Self-Healed Physician
An interview with Laura Marris
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A translator on why Camus and his novel of plague speak to us in this dark moment.
Vol 6, Fall 2020 / September 7, 2020
Good Old Charlie Brown
An Interview with Andrew Blauner
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Charles Schulz's Peanuts can still delight, sadden, and fascinate us seven decades after it premiered in newspapers. We spoke with the editor of a Peanuts writing anthology about why.
Vol 6, Fall 2020 / September 7, 2020
Mary Shelley and Her Plague Masterpiece
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We spoke with Eileen Hunt Botting about Mary Shelley and The Last Man, the first post-apocalyptic novel, set in a world devastated by plague.
August 31, 2020
Thomas Mann and the Literature of Disease
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We spoke with eminent Germanist and intellectual historian David Wellbery on Nobel laureate Thomas Mann and the literature of disease.
July 20, 2020
Why Proust Is Essential Reading for Your Quarantine
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Proust scholar Caroline Weber told us why In Search of Lost Time still makes for essential quarantine reading.
June 3, 2020
Translating The Plague During a Plague
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We spoke with Laura Marris, the translator of a new version of Albert Camus’ seminal novel The Plague, about translating this classic during a pandemic.
May 26, 2020
Tom Holland on Thucydides and the plague at Athens
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Our latest episode features Tom Holland on a plague that changed the course of ancient history, Thucydides, and what we can learn from the Greeks.
April 15, 2020
The Octavian 2019 Holiday Book List
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We are pleased to announce the Octavian 2019 holiday book List. The list makes great year-end reading wherever you may be — and great gifts, if you are still looking.
December 10, 2019
The Storyteller
An Interview with Mario Vargas Llosa
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The Nobel Prize-winning novelist spoke with us about how the erosion of culture means the erosion of political liberty.
Vol 5, Summer 2019 / July 11, 2019
Pure Nonsense
An Interview with Brian Jay Jones
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What made Dr. Seuss Dr. Seuss? His biographer Brian Jay Jones explains how hard work, creativity, and respect for kids changed Ted Geisel into an icon.
Vol 5, Summer 2019 / July 11, 2019
