Human Conditions

London Review of Books
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Human Conditions
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Adam Shatz talks separately to three guests – Judith Butler, Pankaj Mishra and Brent Hayes Edwards – about some of the most revolutionary thought of the 20th century. Judith, Pankaj and Brent will each discuss four texts over four episodes, as they uncover the inner life of the 20th century through works that have sought to find freedom in different ways and remake the world around them. They explore, among other things, the development of arguments against racism and colonialism, the experience of artistic expression in oppressive conditions and how language has been used in politically substantive ways. Authors covered: Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Frantz Fanon, Hannah Arendt, V. S. Naipaul, Ashis Nandy, Doris Lessing, Nadezhda Mandelstam, W. E. B. Du Bois, Aimé Césaire, Amiri Baraka and Audre Lorde. Episodes will appear once a month throughout 2024, on the 10th of each month. Human Conditions is part of the Close Readings podcasts collection from the London Review of Books. To listen to the full episodes, subscribe to Close Readings: Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPq In other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. DEC 10

    ‘Sister Outsider’ by Audre Lorde

    In the final episode of Human Conditions, Brent and Adam turn to Audre Lorde’s Sister Outsider, a collection of prose with exceptional relevance to contemporary grassroots politics. Like Du Bois, Césaire and Baraka, Lorde’s work defies genre: as she argues in this collection, ‘poetry is not a luxury’ but an essential tool for liberation. Throughout her work, Lorde sought to find and articulate new ways of living that encompassed her whole self – as a Black woman, poet, essayist, novelist, mother and lesbian. Brent and Adam discuss Lorde’s radical poetics and politics, and the case for poetry, anger, vulnerability, love and desire as the arsenal of revolution. This podcast was recorded on 21 August 2024. Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen to the full episode, and all our other Close Readings series, subscribe: Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPq In other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Brent Hayes Edwards is a scholar of African American and Francophone literature and of jazz studies at Columbia University. Get in touch: podcasts@lrb.co.uk Further reading and listening in the LRB: Reni Eddo-Lodge & Sarah Shin: On Audre Lorde https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/at-the-bookshop/reni-eddo-lodge-and-sarah-shin-on-audre-lorde-your-silence-will-not-protect-you Jesse McCarthy & Adam Shatz: Blind Spots https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/the-lrb-podcast/blind-spots Sean Jacobs: Chop-Chop Spirit https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n09/sean-jacobs/chop-chop-spirit Ange Mlinko: Waiting for the Poetry https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v43/n14/ange-mlinko/waiting-for-the-poetry Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    14 min

  2. NOV 10

    ‘Black Music’ by Amiri Baraka

    In 'Black Music', a collection of essays, liner notes and interviews from 1959 to 1967, Amiri Baraka captures the ferment, energy and excitement of the avant-garde jazz scene. Published while he still went by LeRoi Jones, it provides a composite picture of Baraka’s evolving thought, aesthetic values and literary experimentation. In this episode, Brent and Adam discuss the ways in which Baraka tackled the challenge of writing about music and his intimate connections to the major players in jazz. Whether you’re familiar with the music or totally new to the New Thing, 'Black Music' is an essential guide to a period of political and artistic upheaval. Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen to the full episode, and all our other Close Readings series, subscribe: Subscribe to Close Readings: Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPq In other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Brent Hayes Edwards is a scholar of African American and Francophone literature and of jazz studies at Columbia University. Get in touch: podcasts@lrb.co.uk Further reading in the LRB: Adam Shatz: The Freedom Principle https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2014/may/the-freedom-principle Adam Shatz: On Ornette Coleman https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v37/n14/adam-shatz/diary Philip Clark: On Cecil Taylor https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2018/april/cecil-taylor-1929-2018 Ian Penman: Birditis https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v36/n02/ian-penman/birditis Ian Penman: Birditis https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v36/n02/ian-penman/birditis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    17 min

