For the British writer and cultural critic Olivia Laing, restoring and tending to their backyard garden has prompted complex questions of power, community, and mystery, concepts that they beautifully excavate in their latest book, the fascinating and mind-expanding The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise. Whether in their nonfiction works, including the critically acclaimed The Lonely City (2016), their art and culture writing and criticism (2020’s Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency), or their novels (2018’s Crudo and the forthcoming The Silver Book, out this November), Laing turns an incisive eye to examining what it will take for people—our “temporal selves,” as they put it—to forgo loneliness and isolation, reconnect with nature and one another, and flourish on a planet in crisis.
On this episode, recorded in their apartment at the Barbican in London, Laing explores gardening and writing’s symbiotic relationship; the act of rebelling against a reactive culture by embracing slowness; and the importance of imagining, in vivid detail, the kinds of utopias we could one day very well live in.
Special thanks to our Season 12 presenting sponsor, Van Cleef & Arpels.
Show notes:
[4:35] The Barbican
[7:39] “The Garden Against Time” (2024)
[7:53] Mark Rumary
[9:08] Notcutts
[14:08] “The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone” (2016)
[16:07] Jhumpa Lahiri
[18:41] Piet Oudolf
[19:21] Middleton Place
[19:21] The Sackler family
[22:54] “Modern Nature” (1991)
[24:07] “Paradise Lost” (1667)
[25:40] “The Secret Garden” (1911)
[25:40] “Tom’s Midnight Garden” (1958)
[29:29] “The Garden” (1681)
[30:29] “Everybody: A Book About Freedom” (2021)
[35:07] “The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma” (2014)
[39:57] David Wojnarowicz’s "Magic Box"
[39:57] Ana Mendieta
[40:51] Agnes Martin
[43:08] “Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency” (2020)
[45:29] “Crudo” (2018)
[48:20] “A Dance to the Music of Time” (1951–1975)
[50:29] “The Silver Book” (2025)
[52:48] Federico Fellini
[52:48] Pier Paolo Pasolini
[55:17] “News from Nowhere” (1890)
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.