Emily Wilson talks to Thomas Jones about three new translations of the Oresteia. They discuss what the texts of the tragedies may tell us about the state of democracy in fifth-century Athens, the difficulties of Aeschylus’ language, why Hamilton may be the best modern analogue to Ancient Greek drama, and how Wilson came to do her own translation of the Odyssey.

Find Emily Wilson's piece on Aeschylus and more here: https://lrb.me/emilywilsonpod

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Jenny Turner talks to Joanna Biggs about the history of the Women’s Liberation Movement, the loneliness of feminist work, and the seemingly unavoidable question: How do you think your life compares to your mother’s?

Find Jenny Turner’s piece and other related pieces on the episode page for this podcast: https://lrb.me/jennyturnerpod

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Deborah Friedell talks to Thomas Jones about the origins, and origin myths, of the National Rifle Association, how it spends its money, and why it's wary of winning.

Read Deborah Friedell on the NRA here: https://lrb.me/friedellnrapod

And you can find her other pieces for the LRB here: https://lrb.me/friedellpod

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Katherine Rundell reads her study of the Greenland shark, which can live for 500 years.

You can find all the pieces in Katherine Rundell's series of animal studies on her author page on the LRB website: https://lrb.me/rundellpod

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Rupert Beale talks to Thomas Jones about Covid-19 vaccine candidates, and reasons not to rush them; how worried we should be about reported cases of re-infection; possible reasons for the apparent drop in the infection fatality rate; and the prospects for reopening schools.

Read more by Rupert Beale in the LRB: https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/lrb-conversations/covidology

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Patricia Lockwood reads her diary about catching and recovering from Covid-19.

Read more by Patricia Lockwood in the LRB here: https://lrb.me/lockwoodpod

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Adam Shatz talks to Paul Gilroy about his intellectual background and the recent anti-racist protests in the UK and US. They discuss Gilroy’s experience growing up in North London in the 1950s and 1960s, the influence of African-American culture on his understanding of racial ordering, the role of Turner’s painting The Slave Ship in the history of the ‘Black Atlantic’, the shifting use of terms such as ‘racism’ and ‘anti-blackness’, and how the imminent threats of climate change might affect racial identity.

Find material related to this podcast on our website: https://lrb.me/paulgilroypod

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Stefan Collini talks to Thomas Jones about the life and work of Frank Kermode, and Mary-Kay Wilmers remembers him as a contributor to the LRB.

Find LRB pieces related to this episode here: lrb.me/frankkermodepod

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Buy the LRB’s selection of Frank Kermode’s essays from the LRB Store: lrb.me/kermodeselectionpod

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In the latest episode in their series of Close Readings, Seamus Perry and Mark Ford look at the life and work of Robert Frost, the great American poet of fences and dark woods. They discuss Frost’s difficult early life as an occasional poultry farmer and teacher, his arrival in England in 1912 amid the flowering of Georgian poetry, and his emergence as the first 20th-century professional poet, whose version of the American wilderness myth, full of mischief and foreboding, took him to packed concert halls and a presidential inauguration.

Find the LRB pieces mentioned in this episode on the LRB website here: https://lrb.me/robertfrostpod

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Following his piece in the latest issue of the LRB, William Davies talks to Thomas Jones about the new political polarisation, and what it owes to the online culture of instant feedback. What does politics look like, Davies asks, once the provocation of reaction, positive or negative, precedes the slow work of excavation, research, reporting and administration?

They discuss the anticipation of this modern politics in the ideas of the Nazi theorist Carl Schmitt, the seductive appeal of referendums as relief from the quagmire of parliamentary liberalism, and the way that demanding people take sides in the ‘culture wars’ inhibits meaningful discussion where it’s most needed.

Read William Davies' piece here: https://lrb.me/daviesredbuttonpod

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