Galapágos by Kurt Vonnegut
Backlisted12 Syys 2023

Galapágos by Kurt Vonnegut

In this episode we are delighted to welcome 2023 Booker Prize Winner Shehan Karunatilaka to discuss Kurt Vonnegut’s eleventh novel, Galapágos. First published in 1985, it is one of his most radical, intricate and humorous works, a Darwinian satire narrated by a ghost from a million years in the future. As Lorrie Moore wrote about it at the time, Vonnegut’s ‘grumbly and idiomatic voice has always been his own, unfakeable and childlike, and his humanity, persisting as it does through his pessimism.’ We talk about where Galapágos book stands in Vonnegut’s long career, its continuing relevance to a world even more dominated by technology and the climate emergency, and whether with the two novels the followed (Bluebeard and Hocus Pocus) it represented a return to form. We discuss Vonnegut's second career as a quotable talk show guest and ponder the seeming mismatch between his enduring popularity with readers and his less stable critical reputation. Shehan also offers us frank and fascinating insights into the influence that this book and ‘Uncle Kurt’s work in general has had on his own work, particularly the Booker winner The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, also narrated by a ghost. * To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops. * For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit www.backlisted.fm *If you'd like to support the show, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at www.patreon.com/backlisted Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jaksot(260)

Summer Reading 2024

Summer Reading 2024

Despite the team's somewhat complex relationship with the idea of ‘summer’, this episode is full of seasonal recommendations. Andy previews Intermezzo, the new Sally Rooney (out in September) and enjo...

12 Elo 20241h 10min

Endless Night by Agatha Christie

Endless Night by Agatha Christie

At long last, it's our Agatha Christie show! We are joined by Caroline Crampton, writer and host of the Shedunnit podcast, and Laura Thompson, author and Christie biographer, for an investigation of E...

29 Heinä 20241h 3min

Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr

Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr

Children's writer Rachael King and novelist Richard Blandford join John and Andy for a discussion of Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr, the eerie, disturbing tale of two sick children who meet in a r...

16 Heinä 20241h 8min

Gaining Ground by Joan Barfoot

Gaining Ground by Joan Barfoot

Author Rose Ruane (This Is Yesterday, Birding) picks Gaining Ground AKA Abra (1978) by Canadian feminist writer Joan Barfoot. One day, seemingly on a whim, a woman walks out of her home and her marria...

26 Kesä 20241h 5min

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the subject of this episode of Backlisted. Dr Martin Shaw and Dr Laura Varnam (hwaet Laura!) join Andy and John to discuss this late 14th-century chivalric romance -...

17 Kesä 20241h 10min

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: The Original Radio Scripts by Douglas Adams

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: The Original Radio Scripts by Douglas Adams

The work of Douglas Adams - comic genius, futurologist and erstwhile hitchhiker - is the subject of this episode of Backlisted, in particular The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: The Original Radio S...

3 Kesä 20241h 21min

Memento Mori by Muriel Spark

Memento Mori by Muriel Spark

John Grindrod, author of Concretopia, joins John Mitchinson and Andy Miller to discuss Memento Mori, the third novel by Muriel Spark. They also pay tribute to the author and agent David Miller, who pa...

28 Touko 20241h

The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford

The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford

Novelist Alex Michaelides (The Silent Patient, The Fury) joins Andy and John to discuss Ford Madox Ford's classic novel The Good Soldier (1915), a tale of passion in which, owing to a narrator of almo...

28 Touko 20241h 1min

Suosittua kategoriassa Vapaa-aika

nikotellen
antin-matka
the-harlin-show
ihan-oikeesti
sita
unicast
eturivi
rss-nikotellen
tahtitehdas
mutsiputki
mysteeripodcast
everypodi
terkuin-jenna
rss-naapurissa
oral-sex
kaikkea-hyvaa
moottoripodi-2
rss-lapseton-elama
20-30-40-podcast
kasper-ja-mikko