In the fourth episode of Human Conditions, the last of the series with Judith Butler, we fittingly turn to The Human Condition (1956). Hannah Arendt defines action as the highest form of human activity: distinct from work and labour, action includes collaborative expression, collective decision-making and, crucially, initiating change. Focusing on the chapte ... Show More
Aug 31
Narrative Poems: ‘Childe Roland’ and ‘The Pied Piper’ by Robert Browning
‘Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came’ has baffled readers and critics ever since it was published in Men and Women in 1855. It baffled its author, too. It ‘came upon me as a kind of dream’, Browning recalled. ‘I had to write it then and there, and I finished it the same day.’ Th ... Show More
18m 1s
Aug 24
Nature in Crisis: ‘Lessons for Survival’ by Emily Raboteau
Over the past twelve years, the walls and shop shutters of Upper Manhattan have been gradually filled by giant paintings of climate-threatened birds, inspired by the species depicted by the artist John James Audubon, who lived in the area. Emily Raboteau’s ‘Lessons for Survival’ ... Show More
12m 6s
Aug 17
Who’s afraid of realism? ‘Pnin’ by Vladimir Nabokov
If Saul Bellow’s Seize the Day (1956) belongs firmly to postwar American realism, then Pnin (1957) certainly doesn’t. With its self-conscious fictionality and unreliable narrator, Nabokov’s novel is a model of postmodernism. Yet for all its playfulness, the book maintains, in its ... Show More
23m 43s
Dec 2021
The Surface is Rippled: Interview with Judith Butler (part II)
In this episode, we excitingly continue our conversation with the renowned Judith Butler. She takes us through her objection to the so-called opposition between surface reading and the hermeneutics of suspicion, describes what she calls “the relational move,” and animates for us ... Show More
27m 16s
Nov 2023
Next Year on Close Readings: Human Conditions
In the second of three introductions to our full Close Readings programme for 2024, Adam Shatz presents his series, Human Conditions, in which he’ll be talking separately to three guests – Judith Butler, Pankaj Mishra and Brent Hayes Edwards – about some of the most revolutionary ... Show More
26m 33s
Nov 2024
The Forgetful Said (L'Étourdit), Episode 7
Here’s the final episode, titled “Recollection,” in our podcast series on Lacan’s infamous 1972 essay “L’Étourdit.” You can also access the video recording of this lecture at our YouTube channel. And if you’re eager for more, join our current series on Seminar XX! This is a publi ... Show More
1h 3m