All Episodes

Can You Create a New Canon?

Why Is Everyone Talking About The Multiverse?

Hidden Subtexts of Never Let Me Go

Is Never Let Me Go Science Fiction?

Review: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Rodham: New Timeline, Same Hillary

Rodham: Feminism Without Politics

Review: Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld

Ghosts + History = Lincoln in the Bardo

Has George Saunders Changed?

Review: Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

Realist Literature under Communism: Herta Müller, László Krasznahorkai, and Mo Yan

The Garlic Ballads: Are we too harsh on Mo Yan’s politics?

The Garlic Ballads: Can you trust Mo Yan?

Review: The Garlic Ballads by Mo Yan

Why is Satantango So Hard to Read?

Decoding Krasznahorkai’s Satantango

Review: Satantango by László Krasznahorkai

Herta Müller and Feminism

Herta Müller: A German home in Romania?

Review: The Passport by Herta Müller

Power in literature: Viet Thanh Nguyen, Abdulrazak Gurnah, and Yun Ko-Eun

Abdulrazak Gurnah and the Justice of Colonialism

Abdulrazak Gurnah—Who can understand Paradise?

Review: Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah

The Politics of Race in Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer

Mini-Review: Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch by Rivka Galchen

Duality and Divided Existence in Nguyen’s The Sympathizer

Review: The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

Korea vs. Capitalism: The Disaster Tourist, Parasite, and Squid Game

Man versus Nature: The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko Eun

Review: The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-eun

Mini-Review: When We Cease To Understand The World by Benjamín Labatut

A Look at Experimental Forms: Wong Kar-Wai’s 2046 and The Novel in Stories

What does Russia look like to American eyes? The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra

Is Knowledge of Russian History Key for Understanding The Tsar of Love and Techno?

Review: The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra

Different Ways of Understanding There But For The by Ali Smith

There but for the: Quietly about the refugee crisis?

Mini-Review: Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen

Review: There But For The by Ali Smith

A Visit from the Goon Squad: Can form be content?

Decoding the Narrative of A Visit from the Goon Squad

Review: A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

On the Impossibility of Utopias in Fiction

Mini-Review: Scattered All Over the Earth by Yoko Tawada

Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed: Is anarchism still relevant?

Just How Radical is Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed?

Review: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

Postcolonial Africa in Mike Resnick’s Kirinyaga

Problematizing the Fable in Resnick’s Kirinyaga

Review: Kirinyaga by Mike Resnick

Toni Morrison’s Paradise and Critical Race Theory

Toni Morrison’s Paradise and the Supernatural

Review: Paradise by Toni Morrison

A Good Adaptation?! Murakami’s Drive My Car and Structuralism

Bad Adaptation: Discussing As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

Review: As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

Bad Adaptation: Discussing The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Review: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Bad Adaptation: Discussing High-Rise by J.G. Ballard

Review: High Rise by J.G. Ballard

Apocalypse Soon! A Series Review

Apocalypse Soon! Discussing Weather by Jenny Offill

Review: Weather by Jenny Offill

Apocalypse Soon! Discussing The Man with the Compound Eyes by Wu Ming-Yi

Review: The Man with the Compound Eyes by Wu Ming-Yi

Apocalypse Soon! Discussing A Children‘s Bible by Lydia Millet

Review: A Children‘s Bible by Lydia Millet

Contemporary Nigerian Fiction: A Series Review

Contemporary Nigerian Fiction: Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo

Review: Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo

Contemporary Nigerian Fiction: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Review: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Contemporary Nigerian Fiction: The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

Review: The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

The Im/possibility of a New Home: A Series Review

The Im/possibility of a New Home: The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka

Review: The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka

The Im/possibility of a New Home: Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald

Review: Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald

The Im/possibility of a New Home: Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera

Review: Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera

Afrofuturism: A Series Review

Afrofuturism: Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed

Review: Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed

Afrofuturism: The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead

Episode 50

Review: The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead

Afrofuturism: Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

Review: Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

Obsession! A Series Review

Obsession! Novels from around the World: The Lime Works by Thomas Bernhard

Review: The Lime Works by Thomas Bernhard

Obsession! A Discussion of Novels from around the World: The Tunnel by Ernesto Sabato

Bonus Episode! Interview with Michael X. Wang, author of Further News of Defeat and winner of the PEN/Bingham prize!

Review: The Tunnel by Ernesto Sabato

Obsession! Novels from around the World: Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

Review: Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

Contemporary Chinese Sci-Fi Series Review