The Norton Library Podcast

In Part 2 of our discussion on Sinclair's The Jungle, editor Kenneth W. Warren returns to talk about how the novel stopped him in his tracks while reading it for school, the compelling question of the relationship between literature and propaganda, and the continued relevance of The Jungle today.   

Kenneth W. Warren is Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of English at the University of Chicago. He is the author of Black and White Strangers: Race and American Literary Realism (1993), So Black and Blue: Ralph Ellison and the Occasion of Criticism (2003), and What Was African American Literature? (2011).

To learn more or purchase a copy of the Norton Library edition of The Jungle, go to https://seagull.wwnorton.com/TheJungleNL.

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 @TNL_WWN and Bluesky at @nortonlibrary.bsky.social. 

In Part 1 of our discussion on Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, we welcome editor Kenneth W. Warren to discuss Sinclair's background, how his political commitments informed his literary endeavors, The Jungle's effect on regulatory efforts in the United States, and the techniques the novel uses to achieve its engrossing effect.

Kenneth W. Warren is Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of English at the University of Chicago. He is the author of Black and White Strangers: Race and American Literary Realism (1993), So Black and Blue: Ralph Ellison and the Occasion of Criticism (2003), and What Was African American Literature? (2011).

To learn more or purchase a copy of the Norton Library edition of The Jungle, go to https://seagull.wwnorton.com/TheJungleNL.

Learn more about the Norton Library series at https://seagull.wwnorton.com/nortonlibrary.

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

In Part 2 of our discussion on Hobbes's Leviathan, editor David Johnston discusses his personal history with Hobbes and the Leviathan, common challenges first-time readers face, his favorite line from the book, his approach to teaching the work, the details of the book's famous engraved title page, and more.

David Johnston teaches political philosophy at Columbia University, where he has served as Nell and Herbert M. Singer Professor of Contemporary Civilization and Joseph Straus Professor of Political Philosophy. He is the author of A Brief History of Justice, The Idea of a Liberal Theory, and The Rhetoric of Leviathan: Thomas Hobbes and the Politics of Cultural Transformation, and is the editor of a collection of readings entitled Equality and coeditor of Machiavelli on Liberty and Conflict.

To learn more or purchase a copy of the Norton Library edition of Leviathan, go to https://seagull.wwnorton.com/LeviathanNL.

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 @TNL_WWN.

In Part 1 of our discussion on Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan, we welcome editor David Johnston to discuss Hobbes's life and the historical context of Leviathan, the book's central thesis and argument, and its controversial reception through time.

David Johnston teaches political philosophy at Columbia University, where he has served as Nell and Herbert M. Singer Professor of Contemporary Civilization and Joseph Straus Professor of Political Philosophy. He is the author of A Brief History of Justice, The Idea of a Liberal Theory, and The Rhetoric of Leviathan: Thomas Hobbes and the Politics of Cultural Transformation, and is the editor of a collection of readings entitled Equality and coeditor of Machiavelli on Liberty and Conflict.

To learn more or purchase a copy of the Norton Library edition of Leviathan, go to https://seagull.wwnorton.com/LeviathanNL.

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 @TNL_WWN.

In Part 2 of our discussion on Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, editor Caroline Levine discusses the lasting cultural impact of the novella, common challenges to teaching it, some of additional short stories by Stevenson which she included in the Norton Library edition, and more.

Caroline Levine is David and Kathleen Ryan Professor of the Humanities and Professor of English at Cornell University. She has written three books: The Serious Pleasures of Suspense: Victorian Realism and Narrative Doubt (2003), Provoking Democracy: Why We Need the Arts (2007), and Forms: Whole, Rhythm, Hierarchy, Network (2015). She is the nineteenth-century editor for the Norton Anthology of World Literature.

To learn more or purchase a copy of the Norton Library edition of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Writings, go to https://seagull.wwnorton.com/JekyllAndHydeNL. 

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 @TNL_WWN.

Episode transcript at https://seagull.wwnorton.com/jekyllandhyde/part2/transcript.

In Part 1 of our discussion on Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, we welcome editor Caroline Levine to discuss Stevenson's biography; some of the novella's philosophical, scientific, and psychological themes; and how it fits in with other trends in late-nineteenth-century British literature.

