Recall This Book
Elizabeth Ferry and John Plotz
Free-ranging discussion of books from the past that cast a sideways light on today's world.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jun 24, 2021 • 16min
59 Recall This B-Side #4: Pardis Dabashi on “My Uncle Napoleon” (JP)
Iraj Pezeshkzad‘s My Uncle Napoleon is a slapstick and at times goofy love story, but it is also in the best tradition of sly anti-imperial satire. Scholar Pardis Dabashi came to it late, but she has all the convert’s zeal as she links it to a literary tradition that’s highly theoretical, but also delightfully far-flung. … Continue reading "59 Recall This B-Side #4: Pardis Dabashi on “My Uncle Napoleon” (JP)" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 17, 2021 • 14min
58 Recall this B-Side #3: Caleb Crain on Daisy Ashford’s “The Young Visiters” (JP)
John’s favorite avocation is editing a Public Books column called B-Side Books, where writers resurrect beloved but neglected books. Now comes a book that collects 40 of these columns (the Washington Post review was a big thumbs-up, and John talked about the B-side concept on Five Books). This week’s B-Sider is celebrated American novelist Caleb Crain (Necessary Errors … Continue reading "58 Recall this B-Side #3: Caleb Crain on Daisy Ashford’s “The Young Visiters” (JP)" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 10, 2021 • 14min
57 Recall this B-side #2: Elizabeth Ferry on “The Diary of ‘Helena Morley'” (JP)
Given this podcast’s love of neglected books, you won’t be shocked to know that John has a side-hustle–in which Elizabeth plays a significant part. He edits a Public Books column called B-Side Books, where writers like Namwali Serpell and Ursula Le Guin sing praises to a beloved but neglected book. Now, there is a book that collects … Continue reading "57 Recall this B-side #2: Elizabeth Ferry on “The Diary of ‘Helena Morley'” (JP)" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 3, 2021 • 15min
56 Recall This B-Side #1: Merve Emre on Natalia Ginzburg’s “The Dry Heart”
RtB loves the present-day shadows cast by neglected books, which can suddenly loom up out of the backlit past. So, you won’t be shocked to know that John has also been editing a Public Books column called B-Side Books. In it, around 50 writers (Ursula Le Guin was one) have made the case for un-forgetting … Continue reading "56 Recall This B-Side #1: Merve Emre on Natalia Ginzburg’s “The Dry Heart”" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 27, 2021 • 45min
55 David Ferry, Roger Reeves, and the Underworld
Their tongues are ashes when they’d speak to us. David Ferry, “Resemblance” The underworld, that repository of the Shades of the Dead, gets a lot of traffic from time to time, especially from heroes (Gilgamesh, Theseus, Odysseus, Aeneas) and poets (Orpheus, Virgil, Dante). Some come down for information or in hopes of rescuing or just … Continue reading "55 David Ferry, Roger Reeves, and the Underworld" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 22, 2021 • 51min
54 Crossover Month #3: Novel Dialogue with Helen Garner (Elizabeth McMahon, JP)
Crossover Month continues with a scintillating Australian fiction episode from Novel Dialogue, a new podcast hosted by the awesome Aarthi Vadde of Duke, and RTB’s own JP. If you like what you hear, please share the love by recommending it to friends, tagging @noveldialogue in your tweets, and subscribing to it via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Stitcher. Helen Garner … Continue reading "54 Crossover Month #3: Novel Dialogue with Helen Garner (Elizabeth McMahon, JP)" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 8, 2021 • 40min
53 Crossover Month #2: Novel Dialogue (Orhan Pamuk, Bruce Robbins, JP)
Crossover Month continues with something completely different, and only a little bit incestuous. Novel Dialogue is a new podcast hosted by the awesome Aarthi Vadde of Duke, and RTB’s own JP. John and Aarthi serve as the third wheel (or if you prefer the social lubricant) for a scholar and a novelist who sit down … Continue reading "53 Crossover Month #2: Novel Dialogue (Orhan Pamuk, Bruce Robbins, JP)" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 25, 2021 • 47min
52 Crossover Month #1: “High Theory” and the Pastoral (Kim, Saronik, JP)
Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu share an office at the English department of NYU–and now they also share High Theory a podcast where you can “get high on the substance of theory.” Their lovable podcast always identifies a single manageable topic and asks three magic questions (what is your quest? is not one of them). … Continue reading "52 Crossover Month #1: “High Theory” and the Pastoral (Kim, Saronik, JP)" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 19, 2021 • 49min
51 Recall This Buck 3: Thomas Piketty on Inequality and Ideology (Adaner, JP)
Is Thomas Piketty the world’s most famous economic historian ? A superstar enemy of plutocratic capitalism who wrote a pathbreaking bestseller, Capital in the 21st Century? Or simply a debonair and generous French intellectual happy to talk redistributive justice? Join John and Adaner Usmani (star of RTB’s episode 44: Racism as idea, Racism as Power … Continue reading "51 Recall This Buck 3: Thomas Piketty on Inequality and Ideology (Adaner, JP)" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 5, 2021 • 32min
50 Greg Childs on Seditious Conspiracy; or, Why Words Matter
Continuing our conversation on the events at the Capitol and the end of the Trump era, John and Elizabeth spoke with Brandeis historian Greg Childs. He is an expert in Latin American political movements and public space; his Seditious Spaces: Race, Freedom, and the 1798 Conspiracy in Bahia, Brazil is forthcoming from Cambridge. His historical … Continue reading "50 Greg Childs on Seditious Conspiracy; or, Why Words Matter" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
