Lit Century

Latest Episodes:

Kristin Lavransdatter #2 Dec 08, 2020

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In the second episode about Kristin Lavransdatter, the trilogy of historical novels that won Sigrid Undset the Nobel Prize, the hosts discuss the provincial politics of the early Nobel Prize with Timothy Paulson (whose great-grandfather was another winner), and talk about the novel's idiosyncratic treatment of Catholicism and paganism. You can find some supplementary reading about the book here and here.

Timothy Paulson is the writer of several works of nonfiction for younger readers, including New York: the New Amsterdam Colony and Days of Sorrow, Years of Glory, a history of the Nat Turner slave revolt. He was the founder of Agincourt Press and his most recent book is a biography of the Indian educationalist Sadhu Vaswani, A Light to the World.

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The Kristin Lavransdatter Trilogy Dec 01, 2020

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Welcome to Lit Century: 100 Years, 100 Books. Combining literary analysis with an in-depth look at historical context, hosts Sandra Newman and Catherine Nichols choose one book for each year of the 20th century, and—along with special guests—will take a deep dive into a hundred years of literature.

On this episode, Sandra and Catherine discuss the Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy by Sigrid Undset.

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Frog and Toad Are Friends Nov 24, 2020

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In this episode, co-hosts Sandra Newman and Catherine Nichols invite guest Ellen Tarlow to discuss Arnold Lobel's classic Frog and Toad series, beginning with Frog and Toad Are Friends from 1970. Among other subjects, the episode discusses Lobel's preoccupation with solitude, his subtle handling of the minutiae of relationships, and how his work intersects with his personal biography (you can read more background here).

Ellen Tarlow has worked in children's publishing for decades, and is the author of several books for young children, most recently Looking for Smile, a picture book exploring the issue of depression for kids 5-10, which Kirkus Reviews called "invaluable for this moment and beyond." Among her other books are Pinwheel Daysand Mole Catches the Sky.

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Cheaper by the Dozen #2 with April Holm Nov 17, 2020

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In this week's episode, historian April Holm talks with co-hosts Nichols and Newman about Cheaper by the Dozen, a 1948 bestseller whose air of wholesome family fun has gradually shifted it into the children's literature category. Written by Frank Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, it's a comedy memoir of being raised by Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, pioneering time-motion study experts who also had twelve children, whom they subjected to a regime of time-motion optimization.

Historian April Holm (author of A Kingdom Divided: Evangelicals, Loyalty, and Sectionalism in the Civil War Era) considers the experience of rereading the book as an adult and finding jaw-droppingly dark overtones (animal torture and child exploitation, just to name two). What does the book—and other examples of the fun-despotic-dad genre, like Life With Father (1936) and Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House (1946)—have to tell us about the (somewhat rickety) construction of American nostalgia?

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Cheaper by the Dozen #1 Nov 10, 2020

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Passing #2 Nov 03, 2020

Show notes

In today's episode, Nichols and Newman discuss Nella Larsen's 1929 Harlem Renaissance classic Passing (1929) with novelist Kaitlyn Greenidge, focusing on the history and cultural significance of Black people passing as white, and how this and other issues are treated in the novel. Kaitlyn Greenidge is the author of We Love You, Charlie Freeman, which was chosen as one of the New York Times Critics top ten books of 2016 and of the forthcoming Libertie. She won the Whiting Award for fiction, and is the features director for Harper's Bazaar.

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Passing #1 Oct 27, 2020

Show notes

In today's episode, Nichols and Newman discuss Nella Larsen's 1929 Harlem Renaissance classic Passing (1929) with guest Megan Abbott, focusing on its groundbreaking treatment of gender and sexuality. Megan Abbott is the bestselling author of many novels, including Give Me Your Hand, which won the Anthony Award, and the forthcoming The Turnout, (which you can pre-order here). She has also written for TV series The Deuce and was co-creator and co-showrunner of the TV adaptation of her novel Dare Me.

And because at Lit Century we love extra historical content, here's an article on novelist and critic Carl van Vechten, now best remembered for popularizing the music and literature of Harlem in white America; he was Larsen's best friend when she wrote Passing, and appears in the novel as Hugh Wentworth. And here's some fascinating background about LGBT life in the period, and how the Harlem Renaissance "… was surely as gay as it was black."

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Nightwood #2 Oct 20, 2020

Show notes

Hosts Catherine Nichols and Sandra Newman discuss the novel Nightwood, focusing in this episode on the extraordinary life and career of its author, Djuna Barnes, who lived among the most extreme personalities of 1920s Paris and was celebrated as one of Modernism's great writers, but then withdrew into total seclusion for the last 40 years of her life.

For some background on this episode, here's Robert Giroux reminiscing about the experience of being Barnes's publisher: https://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/01/books/the-most-famous-unknown-in-the-world-remembering-djuna-barnes.html. And here's a very rare recording of Barnes herself, reading from her play "The Antiphon" (with really abysmal sound quality and a lot of setting up, but somehow that feels like part of the Barnes experience): https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2016/05/12/greenwich-village-1971/

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Nightwood #1 Oct 13, 2020

Show notes

Hosts Sandra Newman and Catherine Nichols discuss the Modernist classic Nightwood by Djuna Barnes, focusing on its treatment of eugenics and LGBT issues.

For those who want to know more: here's some extra reading on lesbian legend Joe Carstairs; https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v20/n05/terry-castle/if-everybody-had-a-wadley And here's more on the pioneering work of Magnus Hirschfeld's Institut für Sexualwissenschaft: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/lgbtq-institute-in-germany-was-burned-down-by-nazis

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