  3. OCT 10

    ‘Discourse on Colonialism’ by Aimé Césaire

    Brent Hayes Edwards talks to Adam about Aimé Césaire's 1950 essay Discourse on Colonialism, a groundbreaking work of 20th-century anti-colonial thought and a precursor to the writings of Césaire's protégé, Frantz Fanon. Césaire was Martinique’s most influential poet and one of its most prominent politicians as a deputy in the French National Assembly, and his Discourse is addressed directly at his country’s colonisers. Adam and Brent consider Césaire’s poetry alongside his political arguments and the particular characteristics of his version of négritude, the far-reaching movement of black consciousness he founded with Léopold Sédar Senghor and Léon Damas. Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen to the full episode, and all our other Close Readings series, subscribe: Subscribe to Close Readings: Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPq In other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Further reading and listening: Musab Younis: The Mouth of Calamities https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n23/musab-younis/the-mouth-of-calamities Musab Younis: Against Independence https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v39/n13/musab-younis/against-independence Brent Hayes Edwards: Inside the Barrel https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v31/n17/brent-hayes-edwards/inside-the-barrel John Berger & David Constantine: Aimé Césaire’s Return to My Native Land https://lrb.me/bergercesaire Brent Hayes Edwards is a scholar of African American and Francophone literature and of jazz studies at Columbia University. Get in touch: podcasts@lrb.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    13 min

  4. SEP 10

    ‘The Souls of Black Folk’ by W.E.B. Du Bois

    Brent Hayes Edwards and Adam discuss the ‘ur-text of Black political philosophy’, W.E.B. Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk. Spanning autobiography, history, biography, fiction, music criticism and political science, its fourteen essays set the tone for Black literature, political debate and scholarly production for the course of the 20th century. Souls was an immediate bestseller, the subject of furious debate and a foundational work in the new field of sociology. Non-subscribers will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen to the full episode, and all our other Close Readings series, subscribe: Subscribe to Close Readings: Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPq In other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Further reading in the LRB: Adam Lively: Fisticuffs https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v16/n05/adam-lively/fisticuffs Kevin Okoth: Resistance from Elsewhere https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v44/n07/kevin-okoth/resistance-from-elsewhere Lewis Nkosi: An UnAmerican in New York https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v22/n16/lewis-nkosi/an-unamerican-in-new-york Brent Hayes Edwards is a scholar of African American and Francophone literature and of jazz studies at Columbia University. Get in touch: podcasts@lrb.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    14 min

  5. AUG 10

    ‘Hope against Hope’ by Nadezhda Mandelstam

    After reciting an unflattering poem about Stalin to a small group of friends, Osip Mandelstam was betrayed to the police and endured five years in exile before dying in transit to the gulag. His wife, Nadezhda, spent the rest of her life dodging arrest, advocating for Osip’s work and writing what came to be known as Hope against Hope. Hope against Hope is a testimony of life under Stalin, and of the ways in which ordinary people challenge and capitulate to power. It’s also a compendium of gossip, an account of psychological torture, a description of the poet’s craft and a love story. Pankaj Mishra joins Adam to discuss his final selection for Human Conditions. They explore the qualities that make Hope against Hope so compelling: Nadezhda Mandelstam’s uncompromising honesty, perceptiveness and irrepressible humour. Non-subscriber will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen in full, and to all our other Close Readings series, sign up: Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPq In other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Further reading in the LRB: Seamus Heaney: Osip and Nadezhda Mandelstam https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v03/n15/seamus-heaney/osip-and-nadezhda-mandelstam Clarence Brown: Every Slightest Pebble https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v17/n10/clarence-brown/every-slightest-pebble Frances Stonor Saunders: The Writer and the Valet https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v36/n18/frances-stonor-saunders/the-writer-and-the-valet Pankaj Mishra is a writer, critic and reporter who regularly contributes to the LRB. His books include Age of Anger: A History of the Present, From the Ruins of Empire: The Intellectuals Who Remade Asia and two novels, most recently Run and Hide. Get in touch: podcasts@lrb.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    14 min

