New Books Network
Literary Studies
Think About It December 6, 2021

“The Good Life” with Dora Zhang

Book Talk 49

Dora Zhang

Hosted by Uli Baer
“The good life” and “the American Dream “remain powerful animating principles in popular culture, politics, and also our individual psyches. I spoke with Professor Dora Zhang at the University of …

Literary Studies

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Interviews with scholars of literature about their new books.

Chinese Studies December 6, 2021

The Stone and the Wireless

Mediating China, 1861–1906

Shaoling Ma

Hosted by Julia Keblinska
In this episode, I interview Shaoling Ma, professor of Humanities (Literature) at Yale-NUS about her new book, The Stone and the Wireless: Mediating China, 1861-1906 (Duke UP, 2021). In this …
Literary Studies December 3, 2021

Humanist Reason

A History, an Argument, a Plan

Eric Hayot

Hosted by Bryant Scott
In Humanist Reason: A History, an Argument, a Plan (Columbia UP, 2021), Eric Hayot develops the concept of “humanist reason” to understand the nature and purpose of humanist intellectual work …
Latin American Studies December 3, 2021

Ascent to Glory

How One Hundred Years of Solitude Was Written and Became a Global Classic

Álvaro Santana-Acuña

Hosted by Minni Sawhney
One Hundred Years of Solitude is a revered classic today fifty five years after it was first published in 1967. Today I talked to Alvaro Santana Acuña a sociologist and …
Scholarly Communication December 2, 2021

On Revision

The Only Writing That Counts

William Germano

Hosted by Daniel Shea
Listen to this interview of William Germano, Professor of English at Cooper Union, New York, We talk about his new book On Revision: The Only Writing That Counts (U Chicago Press, 2021), about …
Novel Dialogue December 2, 2021

Dreaming or Thinking

Cristina Rivera Garza with Kate Marshall and Dominique Vargas

Cristina Rivera Garza, Kate Marshall and Dominique Vargas

Hosted by Aarthi Vadde and John Plotz
ND stages a trialogue this week with MacArthur "Genius" Cristina Rivera Garza and Notre Dame critics Kate Marshall and Dominique Vargas. Professor Rivera Garza recalls roadtripping through Mexico in a …
Jewish Studies December 1, 2021

Abraham the Hebrew Believer

Secularism and Religion in the Work of Avraham Shlonsky

Rani Jaeger

Hosted by Yakir Englander
How can it be that deeply religious poetry is being written by a committed socialist, literary revolutionary and modernist? How sacredness appears in working in the field? How one can …
Irish Studies November 26, 2021

Estranging the Novel

Poland, Ireland, and Theories of World Literature

Katarzyna Bartoszyńska

Hosted by Aidan Beatty
Katarzyna (Kasia) Bartoszyńska is an assistant professor of English and Women’s and Gender Studies at Ithaca College. Her research and teaching focuses on the novel form and the theories connected …
German Studies November 26, 2021

The Knight Without Boundaries

Yiddish and German Arthurian Wigalois Adaptations

Annegret Oehme

Hosted by Lea Greenberg
This volume explores a core medieval myth, the tale of an Arthurian knight called Wigalois, and the ways it connects the Yiddish-speaking Jews and the German-speaking non-Jews of the Holy …
Life Wisdom November 24, 2021

Song of Your Soul

A New Translation of Bhagavad Gita

Atmadarshan Laura Santoro

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
Raj Balkaran interviews Atmadarshan Laura Santoro co-owner of Dharma Kshetra Yoga and author of forthcoming book The Song of Your Soul (an original new translation of the Bhagavad Gita) on …
American West November 24, 2021

Shakespeare in Montana

Big Sky Country's Love Affair with the World's Most Famous Writer

Gretchen E. Minton

Hosted by Troy Hallsell
Tracing more than two centuries of history, Shakespeare in Montana: Big Sky Country’s Love Affair with the World’s Most Famous Writer (University of New Mexico Press, 2020) uncovers a vast array of …
Russian and Eurasian Studies November 23, 2021

Snapshots of the Soul

Photo-Poetic Encounters in Modern Russian Culture

Molly Thomasy Blasing

Hosted by Steven Seegel
Snapshots of the Soul: Photo-Poetic Encounters in Modern Russian Culture (Cornell UP, 2021) considers how photography has shaped Russian poetry from the early twentieth century to the present day. Drawing …
Performing Arts November 23, 2021

Love Like Light

Plays and Performance Texts by Daniel Alexander Jones

Daniel Alexander Jones

Hosted by Andy Boyd
Daniel Alexander Jones' Love Like Light: Plays and Performance Texts (53rd State Press, 2021) collects seven plays and performance texts from the past twenty-five years. Together, they provide a panoramic view …
General History November 22, 2021

England in the Age of Dickens, 1812-70

Jeremy Black

Hosted by Crawford Gribben
Jeremy Black, who recently retired as professor of history of Exeter University, has just published the two latest installments of his series of works on writers of literary fiction. England in the …
Middle Eastern Studies November 22, 2021

The Rise of the Arabic Book

Beatrice Gruendler

Hosted by Miguel Monteiro
How did it happen that, in the 13th century, Europe's largest library owned fewer than 2,000 volumes while Baghdad alone boasted of several libraries holding from 200,000 to 1,000,000 books …
Think About It November 19, 2021

Charlie Louth on Rainer Maria Rilke

Charlie Louth

Hosted by Uli Baer
Charlie Louth’s illuminating recent book, Rilke: The Life of the Work (Oxford University Press, 2021) examines why Rilke’s poems have exercised such preternatural attraction for now several generations of readers …
Scholarly Communication November 19, 2021

Joining the Conversation

A Guide and Handbook for Writers With 2020 APA Update

Mike Palmquist and Barbara Wallraff

Hosted by Daniel Shea
Listen to this interview of Mike Palmquist, Professor of English (with a focus on rhetoric and composition) and also University Distinguished Teaching Scholar. We have a conversation. Mike Palmquist …
Recall This Book November 18, 2021

Writing and Reading from Gilgamesh to Amazon

A Conversation with Martin Puchner

Martin Puchner

Hosted by Elizabeth Ferry and John Plotz
Book Industry Month continues with a memory-lane voyage back to a beloved early RtB episode. This conversation with Martin Puchner about the very origins of writing struck us as perfect …
Indian Religions November 18, 2021

Sanskrit Tools on the Web

A Discussion with Martin Gluckman (Part 2)

Martin Gluckman

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
This interview continues the conversation with Martin Gluckman, Researcher at University of Capetown and Director at Sanskrit Research Institute. We discuss his Panini Research Tool, Sanskrit Writer, Text to Speech …
General History November 17, 2021

Shapeshifters

A History

John B. Kachuba

Hosted by Jana Byars
There is something about a shapeshifter—a person who can transform into an animal—that captures our imagination; that causes us to want to howl at the moon, or flit through the …