For centuries, the bildungsroman, or novel of education, has offered a window into a formative period of life—and, by extension, into the historical moment in which it’s set. Vinson Cunningham sent the draft of “Great Expectations,” a book loosely based on his experience on Barack Obama’s first Presidential campaign, to publishers on January 6, 2021. Shortly ... Show More
Nov 20
In “Pluribus,” Utopia Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up to Be
<p>Vince Gilligan’s new show, “Pluribus,” opens with an unconventional apocalypse. A benevolent alien hive mind descends on Earth, commandeering the bodies of all but a handful of people who appear to be immune, including a curmudgeonly writer named Carol Sturka. Though the world ... Show More
50m 11s
Nov 13
The Guilty Pleasure of the Heist
<p>On October 19th, a group of masked men broke into the Louvre in broad daylight and made off with some of France’s crown jewels. Suspects are now in custody, but the online fervor is still going strong. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alex ... Show More
44m 40s
Jun 2023
Douglas Kerr, "Orwell and Empire" (Oxford UP, 2022)
George Orwell was born in India and served in the Imperial Police in Burma as a young man. Douglas Kerr's book Orwell and Empire (Oxford UP, 2022) is a study of his writing about the East and the East in his writing. It argues that empire was central to his cultural identity and ... Show More
42m 30s
Feb 2022
Joseph Heller's Catch-22: A novel of twisted logic and absurd bureaucracy
"That’s some Catch, that Catch 22". It’s a novel that gave rise to a new term in the English language and gave voice to American soldiers serving in Vietnam in the 1960s. Since its publication in 1961, Catch-22, Joseph Heller’s best-selling novel, has not only come to symbolise t ... Show More
39m 36s
Dec 2023
Kadare, Gospodinov, Kafka and Dickens
The Palace of Dreams is a novel from 1981 that is ostensibly set in the 19th century Ottoman empire, but the Albanian writer Ismail Kadare cleverly smuggles in thinly veiled criticism of the totalitarian state presided over by Enver Hoxha. The book was duly banned shortly after p ... Show More
45m 7s
Feb 2021
Chang-rae Lee on His New Novel: ‘It’s Kind of a Crazy Book.’
<p>Chang-rae Lee’s new novel, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/05/books/review/chang-rae-lee-my-year-abroad.html" target="_blank">“My Year Abroad,”</a> is his sixth. On this week’s podcast, Lee says that his readers might be surprised by it.</p><p>“It’s kind of a crazy bo ... Show More
1h 7m
Mar 2021
#126 - QDM de Poche - Le livre "Affamée" de Raven Leilani
<p>NOUVEAU - Abonnez-vous à Nouvelles Écoutes + pour profiter du catalogue Nouvelles Écoutes en intégralité et en avant premières, sans publicité. Vous aurez accès à des enquêtes, documentaires, séries et fictions exclusives passionnantes, comme « Au Nom du fils », « Roulette rus ... Show More
15m 57s