
The Point Podcast
The Point is a magazine founded on the suspicion that modern life is worth examining. www.thepointmag.com
Latest episodes

May 28, 2024 • 45min
Selected Essays | Greg Jackson on Hannah Arendt
On this episode of “Selected Essays,” Jess and Zach talk with Greg Jackson about his essay “Within the Pretense of No Pretense,” published in issue 31 of The Point, and Hannah Arendt’s “Truth and Politics,” first published in 1967 in the New Yorker.Craving more essays? Subscribe to The Point here at 50% off the normal rate.

Apr 30, 2024 • 47min
Selected Essays | Michael Clune on Thomas Nagel
On this episode of “Selected Essays,” Jess and Zach talk with Michael Clune abouthis essay “The Anatomy of Panic,” published in Harper's last May and recently selected for Best American Essays, and Thomas Nagel’s “What Is it Like to Be a Bat?” first published in 1974 in the Philosophical Review.Craving more essays? Subscribe to The Point here and use the coupon code 7POD50at checkout for 50% off.

Apr 9, 2024 • 36min
Selected Essays | Jennifer Wilson on Viktor Shklovsky
On this episode of “Selected Essays,” Jess and Zach talk with Jennifer Wilson abouther New York Times Book Review essay, “The Love Letters That Spoke of Everything but Love,” and Viktor Shklovsky’s “Art as Device,” first published in 1917.Craving more essays? Subscribe to The Point here and use the coupon code 7POD50at checkout for 50% off.

Mar 21, 2024 • 53min
Selected Essays | Bonus Episode with Jon Baskin and Rachel Wiseman
On this bonus episode of Selected Essays, Jess and Zach talk to Point editors, Jon Baskin and Rachel Wiseman about two of their favorite essays—Charles Comey's “Against Honeymoons,” and Moeko Fujii’s “Let Them Misunderstand”—and what makes them quintessential Point pieces.

Mar 19, 2024 • 36min
Selected Essays | Apoorva Tadepalli on Maeve Brennan
On this episode of “Selected Essays,” Jess and Zach talk with Apoorva Tadepalli about Maeve Brennan’s “Lost Overtures” and her Electric Lit essay “It’s Okay to Talk to Me When I’m Trying to Read.”

Feb 27, 2024 • 43min
Selected Essays | Sumana Roy on Joseph Brodsky
On this episode of “Selected Essays,” Jess and Zach talk with Sumana Roy about Joseph Brodsky’s “Less Than One” and her Caravan essay “We Are All Mamata Now.” Craving more essays? Subscribe to The Point here and use the coupon code 7POD50 at checkout for 50% off.

Feb 6, 2024 • 41min
Selected Essays | Clare Bucknell on Charles Lamb
On the new episode of Selected Essays, Jess and Zach speak with Clare Bucknell about Charles Lamb’s “The Praise of Chimney-Sweepers”—surprisingly the first essay a guest has chosen that was written before 1900. In histories of the essay form, from Montaigne forward, you’ll often see Lamb’s name appear as one of the great “familiar” essayists, but he’s read relatively little today. Listen to hear Clare’s reading of Lamb’s essay and how it shaped her thoughts on the ever-controversial Giacomo Casanova, the focus of her piece in Harper’s, “The Thoughtful Prick.” Craving more essays? Subscribe to The Point here and use the coupon code 7POD50 at checkout for 50% off.

Jan 16, 2024 • 42min
Selected Essays | Suzy Hansen on Octavio Paz
On this episode of “Selected Essays,” Jess and Zach talk with Suzy Hansen about her essay, “A Cold War Mind: American and the World,” a chapter from Suzy's book Notes on a Foreign Country, and Octavio Paz’s “The Pachucho and Other Extremes,” the first part of his 1950 book The Labyrinth of Solitude. Craving more essays? Subscribe to The Point here and use the coupon code 7POD50 at checkout for 50% off.

Dec 21, 2023 • 23min
Selected Essays | Top 5 of Season 1
Jess and Zach go over their favorite moments from the first season of “Selected Essays”—listen in for the highlights and then catch up in time for Season 2.

Oct 31, 2023 • 53min
Selected Essays | Garth Greenwell on Martha Nussbaum
Garth Greenwell and Martha Nussbaum discuss their essays on moral philosophy in literature. They explore the complexities of relationships, dramatic plot twists, alternative views in moral philosophy, and Nussbaum's collaborative approach to being wronged. They also delve into uncertainty and the writer's relationship with their work.