  6. JUL 10

    ‘The Golden Notebook’ by Doris Lessing

    Pankaj Mishra joins Adam Shatz to discuss The Golden Notebook, Doris Lessing’s formally brilliant and startlingly frank 1962 novel. In her portrait of ‘free women’ – unmarried, creatively ambitious, politically engaged – Lessing wrestles with the breakdown of Stalinism, settler colonialism and traditional gender roles. Pankaj and Adam explore the lived experiences that shaped the novel, its feminist reception and why Pankaj considers it to be one of the best representations of ‘the strange uncapturable sensation of living from day to day.’ Non-subscriber will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen in full, and to all our other Close Readings series, sign up: Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPq In other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Further reading: Anita Brookner: Women Against Men https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v04/n16/anita-brookner/women-against-men Frank Kermode: The Daughter Who Hated Her https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v30/n14/frank-kermode/the-daughter-who-hated-her Jenny Diski: Why can‘t people just be sensible? https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v37/n15/jenny-diski/why-can-t-people-just-be-sensible Pankaj Mishra is a writer, critic and reporter who regularly contributes to the LRB. His books include Age of Anger: A History of the Present, From the Ruins of Empire: The Intellectuals Who Remade Asia and two novels, most recently Run and Hide. Get in touch: podcasts@lrb.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    13 min

  7. JUN 10

    ‘The Intimate Enemy’ by Ashis Nandy

    Ashis Nandy’s The Intimate Enemy is a study of the psychological toll of colonialism on both the coloniser and colonised, showing how Western conceptions of masculinity and adulthood served as tools of conquest. Using figures as disparate as Gandhi, Oscar Wilde and Aurobindo Ghosh, Nandy suggests ways in which alternative models of age and gender can provide compelling challenges to colonial authority. Pankaj Mishra joins Adam to unpack Nandy’s subtle and unexpected lines of thought and to explain why The Intimate Enemy remains as innovative today as it did in 1983. Non-subscriber will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen in full, and to all our other Close Readings series, sign up: Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPq In other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Further reading in the LRB: Ashis Nandy: The Last Englishman to Rule India https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v20/n10/ashis-nandy/the-last-englishman-to-rule-india Amit Chaudhuri: India before Kipling https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v22/n01/amit-chaudhuri/a-feather!-a-very-feather-upon-the-face Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    13 min

  8. MAY 10

    ‘A House for Mr Biswas’ by V.S. Naipaul

    In A House for Mr Biswas, his 1961 comic masterpiece, V.S. Naipaul pays tribute to his father and the vanishing world of his Trinidadian youth. Pankaj Mishra joins Adam Shatz in their first of four episodes to discuss the novel, a pathbreaking work of postcolonial literature and a particularly powerful influence on Pankaj himself. They explore Naipaul’s fraught relationship to modernity, and the tensions between his attachment to individual freedom and his insistence on the constraints imposed by history.  Non-subscriber will only hear an extract from this episode. To listen in full, and to all our other Close Readings series, sign up: Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPq In other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Read more in the LRB: D.A.N. Jones: The Enchantment of Vidia Naipaul https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v06/n08/d.a.n.-jones/the-enchantment-of-vidia-naipaul Frank Kermode: What Naipaul Knows https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v23/n17/frank-kermode/what-naipaul-knows Paul Theroux: Out of Sir Vidia’s Shadow https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v44/n04/paul-theroux/diary Sanjay Subramahnyam: Where does he come from?  https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v29/n21/sanjay-subrahmanyam/where-does-he-come-from Pankaj Mishra is a writer, critic and reporter who regularly contributes to the LRB. His books include Age of Anger: A History of the Present, From the Ruins of Empire: The Intellectuals Who Remade Asia and two novels, most recently Run and Hide. Get in touch: podcasts@lrb.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    11 min
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About

Adam Shatz talks separately to three guests – Judith Butler, Pankaj Mishra and Brent Hayes Edwards – about some of the most revolutionary thought of the 20th century. Judith, Pankaj and Brent will each discuss four texts over four episodes, as they uncover the inner life of the 20th century through works that have sought to find freedom in different ways and remake the world around them. They explore, among other things, the development of arguments against racism and colonialism, the experience of artistic expression in oppressive conditions and how language has been used in politically substantive ways. Authors covered: Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Frantz Fanon, Hannah Arendt, V. S. Naipaul, Ashis Nandy, Doris Lessing, Nadezhda Mandelstam, W. E. B. Du Bois, Aimé Césaire, Amiri Baraka and Audre Lorde. Episodes will appear once a month throughout 2024, on the 10th of each month. Human Conditions is part of the Close Readings podcasts collection from the London Review of Books. To listen to the full episodes, subscribe to Close Readings: Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3pJoFPq In other podcast apps: lrb.me/closereadings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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