The Trans-Atlanticist

In this episode, host Douglas Cowie and his guest, documentary filmmaker Mark Blottner, discuss The Man with the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren. Published in 1949, it tells the story of a war veteran's struggle with morphine addiction, and in so doing paints a portrait of a marginal neighborhood in Chicago and its people.

In this episode, host Douglas Cowie and his guest, writer Ryan Gattis, discuss Native Son by Richard Wright. Published in 1940, it tells the story of a young Black Chicagoan who murders a White heiress, and the personal, social and political consequences that ensue.

In this episode, host Douglas Cowie and his guest, Dr. Katie McGettigan, Senior Lecturer in American Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London, discuss Sister Carrie, a novel by Theodore Dreiser. Published in 1900, it tells the story of a young woman seduced by the material trappings of Chicago and its men

There is no “I” that sees in every direction at once. In the sixth and final episode of Transatlantic Wisdom, Michael Coyle and Alan Swensen return to Friedrich Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morality (1887) in order to explore its importance in the development of modern wisdom literature, particularly Wallace Stevens’ poetry. Key themes include an exploration of the ascetic ideal in the Western tradition; the importance of form or genre in the creation of meaning; the differences between treatise, polemic, and aphorism; the tensions between having a systemic worldview and having no systemic worldview; the impossibility of achieving pure knowledge; and lastly the joy that comes in understanding that the absence of meaning provides human beings with the unique existential opportunity to be creative.

Different forms shape knowledge in different ways. In the fifth episode, Michael Coyle and Alan Swensen introduce a German and an American scholar who study the aphoristic form, namely Gerhard Neumann (1934-2017) and Adam Gopnik (b. 1956). These introductions serve as a starting point for a discussion of the thinkers Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914), Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), Dorothy Parker (1893-1967), and Elias Canetti (1905-1994). Key themes include the tension between analytical and spiritual forms of wisdom literature, the conflict between thought and feeling, dogmatism, and epistemological humility.

The meaning of a poem is the least interesting thing about it. In the fourth episode, Michael Coyle and Alan Swensen share the satirical wisdom of two great transatlantic journalists and savage social critics, Karl Kraus (1874-1936) and H. L. Mencken (1880-1956). Key themes include linguistic precision, anti-foundationalism, politics, journalism, and—most importantly—wit, sarcasm, and humor.

The truth disappears when we summarize and paraphrase. In the third episode, Michael Coyle and Alan Swensen turn to wisdom literature written by two transatlantic women whose lives span three centuries, Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916) and Sarah Manguso (b. 1974). Key themes include historical understandings of social castes and gender, feminism, tensions between nature and artistic creation, and the philosophical relationship between the fragment and the whole.

What oft was thought, but ne'er so well express'd. In the second episode, Coyle and Swensen trace the evolution of thought from the Enlightenment period (1685-1815) through the Romantic era (1800-1850) and Nietzsche’s lifetime (1844-1900) and lastly on to the Modernist era (1900-1940) by focusing on a number of key transatlantic figures. Key themes include the art of interpretation, the creation of philosophical systems, and tensions between rationalism and artistic creation.

Everything that matters is difficult to understand. In the first episode of Transatlantic Wisdom, Michael Coyle and Alan Swensen unpack the meaning of Nietzsche’s famous line that we have killed God. They then assess the influence of Nietzsche on Wallace Stevens’ poetry, namely his famous poems The Snow Man, The Surprises of the Superhuman, and The Emperor of Ice-Cream. Key themes include the seduction of language, problems with subjectivity, and the importance of patient interpretation.

The Trans-Atlanticist at the Amerikazentrum in Hamburg is delighted to announce the launch of our new six-part series called Transatlantic Wisdom, which explores the rich interchange of ideas between Germany and the United States over the last several hundred years.