y menos si el enviado de la oposición es González Pons. Tuvo que volver a ocuparse de la prensa socialdemócrata, tras la marcha de Félix de Azúa, anunciada histriónicamente. Se equivoca quien piense que El País se ha transformado, fuera del breve interregno de Antonio Caño. Tómense, si no, aquellas audiencias colectivas en la redacción del periódico para ver el vídeo de Pedro Jota. Se reiteró la crítica al prestigio cultural de las drogas y la delicia que es leer a Janet Malcolm sobre el adulterio. Y fue así que Espada yiró. Bibliografía: - Karl Kraus: Contra los periodistas y otros contras - Alfonso Galindo y Enrique Ujaldón: Sexo, cuerpo, boxeo. Un alegato contra la izquierda reaccionariaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The genius mind of Bill - books editor at Apocalypse Confidential & writer in his own right - who has been on the show many times before, brought me an extraordinary pairing of media for this episode. We discuss both the tremendous work of non-fiction literature The Journalist & The Murderer by Janet Malcolm; & the tremendous 1970 Italian satire/crime film Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion. We are joined by another genius man, the great Mark from Bruiser Magazine who brings another layer of intellectual heat to this episode. Thank you so much, Bill & Mark. This turns into an exploration of the nature of suspicion, guilt, innocence & storytelling. Enjoy. Mark on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bruisermag Mark on Insta: https://www.instagram.com/bruiser_mag/ Bruiser Mag: http://www.bruisermag.com/ Bill on Twitter: https://twitter.com/20gaShotgun Bill on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20gashotgun/ Apocalypse Confidential: https://apocalypse-confidential.com/
Writing helps you find yourself, and shape yourself. Nothing illustrates this better than the life & work of our guest today. Amitava Kumar joins Amit Varma in episode 364 of The Seen and the Unseen to continue his journaling in the form of this conversation. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Amitava Kumar on Instagram, Substack, Twitter, Amazon, Vassar and his own website.. 2. The Yellow Book: A Traveller's Diary -- Amitava Kumar. 3. The Blue Book: A Writer's Journal — Amitava Kumar.. 4. Amitava Kumar Finds the Breath of Life -- Episode 265 of The Seen and the Unseen. 5. Wallander, starring Kenneth Branagh. 6. The White Lioness -- Henning Mankell. 7. The Snow in Ghana -- Ryszard Kapuściński. 8. Ram Guha Reflects on His Life -- Episode 266 of The Seen and the Unseen. 9. Danish Husain and the Multiverse of Culture — Episode 359 of The Seen and the Unseen. 10. Aadha Gaon — Rahi Masoom Raza. 11. From Cairo to Delhi With Max Rodenbeck — Episode 281 of The Seen and the Unseen. 12. By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept -- Elizabeth Smart. 13. Open City -- Teju Cole. 14. Intimacies -- Katie Kitamura. 15. Bradford -- Hanif Kureishi. 16. Maximum City -- Suketu Mehta. 17. The Lonely Londoners -- Sam Selvon. 18. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window — Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen. 19. The Bear Came Over the Mountain -- Alice Munro. 20. The Artist's Way -- Julia Cameron. 21. Vinod Kumar Shukla on Wikipedia and Amazon. 22. Waiting for the Barbarians -- JM Coetzee. 23. Paris, Texas -- Wim Wenders. 24. Janet Malcolm, Susan Sontag and Joan Didion on Amazon. 25. Iphigenia in Forest Hills -- Janet Malcolm. 26. Butter Chicken in Ludhiana -- Pankaj Mishra. 27. Hermit in Paris -- Italo Calvino. 28. In the Waiting Room -- Elizabeth Bishop. 29. Abandon the Old in Tokyo -- Yoshihiro Tatsumi. 30 The Push Man and Other Stories -- Yoshihiro Tatsumi. 31. Why I Write -- George Orwell. 32. Tum Na Jaane Kis Jahaan Mein Kho Gaye -- Lata Mangeshkar song from Sazaa. 33. Monsoon Wedding -- Directed by Mira Nair, written by Sabrina Dhawan. 34. Ranjish Hi Sahi -- Mehdi Hassan. 35. Ranjish Hi Sahi -- Ali Sethi. 36. Saaranga Teri Yaad Mein -- Mukesh song from Saranga. 37. Mohabbat Kar Lo Jee Bhar Lo -- Song from Aar Paar. 38. Mera Dil Ye Pukare, Aaja -- Lata Mangeshkar song from Nagin. 