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Writ Large
There’s more to a book than what’s written on its pages: a book can change the world. In each episode of Writ Large, host Zachary Davis talks with one of the world’s leading scholars about one book that shaped the world we live in—whether you’ve heard of it or not. These conversations go beyond the plot summaries to unpack each book’s context and creation, and reveal its lasting influence on the ideas of today. Learn more at writlarge.fm
December 21, 2022
On Martin Heidegger's "Being and Time"
Martin Heidegger did not like small thoughts. He was fascinated by the most expansive questions humans can ask themselves. Questions like: Why are we …
December 20, 2022
On Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot"
In Paris in 1953, one of the strangest and most popular plays of the 20th century premiered, Waiting for Godot, written by the Irish writer Samuel Bec…
December 19, 2022
On William Shakespeare's "Hamlet"
William Shakespeare is the greatest writer in history, and Hamlet is his greatest work. In Hamlet, Shakespeare gave us one of the first modern charact…
December 16, 2022
On Miguel de Cervantes' "Don Quixote"
Don Quixote was written by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes. He wrote it in two parts. Part one was published in 1605, and part two ten years later,…
December 15, 2022
On Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time"
The French writer Marcel Proust was fascinated by life. But he was even more interested in how we perceive life. In 1908, when he was in his late 30s,…
December 14, 2022
On Voltaire's "Candide"
Many people made the European Enlightenment, but probably nobody better represents the movement’s spirit than the French writer and philosopher Voltai…
December 13, 2022
On Gabriel García Márquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude"
In 1967, Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez published his masterpiece, One Hundred Years of Solitude. Because of that book, he won the Nobel Priz…
December 12, 2022
On James Joyce's "Ulysses"
Perhaps more than any other book, Ulysses has the reputation of being difficult—it is dense, allusive, and often hard to follow. But Joyce wasn’t tryi…
December 9, 2022
On Hans Blumenberg's "The Legitimacy of the Modern Age"
Those of us living today generally think of ourselves as modern, that we live in modern times, and that we are very different from the people of the p…
December 8, 2022
On Virginia Woolf’s "Mrs Dalloway"
In the early 20th century, Europe and North America were undergoing a radical transformation. Scientific, technological, and political changes disrupt…
December 7, 2022
On "Genesis"
In a podcast about books that have changed the world, I bring you the book that I think changed the world the most: The Hebrew Bible. Specifically, th…
December 6, 2022
On "1001 Nights"
Humans love stories. And no collection of stories is more beloved worldwide than the Middle Eastern folk tales known as One Thousand and One Nights. T…
December 5, 2022
On James Baldwin's "The Fire Next Time"
The writer and activist James Baldwin grew up in a majority white America that saw white American lives as standard and universal, and Black American …
December 2, 2022
On Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre"
The Victorian era is known for its class rigidity and moral strictness. In her 1847 novel Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë gave us a robust, layered charac…
December 1, 2022
On John Rawl's "A Theory of Justice"
How do you create a fair society? Who deserves to rule? What rights do citizens have? How are those rights protected? What does it mean to act morally…
November 30, 2022
On Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy"
When he was in his late 30s, the Italian poet Dante Alighieri got himself into some serious political trouble and was exiled from his beloved Florence…
November 29, 2022
On Frantz Fanon's "The Wretched of the Earth"
In 1925, on the French occupied island of Martinique, one of the most prominent voices in post colonial theory was born, Frantz Fanon. He was born to …
November 28, 2022
On George Orwell's "1984"
In 1948, English author George Orwell wrote what would become one of the defining novels of the 20th century, 1984. He was writing in the years follow…
November 25, 2022
On George Eliot's "Middlemarch"
By the time we reach middle age, our lives have taken certain paths. Sometimes these paths are close to what we imagined in our youth. But more often,…
November 23, 2022
On "The Mahābhārata"
When it comes to epic poetry, there’s a strong case to be made that the Ancient Indian story the Mahābhārata is the most epic. Clocking in at around 1…