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Is genuine originality a realistic goal for artists?

From fashion to fantasy, entertainment to enterprise, we seek the 'new' as the means to originality, change, and creativity. And for the most part, we imagine the new is always identifiable as a radical break from the past. But the nature of the new is more elusive and unknown than it first appears. Is the new an illusion, and the search for originality a mistake? Should creative endeavour be focussed on other goals, such as the timeless, the provocative, and the beautiful? Or is the new an essential part of life, creativity and action, without which we would have mere passive re-orderings of the known?

Martin Puchner is a literary critic and philosopher. He is the Byron and Anita Wien Chair of Drama and of English and Comparative Literature at Harvard University. Claire Hynes is Associate Professor in Literature & Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, and an author of fiction and creative non-fiction. Stanley Fish is a literary critic, legal scholar, and public intellectual. Renowned for his role in developing reader-response theory in literary studies, Fish has written on a wide range of topics including the poetry of John Milton, the distinction between free speech and academic freedom, and the doctrine of liberalism.

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Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) never signed a painting, and none of his supposed self-portraits can be securely ascribed to his hand. He revealed next to nothing about his life in his extensive writings, yet countless pages have been written about him that assign him an identity: genius, entrepreneur, celebrity artist, outsider. Addressing the ethical stakes involved in studying past lives, in Leonardo da Vinci: An Untraceable Life (Princeton University Press, 2025) Dr. Stephen J. Campbell shows how this invented Leonardo has invited speculation from figures ranging from art dealers and curators to scholars, scientists, and biographers, many of whom have filled in the gaps of what can be known of Leonardo’s life with claims to decode secrets, reveal mysteries of a vanished past, or discover lost masterpieces of spectacular value.

In this original and provocative book, Dr. Campbell examines the strangeness of Leonardo’s words and works, and the distinctive premodern world of artisans and thinkers from which he emerged. Far from being a solitary genius living ahead of his time, Leonardo inhabited a vibrant network of artistic, technological, and literary exchange. By investigating the politics and cultural tensions of the era as well as the most recent scholarship on Leonardo’s contemporaries, workshop, and writings, Dr. Campbell places Leonardo back into the milieu that shaped him and was shaped by him. He shows that it is in the gaps and contradictions of what we know of Leonardo’s life that a less familiar and far more historically significant figure appears.

This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose new book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s episodes on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts.

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“A masterpiece I don’t fully understand—and don’t need to.” This week’s book is The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro, a bold, baffling, and darkly funny novel that has confounded and enchanted readers since its publication in 1995. Joining us to explore it is Chris Chibnall, award-winning screenwriter, playwright, and now novelist, best known for Broadchurch and Doctor Who, and author of the new detective novel Death at the White Hart.

Written in the wake of Ishiguro’s Booker-winning The Remains of the Day, The Unconsoled follows Ryder, a famous pianist, through an unnamed European city where nothing is quite as it seems.

We talk about Ishiguro’s decision to “go electric” with this daring experiment in narrative structure and tone; how the novel grew from critical confusion to cult classic; and why its unresolved tensions and emotional obliqueness are part of its power.

For anyone who’s ever had to perform while still in their dressing gown, this one’s for you.

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U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D, NJ) talks about his record-breaking speech on the Senate floor last week and the Democratic response to President Donald Trump's agenda, Saturday's "Hands Off" nationwide protests and more.

The recent debate on Dáil speaking time wasn’t exactly a shining example of parliamentary decorum, but it was far from the first time such behaviour reared its ugly head in Leinster House…

Diarmaid Ferriter is Professor of Modern Irish History in UCD, and he has been looking at some of the more colourful exchanges down through the years. He joins Seán to discuss.

In this conversation I speak with Prof. Jeffrey Wasserstrom about his upcoming book The Milk Tea Alliance: Inside Asia's Struggle Against Autocracy and Beijing (June, 2025). We discuss his current work on Orwell and Asia, Orwell's essay on Gandhi, the new democratic solidarity movements arising across Asia in resistance to authoritarianism in Thailand, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, and the philosophy and outlook of Thai activist Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal. We also discuss the relationship between solidarity and music.

As climate emergencies like wildfires and hurricanes become more prevalent, it's important to have essentials like food and medicine on hand and ready to go in case you need to evacuate. On today's episode, emergency preparedness expert Alyssa Provencio explains what you do and don't need in your go bag, how to create a household emergency plan and why now is a good time to prepare for disasters.

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Through my "Operation Knicks Knowledge" experiment, I was astonished to learn that some professional basketball players have the number zero for their jersey number. Sometimes, a newcomer notices things that people with more knowledge take for granted.

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David Bezmozgis reads his story “From, To,” from the April 14, 2025, issue of the magazine. Bezmozgis is the author of two novels and two story collections, “Natasha and Other Stories,” which won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book, and “Immigrant City,” which was a finalist for the Giller Prize in 2019.

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