The TLS Podcast

The writer and comedian David Baddiel has written a book called 'Jews Don't Count', which explores the insidious, pervasive, exclusionary nature of ‘progressive’ antisemitism. Here, he talks to Toby Lichtig about how and why one of the most persecuted minorities in history continues to be overlooked 'Jews Don't Count' by David Baddiel Producer: Ben Mitchell  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by David Gallagher to discuss two new books about Jorge Luis Borges – one a collection of essays and remembrances by the great Latin American writer Mario Vargas Llosa, the other a more curious offering by the American writer and critic Jay Parini; David Baddiel on the insidious, pervasive, exclusionary nature of ‘progressive’ antisemitism; Alice Wadsworth and Lucy Dallas on food podcasts and the French comedy-drama Call My Agent! Medio siglo con Borges, by Mario Vargas Llosa (published in Spain by Alfaguara) Borges and Me: An encounter, by Jay Parini  Jews Don't Count by David Baddiel  'The Sporkful' and 'Off Menu' available on podcast platforms Call My Agent!, Netflix Producer: Ben Mitchell  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Clifford Thompson to discuss One Night in Miami, a film by Regina King, which sees Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, Jim Brown and Cassius Clay gather for heated debate; from exclusivity and luxury in imperial China to cheap ubiquity in modern day Europe, Norma Clarke considers the rise and fall of porcelain; plus, a new poem by Anne Carson, “Sure, I Was Loved” One Night in Miami, dir. Regina King The City of Blue and White: Chinese porcelain and the early modern world by Anne Gerritsen Porcelain: A history from the heart of Europe by Suzanne L . Marchand “Sure, I Was Loved” by Anne Carson, in this week’s TLS Producer: Ben Mitchell  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by the TLS's Classics editor Mary Beard, who, via an old exam paper, emphasizes the importance of teaching Classics in context (Q1: "Dryads, Hyads, Naiads, Oreads, Pleiads … Does 'Classical influence' in modern poetry always come down to snobbery and elitism?”); Zachary Leader reports on the latest offerings from the Joyce Industry; and Jane O'Grady considers how the Enlightenment undid itself. James Joyce and the Matter Of Paris, by Catherine Flynn James Joyce and the Jesuits, by Michael Mayo Panepiphanal World: James Joyce’s epiphanies, by Sangam Macduff The Enlightenment: The pursuit of happiness 1680–1790, by Ritchie Robertson  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by the Karachi-based journalist Sanam Maher to discuss cliché and originality in foreign correspondents' writing on Pakistan; a whistle-stop tour through (some) of the books of 2021; Lucy Scholes reviews a clutch of novels in the British Library's Women Writers series, dedicated to once-popular writers The Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches from a divided nation, by Declan Walsh O, the Brave Music by Dorothy Evelyn Smith The Tree of Heaven by May Sinclair  Chatterton Square by E. H. Young Father by Elizabeth Von Arnim   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by the critic Muriel Zagha to marvel at a five-volume, “definitive” study of the iconic French filmmaker Jacques Tati, every aspect of whose apparently chaotic cinematic universe was controlled to the nth degree; Calum Mechie considers some new approaches to the life and legacy of George Orwell; and – “Can we take it? Can Dickens take it?” – ’tis the season for adaptations of A Christmas Carol… The Definitive Jacques Tati, edited by Alison Castle On Nineteen Eighty-Four: A biography by D. J. Taylor Orwell: A man of our time by Richard Bradford Becoming George Orwell: Life and letters, legend and legacy, by John Rodden Eileen: The making of George Orwell, by Sylvia Topp  Subscribe to The TLS at https://www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Toby Lichtig are joined by Stephen Lovell, Professor of Modern History at King’s College London, to discuss two important biographies of Joseph Stalin, covering the opposite ends of the dictator’s life; the debate around the official Home Office history of Britain, a document full of omissions and riddled with errors, rolls on; and can a book make you a better person? Can even the high modernists be mined for lessons in life? Joanna Scutts considers the relationship between 'serious' literature and self-help. Stalin: Passage to revolution by Ronald Grigor Suny Late Stalinism: The aesthetics of politics by Evgeny Dobrenko, translated by Jesse M. Savage The Self-Help Compulsion: Searching for advice in modern literature, by Beth Blum Reading