An interview with Hermione Hoby, author of Virtue (2021). Hermione and I discuss not needing her characters to be ethical, the mysteries of beautiful marriages, privilege and its trappings, and reading Adorno by the pool.

Books Recommended in this episode:

Theodor Adorno, an Introduction
Willa Cather, My Antonia
Sally Rooney, Beautiful World, Where are You
James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room
Jesse McCarthy, Who Will Pay Reparations on My Soul?
Mieko Kawakami, Heaven
Clare Sestanovich, Objects of Desire
Joshua Cohen, The Netanyahus

Chris Holmes is Chair of Literatures in English and Associate Professor at Ithaca College. He writes criticism on contemporary global literatures. His book, Kazuo Ishiguro as World Literature, is under contract with Bloomsbury Publishing. He is the co-director of The New Voices Festival, a celebration of work in poetry, prose, and playwriting by up-and-coming young writers.

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Hermione Hoby, "Virtue" (Penguin Random House, 2021)