The Norton Library Podcast

In Part 2 of our discussion on Giovanni Boccaccio's The Decameron, editor Wayne A. Rebhorn returns to discuss his first encounter with Boccaccio, the nature of translating the text's layered meanings from Italian to English, and modern film adaptations of The Decameron. 

Wayne A. Rebhorn is the Celanese Centennial Professor of English at the University of Texas, where he teaches English, Italian, and comparative literature...

In Part 1 of our discussion on Giovanni Boccaccio's The Decameron, we welcome editor Wayne A. Rebhorn to discuss the author's life and historical times, similarities among Boccaccio, Petrarch, and Dante, and the use of storytelling to both distract and make meaning during catastrophic times. 

Wayne A. Rebhorn is the Celanese Centennial Professor of English at the University of Texas, where he teaches English, Italian, and ...

In Part 2 of our discussion on Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself, editor Evie Shockley returns to discuss her first encounter with this text in graduate school, the book's place in the literary canon and the classroom, and her favorite passage. 

Evie Shockley is the Zora Neale Hurston Distinguished Professor of English at Rutgers University and the author of Renegade Poetics: Black ...

In Part 1 of our discussion on Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself, we welcome editor Evie Shockley to discuss the author's family background, lively language as a storyteller, and influence on Shockley's own creative process as a poet. 

Evie Shockley is the Zora Neale Hurston Distinguished Professor of English at Rutgers University and the author of Renegade Poetics: Black Aesth...

In Part 2 of our discussion on Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, Norton Library podcast host Mark Cirino returns to the guest seat (with producer Michael von Cannon stepping behind the microphone as host). The two discuss the cover design of the Norton Library edition, essential historical context for understanding the novel, and the ever-increasing political relevance of Hemingway's work in the twenty-first century. 

Mark C...

In Part 1 of our discussion on Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, we welcome Norton Library podcast host Mark Cirino to the guest seat for the first time (with producer Michael von Cannon stepping behind the microphone as host). The two discuss the balance of autobiography and fiction in the text, situate A Farewell to Arms in the establishment of Hemingway's literary reputation, and explain the censorship of certain languag...

In Part 2 of our discussion on Homer's Iliad, translator Emily Wilson returns to discuss the red and gold cover design of the Norton Library edition, recount her decision to recreate a new translation of the epic, and give a performance in the original ancient Greek. 

Emily Wilson is a professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She has been named a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome in Renaissance and...

In Part 1 of our discussion on Homer's Iliad, we welcome translator Emily Wilson to discuss Homer's life as an "author," the meaning of free will in the context of intervention from gods, and how the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus shapes the climax of the epic. 

Emily Wilson is a professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She has been named a Fellow of the American Academy in R...

In Part 2 of our discussion on Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, editor Sarah Blackwood returns to discuss the inspiration behind the cover of the Norton Library edition, the book's intended audience, and key elements of gender theory—as well as personal feelings—that Alcott incorporates into the characters and story.

Sarah Blackwood is Professor of English at Pace University, where she teaches courses on nineteenth-centur...

In Part 1 of our discussion on Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, we welcome editor Sarah Blackwood to discuss the importance of Alcott's family background; her distinct authorial voice in books, journals, and letters; and how her time as a Civil War nurse led to her emergence into the publishing world. 

Sarah Blackwood is Professor of English at Pace University, where she teaches courses on nineteenth-century US literature...

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 political) trends, and whether or not The Age of Innocence is truly a love story. 

Sheila Liming is Associate Professor at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont. She is the author of What a...

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 novel. 

Sheila Liming is Associate Professor at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont. She is the author of What a Library Means to a Woman: Edith Wharton and the Will to Collect B...

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 the book, and the loss of sentence-level writing in adaptations of the story.  

Verna Kale is an Associate Research Professor of English at the Pennsylvania State University an...

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, the distinction between fairytale and reality, and the lack of a moral of the story. 

Verna Kale is an Associate Research Professor of English at the Pennsylvania State University...

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 historical source texts, and how students should build up their Milton muscles by reading other poetry before turning to Paradise Lost. 

Stephen B. Dobranski is Distinguished University Profes...

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 through writing, and Milton's characterization of Eve. 

Stephen B. Dobranski is Distinguished University Professor of English at Georgia State University and the editor of the...

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 scholars' work with the text in the twenty-first century. 

Charles Martin was born in New York City in 1942. He earned a Ph.D. in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo. The reci...

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 through the lack of one epic hero. 

Charles Martin was born in New York City in 1942. He earned a Ph.D. in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo. The recipie...

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 and propaganda, and the continued relevance of The Jungle today.   

Kenneth W. Warren is Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of English at the University of C...