logo
episode-header-image
Jun 2021
50m 21s

A Bengali Polymath and an ‘Accidental Mo...

THE TLS
About this episode

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Rosinka Chaudhuri, the author of ‘The Literary Thing: History, poetry and the making of a modern cultural sphere’, to discuss Rabindranath Tagore, who, in 1913, became the first non-white and non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature – since which he has been largely overlooked; Kate Kennedy, the author of ‘Dweller in the Shadows’, a new Life of the war poet Ivor Gurney, considers the “peculiarly direct, urgent intensity” of the later work, composed while confined in an asylum; plus, let’s hear it for independent bookshops


'Rabindranath Tagore' by Bashabi Fraser 

'The Cambridge Companion to Rabindranath Tagore', edited by Sukanta Chaudhuri


A special subscription offer for TLS podcast listeners: www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/pod


Producer: Ben Mitchell


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Today
This Be The Verse
This week, Tristram Fane Saunders surveys the poetic landscape; and Toby Lichtig on a rediscovered slice of life in 1930s Berlin.'A History of England in 25 Poems', by Catherine Clarke'Rhyme and Reason: A short history of poetry and people (for people who don't usually read poetr ... Show More
52m 13s
Jan 15
Mind Games
This week, Joanna Kavenna explains why she invented a game to write her new novel; how to survive life online; and a new poem.'Seven', by Joanna Kavenna'This Is for Everyone', by Tim Berners-Lee with Stephen Witt'Enshittification: Why everything suddenly got worse and what to do ... Show More
45m 50s
Jan 7
Exclusive: Doubting Thomas
This week, publisher Alessandro Gallenzi reveals how he turned literary detective and uncovered Dylan Thomas's youthful plagiarism; and Norma Clarke on the stunning work of two 18th-century women portrait artists.'Mrs Kauffman and Madame Le Brun: The entwined lives of two great e ... Show More
59m 54s
Recommended Episodes
Jul 2017
Tagore’s Nobel Prize Theft
Rabindranath Tagore, the celebrated Bengali writer, is one of the greatest figures in modern South Asian history. In 1913, Tagore became the first non-westerner to win a Nobel Prize, but just over a decade ago, his Nobel medal was stolen – and still hasn’t been found. This episod ... Show More
16m 17s
Dec 2024
Samuel Hodgkin, "Persianate Verse and the Poetics of Eastern Internationalism" (Cambridge UP, 2023)
At the height of literary nationalisms in the twentieth century, leftist internationalists from Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, India, and the Soviet East bonded over their shared love of the classical Persian verses of Hafiz and Khayyam. At writers' congresses and in communist litera ... Show More
1 h
Sep 2024
David Mitchell on Ludwig, poet Kathleen Jamie and the world premiere of Helen Grime's Folk
Poet Kathleen Jamie, whose tenure as Scotland's Makar, or National Poet, recently came to an end, talks about her new collection of poems written in Scots, The Keelie Hawk. Composer Helen Grime, soprano Claire Booth and author Zoe Gilbert chat about the world premiere of Folk, an ... Show More
42m 23s
Oct 2024
Merve Emre on Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf
I am so excited to say that my guest on the GWA Podcast is the writer, critic, and author, Merve Emre. Currently the Shapiro-Silverberg Professor of Creative Writing and Criticism at Wesleyan University – and the Director of the Shapiro Center for Creative Writing and Criticism – ... Show More
49m 21s
Mar 2025
Digging for Words
In 1773, Phillis Wheatley became the first African American to publish a collection of poems. Jade Cuttle looks at the way her poems were described and asks what do we categorise as nature writing? Her essay considers the idea of "coining" and the work of a new generation of poet ... Show More
13m 49s
Nov 2024
Poetry in the Time of Genocide, Part 1: A Conversation with 2024 National Book Finalist Lena Tuffaha
In this two-episode special, host Diana Buttu speaks with award-winning Palestinian-American writers Fady Joudah and Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, who are both finalists for the 2024 National Book Awards. Dr. Joudah and Ms. Tuffaha comprise two of the only five shortlisted writers for the ... Show More
26m 3s
Nov 2024
Poetry in the Time of Genocide, Part 2: A Conversation with 2024 National Book Finalist Dr. Fady Joudah
In this two-episode special, host Diana Buttu speaks with award-winning Palestinian-American writers Fady Joudah and Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, who are both finalists for the 2024 National Book Awards. Dr. Joudah and Ms. Tuffaha comprise two of the only five shortlisted writers for the ... Show More
27m 8s
Aug 2022
Beyoncé's album Renaissance, poet Don Paterson, the New Diorama Theatre, Free-for-All exhibition, Nichelle Nichols remembered
Beyoncé's Renaissance: we discuss Beyoncé's house and disco inspired new album – her first solo material in six years - and her huge significance as an artist and cultural icon. Nick is joined by Jacqueline Springer – curator, music journalist and lecturer- and by the writer an ... Show More
42m 5s
Aug 2024
Ludovico Silva, "Marx's Literary Style" (Verso, 2023)
In Marx’s Literary Style, the Venezuelan poet and philosopher Ludovico Silva argues that much of the confusion around Marx’s work results from a failure to understand his literary mode of expression. Through meticulous readings of key passages in Marx’s oeuvre, Silva isolates the ... Show More
1h 6m