Literate

What makes a "book of the century"? And who gets to decide which books make the cut? Over the past two seasons of Literate, we have been asking these questions while reading through the New York Public Library's 1995 list of the books of the century. Each episode, we explore one book from that list and why it matters. This week, however, we do something a little different. We look back over our episodes and discuss the criteria that have emerged for what makes a book of the century. Plus, we tackle some tricky questions about the value of literary classics, canons, and "books of the century".

It is our great pleasure to also feature two experts on this episode. First, we interview Ankhi Mukherjee, who is Professor of English and World Literatures at the University of Oxford. She offers erudite insights into why the classic still matters in a world marked by competing cultural values. Ankhi is the author of the award-winning book What is a Classic? Postcolonial Rewriting and Invention of the Canon, and her next book, Unseen City: The Psychic Lives of the Urban Poor, is coming out later this year.

Later, we interview Lynn Lobash, who is the Associate Director of Reader Services at the New York Public Library. Lynn gives us a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the process of making reading lists like the one our podcast explores. Having worked at the NYPL for eighteen years, she also explains how the approach to making these lists has changed over time. Today, the reading lists that she makes, and those produced by a staff that she trains across the library's 92 locations, are far more "reader centered". 

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Get in touch: @literatepodcast (Twitter) or literatepodcast@gmail.com

This week we wander through The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot. Written in the aftermath of the Great War, this long poem uses a diverse array of voices to convey a sense of disillusionment with modern life. Those voices range from the parodic to the sacred, as the poem interweaves hundreds of allusions to mythology, major world religions, literary classics, dance hall tunes, a nursery rhyme, and conversations from daily English life. So we discuss what to make of so many fragmentary images and sounds, while also asking how they reflect a postwar moment of dramatic historical and cultural change.

Two specialists, both of whom are poets and literary scholars, offer wonderful contributions to this episode. An interview with Gabrielle McIntire, who is Professor of English at Queen's University in Canada and editor of The Cambridge Companion to The Waste Land, orients our conversation about this poem. And notably, her own debut poetry collection, Unbound, comes out next month. Later we have a more free-wheeling chat about Eliot and his impact with Hannah Sullivan, who is a Tutor in English at New College, Oxford, and whose debut collection Three Poems was awarded the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2018.

**WE NEED YOUR HELP! Send us a short audio recording of your answer to the question "What makes a book of the century?" and you might be featured on the final episode of the season!**

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For more on the show visit literatepodcast.com

Get in touch: @literatepodcast (Twitter) or literatepodcast@gmail.com

Buy the book from an independent bookstore through our Bookshop affiliate page: https://bookshop.org/lists/literate-books

We step into a world of uncertainty, this week, with The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. In this ghost story, a young woman takes up a new job as a governess, caring for two children who seem almost too good to be true... But while the governess tells a tale of ghostly visitations, her story brims with ambiguity and cause for doubt. As a result, readers have drawn enormously different conclusions about what, exactly, even happens. And the horror of this story really turns on James's super-sensitivity to nuance, as well as his sense of fun. Those qualities have kept readers entertained for over a hundred years, while also fueling major scholarly debates and shaping the genre of horror itself, not least by inspiring a slew of adaptations, like the recent Netflix series, "The Haunting of Bly Manor".

What a pleasure it is to hear from this week's two expert guests! In an extended reflection, Dara Downey, who lectures at Trinity College Dublin, tells us about what makes this such a great ghost story. We later learn more about the rich history the book's reception in an interview with Jonathan Warren, who is Associate Professor of English at York University in Canada and editor of the most recent Norton Critical Edition of The Turn of the Screw.

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For more on the show visit literatepodcast.com

Get in touch: @literatepodcast (Twitter) or literatepodcast@gmail.com

Buy the book from an independent bookstore through our Bookshop affiliate page: https://bookshop.org/lists/literate-books

Traverse Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys with us! This imaginative prequel to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre gives a history - a life - to the madwoman in the attic of that classic Victorian novel. It depicts the Caribbean past of Antoinette, who is called "Bertha" in Jane Eyre. Although this is a tale about what drives that woman mad, the vivid sensory language and clever shifts in perspective make it a delightful read. And Wide Sargasso Sea has been read the world over. This is a globally renowned Caribbean novel, and it has also changed the way that Jane Eyre is read. The wide-ranging impact of this slim book extends into postcolonialism, feminism, and Victorian studies.

We are privileged to hear more about this book and its impact from two expert guests. In an extended reflection, the Trinidadian poet and book blogger Shivanee Ramlochan talks about her own intimate history with Wide Sargasso Sea as a reader and a writer. Later we interview Elaine Savory, who is Associate Professor of Literature at The New School and has published extensively on Rhys. She explains the importance of reading Rhys as a Caribbean novelist.

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For more on the show visit literatepodcast.com

Get in touch: @literatepodcast (Twitter) or literatepodcast@gmail.com

Buy the book from an independent bookstore through our Bookshop affiliate page: https://bookshop.org/lists/literate-books

Buchi Emecheta's novel The Bride Price takes us back to Nigeria! It tells the tragic story of Aku-nna, a city girl, whose childhood in Lagos is cut short by the unexpected death of her father. Unable to afford urban life, her family then returns to their ancestral village of Ibuza. But Aku-nna finds herself frequently estranged by the customs there. As she comes of age in this new context, The Bride Price offers a glimpse into wider matters of gender and culture. Yet especially through her marriage and death the book highlights the impact of one tradition: the bride price, a payment made by a male suitor to marry a girl. While this is a story very much rooted in its Nigerian setting, at its best, it also raises more transcendent themes. Indeed, it displays a wry, intimate knowledge of the tragedy and comedy of human life.

This week we are privileged to feature two formidable expert guests. An extended reflection is offered by the poet and scholar Abena Busia, who is soon to be Emerita Professor of Rutgers University. She is also currently Ghana's Ambassador to Brazil. Then, we interview the publishing legend Margaret Busby, who was Britain's first black woman publisher, as well as the publisher and editor of The Bride Price.

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For more on the show visit literatepodcast.com

Get in touch: @literatepodcast (Twitter) or literatepodcast@gmail.com

Buy the book from an independent bookstore through our Bookshop affiliate page: https://bookshop.org/lists/literate-books