As the Soviets forged ahead to modern and socialist art, Russian exiles in Paris and Berlin looked to young artists — like Vladimir Nabokov — to continue in the Russian tradition. Nabokov, whose father was a prominent politician in the short-lived Russian Republic, did begin his writing career in Russian émigré journals and publishing houses, but his eventual success came from the English-language and Hollywood-adapted masterpiece, Lolita (1955).

In part one of the conversation, Amherst's Visiting Assistant Professor Luke Parker goes through Nabokov’s “westernized” childhood and exile in Berlin to show that his career was multilingual and transnational throughout his life. Neither neglectful of nor limited to Russian language and readership, Nabokov’s work sheds light on important questions about emigrant (vs. immigrant) identity, how Russia fits in the West, and the cross-cultural possibilities in translation, adaptation, and multilingual literature.

Episode notes and further reading: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EwD8MYGF8ZmrtQ3K2BmJJMV2tJu5Wli6zWPSreT5luM/edit?usp=sharing

DNA is not a static thing. It is constantly being folded and unfolded, a process which explains why genetically identical twins aren’t actually identical, and how our cells specialize into their various functions. Sit in on office hours as Amherst's Associate Professor of Physics Ashley Carter breaks down the mechanics of DNA folding, as well as the applications of this research in nanoengineering, epigenetics, data storage, and more!

Produced and edited by Priscilla Lee ‘25.

Episode Notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IoTWy-TlLCbL4ZwDy3C_ftpH-v-0S6XBDUT50jZhZpw/edit?usp=sharing 

In his forthcoming article, Amherst’s Associate Professor and Chair of English Christopher Grobe calls what happened at the the January 6th capitol riots a “weird coexistence of violence and play.” How is it possible that violence and play can coexist? And, what, exactly, does “play” mean, in this context? Sit in on “office hours” with Prof. Grobe to talk about play, performance, theatricality, improv, flash mobs, and more!

Produced and edited by Priscilla Lee ‘25.

References and Further Reading: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11EnwYaLIE4eoPQ__OUdb-WCtmneC2DipG__qh1D-QaE/edit?usp=sharing