Unburied Books

Ian Patterson, poet, translator and editor of Nemo's Almanac, reflects on Henry Green's Party Going. He examines the novel's strange language and foggy, liminal setting. Conversation touches on class and gender tensions, design and cover choices, recurring bird and bathing imagery, and the book's haunting ambiguity and stalled social energy.

In this Patreon clip, Kassia and Dylan discuss the classic novel Silas Marner, the book's fast paced structure, and their love of Eliot's language.  Have Christmas every day by becoming a subscriber.

Translator Robert Chandler joins us to discuss his journey with Vasily Grossman, Stalingrad versus Life and Fate, and Grossman's representation of totalitarianism.

The Patreon gets festive this December by discussing a classic Christmas short story from a Kassia favorite, William Dean Howells. We wrap up the episode with a few Marianne Moore holiday poems as she was the translator of this month's NYRB Rock Crystal. Have Christmas every day by becoming a subscriber.

Dylan and Kassia gather around the hearth to discuss Adalbert Stifter's Rock Crystal, a Christmassy novella translated from German by Elizabeth Mayer and Marianne Moore. In this story, two children get lost in a snowstorm on Holy Eve. We shovel away the layers of winter snow to uncover the deeper meaning of their predicament. Support our show here.

In this clip, Kassia and Dylan how Victor Hugo's Guernsey compares to the Guernsey of Ebenezer le Page and the use of essayistic digressions in novels. Become a subscriber for further yapping on Guernsey via Victor Hugo's The Toilers of the Sea.

In this episode, Matt Tannenbaum, proprietor of Lenox, Massachusetts' The Bookstore and focus of the documentary Hello, Bookstore, joins us to discuss The Book of Ebenezer Le Page by G. B. Edwards. At 80, Guernseyman Ebenezer reflects on the joys, sorrows, and annoyances of his life as he searches for an heir to his modest fortune, some of which is buried in the backyard. We talk about the novel's direct, singular style, the overlapping of Edwards' character with Le Page's, and Tannenbaum's decades of reading and loving the book. Find out more about The Bookstore. Become a subscriber for further yapping on Guernsey via Victor Hugo's The Toilers of the Sea.

We paired last month's NYRB Classic, The Golovlyov Family, with another Russian classic on the Patreon, The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov, and compare these tales about the dying Russian aristocracy and the freedom of serfs. Listen to the full epsiode here.

Professor of Russian José Vergara recommends a dark story of family betrayal. Shchedrin's 1880 novel follows the fall of a miserly matriarch and the rise of her even more punitive son. We talk about tragicomedy, fate, faith, and constant death. Spoilers are out of control. This is one of our favorite books, so read it quick! Michaela Telfer's article on bureaucracy in the novel (open access) Sign up for our bonus show for an upcoming companion episode on Chekhov's play The Cherry Orchard.

In this clip, we revisit the classic tale of toxic stan culture: Henry James' The Aspern Papers. Ever moved into a dilapidated Venetian palazzo to possibly steal the yellowing missives exchanged between your literary idol and his former flame? Us neither! Join us as we pick apart the narrator's twisted mind. Hear the full episode on our Patreon.