The TLS Podcast

In this bonus episode, the TLS's History editor David Horspool discusses Thomas Cromwell with Diarmaid MacCulloch, the author of a new, definitive biography. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lorna Scott Fox joins us to discuss the fiftieth anniversary of Mexico's Tlatelolco of 1968, a travesty still shrouded in obfuscation; the TLS's History editor David Horspool discusses Thomas Cromwell with Diarmaid MacCulloch, the author of a new, definitive biography; and finally, Rozalind Dineen offers a round-up of interesting new podcastsBooks and podcasts discussedMéxico 68: The students, the President and the CIA by Sergio AguayoThomas Cromwell: A Life by Diarmaid MacCullochThe Teachers Pet (The Australian)West Cork (Audible)The Ratline (BBC)In Our Time (BBC Radio 4) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Philip Horne and Frances Wilson join us to discuss Henry James, the not-always masterly Master who gave us novels as apparently divergent as Washington Square, with its clear, tight prose, The Ambassadors (prone to accidents of publication) and The Golden Bowl, which spills pleasures of an altogether more sinuous nature; plus, details of a little-known trip James took to California, which – unexpectedly, perhaps –“completely bowled” him over  BooksGenerous Mistakes: Incidents of error in Henry James by Michael Anesko The Cambridge Edition of the Complete Fiction of Henry James: The Ambassadors; Edited by Nicola Bradbury. The Portrait of a Lady; Edited by Michael Anesko. The Jolly Corner and Other Tales, 1903–1910; Edited by N. H. Reeve (Michael Anesko, Tamara L. Follini, Philip Horne and Adrian Poole, general editors) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Roz Dineen on the time-stained image of the artist-addict, The Recovering by Leslie Jamison, and whether “stories about getting better [can] ever be as compelling as stories about falling apart"; "David Foster Wallace would send me letters and I wouldn’t answer them. He would send works in progress with forlorn notes. 'You’re under no obligation to read or to pretend you’ve read the enclosed,' he wrote on one piece. I didn’t." – David Streitfeld recalls being David Foster Wallace's "worst friend"BooksThe Recovering by Leslie JamisonIn The Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close encounters with addiction by Gabor Maté   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew Motion discusses the life, work and curious afterlife of his friend and "subject" Philip Larkin; Imogen Russell Williams has written an essay on diversity (or the lack of it) in children's books and offers some recommendations; Zoe Williams gives her verdict on the very British political tradition that is Prime Minister’s QuestionsBooksPhilip Larkin: A writer's life by Andrew Motion (1993; reissued September 2018)  The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo  Square by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen  I Am Thunder by Muhammad KhanKnights and Bikes by Gabrielle KentYou’re Safe With Me by Chitra Soundar and Poonam MistryKnights and Bikes by Gabrielle KentYou’re Safe With Me by Chitra Soundar and Poonam Mistry(For all the books discussed by Imogen Russell Williams, go to the-tls.co.uk)Punch and Judy Politics: An insider’s guide to Prime Minister’s questions by Tom Hamilton and Ayesha Hazarika Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Carl Miller, the author of The Death of the Gods, which deals with how power works and who holds it in the digital age, sheds light on how algorithms, originally devised as simple problem-solving devices, have become so complicated that no one, not even their creators, can control them; Kristen Roupenian points out the problem with an “unfailingly enthusiastic” compendium of twentieth-century female intellectuals (including Dorothy Parker and Joan Didion): who is left out and why?; eighty-odd years ago, Zora Neale Hurston, now best known for her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, interviewed Kossola O-Lo-Loo-Ay, the last known survivor of the Atlantic Slave Trade. As her book is finally published, Colin Grant joins us to tell us more Books The Death of the Gods: The new global power grab by Carl Miller Sharp: The women who made an art of having an opinion by Michelle Dean Barracoon: The story of the last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the course of his long literary career, Samuel Johnson reviewed only one novel. Who was it by? None other than the "preposterously confident” Charlotte Lennox, a force in eighteenth-century prose and a model for Jane Austen – Min Wild tells us more; What happens if you ask a literary critic to watch top-grossing (pun intended) Hollywood comedies from the past three decades? Robert Douglas-Fairhurst explains how comedy reflects broader culture and anxieties; How are women treated in film and television? Is there cause for celebration? Alice Wadsworth joins us in the studio to discuss.BooksCharlotte Lennox: An independent mind by Susan Carlile Stealing the Show: How women are revolutionizing television by Joy Press Where No Black Woman Has Gone Before: Subversive portrayals in speculative film and TV by Diana Adesola Mafe  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are we entering a new age for LSD, full of medical potential? Can it shed its heavily tie-dyed cultural baggage? And who has written the finest prose about psychedelics? Toby Lichtig joins us to discuss; Eri Hotta (re)introduces us to Natsume Sōseki, "the greatest novelist of modern Japan"; Kate Chisholm considers the chequered history of Virago, founded in 1973 as a "feminist press", plus 40 years of Modern Classics, a series conceived to challenge the established male dominated literary canon and rescue and rehabilitate forgotten works by women Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Stig Abell and Roz Dineen. Steven Nadler drops in to tell us all we need to know about the much-misunderstood Descartes; and En Liang Khong visits the Foundling museum to see an installation about how to commemorate loss. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emily Brontë, celebrated author of Wuthering Heights, discusses her life and iconic work. Topics include the enduring legacy of Wuthering Heights, sympathy for Heathcliff, the role of books, Savile Row magic tricks, the journey of tailor Tommy Nutter, and the iconic fashion style of George.