for Life by Philip Davis Subscribe to The TLS at https://www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Paul Griffiths, the author most recently of the novel Mr Beethoven, to discuss the heroic oeuvre of the great composer, 250 years after his birth; Joseph Farrell takes us through the life and work of Gianni Rodari, a kind of Italian George Orwell transplanted to Neverland. Selected books: Beethoven's Conversation Books, translated and edited by Theodore Albrecht Beethoven's Lives by Lewis Lockwood Beethoven: A Life by Jan Caeyers Beethoven: A life in nine pieces, by Laura Tunbridge – read the full piece here  Telephone Tales, by Gianni Rodari, translated by Antony Shugaar  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this special bonus episode, the TLS's fiction editor Toby Lichtig talks to Douglas Stuart about his 2020 Booker Prize-winning novel Shuggie Bain  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Colin Grant, the author of Homecoming: Voices of the Windrush generation, to discuss Small Axe, a series of films by Steve McQueen that centres on Black British life between the 1960s and 80s; and the author and musician Wesley Stace tells the story of the “real” James Bond, a celebrated ornithologist whose "dull" name was poached by Ian Fleming.  Plus, the TLS's Fiction editor Toby Lichtig talks to Douglas Stuart, the winner of this year’s Booker Prize for fiction Small Axe, BBC One, BBC iPlayer Shuggie Bain, by Douglas Stuart The Real James Bond: A true story of identity theft, avian intrigue and Ian Fleming, by Jim Wright Subscribe to The TLS at https://www.the-tls.co.uk/buy/   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Mark Glanville to mark the centenary of the birth of Paul Celan, probably the most important post-war German-language poet, by revisiting the early poems in light of his later transformation; and Margaret Drabble considers the literature of urban walking, via the fiction of G. K. Chesterton, H. G. Wells and other metropolitan ramblers. Memory Rose into Threshold Speech: The collected earlier poetry: A bilingual edition, translated by Pierre Joris Microliths They Are, Little Stones: Posthumous prose, translated by Pierre Joris Under the Dome: Walks with Paul Celan, by Jean Daive, translated by Rosmarie Waldrop The Walker: On finding and losing yourself in the modern city, by Matthew Beaumont  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by two TLS editors, David Horspool and Toby Lichtig, to discuss books that have sustained and stimulated over the past twelve months, as selected by sixty-five writers from around the world; and we discuss the controversy surrounding a long-awaited statue of – or "for" – Mary Wollstonecraft. Read the TLS's Books of the Year feature here [https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/books-of-the-year-2020/]   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As Remembrance Day approaches, Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Éadaoín Lynch to remember fully and truthfully the relationship between the poets Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon; and the TLS's sports editor David Horspool talks us through a couple of books on professional game playing, including a football memoir of obsession and crucial omissions by Arsène Wenger. My Life in Red and White by Arsène Wenger This Sporting Life: Sport and liberty in England, 1760–1960 by Robert Colls  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Thea Lenarduzzi and Lucy Dallas are joined by Lucy Scholes to revisit the work of the master of terror Shirley Jackson and review the new film Shirley (“about as far from a traditional biopic as you can get”); and Jane Darcy grapples with the neither quite Romantic nor quite Victorian Thomas De Quincey, whose life-writing paved the way for the autobiografiction to come   Shirley, directed by Josephine Decker (various cinemas / Hulu) Thomas De Quincey: Selected writings, edited by Robert Morrison   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In a special bonus podcast we bring you an episode of Stories of our times that we think you might enjoy. The Times's chief music critic, Richard Morrison muses over whether a combination of the coronavirus, environmental concerns and the MeToo movement will be the end of the 'maestro' - the classical music conductor - as we know it.  Guest: Richard Morrison, Times chief culture critic and music writer.  Host: David Aaronovitch. Clips used: Metropolitan Opera, Aurora Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, The Hendon Band YouTube Channel, ABC News, Washington Post, NBC News.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.