Writ Large

Writ Large

episodes

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

On Martin Heidegger's "Being and Time"

December 21, 2022

On Martin Heidegger's "Being and Time"

Peter Gordon
Hosted by Zachary Davis

Martin Heidegger did not like small thoughts. He was fascinated by the most expansive questions humans can ask themselves. Questions like: Why are we …

On Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot"

December 20, 2022

On Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot"

Peter Connor
Hosted by Zachary Davis

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…

On William Shakespeare's "Hamlet"

December 19, 2022

On William Shakespeare's "Hamlet"

Michael Dobson
Hosted by Zachary Davis

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…

On Miguel de Cervantes' "Don Quixote"

December 16, 2022

On Miguel de Cervantes' "Don Quixote"

Timothy Hampton
Hosted by Zachary Davis

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,…

On Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time"

December 15, 2022

On Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time"

Elisabeth Ladenson
Hosted by Zachary Davis

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,…

On Voltaire's "Candide"

December 14, 2022

On Voltaire's "Candide"

Carla Hesse
Hosted by Zachary Davis

Many people made the European Enlightenment, but probably nobody better represents the movement’s spirit than the French writer and philosopher Voltai…

On Gabriel García Márquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude"

December 13, 2022

On Gabriel García Márquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude"

Héctor Hoyos
Hosted by Zachary Davis

In 1967, Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez published his masterpiece, One Hundred Years of Solitude. Because of that book, he won the Nobel Priz…

On James Joyce's "Ulysses"

December 12, 2022

On James Joyce's "Ulysses"

Catherine Flynn
Hosted by Zachary Davis

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…

On Hans Blumenberg's "The Legitimacy of the Modern Age"

December 9, 2022

On Hans Blumenberg's "The Legitimacy of the Modern Age"

Martin Jay
Hosted by Zachary Davis

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…

On Virginia Woolf’s "Mrs Dalloway"

December 8, 2022

On Virginia Woolf’s "Mrs Dalloway"

Dora Zhang
Hosted by Zachary Davis

In the early 20th century, Europe and North America were undergoing a radical transformation. Scientific, technological, and political changes disrupt…

On "Genesis"

December 7, 2022

On "Genesis"

Ronald Hendel
Hosted by Zachary Davis

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…

On "1001 Nights"

December 6, 2022

On "1001 Nights"

Paulo Lemos Horta
Hosted by Zachary Davis

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…

On James Baldwin's "The Fire Next Time"

December 5, 2022

On James Baldwin's "The Fire Next Time"

Josef Sorett
Hosted by Zachary Davis

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 …

On Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre"

December 2, 2022

On Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre"

Sharon Marcus
Hosted by Zachary Davis

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…

On John Rawl's "A Theory of Justice"

December 1, 2022

On John Rawl's "A Theory of Justice"

Michele Moody-Adams
Hosted by Zachary Davis

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…

On Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy"

November 30, 2022

On Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy"

Nassime Chida
Hosted by Zachary Davis

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…

On Frantz Fanon's "The Wretched of the Earth"

November 29, 2022

On Frantz Fanon's "The Wretched of the Earth"

Manan Ahmed
Hosted by Zachary Davis

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 …

On George Orwell's "1984"

November 28, 2022

On George Orwell's "1984"

Priya Satia
Hosted by Zachary Davis

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…

On George Eliot's "Middlemarch"

November 25, 2022

On George Eliot's "Middlemarch"

Nicholas Dames
Hosted by Zachary Davis

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,…

On "The Mahābhārata"

November 23, 2022

On "The Mahābhārata"

Nell Shapiro Hawley
Hosted by Zachary Davis

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…