Unburied Books

Washington Post books editor John Williams joins us to discuss... John Williams' Butcher's Crossing, orginally published in 1960. The story, set in the 1870s, follows a Harvard dropout as he attempts to find a truer version of himself in the West. We talk about the book's challenge to Emersonian transcendentalism, American rapaciousness, and Western archetypes. (And worry not, we don't play the theme to Star Wars.) References:StonerWilliam MaxwellHenry JamesJean-Patrick ManchetteEve BabitzBarbara ComynsTove JanssonNatalia GinzburgSylvia Townsend WarnerAlbert BierstadtAnthony MannBudd BoetticherThe Coen brothersClint Eastwood"Nature" by Ralph Waldo EmersonFred SchneiderThe Confidence-Man by Herman MelvilleKurtz from Heart of Darkness by Joseph ConradBlood Meridian by Cormac McCarthyJohn Ford's The SearchersJohn WayneInto the Wild by Jon Krakauer"Rip Van Winkle" by Washington IrvingEdward Abbey Find us on Twitter or Instagram, and click here to view our most up-to-date episode schedule.

Writer and poet Vivek Narayanan joins us to discuss L. P. Hartley's The Go-Between. We talk about how Hartley, in this novel about a schoolboy's loss of innocence at the turn of the 20th century, explores childhood guilt and dramatizes the act of memory. Follow Vivek on Twitter, and find out more about his work here. References:Ali SmithValmikiVirginia WoolfThe BoatEustace and HildaSpeak, Memory by Vladimir NabokovFredoon KabrajiLagaanThe AshesThe Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton Find us on Twitter or Instagram, and click here to view our most up-to-date episode schedule.

Kim McNeill joins us to dicuss Thus Were Their Faces, a collection of short stories written by Silvina Ocampo and translated from Spanish by Daniel Balderston. We explore Ocampo's various renditions of cruelty, trace themes and motifs across her career, and use the F-word (feminism). Follow along with Kim's splendid #NYRBWomen23 project here. References:The Levant Trilogy by Olivia ManningThe Tale of GenjiPilgrimage by Dorothy RichardsonA Chill in the Air by Iris OrigoMore Was Lost by Eleanor PerenyiSylvia Townsend WarnerRobert WalserThe Corner That Held ThemSurVictoria OcampoJorge Luis BorgesAdolfo Bioy CasaresCity Lights BooksForgotten JourneyThe PromiseNorah LangeMariana EnriquezRemedios VaroHelen OyeyemiVirginia Woolf"Borges and I"The Invention of MorelLucrecia MartelRead Cynthia Duncan's article hereEzekielMary Olivier: A Life by May SinclairJames Joyce Find us on Twitter or Instagram, and click here to view our most up-to-date episode schedule.

Writer Valerie Stivers joins us to discuss Elizabeth David's Summer Cooking. Originally published in 1955, this cookbook celebrates the fleeting freshness and enduring joy of the summer season. We seek the origins of David's refreshing approach to cooking, ponder the uses of food photography, and learn how Valerie's David-inspired menu came together. Find all of our guest's Paris Review columns here, and read her reviews for Compact Magazine here. References:Nikolai GogolRichard BrautiganWriting at the Kitchen Table by Artemis CooperNorman DouglasAntony BeevorGiovanna GarzoniVictoria GranofRachel RoddyErica MacLeanEssentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella HazanMastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child Find us on Twitter or Instagram to join in on our #SummerofDavid. Here is our most updated episode schedule. To purchase books we've covered, please visit our digital bookshop. Buying them here helps to support the show.

NYRB publicist Nick During joins us to discuss Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village by Ronald Blythe, who passed away earlier this year at the age of 100. We talk about the tricky business of categorization, the tension between work and vocation, and the nature of agricultural society.  Massive thank you to John Hoekstra, who composed our theme music. References: BookCourt  Edwin Frank Word from Wormingford  The View in Winter  John Piper  Shell Guides  John Nash Cedric Morris  Charfield Studs Terkel  Matt Weiland  Antony Beevor  Stalingrad by Vasily Grossman  The Red Thread: Twenty Years of NYRB Classics  The Hunchback of Notre-Dame Fenwomen: A Portrait of Women in an English Village by Mary Chamberlain  Iris Murdoch

Writer Chris Lee joins us to discuss An African in Greenland written by Tété-Michel Kpomassie and translated from French by James Kirkup. The book follows a young man's dream to reach the Arctic. We investigate some tropes of travel literature, find surprising links between Togolese and Greenlandic culture, and thirst for some reindeer coffee. References:"A Year of Reading the World" by Ann MorganLynn DavisTennessee Williams BBC InterviewJupiter's Travels by Ted SimonThe NYRB Classics Book ClubPinocchio by Carlo CollodiGuston in Time by Ross FeldConversations with Beethoven by Sanford FriedmanThe Open Road by Jean GionoA Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson To purchase books we've covered, please visit our digital bookshop. Buying them here helps to support the show.

