The Norton Library Podcast

In Part 1 of our discussion on Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, we welcome editor Deborah Lutz to discuss collaborative writing amongst the Brontë sisters, the initially negative reception of Wuthering Heights, and the process of unpacking parts of the author's mysterious life. 

Deborah Lutz is the author of six books, including This Dark Night: Emily Brontë, A Life and The Brontë Cabinet: Three Lives in Nine Objects, which was shortlisted for the PEN/Weld Award for Biography. She has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a Cullman Center Fellow at the New York Public Library, and has twice been awarded National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships. She teaches Victorian literature and culture at Pennsylvania State University as the George and Barbara Kelly Professor in Nineteenth-Century English and American Literature. Past honors include fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Mellon Foundation. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Cabinet Magazine, and many other venues, and she is the editor of two Norton Critical Editions—Jane Eyre and Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

To learn more or purchase a copy of the Norton Library edition of Wuthering Heights, go to https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393870756. 

Learn more about the Norton Library series at https://wwnorton.com/norton-library.

Have questions or suggestions for the podcast? Email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter at @TNL_WWN and Bluesky at @nortonlibrary.bsky.social. 

In Part 2 of our discussion on Henry David Thoreau's Walden, editor Jedediah Britton-Purdy returns to discuss misconceptions about the author's philosophy, the balancing act of isolation and civic duty, and Thoreau's possible influence on important figures including Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Jedediah Britton-Purdy is Professor of Law at Duke University and a scholar of environmental and constitutional law. His books on environmental themes include After Nature and This Land Is Our Land. He has also written about Henry David Thoreau in venues including The Atlantic, The Nation, and n+1. He grew up in West Virginia.

To learn more or purchase a copy of the Norton Library edition of Walden and Other Writings, go to https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393870701. 

Learn more about the Norton Library series at https://wwnorton.com/norton-library.

Have questions or suggestions for the podcast? Email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter at @TNL_WWN and Bluesky at @nortonlibrary.bsky.social. 

In Part 1 of our discussion on Henry David Thoreau's Walden, we welcome editor Jedediah Britton-Purdy to discuss the relevance of Thoreau's questions about modernity to today's AI debate, the similarities and differences between Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, and common misconceptions about Thoreau's life in the woods. 

Jedediah Britton-Purdy is Professor of Law at Duke University and a scholar of environmental and constitutional law. His books on environmental themes include After Nature and This Land Is Our Land. He has also written about Henry David Thoreau in venues including The Atlantic, The Nation, and n+1. He grew up in West Virginia.

To learn more or purchase a copy of the Norton Library edition of Walden and Other Writings, go to https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393870701. 

Learn more about the Norton Library series at https://wwnorton.com/norton-library.

Have questions or suggestions for the podcast? Email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter at @TNL_WWN and Bluesky at @nortonlibrary.bsky.social. 

In Part 2 of our discussion on Homer's Odyssey, translator Emily Wilson returns to discuss the cinematic spectacle of Christopher Nolan's film, the different responsibilities of translation and adaptation, and the challenges of weaving together multi-layered narrative episodes and characters into a single movie.  

Emily Wilson is a professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She has been named a fellow of the American Academy in Rome, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a MacArthur Fellow. In addition to Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, she has also published translations of Sophocles, Euripides, and Seneca. She lives in Philadelphia.

To learn more or purchase a copy of the Norton Library edition of The Odyssey, go to https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393417937. 

Learn more about the Norton Library series at https://wwnorton.com/norton-library.

Have questions or suggestions for the podcast? Email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter at @TNL_WWN and Bluesky at @nortonlibrary.bsky.social. 

In Part 1 of our discussion on Homer's Odyssey, we welcome translator Emily Wilson to discuss Odysseus as a complicated character, the roles of women and divine beings in the poem, and the centuries-old stories within stories that pose questions of hospitality, power, fatherhood, and time still relevant today. 

Part 2, coming tomorrow (8/4), will center Wilson's reaction to Christopher Nolan's recent film. 

Emily Wilson is a professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She has been named a fellow of the American Academy in Rome, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a MacArthur Fellow. In addition to Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, she has also published translations of Sophocles, Euripides, and Seneca. She lives in Philadelphia.