39. Ranjit Hoskote is Dancing in Chains -- Episode 363 of The Seen and the Unseen. 40. H-Pop: The Secretive World of Hindutva Pop Stars -- Kunal Purohit. 41. Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche -- Haruki Murakami. 42. UP Girl Challenges CM Yogi To Arrest Her Over Oxygen Shortage -- Mojo Story. 43. Too Many Hurried Goodbyes -- Amitava Kumar. 44. Ways of Seeing -- John Berger. 45. Wheatfield with Crows -- Vincent van Gogh. 46. The Wind -- Warren Zevon. 47. El Amor de Mi Vida -- Warren Zevon. 48. The Hunter Becomes the Hunted -- Episode 200 of The Seen and the Unseen. 49. My Friend Sancho -- Amit Varma. 50. Range Rover — The archives of Amit Varma's column on poker for The Economic Times. 51. Why I Loved and Left Poker -- Amit Varma. 52. That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen — Frédéric Bastiat. 53. The Bastiat Prize. 54. Kashmir and Article 370 — Episode 134 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Srinath Raghavan). 55. Fixing Indian Education — Episode 185 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Karthik Muralidharan). 56. The Life and Times of Shanta Gokhale — Episode 311 of The Seen and the Unseen. 57. The Life and Times of Jerry Pinto — Episode 314 of The Seen and the Unseen. 58. The Life and Times of KP Krishnan — Episode 355 of The Seen and the Unseen. 59. A Meditation on Form -- Amit Varma. 60. Why Are My Episodes so Long? -- Amit Varma. 61. Listen, The Internet Has SPACE -- Amit Varma. 62. If You Are a Creator, This Is Your Time -- Amit Varma. 63. Thinking, Fast and Slow -- Daniel Kahneman. 64. The Blank Slate -- Steven Pinker. 65. Human -- Michael Gazzaniga. 66. The Undoing Project -- Michael Lewis. 67. The podcasts of Russ Roberts, Sam Harris and Tyler Cowen. 68. Roam Research: A note-taking too for networked thought. 69. The Greatest Productivity Mantra: Kaator Re Bhaaji! -- Episode 11 of Everything is Everything. 70. Natasha Badhwar Lives the Examined Life -- Episode 301 of The Seen and the Unseen. 71. The Life and Times of Nilanjana Roy -- Episode 284 of The Seen and the Unseen. 72. Luke Burgis Sees the Deer at His Window -- Episode 337 of The Seen and the Unseen. 73. Wanting — Luke Burgis. 74. René Girard on Amazon and Wikipedia. 75. The Life and Times of Mrinal Pande — Episode 263 of The Seen and the Unseen. 76. Pandemonium in India's Banks — Episode 212 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Tamal Bandyopadhyay). 77. The Life and Times of Abhinandan Sekhri — Episode 254 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Abhinandan Sekhri). 78. Chandrahas Choudhury's Country of Literature — Episode 288 of The Seen and the Unseen. 79. Crossing Over With Deepak Shenoy — Episode 271 of The Seen and the Unseen. 80. The Importance of the 1991 Reforms — Episode 237 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shruti Rajagopalan and Ajay Shah). 81. The Reformers -- Episode 28 of Everything is Everything. 82. Brave New World -- Hosted by Vasant Dhar. 83. Among the Believers -- VS Naipaul. 84. Tera Mujhse Hai Pehle ka Naata Koi -- Soham Chatterjee sings for his dying mother. 85. Eric Weinstein Won't Toe the Line — Episode 330 of The Seen and the Unseen. 86. Aakash Singh Rathore, the Ironman Philosopher -- Episode 340 of The Seen and the Unseen. 87. Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil -- Hannah Arendt. 88. The Better Angels of Our Nature -- Steven Pinker. 89. Particulate Matter -- Amitava Kumar. 90. A Seventh Man -- John Berger. 91. Khushwant Singh and Ved Mehta on Amazon. 92. Disgrace -- JM Coetzee. 93. Elizabeth Costello -- JM Coetzee. 94. Penelope Fitzgerald, VS Naipaul and Ashis Nandy on Amazon. 95. A House for Mr Biswas -- VS Naipaul. 96. Sabbath's Theater -- Philip Roth. 97. Finding the Centre -- VS Naipaul. 98. Dinesh Thakur, not Dinesh Thakur. 99. Rajnigandha -- Basu Chatterjee. 100. Rules of Writing -- Amitava Kumar. Amit Varma and Ajay Shah have launched a new video podcast. Check out Everything is Everything on YouTube. Check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing. And subscribe to The India Uncut Newsletter. It's free! Episode art: ‘The Storm Is Inside Me' by Simahina.
