The TLS Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Roman emperors and football managers May 16, 2018

Show notes

The world is being slowly poisoned, the environment destroyed. Why don’t we care about such an apocalypse more? Clare Saxby joins us to discuss; Mary Beard considers the cultural legacy of Caligula, that most reviled of all emperors, via a revisionist work of fiction told from the perspective of the emperor's exiled sister; as Arsène Wenger's twenty-two year tenure as Arsenal manager draws to a close, the TLS's History editor and Arsenal fan David Horspool shares his thoughts on football's modern myth-making

Books

Mourning Nature: Hope at the heart of ecological loss and grief, edited by Ashlee and Karen Landman Cunsolo

Walking on Lava: Selected works for uncivilised times, edited by Charlotte Du Cann, Dougald Hine, Nick Hunt and Paul Kingsnorth

Energy Humanities: An anthology, edited by Imre Szeman and Dominic Boyer

Caligula by Simon Turney

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BONUS: Madeline Miller on Circe May 09, 2018

Show notes

Lucy Dallas is joined by Madeline Miller to discuss her new book, Circe.

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Mothers and millennials May 09, 2018

Show notes

With Stig Abell and Lucy Dallas

Real-life millennial Samuel Earle pops in to consider the status of young people in an unequal society, keeping avocado references to a minimum; Ruth Scurr analyses the role of mothers in life and literature; and Madeline Miller talks about inhabiting the role of Circe.

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Carlo Rovelli's time – a special episode May 02, 2018

Show notes

In popular science books, including 'Seven Brief Lessons on Physics' and 'Reality Is Not What It Seems', the Italian theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli has studied the phenomena – namely time and space – that structure our very existence. In doing so, he has become something of a phenomenon himself, praised for his charm, clarity and humour – things we might not immediately associate with the field of quantum gravity. Here, the TLS's Samuel Graydon asks him about his new book The Order of Time

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Why does everyone hate Nixon? May 02, 2018

Show notes

How do we account for Richard Nixon's stubborn unpopularity? Sure, he was a liar and a crook, but that has not stopped the rehabilitation of many a politician – as a new biography appears Barton Swaim joins us to discuss; why is it that certain ailments suffered by women are so scarcely discussed or resolved? Leonore Tiefer considers endometriosis and a "legacy of disinterest"; “The world is far more complicated than what we see”, says the theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli, putting it mildly. Reality “is mind-blowing” – here, he discusses the structure of time with the TLS's Samuel Graydon

Books

Richard Nixon: The Life by John A. Farrell

The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli

Ask Me About My Uterus: A quest to make doctors believe in women's pain by Abby Norman

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The risky art of cartooning Apr 25, 2018

Show notes

Martin Rowson, cartoonist for the Guardian and elsewhere, joins us to discuss caricature as political hit-job; the TLS's Arts editor Lucy Dallas considers the jolly japes and scrapes of the Beano, as that publication marks its eightieth year; and our Features editor Rozalind Dineen goes to meet Jesmyn Ward, a writer described in our pages as “an important new voice of the American South – one developing, perhaps, into the twenty-first-century’s answer to William Faulkner”

Books

The Communist Manifesto: A Graphic Novel, adapted by Martin Rowson

The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race by Jesmyn Ward

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Culture clash Apr 18, 2018

Show notes

With Stig Abell and Lucy Dallas. Lionel Shriver castigates the arrogant British for snootiness over American English; David Coward tells the story of Simon Leys, "the man who did for Mao" and who called Sartre a "windbag"; and Kate Bingham reads her poem "This hair".

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Empathy: for better, for worse Apr 11, 2018

Show notes

Are we hard-wired to feel other people’s pain? And if so, is it necessarily a good thing? Andrew Scull has reviewed three new books on empathy and joins us to tell us more; Charles Dickens's love of all things theatrical – in life as in art – is no secret. Robert Douglas-Fairhurst considers fifty years' worth of Dickens adaptations for the stage (and film)

Books

The Empathy Instinct by Peter Bazalgette

Against Empathy: The case for rational compassion by Paul Bloom

The Invention of Humanity: Equality and cultural difference in world history by Siep Stuurman

Dickensian Dramas: Plays from Charles Dickens (Volume One, edited by Jacky Bratton; Volume Two, edited by Jim Davis

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The New Elizabethans Apr 04, 2018

Show notes

Who are the most exciting novelists from the British Isles currently working? In a spirit of mischief, the TLS asked 200 notable names in the publishing industry (editors, agents, publishers and writers) to nominate those at the top of their literary game. The critic Alex Clark and TLS fiction editor Toby Lichtig join us in the studio to pick through the results

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Hyper-liberalism and the 6,000th TLS Mar 28, 2018

Show notes

The political philosopher John Gray discusses the failures of liberalism; as the TLS publishes its 6,000th issue, Ruth Scurr delves into the back issues to explore how the paper has changed, and how it reflects literary culture more broadly; the TLS's poetry editor Alan Jenkins reads two of his favourite poems from the past century: D. J. Enright 's "The Laughing Hyena, by Hokusai" and "In Your Mind" by Carol Ann Duffy

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