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The Norton Library Podcast
Welcome to the Norton Library Podcast, where we explore influential works of literature and philosophy with the leading scholars and teachers behind Norton’s newest series of classics. In each episode, with a Norton Library editor or translator as our guide, we'll learn something new and surprising about these classic works—why they endure, and what it means to read them today. Hosted by Mark Cirino and produced by Michael Von Cannon, the co-creators of the Hemingway Society's popular show One True Podcast.
Episodes
50 episodes
Tell Your Students about Edith Wharton! (The Age of Innocence, Part 2)
In Part 2 of our discussion on Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence, editor Sheila Liming returns to discuss challenges for first-time readers, the correlation between fluctuations in Wharton's reputation and historical literary (and p...
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Season 3
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Episode 16
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32:39
A Hieroglyphic World: Social Rules in Wharton's Novel of Manners (The Age of Innocence, Part 1)
In Part 1 of our discussion on Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence, we welcome editor Sheila Liming to discuss the author's friendship with Henry James, a culture of elitism in New York, and the ironic meaning of "innocence" in the no...
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Season 3
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Episode 15
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32:32
Taylor Swift's "Anti-Hero" and Hemingway's Flawed Characters (The Sun Also Rises, Part 2)
In Part 2 of our discussion on Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, editor Verna Kale returns to discuss the vintage bullfighting posters that inspired the cover of the Norton Library edition, a "hot take" on the traditional hero of ...
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Season 3
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Episode 14
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27:55
Don't Try This At Home: Hemingway's First Major Novel (The Sun Also Rises, Part 1)
In Part 1 of our discussion on Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, we welcome editor Verna Kale to discuss a young Hemingway's life experience leading up to writing the novel, his captivation with bullfighting and insider knowledge,...
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Season 3
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Episode 13
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30:51
The World Was All Before Them (Paradise Lost, Part 2)
In Part 2 of our discussion on John Milton's Paradise Lost, editor Stephen B. Dobranski returns to discuss his own first encounter with Milton in a high school classroom, the experience of editing the Norton Library edition from histor...
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Season 3
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Episode 12
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33:01
Milton Retweets His Way to Revolution (Well, He Tries) (Paradise Lost, Part 1)
In Part 1 of our discussion on John Milton's Paradise Lost, we welcome editor Stephen B. Dobranski to discuss Milton's life in the midst of religious and political controversy, pamphlet wars and the representation of failed revolution ...
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Season 3
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Episode 11
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34:29
A Man Half Bull and a Bull Half Man (Metamorphoses, Part 2)
In Part 2 of our discussion on Ovid's Metamorphoses, translator Charles Martin returns to discuss his first encounter with Ovid, the potential to learn Greek and Roman mythology through reading Metamorphoses, and other scholar...
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Season 3
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Episode 10
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26:12
The Secret Poet (Metamorphoses, Part 1)
In Part 1 of our discussion on Ovid's Metamorphoses, we welcome translator Charles Martin to discuss Ovid's well-documented life and his exile, the popularity and subversiveness of Ovid's writings, and the creation of a new epic form t...
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Season 3
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Episode 9
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29:09
The Hog-Squeal of the Universe (The Jungle, Part 2)
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 an...
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Season 3
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Episode 8
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35:13
Meatpacking and Muckraking (The Jungle, Part 1)
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...
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Season 3
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Episode 7
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30:49
Nasty, Brutish, and Short (Leviathan, Part 2)
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...
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Season 3
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Episode 6
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29:41
Artificial Kings (Leviathan, Part 1)
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 recepti...
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Season 3
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Episode 5
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29:22
Imps and Snatchers and Spirits, Oh My! (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Part 2)
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 shor...
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Season 3
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Episode 4
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32:05
Who's the Real You? (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Part 1)
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...
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Season 3
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Episode 3
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32:59
A Passion for Dead Leaves (Sense and Sensibility, Part 2)
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 Sensibi...
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Season 3
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Episode 2
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34:19
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The Last Eighteenth-Century Novel (Sense and Sensibility, Part 1)
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...
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Season 3
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Episode 1
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33:10
They All Cried Out, "He Made Us" (Confessions, Part 2)
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 pro...
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Season 2
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Episode 20
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30:09
Augustine Gives in to Pear Pressure (Confessions, Part 1)
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 ...
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Season 2
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Episode 19
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32:37
Funny as Hell (Inferno, Part 2)
In Part 2 of our discussion on Dante's Inferno, translator Michael Palma discusses his own history with the poem and how he came to translate it, the terza rima rhyme scheme Dante employs, and in what ways the Divine Comedy is...
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Season 2
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Episode 18
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35:39
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Dante's Inferno: A 13th-Century Scared Straight! (Inferno, Part 1)
In Part 1 of our discussion on Dante's Inferno, we welcome translator Michael Palma to discuss Dante's life and the context in which he wrote the Inferno, the narrative structure of The Divine Comedy, and what makes t...
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Season 2
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Episode 17
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35:12
How to Read, How to Feel (Narrative of Frederick Douglass, Part 2)
In Part 2 of our discussion on Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, editor Joshua Bennett discusses the cover of the Norton Library edition, approaching the text as history and as literature, how Douglass teaches us to read, th...
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Season 2
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Episode 16
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34:43
The Hero's Journey (Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Part 1)
In Part 1 of our discussion on the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, we welcome editor Joshua Bennett to discuss Douglass's Narrative as a type of hero's journey, Douglass's political project in writing the book, an...
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Season 2
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Episode 15
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30:23
But I Wouldn't Give Myself (The Awakening, Part 2)
In Part 2 of our discussion on The Awakening, editor Laura Fisher tells us about her first encounter with the novel, discusses her approach to teaching it, explores her favorite line of the text, provides a killer Awakening playlist, a...
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Season 2
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Episode 14
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30:35
Don't Nap for Self-Care. Wake up! (The Awakening, Part 1)
In Part 1 of our discussion on The Awakening, we welcome editor Laura Fisher to discuss Kate Chopin's writing career, the novel's reception and themes, as well as some of its major characters. Laura R. Fisher is an associate pr...
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Season 2
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Episode 13
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32:36
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It's Okay to be Frustrated with Joyce (Dubliners, Part 2)
In Part 2 of our discussion on Dubliners, editor Ian Whittington discusses the inspiration for the cover of his Norton Library edition, his favorite lines in the collection, his Dubliners hot take, and some suggestions for a <...
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Season 2
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Episode 12
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34:31
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