Robert Musil and Life as Experiment

Making and Breaking Habits

More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/making-and-breaking-habits.

To honk or not to honk?

I'm looking for a novel that reads like poetry - where should I start? Can you recommend a queer love story with a happy conclusion? What are the best books that explore small-town life? We put your book dilemmas to bestselling author Ocean Vuong and Penguin Editor and award-winning poet Sarah Howe.



Joining Rhianna this week is Ocean Vuong, whose latest book The Emperor of Gladness has been dubbed the first 'millennial Great American Novel' – but what does that really mean, and which classic American novels have inspired him? The author and poet also reflects on the themes and inspirations behind the book, from small-town Connecticut to intergenerational friendships. 



Discover all the books mentioned in this episode here

To ask a question and for exclusive content and giveaways join our Broadcast channel on Instagram: @PenguinUKBooks 

 

Ocean Vuong is an award-winning poet, essayist and novelist. He is the winner of the T. S. Eliot Prize for his poetry collection Night Sky with Exit Wounds, and his debut novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous was a literary sensation, going on to sell more than a million copies. Amongst many other accolades, he was a recipient of the MacArthur ‘Genius Grant’ in 2019 and The Whiting Award in 2016. 



The Emperor of Gladness, Vuong’s latest novel, explores themes of chosen family and the ways in which our lives can be changed by the most unexpected people. 



Sarah Howe is Poetry Editor for Chatto & Windus an imprint of Penguin as well as an award-winning author. Sarah’s first collection, Loop of Jade won the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2015, and the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year award the same year. Her follow-up collection, Foretokens, continues to explore ideas and complications of belonging, identity and inheritance.  

Why do we still laugh when times are hard? With Ocean Vuong

History Hit podcast presenter Dr Anthony Delaney reveals the real people that inspired Gentleman Jack and the gay romances in Bridgerton, long written out of the nation's story and now lovingly restored.

Mother Clap's Holborn coffee house is open to all comers, a place of companionship and community, until a tip-off leads to a midnight raid.

Two women, exiled from their families, set up a utopian homestead in a remote Welsh cottage, inspiring a generation of Romantic poets.

The celebrated Chevalier d'Éon, soldier, diplomat and spy, challenges a rival to a fencing match. The sweepstake is not over who will win, but whether the Chevalier is a man or a woman.

In this dazzling work of restorative history, Dr Anthony Delaney has traced the stories of people daring to challenge society's expectations, unearthing archives and court records to reveal the tragedies and the joys of queer life three centuries ago. Breathing new life into the forgotten and offering radical new interpretations of celebrated figures such as Anne Lister, Queer Georgians is an invitation to view our shared history in a whole new light.

Queer Georgians, written and read by Anthony Delaney

What was the inspiration behind Philip Pullman’s Northern lights series? How does he want readers to feel on Lyra’s final adventure in The Rose Field? And has his demon changed now that he has got to the end of this writing journey? How do you say goodbye to characters you love? And, how does storytelling help us all learn to live? 

In this special edition of Ask Penguin, host Rhianna Dhillon visits Philip Pullman at his Oxford home, surrounded by books (and barking cockapoos), to mark thirty years since the world met Lyra Belacqua in Northern Lights. The two reflects on a lifetime of storytelling and returning to Lyra’s world one final time in the conclusion of The Book of Dust series, The Rose Field.

Discover all the books mentioned in this episode here:  https://www.penguin.co.uk/discover/articles/ask-penguin-podcast-phillip-pullman/

To put a question to future podcast guests, and for exclusive content and book giveaways, join our Broadcast channel on Instagram: @PenguinUKBooks  

Philip Pullman is one of the most highly respected children's authors writing today. Winner of many prestigious awards, including the Carnegie of Carnegies and the Whitbread Award, Pullman’s epic fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials has been acclaimed as a modern classic. It has sold 17.5 million copies worldwide and been translated into 40 languages. In 2005 he was awarded the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. He lives in Oxford.

Is never growing up the secret to great storytelling?

More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/narrative-and-the-meaning-of-life.

Humans are uniquely storytelling creatures who can narrate the events of their own lives. Some argue that our lives derive meaning from our ability to see them as an ongoing story. So is telling our own life story the key to a meaningful life? Is it the events that matter, or how we describe them? Does it matter if we’re unreliable narrators who fudge the facts to make ourselves look good? Josh and Ray tell tales with Helena de Bres from Wellesley College, author of "Philosophy in the First Person."

Narrative and the Meaning of Life

More at https://philosophytalk.org/shows/narrative-and-the-meaning-of-life.

Everywhere and Nowhere

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