The Norton Library Podcast

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...

In Part 1 of our discussion on Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, we welcome editor Kenneth W. Warren to discuss Sinclair's background, how his political commitments informed his literary endeavors, The Jungle's effect on regulatory efforts in the United States, and the techniques the novel uses to achieve its engrossing effect.

Kenneth W. Warren is Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor in the Departmen...

In Part 2 of our discussion on Hobbes's Leviathan, editor David Johnston discusses his personal history with Hobbes and the Leviathan, common challenges first-time readers face, his favorite line from the book, his approach to teaching the work, the details of the book's famous engraved title page, and more.

David Johnston teaches political philosophy at Columbia University, where he has served as Nell and Herber...

In Part 1 of our discussion on Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan, we welcome editor David Johnston to discuss Hobbes's life and the historical context of Leviathan, the book's central thesis and argument, and its controversial reception through time.

David Johnston teaches political philosophy at Columbia University, where he has served as Nell and Herbert M. Singer Professor of Contemporary Civilization and Joseph...

In Part 2 of our discussion on Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, editor Caroline Levine discusses the lasting cultural impact of the novella, common challenges to teaching it, some of additional short stories by Stevenson which she included in the Norton Library edition, and more.

Caroline Levine is David and Kathleen Ryan Professor of the Humanities and Professor of English at Corn...

In Part 1 of our discussion on Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, we welcome editor Caroline Levine to discuss Stevenson's biography; some of the novella's philosophical, scientific, and psychological themes; and how it fits in with other trends in late-nineteenth-century British literature.

Caroline Levine is David and Kathleen Ryan Professor of the Humanities and Professo...