Caroline Levine is David and Kathleen Ryan Professor of the Humanities and Professor of English at Cornell University. She has written three books: The Serious Pleasures of Suspense: Victorian Realism and Narrative Doubt (2003), Provoking Democracy: Why We Need the Arts (2007), and Forms: Whole, Rhythm, Hierarchy, Network (2015). She is the nineteenth-century editor for the Norton Anthology of World Literature.

To learn more or purchase a copy of the Norton Library edition of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Writings, go to https://seagull.wwnorton.com/JekyllAndHydeNL. 

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 @TNL_WWN.

Episode transcript at https://seagull.wwnorton.com/jekyllandhyde/part1/transcript.

In Part 2 of our discussion on Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, editor Stephanie Insley Hershinow discusses her own history with Austen, common misconceptions about the novel, her favorite line in the novel, a Sense and Sensibility-inspired playlist, and more.

Stephanie Insley Hershinow is an associate professor of English at Baruch College, CUNY, where she specializes in novel theory and eighteenth-century culture. She is the author of Born Yesterday: Inexperience and the Early Realist Novel. She lives with her family in Jersey City, New Jersey.

To learn more or purchase a copy of the Norton Library edition of Sense and Sensibility, go to https://seagull.wwnorton.com/SenseandSensibilityNL.

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 @TNL_WWN.

Listen to our Spotify playlist inspired by Sense and Sensibility: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/57XGkr5wU6J7QN6LvET2OX?si=b45ea6554c9c4431.

Episode transcript at https://seagull.wwnorton.com/senseandsensibility/part2/transcript.

In Part 1 of our discussion on Austen's Sense and Sensibility, we welcome editor Stephanie Insley Hershinow to discuss Austen's biography, including some misconceptions about her; the place of Sense and Sensibility in Austen's bibliography; the meaning of the novel's title in its context; and some of the work's major characters.

Stephanie Insley Hershinow is an associate professor of English at Baruch College, CUNY, where she specializes in novel theory and eighteenth-century culture. She is the author of Born Yesterday: Inexperience and the Early Realist Novel. She lives with her family in Jersey City, New Jersey.

To learn more or purchase a copy of the Norton Library edition of Sense and Sensibility, go to https://seagull.wwnorton.com/SenseandSensibilityNL.

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 @TNL_WWN.

Episode transcript at https://seagull.wwnorton.com/senseandsensibility/part1/transcript.

In Part 2 of our discussion on Augustine's Confessions, translator Peter Constantine discusses his own history with the text and how he came to translate it, the stylistic accomplishment of the Confessions, his translation process, and more.

Peter Constantine is the director of the Program in Literary Translation at the University of Connecticut, the publisher of World Poetry Books, and editor-in-chief of the magazine New Poetry in Translation. A prolific translator from several modern and classical languages, Constantine was awarded the PEN Translation Prize for Six Early Stories by Thomas Mann, the National Translation Award for The Undiscovered Chekhov, the Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator’s Prize for his translation of The Bird Is a Raven by Benjamin Lebert, and the Koret Jewish Book Award and a National Jewish Book Award citation for The Complete Works of Isaac Babel.

To learn more or purchase a copy of the Norton Library edition of Confessions, go to https://seagull.wwnorton.com/ConfessionsNL.

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 @TNL_WWN.

Episode transcript at https://seagull.wwnorton.com/Confessions/part2/transcript.

In Part 1 of our discussion on Augustine's Confessions, we welcome translator Peter Constantine to discuss the historical context in which Augustine of Hippo wrote the Confessions, the genre of the text, the lasting effect it has had on religious and secular intellectual traditions, and some of the touchstone episodes found in the work.

Peter Constantine is the director of the Program in Literary Translation at the University of Connecticut, the publisher of World Poetry Books, and editor-in-chief of the magazine New Poetry in Translation. A prolific translator from several modern and classical languages, Constantine was awarded the PEN Translation Prize for Six Early Stories by Thomas Mann, the National Translation Award for The Undiscovered Chekhov, the Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator’s Prize for his translation of The Bird Is a Raven by Benjamin Lebert, and the Koret Jewish Book Award and a National Jewish Book Award citation for The Complete Works of Isaac Babel.

To learn more or purchase a copy of the Norton Library edition of Confessions, go to https://seagull.wwnorton.com/ConfessionsNL.

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 @TNL_WWN.

Episode transcript at https://seagull.wwnorton.com/Confessions/part1/transcript.