Exploring Labyrinths of Solitude and Agency

Vox's Constance Grady talks with novelist Susanna Clarke about her latest book, Piranesi, before a virtual audience for the Vox Book Club. They discuss how Clarke's novel engages with themes that have come to characterize the pandemic experience, such as solitude, confinement, and isolation from society. They explore the idea of being forced to step away from the world. and what we lose — and gain — when we do.

Host: Constance Grady (@constancegrady), staff writer, Vox

Guests: Susanna Clarke, novelist

References: 

• Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury; 2021)
• Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: A Novel by Susanna Clarke (Tor; 2006)
• "The meditative empathy of Susanna Clarke's Piranesi" by Constance Grady (Vox; Sept. 17)

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This episode was made by: 

• Producer: Erikk Geannikis
• Editor: Amy Drozdowska
• Engineer: Paul Robert Mounsey
• Deputy Editorial Director, Vox Talk: Amber Hall

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