A punt d'acabar l'any, recollim 12 campanades liter
A punt d'acabar l'any, recollim 12 campanades liter
Undaunted: How Women Changed American Journalism (Knopf, 2023) is a representative history of the American women who surmounted every impediment put in their way to do journalism's most valued work. From Margaret Fuller's improbable success to the highly paid reporters of the mid-nineteenth century to the breakthrough investigative triumphs of Nellie Bly, Ida Tarbell, and Ida B. Wells, Brooke Kroeger examines the lives of the best-remembered and long-forgotten woman journalists. She explores the careers of standout woman reporters who covered the major news stories and every conflict at home and abroad since before the Civil War, and she celebrates those exceptional careers up to the present, including those of Martha Gellhorn, Rachel Carson, Janet Malcolm, Joan Didion, Cokie Roberts, and Charlayne Hunter-Gault. As Kroeger chronicles the lives of journalists and newsroom leaders in every medium, a larger story develops: the nearly two-centuries-old struggle for women's rights. Here as well is the collective fight for equity from the gentle stirrings of the late 1800s through the legal battles of the 1970s to the #MeToo movement and today's racial and gender disparities. Undaunted unveils the huge and singular impact women have had on a vital profession still dominated by men. Jane Scimeca is Professor of History at Brookdale Community College. @JaneScimeca1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
Undaunted: How Women Changed American Journalism (Knopf, 2023) is a representative history of the American women who surmounted every impediment put in their way to do journalism's most valued work. From Margaret Fuller's improbable success to the highly paid reporters of the mid-nineteenth century to the breakthrough investigative triumphs of Nellie Bly, Ida Tarbell, and Ida B. Wells, Brooke Kroeger examines the lives of the best-remembered and long-forgotten woman journalists. She explores the careers of standout woman reporters who covered the major news stories and every conflict at home and abroad since before the Civil War, and she celebrates those exceptional careers up to the present, including those of Martha Gellhorn, Rachel Carson, Janet Malcolm, Joan Didion, Cokie Roberts, and Charlayne Hunter-Gault. As Kroeger chronicles the lives of journalists and newsroom leaders in every medium, a larger story develops: the nearly two-centuries-old struggle for women's rights. Here as well is the collective fight for equity from the gentle stirrings of the late 1800s through the legal battles of the 1970s to the #MeToo movement and today's racial and gender disparities. Undaunted unveils the huge and singular impact women have had on a vital profession still dominated by men. Jane Scimeca is Professor of History at Brookdale Community College. @JaneScimeca1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history
Undaunted: How Women Changed American Journalism (Knopf, 2023) is a representative history of the American women who surmounted every impediment put in their way to do journalism's most valued work. From Margaret Fuller's improbable success to the highly paid reporters of the mid-nineteenth century to the breakthrough investigative triumphs of Nellie Bly, Ida Tarbell, and Ida B. Wells, Brooke Kroeger examines the lives of the best-remembered and long-forgotten woman journalists. She explores the careers of standout woman reporters who covered the major news stories and every conflict at home and abroad since before the Civil War, and she celebrates those exceptional careers up to the present, including those of Martha Gellhorn, Rachel Carson, Janet Malcolm, Joan Didion, Cokie Roberts, and Charlayne Hunter-Gault. As Kroeger chronicles the lives of journalists and newsroom leaders in every medium, a larger story develops: the nearly two-centuries-old struggle for women's rights. Here as well is the collective fight for equity from the gentle stirrings of the late 1800s through the legal battles of the 1970s to the #MeToo movement and today's racial and gender disparities. Undaunted unveils the huge and singular impact women have had on a vital profession still dominated by men. Jane Scimeca is Professor of History at Brookdale Community College. @JaneScimeca1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/gender-studies
