Feverish, homesick, bored, awed and on rollerskates: Albert Camus’s travel diaries are a fascinating window into an easily mythologised life. Camus visited the New World twice, and a new translation of his journals reveals his struggle to make sense of his experiences. Adam Shatz joins Tom to explain the ways Camus’s ambivalence towards the Americas sheds li ... Show More
Sep 23
On Politics: What happened to the intellectual?
William Davies joins James to consider what distinguishes intellectuals from the technocrats, academics, experts, polemicists, thought leaders, gurus and utopians who compete for our attention, and to ask whether there’s still a role for them in the public realm. They look back t ... Show More
1h 7m
Sep 18
What’s the point of literary criticism?
As universities are cutting English degree programmes and ever fewer people are taking English A-level, Colin Burrow isn't the only one asking ‘what’s the point of literary criticism?’ But he has several answers, and in this episode he joins Tom to discuss them, along with the wo ... Show More
36m 48s
Sep 10
On Politics: Germany's Far-Right Future?
On Sunday, the far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) won the state election in Saxony-Anhalt with 44 per cent of the vote, the highest share for any far-right party in post-1945 Germany. Among the many surprising aspects of the result was the broad, multigenerational ... Show More
1h 4m
Jul 2025
Albert Camus: The Absurdity Of It All
Albert Camus was a literary giant of the 20th century, known for his philosophy of absurdity in the human quest for the meaning of life. His personal life and North African roots helped shape his writing. In philosophy circles, many called him a prominent voice of existentialism, ... Show More
47m 11s
Sep 2019
Albert Camus: Embracing life’s absurdity
‘There is no sun without shadows, and it is essential to know the night,’ the words of Albert Camus, a writer whose exploration of the absurd nature of the human condition made him a literary and intellectual icon. Camus was born in Algeria but is celebrated in France as one of i ... Show More
39m 40s
Jan 2022
12 Days: Solomon Northup and Albert Camus
Tom analyses the historical importance of Solomon Northup's story, made famous by Steve McQueen's '12 Years A Slave'. Then, Dominic delves into the death of French philosopher and author Albert Camus. Tune in to also hear about the travails of Monsieur Sandbrook, the 21-year-old ... Show More
27m 16s