New Books Network
Literary Studies
Hindu Studies November 27, 2020

The Bhagavad-Gītā

A Critical Introduction

Ithamar Theodor

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
Ithamar Theodor's The Bhagavad-Gītā: A Critical Introduction (Routledge, 2020) is a systematic and comprehensive introduction to one of the most read texts in South Asia. The Bhagavad-gītā is at its …

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Popular Culture November 25, 2020

Batman and the Joker

Contested Sexuality in Popular Culture

Chris Richardson

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan
In Batman and The Joker: Contested Sexuality in Popular Culture (Routledge, 2020), Chris Richardson presents a cultural analysis of the ways gender, identity, and sexuality are negotiated in the rivalry …
Language November 24, 2020

A Revolution in Tropes

Alloiostrophic Rhetoric

Jane S. Sutton and Mari Lee Mifsud

Hosted by Lee Pierce
Aristotle, the co-called father of rhetoric, supposedly conceptualized his theory of persuasion as a means of bringing meaning to rest. But what if there’s another story, one in which forgotten …
History November 23, 2020

The Mappae Mundi of Medieval Iceland

Dale Kedwards

Hosted by Joshua Tham
The Icelandic mappae mundi were a series of maps produced in the late medieval period (c. 1225 - c. 1400) that bore witness to fundamental changes in the landscape of …
Education November 20, 2020

Writing Support for International Graduate Students

Enhancing Transition and Success

Shyam Sharma

Hosted by Daniel Shea
Listen to this interview of Shyam Sharma, author of Writing Support for International Graduate Students: Enhancing Transition and Success (Routledge, 2020). We talk about international students and rhetoric, international students …
Academic Life November 19, 2020

Finishing Your Book When Life Is A Disaster

A Discussion with Jennifer Strube

Jennifer Strube

Hosted by Christina Gessler
Welcome to The Academic Life. You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island, and neither are we. So we reached across our mentor network to bring you podcasts …
Literary Studies November 18, 2020

Producing Mass Entertainment

The Serial Life of the Yellow Kid

Christina Meyer

Hosted by Miranda Corcoran
The Yellow Kid was a ubiquitous figure at the end of the nineteenth century. Originally created by Richard F. Outcault, the Kid first appeared as a character in the comic …
Scholarly Communications November 18, 2020

Stylish Academic Writing

Helen Sword

Hosted by Daniel Shea
Listen to this interview of Helen Sword, author of Stylish Academic Writing (Harvard UP, 2012). We talk about bad writing, but a lot more about how to make it good …
LGBTQ+ Studies November 17, 2020

Gay Faulkner

Uncovering a Homosexual Presence in Yoknapatawpha and Beyond

Phillip Gordon

Hosted by Morris Ardoin
The life and works of William Faulkner have generated numerous biographical studies exploring how Faulkner understood southern history, race, his relationship to art, and his place in the canons of …
Russian and Eurasian Studies November 16, 2020

Russia's Capitalist Realism

Narrative Form and History in Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Chekhov

Vadim Shneyder

Hosted by Daniel Peris
Vadim Shneyder's new book, Russia's Capitalist Realism: Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Chekhov (Northwestern, 2020) examines how the literary tradition that produced the great works of Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Anton …
Italian Studies November 16, 2020

Italian Neorealism

A Cultural History

Charles L. Leavitt IV

Hosted by Ellen Nerenberg
In Italian Neorealism: A Cultural History (University of Toronto Press, 2020), Charles Leavitt steps back from the micro-histories focusing more narrowly on, for example, Italian cinema so as to weave …
Popular Culture November 13, 2020

Graphic Indigeneity

Comics in the Americas and Australasia

Frederick Luis Aldama

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan
In Graphic Indigeneity: Comics in the Americas and Australasia (UP of Mississippi, 2020), Frederick Luis Aldama brings together comics scholars Joshua T. Anderson, Chad A. Barbour, Susan Bernardin, Mike Borkent …
Scholarly Communications November 13, 2020

Writing Center Talk over Time

A Mixed-Method Study

Jo Mackiewicz

Hosted by Daniel Shea
Listen to this interview of Jo Mackiewicz, author of Writing Center Talk over Time: A Mixed-Method Study (Routledge, 2018). We talk about talk, tutor talk, student talk, spoken written-language, and …
Middle Eastern Studies November 12, 2020

Muhammad's Body

Baraka Networks and the Prophetic Assemblage

Michael Muhammad Knight

Hosted by Asad Dandia
Muhammad's Body: Baraka Networks and the Prophetic Assemblage by Michael Muhammad Knight (UNC Press, 2020) joins the emerging subfield of literature in Islamic Studies exploring embodiment and materiality as concepts …
Literary Studies November 12, 2020

Writing Across the Color Line

U.S. Print Culture and the Rise of Ethnic Literature, 1877-1920

Lucas A. Dietrich

Hosted by Nataliya Shpylova-Saeed
In Writing Across the Color Line: U.S. Print Culture and the Rise of Ethnic Literature, 1877-1920 (University of Massachusetts Press, 2020), Lucas A. Dietrich investigates how ethnic literatures took shape …
Genocide Studies November 11, 2020

The Struggle for Understanding

Elie Wiesel's Literary Works

Victoria Nesfield and Philip Smith

Hosted by Yakir Englander
An in-depth look at Elie Wiesel’s writings, from his earliest works to his final novels. Elie Wiesel (1928–2016) was one of the most important literary voices to emerge from the …
Literary Studies November 10, 2020

The Black Radical Tragic

Performance, Aesthetics, and the Unfinished Haitian Revolution

Jeremy Matthew Glick

Hosted by Lee Pierce
What if the Haitian Revolution, perhaps the only “successful” Black revolution in history, weren’t over? On this episode of the New Books Network, Dr. Lee Pierce (s/t) interviews Dr. Jeremy …
Literary Studies November 10, 2020

Extraterritorial

A Political Geography of Contemporary Fiction

Matthew Hart

Hosted by Nataliya Shpylova-Saeed
Extraterritorial: A Political Geography of Contemporary Fiction (Columbia University Press, 2020) explores how texts—literary and visual—help us engage with the space that goes beyond the limits of visible geographical borders …
Literary Studies November 9, 2020

A Violent Peace

Race, U.S. Militarism, and Cultures of Democratization in Cold War Asia and the Pacific

Christine Hong

Hosted by Ann Choi
The image of the US as leading a good war to establish liberal democracy and move towards racial equality dominate the discourses of the Cold War. In her work, A …
Literary Studies November 9, 2020

That Middle World

Race, Performance, and the Politics of Passing

Julia S. Charles

Hosted by James West
In this chronologically and thematically ambitious study of racial passing literature, Julia Charles highlights how mixed-race subjects invent cultural spaces for themselves—a place she terms that middle world. Charles, an …