In the last of our summer round-ups, Gwendoline Riley stalks the streets of London in the company of Michael Bracewell; and Ruth Scurron a final work by the indomitable Janet Malcolm.Produced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Notes and Links to Chloé Cooper Jones' Work Chloé Cooper Jones is a professor, journalist, and the author of the memoir Easy Beauty, which was named a best book of 2022 by The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, TIME Magazine, and was a finalist for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Memoir. She was also a Pulitzer Prize finalist in Feature Writing in 2020. She is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, a Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant recipient and a Howard Foundation Fellow. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. For Episode 197 of The Chills at Will Podcast, Pete welcomes Chloé Cooper Jones, and the two discuss, among other things, her early relationship with reading, writing, seeking beauty, her parents' influences on her world views, formative and transformative writers (and “fun trash” she read), and salient topics from her powerful memoir, such as muses and aesthetes, pop culture and philosophy, bigoted views on women as those with disabilities, and the pertinent trips that Chloé took in seeking beauty, catharsis, and hope. Buy Easy Beauty: A Memoir Chloe's Website Chloe's Pulitzer-Prize Nominated Article for The Verge- “Fearing for His Life” People Magazine 2022 Article about Easy Beauty-“Author Chloé Cooper Jones, Who Has a Visible Disability, On Deciding to Claim Space For Herself and Her Son” At about 1:35, Chloe lets the listener in on her mindset in hearing about her second Pulitzer Prize nomination, including the beauty of combining family pursuits and career At about 6:55, Chloe gives out information regarding where to buy her book, and her contact information, including Greenlight and Books are Magic, and Lawrence, KS' The Raven Bookstore At about 8:45, Chloe talks about her childhood and its focus on beauty as impressed upon her by her parents in their different ways; she calls “having a rich interior life a survival mechanism” At about 13:15, Pete shouts out a short story idea from Chloe's father that was emblematic of his mind At about 14:00, Chloe details some of the reading that excited and challenged her as she grew up, and “the fun trash” too At about 16:40, Chloe lists Diane Williams and Cormac McCarthy, among many others, as formative writers At about 17:30, Pete asks Chloe about David Foster Wallace and some other nonfiction she may have read; she notes how “exciting” his sportswriting was, and Janet Malcolm and John McPhee as other great influences At about 20:20, Chloe shouts out the recently-released and incredibly versatile work of Andrew Leland-The Country of the Blind, Rachel Aviv's work, and Jessamine Chan's School for Good Mothers At about 22:10, Chloe responds to Pete's question about if she felt represented in what she read growing up, and she answers the question using Coming Home as one anomaly At about 26:30, Chloe reflects on the use of the word “disabled” and its myriad meanings At about 28:05, Chloe answers Pete's questions about the balance between disabled people educating others and well-meaning people and possible dehumanizing actions; she cites a telling excerpt from Andrew Leland's book At about 33:30, Pete cites Elaine Scarry and how Chloe connects ideas of processing beauty and ignorance At about 34:15, Pete lays out the structure for the book as based on trips Chloe took, and he and Chloe discuss the importance and circumstances of the first trip chronicled, the trip to see Beyonce at San Siro; Chloe builds on the idea and definitions of “easy beauty” At about 41:55, Pete compliments Chloe's genuine writing about her son and motherhood At about 42:55, Chloe explains the power of Beyonce and her “radical presence” At about 45:50, The two discuss the freeing nature of Chloe's reporting trip to see Roger Federer, which leads to further discussion of how Chloe's melds philosophy and more aesthetic ideals with a more pop(ular) sensibility At about 51:10, Chloe discusses an opening scene from the book that engendered strong feelings for her, as well as pervasive beliefs At about 54:45, Chloe reflects on what was different about her reaction to the above conversation and the phenomenon of “The Neutral Room” At about 56:35, The two discuss the book's “Indifferent Man” At about 59:20, Chloe gives background on her trip to Rome and seeking beauty and connections to her father's philosophies At about 1:04:15, The two discuss Chloe's trip to Cambodia, and she discusses the evolving nature of her research and searching questions, as catharsis and society's desire for witnessing violence become topics At about 1:13:10, Pete notes the emphasis on capitalism in “dark tourism” and the seeming normality of dark tourism sites At about 1:14:35, The two discuss a final scene dealing with perspective and Chloe's mother and a trip to Miami At about 