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Desperate Readers

Desperate Readers

51 episodes

3 months ago

Tatiana and Niko meet together to discuss great literature of the past and present. In each episode they read a book of contemporary world literature and pair it with a canonical western classic to delve into shared literary themes and questions that writers keep returning to across space and time. Follow us on Instagram: @desperatereaderspod and Twitter: @DesperateReads Sound recording and editing by Niko and Tatiana Opening music by Seth Thomsen

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Society & Culture

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Tatiana and Niko meet together to discuss great literature of the past and present. In each episode they read a book of contemporary world literature and pair it with a canonical western classic to delve into shared literary themes and questions that writers keep returning to across space and time. Follow us on Instagram: @desperatereaderspod and Twitter: @DesperateReads Sound recording and editing by Niko and Tatiana Opening music by Seth Thomsen

Show more...

Society & Culture

Episodes (20/51)

Desperate Readers

L. Napoleon and Mephistopheles: The Queen of Spades by Alexander Pushkin

This week Niko and Tatiana discuss the ultimate Russian writer Alexander Pushkin. They read the novella "The Queen of Spades" and talk about certainty, obsession, gambling, and sports betting.

4 months ago

42 minutes 23 seconds

Desperate Readers

XLIX. The Most Righteous and Appalling: Michael Kohlhaas by Heinrich von Kleist

This week welcomes back to the pod Heinrich von Kleist and perhaps his most famous novella, "Michael Kohlhaas"! Niko and Tatiana discuss justice, certainty, and doubt in a story that even Kafka read with "true piety"

5 months ago

43 minutes 58 seconds

Desperate Readers

XLVIII. The Ways of White Folks: Passing by Langston Hughes

This week Niko and Tatiana return to the Harlem Renaissance and discuss Langston Hughes's short story "Passing" from the collection The Ways of White Folks. They discuss identity, economic freedom, patronage, and the Kendrick-Drake feud.

7 months ago

50 minutes 12 seconds

Desperate Readers

XLVII. The Misfit and the Grandmother: A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor

Niko and Tatiana discuss Flannery O'Connor's iconic short story "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" with special guest Sophie.

8 months ago

56 minutes 6 seconds

Desperate Readers

XLVI. Touching Grass Is Not Enough: When I Sing, Mountains Dance by Irene Solà

Spooky Season has come and gone but we're still talking about witches on the podcast. Niko and Tatiana read When I Sing, Mountains Dance by Irene Solà, translated from its original Catalan. Each chapter of the novel is told from a different narrator to weave a story crossing generations and mountain ranges. We discuss the Pyrenees, trauma, and the relationship between nature and poetry.

12 months ago

58 minutes 49 seconds

Desperate Readers

XLV. Waves of Violence: Barn Burning by William Faulkner

Welcome back to the pod, William Faulkner! This week, Tatiana and Niko read the short story "Barn Burning," originally published in Harper's Magazine in 1939. They discuss cycles of violence within the structures of family, history, and class, make comparisons to Juan Rulfo, and try to figure out why so many people love American Southern Gothic literature.

1 year ago

44 minutes 15 seconds

Desperate Readers

XLIV. El llano en llamas: The Burning Plain by Juan Rulfo

A underrated classic praised by Nobel winners. Niko and Tatiana read two short stories, "The Burning Plain" and "Tell Them Not to Kill Me!", from Juan Rulfo's El llano en llamas recently translated by Douglas J. Weatherford.

1 year ago

44 minutes 21 seconds

Desperate Readers

XLIII. Not a Podcast: Not a River by Selva Almada

On to the Booker International Shortlist! This week Niko and Tatiana read Not a River by Selva Almada, translated from the Spanish by Annie McDermott. They talk about water, fire, eco-criticism, masculinity, and girlhood, and touch on authors like Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, and Juan Rulfo.

1 year ago

42 minutes 27 seconds

Desperate Readers

XLII. Liars and Mothers: The House on Via Gemito by Domenico Starnone

We're back!! Niko and Tatiana read the 2024 Booker International Longlist and Strega-Prize winning The House on Via Gemito by Domenico Starnone. We talk about memory, family, painting, and touch on Starnone's possible connection to the mysterious writer Elena Ferrante.