To learn more or purchase a copy of the Norton Library edition of The Odyssey, go to https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393417937. 

Learn more about the Norton Library series at https://wwnorton.com/norton-library.

Have questions or suggestions for the podcast? Email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter at @TNL_WWN and Bluesky at @nortonlibrary.bsky.social. 

In Part 2 of our discussion on Apuleius's The Golden Ass, translator Ellen Finkelpearl returns to discuss the striking cover of the Norton Library edition, her favorite line from the text and the paradox of the title, and the ways Apuleius thinks of and comments on human and animal rights in the ancient world. 

Ellen Finkelpearl is the Helen Chandler Garland Professor of Ancient Studies at Scripps College, and a scholar of Apuleius.

To learn more or purchase a copy of the Norton Library edition of The Golden Ass, go to https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393428919. 

Learn more about the Norton Library series at https://wwnorton.com/norton-library.

Have questions or suggestions for the podcast? Email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter at @TNL_WWN and Bluesky at @nortonlibrary.bsky.social. 

In Part 1 of our discussion on Apuleius's The Golden Ass, we welcome translator Ellen Finkelpearl to discuss the author's surviving and lost works, the process of translating such an ancient text, and the challenge of preserving Apuleius's rhythmic and exuberant writing style. 

Ellen Finkelpearl is the Helen Chandler Garland Professor of Ancient Studies at Scripps College, and a scholar of Apuleius.

To learn more or purchase a copy of the Norton Library edition of The Golden Ass, go to https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393428919. 

Learn more about the Norton Library series at https://wwnorton.com/norton-library.

Have questions or suggestions for the podcast? Email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter at @TNL_WWN and Bluesky at @nortonlibrary.bsky.social. 

In Part 2 of our discussion on Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, translator Michael Katz returns to discuss the symbolic colors of the cover of the Norton Library edition, his first encounter with Dostoevsky's work and other Russian literature, and his favorite line from the novel. 

Michael R. Katz is the C. V. Starr Professor Emeritus of Russian and East European Studies at Middlebury College. He has translated over twenty Russian novels, including The Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment, Fathers and Children, and Notes from Underground.

To learn more or purchase a copy of the Norton Library edition of Crime and Punishment, go to https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393427950. 

Learn more about the Norton Library series at https://wwnorton.com/norton-library.

Have questions or suggestions for the podcast? Email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter at @TNL_WWN and Bluesky at @nortonlibrary.bsky.social. 

In Part 1 of our discussion on Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, we welcome translator Michael Katz to discuss the effects of Dostoevsky's personal and family life on his writing, the "big questions of life" and morality woven into Dostoevsky's works, and the challenge of translating Dostoevsky's repetitive writing style. 

Michael R. Katz is the C. V. Starr Professor Emeritus of Russian and East European Studies at Middlebury College. He has translated over twenty Russian novels, including The Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment, Fathers and Children, and Notes from Underground.

To learn more or purchase a copy of the Norton Library edition of Crime and Punishment, go to https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393427950. 

Learn more about the Norton Library series at https://wwnorton.com/norton-library.

Have questions or suggestions for the podcast? Email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter at @TNL_WWN and Bluesky at @nortonlibrary.bsky.social. 

In Part 2 of our discussion on Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, editor Susan M. Ryan returns to discuss the artistic inspiration behind the Norton Library edition, her favorite scene in the book, and the essential historical context readers need to fully understand the text. 

Susan M. Ryan is Professor of English and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs at the University of Louisville. She is the author of The Grammar of Good Intentions: Race and the Antebellum Culture of Benevolence (2003) and The Moral Economies of American Authorship: Reputation, Scandal, and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Marketplace (2016). Her current project investigates nineteenth-century Americans' preoccupation with India.

To learn more or purchase a copy of the Norton Library edition of Uncle Tom's Cabin, go to https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393871593. 

Learn more about the Norton Library series at https://wwnorton.com/norton-library.

Have questions or suggestions for the podcast? Email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter at @TNL_WWN and Bluesky at @nortonlibrary.bsky.social.