Conversations with Tyler11 Des 2024

Paula Byrne on Thomas Hardy's Women, Jane Austen's Humor, and Evelyn Waugh's Warmth

What can Thomas Hardy's tortured marriages teach us about love, obsession, and second chances? In this episode, biographer, novelist, and therapist Paula Byrne examines the intimate connections between life and literature, revealing how Hardy's relationships with women shaped his portrayals of love and tragedy. Byrne, celebrated for her bestselling biographies of Jane Austen, Evelyn Waugh, and Barbara Pym, brings her unique perspective to explore the profound ways personal relationships, cultural history, and creative ambition intersect to shape some of the most enduring works in literary history.

Tyler and Paula discuss Virginia Woolf's surprising impressions of Hardy, why Wessex has lost a sense of its past, what Jude the Obscure reveals about Hardy's ideas about marriage, why so many Hardy tragedies come in doubles, the best least-read Hardy novels, why Mary Robinson was the most interesting woman of her day, how Georgian theater shaped Jane Austen's writing, British fastidiousness, Evelyn Waugh's hidden warmth, Paula's strange experience with poison pen letters, how American and British couples are different, the mental health crisis among teenagers, the most underrated Beatles songs, the weirdest thing about living in Arizona, and more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.

Recorded November 14th, 2024.

Other ways to connect

Follow us on X and Instagram
Follow Tyler on X
Follow Paula on X
Sign up for our newsletter
Join our Discord
Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu
Learn more about Conversations with Tyler and other Mercatus Center podcasts here.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(288)

Larry Summers on Macroeconomics, Mentorship, and Avoiding Complacency (Live)

The economist, President Emeritus at Harvard University, and former Treasury Secretary joins Tyler to discuss innovation in higher education, Herman Melville, the Fed, Mexico, Russia, China, the Larry...

20 Sep 20171h 13min

Dave Barry on Humor, Writing, and Life as a Florida Man

Though most know him first as a humor columnist, Dave Barry's career has spanned many forms of media, including books, movies, TV, and music. Driving this relentless output, says Barry, is the constan...

16 Aug 201757min

Dave Rubin on Digital Media, Crowdfunding, and Comedy (Live)

Today many YouTube channels have more influence than traditional TV shows. This fact is not lost on Dave Rubin, who started his talk show career in traditional media, but soon decided to strike out on...

2 Aug 201732min

Atul Gawande on Priorities, Big and Small

The surgeon, researcher, and celebrated writer joined Tyler for a conversation on why Watson will never diagnose your illness, what George Church's narcolepsy teaches us about CRISPR, what's missing i...

19 Jul 201757min

Ben Sasse on the Space between Nebraska and Neverland (Live at Mason)

The US senator and former college president joined Tyler for a conversation on adolescence, adulthood, driving for Uber, loving Luther, hate-reading Rousseau, the decline of small towns, backpacking a...

28 Jun 20171h 21min

Edward Luce on The Retreat of Western Liberalism (Live)

Edward Luce has a new book out about the rising crisis in Western liberalism, so naturally Tyler's first question to him dealt with James II and William of Orange. #gloriousrevolution In this bonus au...

21 Jun 201754min

Jill Lepore on Traveling through Time

Is time like a line, a stretched out accordion, buried silos, or a flat circle? We concoct many ways to think about the relationship between the present and the past, but according to Jill Lepore one ...

14 Jun 20171h 8min

Tyler Cowen and Steve Davies talk Theresa May, Brexit, and Europe (Live)

The UK is holding a big election on June 8, so today we're bringing you some bonus audio on that topic featuring Tyler and Steve Davies of the London-based Institute of Economic Affairs. They talk abo...

7 Jun 201723min