1 year ago

53 minutes 22 seconds

Desperate Readers

XLI. What Women Most Desire: The Wife of Bath's Tale by Geoffery Chaucer

On the last episode of our pilgrimage, we meet one of the most colorful characters in Chaucer's tale: The Wife of Bath. Niko and Tatiana discuss experience, sovereignty, and what women most desire. Drop us a DM if you think you know!

1 year ago

35 minutes 19 seconds

Desperate Readers

XL. RIP Chaucer, You Would've Loved the Godfather: The Miller's Tale and the Reeve's Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer

The pilgrimage continues! Niko and Tatiana dive into some of the most famous stories from the Canterbury Tales: the Miller's Tale and the Reeve's Tale. They discuss entertainment and morals, what it means to repay a tale, and why the Reeve's tale is a bad tale. A long digression on the Godfather at the end of the episode awaits.

1 year ago

36 minutes 57 seconds

Desperate Readers

XXXIX. Whan that Aprill: The Canterbury Tales (Opening Prologue and the Knight's Tale) by Geoffery Chaucer

...with his shoures soote, Niko and Tatiana celebrate spring by starting the Canterbury Tales by Geoffery Chaucer. They focus on the General Prologue and the Knight's Tale while discussing Middle English, medieval life, storytelling, and chivalry.

1 year ago

49 minutes 55 seconds

Desperate Readers

XXXVIII. Is-slottet: The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas

The Nordic trilogy wraps up with The Ice Palace by Norwegian novelist Tarjei Vesaas, which recounts the strange relationship between two girls, Siss and Unn, and the aftermath when one of them disappears. Niko and Tatiana discuss girlhood, the Other, the psyche, and community.

1 year ago

46 minutes 41 seconds

Desperate Readers

XXXVII. I Was Taking a Drive: A Shining by Jon Fosse

The overdue Nordic winter trilogy continues: Tatiana and Niko read 2023 Nobel Prize Laureate Jon Fosse's most recent translated work, A Shining, about a man who begins to drive until he finds himself in the woods during a snow storm. They discuss modern inner monologues, psychoanalysis, and the limits of language.

1 year ago

42 minutes 19 seconds

Desperate Readers

XXXVI. Bro!: Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney

We're Back! After a long winter (and winter break), Niko and Tatiana read the classic Old English epic Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney. They discuss legacy, vigilance, steadfastness, and how lads love lads. This episode was recorded in January 2024.

1 year ago

39 minutes 45 seconds

Desperate Readers

XXXV. Ethics and Aesthetics: Poor Things by Alasdair Gray

In preparation for the new Yorgos Lanthimos movie, Niko and Tatiana read Poor Things by Alasdair Gray. They discuss Bella Baxter's story, ethics and aesthetics, nineteenth-century medicine, and muse a little on the movie starring Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo.

1 year ago

44 minutes 33 seconds

Desperate Readers

XXXIV. Life Is Hard, but You Must Be Harder: Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi

This week, Niko and Tatiana read Woman at Point Zero by Egyptian feminist author and doctor Nawal El Saadawi, the "Simone de Beauvoir of the Arab world". Based on a true story, Woman at Point Zero recounts the life of Firdaus, a young prostitute on death row, allowing her to reclaim the meaning of her life and depict the lot of Egyptian women. Niko and Tatiana discuss consciousness, sex work, and the gaze of eyes.

1 year ago

43 minutes 34 seconds

Desperate Readers

XXXIII. How Did they ever Make a Podcast of Lolita: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

A true American classic! Niko and Tatiana read Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita and discuss eroticism, the English language, and America!

1 year ago

45 minutes 53 seconds

Desperate Readers

XXXII. It Gives Two Turns!: The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

Spooky season comes late to the pod as Niko and Tatiana invite special guest Alex to talk about Henry James's ghost story, The Turn of the Screw. The three discuss psychoanalytic interpretation, turning, the unknowable, and of course, ghosts.

1 year ago

44 minutes 39 seconds

Desperate Readers

XXXI. The Labyrinth of Inhumanity: The Most Secret Memory of Men by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr

For literature and literature lovers. Niko and Tatiana read The Most Secret Memory of Men by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, winner of the 2021 Prix Goncourt. They discuss plagiarism, fragmentation, and jokes, with lots of references to Roberto Bolaño and Yambo Ouologuem.

2 years ago

48 minutes 25 seconds