Can murder ever be justified for the greater good? Today, we will walk through the twisted streets of St. Petersburg, depicted by the brilliant yet tormented mind of Fyodor Dostoevsky. Crime and Punishment is more than a novel—it's a psychological odyssey into the depths of guilt, redemption, and the human soul. Joining us is Dr. Julia Titus from Yale University, she is the author of Dostoevsky as a Translator of Balzac (2022).  Dr. Titus will help us unravel the moral complexities and existential questions that continue to fascinate us over a century later.

Recommended Reading: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment (1866)

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In Search of Lost Time (1913) by Marcel Proust remains one of the most profound and monumental novels of the 20th century, presenting us an intricate labyrinth of memory, time, and desire. With us are Professor Darci Gardner from Appalachian State University, whose expertise is in 19th and 20th-century French literature and she will shed light on the enigmatic Proustian syntax as a vehicle for story-telling and more. We also have Professor François Proulx from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and his expertise in French literature will enlighten us on aspects of desire and sexuality in this novel.

Suggested Readings:

Marcel Proust, Swann's Way (vol.1 of In Search of Lost Time)

Proust and the Arts (2018) ed.Christie McDonald & François Proulx

D. Gardner, "Rereading as a Mechanism of Defamiliarization in Proust,"  Poetics Today (2016) 37 (1): 55–105.https://doi.org/10.1215/03335372-3452619

F. Proulx, “Beyond the Epistemology of the Closet.” Nineteenth-Century French Studies 48:3-4 (2020), 185-192.https://muse.jhu.edu/article/754608

F. Proulx, “Proust’s Drawings and the Secret of the ‘Solitary House.’” Modern Language Notes 133:4 (2018), 865-890.https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/707619 

F. Proulx and H. Freed-Thall, eds. “Proust to Other Ends,” special issue of L’Esprit Créateur, 62:3 (Fall 2022), 164 pages.https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/48666 

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Music by Giorgio Di Campo from FreeSound Music:
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original video: (https://youtu.be/_vZT5AHSuPk?si=KMvmbbfOpqAaWeWK)

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W.H. Auden is the modernist poet who coined the term “the age of anxiety” and is noted for his stylistic and technical achievement. His work intellectually engaged with politics, morals, love and religion. With us today is our distinguished guest, Professor Nicholas Jenkins. Prof. Jenkins teaches English literature at Stanford University and will soon be the director of the Stanford Creative Writing Program. He is also the literary executor of the ballet impresario Lincoln Kirstein, the creator of the Kindred Britain website, and the author of the critically acclaimed book The Island: War and Belonging in Auden's England, published by Harvard University Press.

Recommended Reading:
Selected Poems of W. H. Auden(1991)
The Island: War and Belonging in Auden's England (2024)

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Music by Giorgio Di Campo from FreeSound Music:
http://freesoundmusic.eu
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original video: (https://youtu.be/_vZT5AHSuPk?si=KMvmbbfOpqAaWeWK)

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Charles Dickens' Great Expectations (1861) stands as a cornerstone of English literature, encapsulating Dickens' unparalleled talent to weave intricate plots with vivid characters against the backdrop of Victorian society. Our guest-speaker today is Prof. Joshua Gooch from D'Youville College in New York. Dr. Gooch's expertise is the intersections of work, power, and aesthetics in literature and film. He is the author of Dickensian Affects: Charles Dickens and Feelings of Precarity.

Recommended Readings:

Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

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Known for his masterful blend of realism and romanticism, Stendhal is one of the greatest novelists of the 19th century, and his works offer profound psychological insights and sharp social critiques. His unforgettable characters, such as Julien Sorel in Le Rouge et Le Noir, navigate themes of love, ambition, and identity that remain timeless and relevant. Today on the Global Novel podcast, we will dive into Stendhal's world and discover his novelistic artistry that continues to influence literature today. With me is the distinguished American literary theorist Dr. Peter Brooks. Dr. Brooks is Sterling Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature at Yale University. His interdisciplinary research cuts across French and English literature, law, and psychoanalysis.

Recommended Reading:
Stendhal, Le Rouge et Le Noir (1830)
Peter Brooks, Reading for the Plot (1984)
Peter Brooks, Seduced by the Story (2023)

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Despite being rooted in 19th-century France, Honoré de Balzac's exploration of universal themes such as love, greed, and ambition makes his work still relevant today. Our guests are Dr. Melanie Conroy from the University of Memphis, who also authored Literary Geographies in Balzac and Proust (2021), and Dr. Julia Titus from Yale University, author of Dostoyevsky as a Translator of Balzac (2022).

Recommended Readings:
Eugénie Grandet
The Human Comedy
 
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Today, we're unfurling the scrolls of one of the most provocative, scandalous, and riveting novels to ever emerge from China’s Ming dynasty: "Jin Ping Mei," or as it's tantalizingly translated, "The Plum in the Golden Vase." This novel is not just a story; it's a journey into the opulent, and often morally ambiguous, world of 16th-century China. We have the esteemed Dr. Junjie Luo, associate professor in East Asian Studies at Gettysburg College, joining us in the studio. Dr. Luo, with his vast knowledge of Chinese literature and culture, will help us unravel the complex narrative threads and uncover the hidden pearls within this golden vase of a novel.

Reading Recommendations:
Lanlingxiaoxiaosheng, The Plum in the Golden Vase, trans. David Roy
Junjie Luo (2014) Translating Jin.Ping.Mei: a preliminary comparison of The Golden Lotus and The Plum in the Golden Vase, Perspectives, 22:1, 56-74.

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Madame Bovary scandalized and fascinated nineteenth-century France upon its release, and is a groundbreaking exploration of desire, romantic disillusionment, and the mundane realities of rural life. Joining us are Professors Mary Donaldson-Evans who taught at University of Delaware, Jennifer Yee from Oxford University, Rachel Mesch from Boston University, and C.F.S. Creasy from National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Taiwan.

Recommended Readings:
Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary
Creasy, C.F.S.. "Flaubert’s Alibi: The Impossible Ensemble of Madame Bovary," Novel. 2015. p363-380.
Donaldson-Evans, Mary. Madame Bovary at the Movies. Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam - New York, NY 2009
Yee, Jennifer. "Making Madame Bovary's Wedding Cake." article

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Gulliver’s Travels remains one of the finest satires in the English language, delighting in the mockery of everything from government to religion and —despite the passing of nearly three centuries-remaining just as fun, funny and relevant today.
Our guest-speakers are chief editors of the 2023 Cambridge Companion to Gulliver’s Travels Dr. Daniel Cook and Dr. Nicholas Seager. Daniel is an Associate Dean and Reader in English Literature at the University of Dundee whose teaching and research interests include eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literature. Nick is Lecturer in English Literature at Keele University, UK. His research interests are Restoration and eighteenth-century literature.

Recommended Readings:
Johnathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels (1726)
Cambridge Companion to Gulliver's Travels (2023)

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A Norwegian author and well-known worldwide for six autobiographical novels, titled My Struggle and multiple prize winner, Karl Ove Knausgaard  has been described as "one of the 21st century's greatest literary sensations". With us today is our returning guest-speaker Dr. Bob Blaisdell. As I’ve introduced him on the show before, he is professor of English at the City University of New York’s Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn. He is author of Creating Anna Karenina: Tolstoy and the Birth of Literature's Most Enigmatic Heroine; and another book titled Chekhov Becomes Chekhov: The Emergence of a Literary Genius.

Recommended Readings:
My Struggle
Conversation With Karl Ove Knausgaard

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