The Casual Academic: A Literary Podcast
1) Episode 36 - Structural Tricks, Disintegration & Ghosts in Valeria Luiselli's "Faces in the Crowd"
Episode 36 features Valeria Luiselli's "Faces in the Crowd," a novella we loved and can't recommend enough. Our discussion includes a bit of her non-fiction, especially her essay "Relingos," as well ...Show More
2) Episode 35 - Memory, Self & La Revoluci贸n in Carlos Fuentes' "The Death of Artemio Cruz"
Rising out of the depths of a busy summer and unreliable internet, we're back to finally put out a miniseries on Mexican literature that's been long in the making. We hope you all have had a wonderful...Show More
3) Traveler, Writer, Soldier, Spy: Lit & Context in Patrick L. Fermor's "The Violins of Saint-Jacques"
After several editing and technical hiccups, we're happy to present episode 34 on beloved travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor and his only novel. A soldier who led the resistance in Crete during WWII,...Show More
4) Episode 33 - Disembodiment, Structure & Millennial Existentialism in Sylvia Plath's "The Bell Jar"
Good evening from Spain! Allow us to present the 2nd episode of our "Books Casually Left on the Shelf" series on Sylvia Plath's only and much-celebrated novel. Take a listen for some talk on the rel...Show More
5) The Arabesque, Orientalism & Unholy Trinities in Jan Potocki's "The Manuscript Found in Saragossa"
Episode 32 inaugurates our new episode series "Books Casually Left on the Shelf" (working title). This book was a hidden gem for us, and we hope you enjoy as much as we did diving into the arabesque ...Show More
6) Aside #24 - Patreon Launch & Our Next Episode Series
We are VERY excited to announce that our Patreon page has launched about....24 minutes ago! On this quick Aside we talk about Patreon membership, why we're starting on the website and what you'll get ...Show More
7) Episode 31 - Gender Binaries, Identity & Interiority in Qiu Miaojin's "Notes of a Crocodile"
In the final episode of our Overlooked Authors Series, we discuss Qiu Miaojin's cult classic, "Notes of a Crocodile." We talk about Miaojin's rejection of gender binaries as well as just about any ch...Show More
8) Episode 30 - Imposters, Doppelg盲ngers & Duplicates in Silvina Ocampo's "Thus Were Their Faces"
We're back! On this episode, we discuss the Argentine author Silvina Ocampo. Although she spent her life in the shadow of J.L. Borges, Adolfo Bioy Casares (her husband)and her sister Victoria, Ms. Oc...Show More
9) Episode 29 - Memory, Perception & Fairytales in Tatyana Tolstaya's "White Walls"
In this episode, we marvel at Tatyana Tolstaya's collection of stories, "White Walls," and focus our discussion on topics such as memory, time, perception, art and fairytales (just to name a few). W...Show More
Episode 29 - Memory, Perception & Fairytales in Tatyana Tolstaya's "White Walls"
1:09:09 | Apr 10th, 2018
10) Episode 28 - Untouchability, Inaction and "The Seventh Seal" in U.R. Ananthamurthy's "Samskara"
Overlooked Authors on The Casual Academic has begun! We discuss our first featured book, U.R. Ananthamurthy's classic "Samskara: A Rite for a Dead Man," translated by A.K. Ramanujan. Our conversation...Show More