Will the Real Hamlet Please Stand Up

Send us Fan MailToday, you get to treat yourselves to a discussion of Pope's major satirical poems: The Rape of the Lock and The Dunciad. And, as a special bonus, you get to endure a desultory introduction concerning the Beatles at a cocktail party as well as series of pop cultur ...  عرض المزيد

Send us Fan MailFor this Easter holiday, I thought we'd look at a hymn lyric from a very influential writer who is often overlooked in discussions of literature: Isaac Watt. You can find the full text of the lyric in the transcript.Additional Music: "When I Survey the Wondrous Cr ...  عرض المزيد

Responding to a special request from a listener, Jacke discusses Fyodor Dostoevsky, his novel The Brothers Karamazov, and the search for meaning in a meaningless world. This episode was originally released as episode #250 on October 7, 2020. For reasons Jacke discusses, it has no ...  عرض المزيد

In this episode, Jacke talks to author David Denby about his new book, Eminent Jews: Bernstein, Brooks, Friedan, Mailer, a group biography (loosely inspired by Lytton Strachey's Eminent Victorians) that describes how four larger-than-life figures upended the restrained culture of ...  عرض المزيد

It's Pride Month! For today's episode, Jill and Adam discuss some of the Lambda Literary Award recent winners along with some other LGBTQ+ related books. They also discuss some of their recent reads. For more information on the award, visit https://www.lambdaliterary.org   Boo ...  عرض المزيد

David and Tamler return to one of their favorites, Frans Kafka, this time on his beautiful and distressing short story "The Hunger Artist," a story that brims with metaphorical possibilities but also implores us to accept it on its own mysterious terms. Plus gooning. The Goon Squ ...  عرض المزيد