The TLS Podcast

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Avril Horner, author of a biography of Barbara Comyns whose quirky, menace-laced novels, long championed by Graham Greene, are finding their way back to us; a new poem by John Kinsella, 'Villanelle of Star-Picket-Hopping Red-Capped Robin'; and En Liang Khong describes the powerful pull – particularly difficult to resist during lockdown – of the fantasy urban landscapes portrayed in video games and animeSeveral novels by Barbara Comyns, including: 'Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead', 'Mr Fox', 'Sisters by a River', 'The House of Dolls' and 'The Vet's Daughter''The legend and the crazy novelist: Graham Greene’s role in Barbara Comyns’s writing career' by Avril HornerVirtual Cities: An atlas and exploration of video game cities, by Konstantinos DimopoulosAnime Architecture: Imagined worlds and endless megacities, by Stefan Riekeles Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The writer and comedian David Baddiel has written a book called 'Jews Don't Count', which explores the insidious, pervasive, exclusionary nature of ‘progressive’ antisemitism. Here, he talks to Toby Lichtig about how and why one of the most persecuted minorities in history continues to be overlooked'Jews Don't Count' by David BaddielProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by David Gallagher to discuss two new books about Jorge Luis Borges – one a collection of essays and remembrances by the great Latin American writer Mario Vargas Llosa, the other a more curious offering by the American writer and critic Jay Parini; David Baddiel on the insidious, pervasive, exclusionary nature of ‘progressive’ antisemitism; Alice Wadsworth and Lucy Dallas on food podcasts and the French comedy-drama Call My Agent!Medio siglo con Borges, by Mario Vargas Llosa (published in Spain by Alfaguara)Borges and Me: An encounter, by Jay Parini Jews Don't Count by David Baddiel 'The Sporkful' and 'Off Menu' available on podcast platformsCall My Agent!, NetflixProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Clifford Thompson to discuss One Night in Miami, a film by Regina King, which sees Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, Jim Brown and Cassius Clay gather for heated debate; from exclusivity and luxury in imperial China to cheap ubiquity in modern day Europe, Norma Clarke considers the rise and fall of porcelain; plus, a new poem by Anne Carson, “Sure, I Was Loved”One Night in Miami, dir. Regina KingThe City of Blue and White: Chinese porcelain and the early modern world by Anne GerritsenPorcelain: A history from the heart of Europe by Suzanne L . Marchand“Sure, I Was Loved” by Anne Carson, in this week’s TLSProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by the TLS's Classics editor Mary Beard, who, via an old exam paper, emphasizes the importance of teaching Classics in context (Q1: "Dryads, Hyads, Naiads, Oreads, Pleiads … Does 'Classical influence' in modern poetry always come down to snobbery and elitism?”); Zachary Leader reports on the latest offerings from the Joyce Industry; and Jane O'Grady considers how the Enlightenment undid itself.James Joyce and the Matter Of Paris, by Catherine FlynnJames Joyce and the Jesuits, by Michael MayoPanepiphanal World: James Joyce’s epiphanies, by Sangam MacduffThe Enlightenment: The pursuit of happiness 1680–1790, by Ritchie Robertson Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by the Karachi-based journalist Sanam Maher to discuss cliché and originality in foreign correspondents' writing on Pakistan; a whistle-stop tour through (some) of the books of 2021; Lucy Scholes reviews a clutch of novels in the British Library's Women Writers series, dedicated to once-popular writersThe Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches from a divided nation, by Declan WalshO, the Brave Music by Dorothy Evelyn SmithThe Tree of Heaven by May Sinclair Chatterton Square by E. H. YoungFather by Elizabeth Von Arnim  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by the critic Muriel Zagha to marvel at a five-volume, “definitive” study of the iconic French filmmaker Jacques Tati, every aspect of whose apparently chaotic cinematic universe was controlled to the nth degree; Calum Mechie considers some new approaches to the life and legacy of George Orwell; and – “Can we take it? Can Dickens take it?” – ’tis the season for adaptations of A Christmas Carol…The Definitive Jacques Tati, edited by Alison CastleOn Nineteen Eighty-Four: A biography by D. J. TaylorOrwell: A man of our time by Richard BradfordBecoming George Orwell: Life and letters, legend and legacy, by John RoddenEileen: The making of George Orwell, by Sylvia Topp Subscribe to The TLS at https://www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Toby Lichtig are joined by Stephen Lovell, Professor of Modern History at King’s College London, to discuss two important biographies of Joseph Stalin, covering the opposite ends of the dictator’s life; the debate around the official Home Office history of Britain, a document full of omissions and riddled with errors, rolls on; and can a book make you a better person? Can even the high modernists be mined for lessons in life? Joanna Scutts considers the relationship between 'serious' literature and self-help.Stalin: Passage to revolution by Ronald Grigor SunyLate Stalinism: The aesthetics of politics by Evgeny Dobrenko, translated by Jesse M. SavageThe Self-Help Compulsion: Searching for advice in modern literature, by Beth BlumReading for Life by Philip DavisSubscribe to The TLS at https://www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Paul Griffiths, the author most recently of the novel Mr Beethoven, to discuss the heroic oeuvre of the great composer, 250 years after his birth; Joseph Farrell takes us through the life and work of Gianni Rodari, a kind of Italian George Orwell transplanted to Neverland.Selected books:Beethoven's Conversation Books, translated and edited by Theodore AlbrechtBeethoven's Lives by Lewis LockwoodBeethoven: A Life by Jan CaeyersBeethoven: A life in nine pieces, by Laura Tunbridge– read the full piece here Telephone Tales, by Gianni Rodari, translated by Antony Shugaar Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special bonus episode, the TLS's fiction editor Toby Lichtig talks to Douglas Stuart about his 2020 Booker Prize-winning novel Shuggie Bain Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.