Librarian, author, and critic Nancy Pearl joins us to discuss May Sinclair's Mary Olivier: A Life, originally published in 1919. We talk controlling mothers, Victorian roles, and the mysterious passage of time. Listeners unfamiliar with the plot may want to read the book before tuning in. References:Virago Modern ClassicsThe Little ReviewUlysses by James JoyceTold by an Idiot by Rose MacaulayJane Eyre by Charlotte BrontëThe Mill on the Floss by George EliotPride and Prejudice by Jane AustenVilletteThe Grand Sophy by Georgette HeyerI'm Not Complaining by Ruth AdamsExcellent Women by Barbara PymMary OliverUp the Down Staircase by Bel KaufmanDolores by Ivy Compton-BurnettA House and Its HeadLolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend WarnerA School for Fools by Sasha SokolovElizabeth Taylor To purchase books we've covered, please visit our digital bookshop. Buying them here helps to support the show.

Edwin Frank, editorial director of the NYRB Classics, joins us to discuss the evolution of the series. We learn how the books are selected, how the project has grown, and whether or not there was a secret plan all along. Endless thanks to John Hoekstra, who composed our theme music. References:The Iliad and the Odyssey adapted by Jane Werner Watson and illustrated by Alice & Martin ProvensenThe Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. TolkienThe HobbitThe Reader's CatalogJ. R. AckerleyAlberto MoraviaThe Woman of RomeThe Winners by Julio CortázarThe Blind Owl by Sadegh HedayatNicolas PoussinThe Paper Museum of Cassiano dal PozzoEzra PoundAnchor BooksPeasants and Other Stories by Anton ChekhovEdmund WilsonEileen ChangVasily GrossmanThe Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translation A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes"The Lottery" by Shirley JacksonWe Have Always Lived in the CastleAndrey PlatonovVictor SergeTove JanssonMy Dog TulipThe Stones of Venice by John RuskinHis Only Son by Leopoldo AlasTristana by Benito Pérez GaldósThe World of Odysseus by M. I. FinleyMary BeardHaute vulgarisationHeaven's Breath: A Natural History of the Wind by Lyall WatsonThe Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton"The Task of the Translator" by Walter BenjaminThe Tale of Genji by Murasaki ShikibuDream of the Red Chamber by Cao XueqinAmerican University in Cairo PressSharjah International Book FairNightmare Alley by William Lindsay GreshamDoctor Faustus by Thomas MannSylvia Townsend WarnerThe Red ThreadThe Hall of Uselessness by Simon LeysTravels in China by Roland BarthesThe Peach Blossom Fan by Kong ShangrenIrretrievable by Theodor FontaneRider on a White Horse by Theodor StormSignet ClassicsJames WrightSunflower by Gyula KrúdyThe Adventures of SindbadMalina by Ingeborg Bachmann To purchase books we've covered, please visit our digital bookshop. Buying them here helps to support the show.

Historian Antony Beevor joins us to discuss Stalingrad written by Vasily Grossman and translated from Russian by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler. We talk about Grossman's observational powers, the boundaries between history and literature, and the context surrounding the book's narrative. Listeners unfamiliar with the plot may want to wait until they've read the book to tune in. Read more about our guest's work here. References:A Writer at WarLuba VinogradovaChristopher MacLehoseAndrew NurnbergArthur GrimmWar and Peace by Leo TolstoyLife and FateThe great man theoryGuernica by Pablo PicassoMichael HowardMargaret MacMillanCatherine MerridaleOperation FoxleyJohn EricksonOperation UranusKonstantin SimonovIlya EhrenburgVasily ZaitsevAnatoly ChekhovEnemy at the GatesTreblinkaPablo NerudaStefan ZweigChess StoryGulag: A History by Anne Applebaum To purchase books we've covered, please visit our digital bookshop. Buying them here helps to support the show.

Film critic Farran Smith Nehme joins us to discuss In a Lonely Place written by Dorothy B. Hughes and adapted into a movie by Nicholas Ray. We talk about the book's unique approach to suspense, the film's relocation of the characters from the margins of Hollywood to the center, and some of our guest's favorite noirs. Listeners unfamiliar with the plot may want to wait until they've read the book (and watched the movie) to tune in. Check out Farran's Sight and Sound list here. As promised, you can view Dylan's Ray ranking here and Kassia's top 100 here. References:The Lady VanishesNicholas RayRide the Pink HorseRobert MontgomerySarah WeinmanWomen Crime Writers: Four Suspense Novels of the 1940sGone GirlMary Higgins ClarkRyan MurphyBurnett GuffeyHumphrey BogartLouise BrooksLauren BacallGloria GrahameNoir AlleyNoir City Film FestivalThe Maltese FalconOut of the PastLauraOtto Preminger He Walked By NightLawrence TierneyImogen SmithDetourDecoyThe Missing JurorCureDecision to Leave To purchase books we've covered, please visit our digital bookshop. Buying them here helps to support the show.