1:19:25, Chloe responds to Pete's question about how she deals with writing on profound and deeply painful and tragic topics At about 1:23:45, Chloe talks about upcoming events and projects, including working with Matty Davis in Bentonville, AR You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow me on IG, where I'm @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where I'm @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch this and other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both my YouTube Channel and my podcast while you're checking out this episode. Sign up now for The Chills at Will Podcast Patreon: it can be found at patreon.com/chillsatwillpodcastpeterriehl Check out the page that describes the benefits of a Patreon membership, including cool swag and bonus episodes. Thanks in advance for supporting my one-man show, my DIY podcast and my extensive reading, research, editing, and promoting to keep this independent podcast pumping out high-quality content! NEW MERCH! You can browse and buy here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChillsatWillPodcast This is a passion project of mine, a DIY operation, and I'd love for your help in promoting what I'm convinced is a unique and spirited look at an often-ignored art form. The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com. Please tune in for Episode 198 with Sarah Thankam Mathews (Thungun) who is the author of the novel All This Could Be Different, which was shortlisted for the 2022 National Book Award and the 2022 Discover Prize, and nominated for the Aspen Literary Prize. She is formerly a Rona Jaffe Fellow in fiction at the Iowa Writers Workshop, and a Margins Fellow at The Asian American Writers Workshop.
Know Your Enemy presents: an episode of Ordinary Unhappiness — a new podcast about psychoanalysis with hosts Abby Kluchin and Patrick Blanchfield. Their guest? Sam Adler-Bell! In the episode that follows, we talk about how Sam came to study conservative thought from a leftist perspective and what role psychoanalysis plays in that project; discuss the libidinal satisfactions of conservative politics; and speculate about the contemporary absence of sophisticated right-wing psychoanalytic thinkers. Then they turn to a favorite writer, journalist Janet Malcolm, author of Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession and The Journalist and the Murderer. They talk about parallels between the role of the analyst and that of the journalist; interiors and interiority; secrets, thefts, and betrayals; the so-called “Freud wars”; and the internal politics of psychoanalytic institutions. Finally, they examine Malcolm's famous claim that the task of the journalist is “morally indefensible” and its implications for the work of the analyst. Further reading: Sam Adler-Bell, "Janet Malcolm's Dangerous Method," The New Republic, Mar 20, 2023Sam Adler-Bell, "Succession's Repetition Compulsion," The Nation, Nov 10, 2021Hannah Gold, “Analysis Interminable: On Janet Malcolm,” The Nation, June 25, 2021.Janet Malcolm, Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession (1982)— In The Freud Archives (1984)— The Journalist and the Murderer (1990)...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes! For more Ordinary Unhappiness: Linktree: https://linktr.ee/OrdinaryUnhappinessTwitter: @UnhappinessPodInstagram: @OrdinaryUnhappinessPatreon: patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappiness
Abby and Patrick welcome journalist and critic Sam Adler-Bell, co-host of Dissent magazine's Know Your Enemy podcast. They talk about how Sam came to study conservative thought from a leftist perspective and what role psychoanalysis plays in that project; discuss the libidinal satisfactions of conservative politics; and speculate about the contemporary absence of sophisticated right-wing psychoanalytic thinkers. Then they turn to a favorite writer, journalist Janet Malcolm, author of Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession and The Journalist and the Murderer. They talk about parallels between the role of the analyst and that of the journalist; interiors and interiority; secrets, thefts, and betrayals; the so-called “Freud wars”; and the internal politics of psychoanalytic institutions. Finally, they examine Malcolm's famous claim that the task of the journalist is “morally indefensible” and its implications for the work of the analyst. You can read Sam's essay on Janet Malcolm here: https://newrepublic.com/article/170930/janet-malcolm-dangerous-methodHis essay on John Le Carré here: https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-father-of-all-secrets-adler-bellSam on Succession and repetition compulsion is here:https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/succession-season-three/Know Your Enemy is available on all your favorite podcast platforms and their PatreonThe essay that Sam quotes, “Analysis Interminable: On Janet Malcolm,” by Hannah GoldJanet Malcolm's books under discussion:Psychoanalysis: The Impossible ProfessionIn The Freud ArchivesThe Journalist and the MurdererHave you noticed that Freud is back? Got questions about psychoanalysis? Or maybe you've traversed the fantasy and lived to tell the tale? Leave us a voicemail! 