Literary critic William Gass talks with Steve Paulson about the poet Rainer Maria Rilke, and explicates a poem of Rilke’s about a bowl of roses.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Media critic Susan Douglas tells Steve Paulson that the American new media is doing less foreign news since 9/11, concentrating on health issues and “news you can use.”
When Samuel Clemens took on the pen name “Mark Twain,” he was doing more cleverly appropriating a measure of depth. He was also tapping into one of the most well-known sounds along the river: sounding calls. Owen Selles tells about these calls in this piece, adapted from an essay he originally wrote for the online magazine Edge Effects.
Stephen Thompson is an editor at The Onion newspaper, and editor of “The Onion A.V. Club: The Tenacity of the Cockroach.”
Journalist Ted Conover tells Steve Paulson that wise guards accept that they rule with the consent of the prisoners, and recalls a few of his most dramatic encounters with inmates.
Cultural historian William Miller, author of “The Mystery of Courage,” tells Steve Paulson that the airline passengers who confronted the hijackers on September 11th displayed extraordinary courage.
Nick Bantock talks about his book, "The Trickster's Hat: A Mischievous Apprenticeship in Creativity."
Film director Rodney Ascher recommends Paul Schrader's 1988 movie, "Patty Hearst."
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