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The TLS Podcast
Can Utopia survive 2017?
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With Stig Abell and Thea Lenarduzzi – 500-plus years since Thomas More coined the term “Utopia”, denoting a too-good-to-be-true land, Chloë Houston considers the relevance, and importance, of Utopian thinking, and asks if we feel more at home in dystopia; prompted by a magisterial new biography by Jonathan Eig, J. Michael Lennon describes the transformation of Cassius Clay into Muhammad Ali (and tells us what it was like to meet Ali at Normal Mailer’s seventy-fifth birthday party); TLS editor Lucy Dallas speaks to the novelist Nick Harkaway, no stranger to grim (not necessarily) alternative realities, about his new novel Gnomon
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52:44|This week, David E Cooper on a mammoth history of the garden; and Larry Wolff takes in Macbeth at the Met.'The Garden: Our 4,000-year quest for paradise', by Jonathan Bate'Macbeth', by Giuseppe Verdi, Metropolitan Opera, New York, until October 20Produced by Charlotte Pardy
Costume Dramas
47:49|This week, Sophie Oliver on Rebecca West's struggle with her love of clothing; and Robert Poole introduces us to a dashing 19th-century radical.'A Fable for Christians', by Rebecca West'Mad Tom's Rising: The revolutionary mystic Sir William Courtenay and the last battle fought on English soil', by Ian BreckonProduced by Charlotte Pardy
Outsiders
01:03:16|This week, Patrick McGuinness delves into the moving and illuminating notebooks kept by Albert Camus; and Elizabeth Lowry on the untold lives of novelist Anita Brookner.'The Complete Notebooks', by Albert Camus, translated by Ryan Bloom'Anita Brookner: Art and life', by Hermione LeeProduced by Charlotte Pardy
The Cat's Whiskers
53:49|This week, Toby Lichtig on the six Booker hopefuls; and Kathryn Hughes joins us in an exploration of feline mysteries.'Cats: A History', by Rod PhillipsProduced by Charlotte Pardy
Manderley Revisited
35:15|This week, Rohan Maitzen on Rose Tremain's reimagining of Rebecca, and a new way of seeing the terrifying Mrs Danvers; and Jamie McKendrick reads his poem, 'The Importance of Time'.'The Housekeeper', by Rose Tremain'The Importance of Time', by Jamie McKendrickProduced by Charlotte Pardy
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47:32|This week, Anchit Sathi asks what an "author" is in the age of AI; and Keggie Carew on the world of symbiotic slime and friendly fungi.'Togetherness: Symbiosis and the hidden story of life's greatest collaboration', by Rowan HooperProduced by Charlotte Pardy
Noses to the grindstone!
51:23|This week, Mary Beard gives us the inside track on what it's like to be a Booker Prize judge; and Russell Williams guides us through the highlights of a new season in French publishing.Produced by Charlotte Pardy
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28:48|This week, we look back at the poets who've shared their work with us this year.Produced by Charlotte Pardy