484 775-0107 A podcast about psychoanalysis, politics, pop culture, and the ways we suffer now. New episodes on Saturdays. Follow us on social media: Linktree: https://linktr.ee/OrdinaryUnhappiness Twitter: @UnhappinessPod Instagram: @OrdinaryUnhappiness Patreon: patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappiness Theme song: Formal Chicken - Gnossienne No. 1 https://open.spotify.com/album/2MIIYnbyLqriV3vrpUTxxO Provided by Fruits Music
Nathaniel Martello-White on making his directorial debut with the psychological thriller The Strays, set between a south London estate and an affluent English suburb. Chila Kumari Singh Burman's show at FACT in Liverpool, Merseyside Burman Empire, references her MBE for services to Visual Art, awarded last year in the Queen's Birthday Honours, and her experiences growing up in Bootle as the daughter of Punjabi-Hindu parents. Dawinder Bansal's Jambo Cinema installation, which explored her life growing up in 1980s Wolverhampton with Indian-Kenyan parents, was one of the big commissions at last year's Commonwealth Games Cultural Festival in Birmingham. Chila and Dawinder discuss making art that draws upon their South Asian heritage. Throughout her career, the distinguished writer Janet Malcolm, who died in 2021, was fascinated by photography. She came to prominence through her journalism for the New Yorker including six years as the magazine's photography critic. Photography was the subject of her first book and it has turned out to be the subject of her final book, a memoir – Still Pictures: On Photography and Memory. Photographer of the Year Craig Easton reviews. Presenter: Nick Ahad Producer: Ekene Akalawu Photo caption: Ashley Madekwe as Neve in The Strays Photo credit: Chris Harris/ Netflix © 2023
This week, Elizabeth Dearnley hunts for the hags, fairies and wandering women of the pagan past; and Ruth Scurr on a thrilling final book from the celebrated journalist Janet Malcolm.‘Queens of the Wild: Pagan Goddesses In Christian Europe' by Ronald Hutton‘Still Pictures: On Photography and Memory' by Janet MalcolmProduced by Charlotte Pardy Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
As the end of the year approaches, Matt and Sam are once again answering questions from you, their beloved listeners. Like previous mailbag episodes, there was an abundance of excellent questions that were submitted. Topics include: the possibilities for the religious left, white Christian nationalism, your hosts' literary habits and favorite novels, conspiracy theories—and more. For those who especially enjoy this type of episode, check out the next KYE bonus episode on Patreon, which will take up even more listener questions!Sources:Hannah Gold, "The Loud Parts," Harper's, October 2022Jewish Currents, "The Jews" (On the Nose podcast episode), November 23, 2022Alastair Roberts, "On Thomas Achord," Alastair's Adversaria, November 27, 2022Rod Dreher, "The Thomas Achord – Alastair Roberts Mess," The American Conservative, November 27, 2022Matthew Sitman, "Whither the Religious Left?" New Republic, April 15, 2021Ned Rorem, Lies: A Diary, 1986-1999 (2002)Breece D'J Pancake, The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake (2002)Breece D'J Pancake, "Trilobites," The Atlantic, December 1977Andre Dubus, Selected Stories (1995)Janet Malcolm, "I Should Have Made Him for a Dentist," New York Review of Books, March 2018John le Carré, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963)Art Shay, Album for an Age: Unconventional Words and Pictures from the Twentieth Century (2000)...and don't forget to subscribe to Know Your Enemy on Patreon for access to all of our bonus episodes
Writers Duncan Campbell and Mark Hodkinson discuss their favourite books with Harriett Gilbert. Duncan chooses the Journalist and the Murderer by Janet Malcolm, a book on the ethics of journalism with a very provocative opening sentence. Mark has gone for Contempt, Italian novelist Alberto Moravia's portrait of a disintegrating marriage. Harriett stays in Italy and introduces The Beautiful Summer by César Pavese, a coming-of-age novel set in the 1930s.Producer Sally Heaven follow us on instagram @agoodreadbbc
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