Catherine Nixey

speaker

366 appearances 5 recordings 1 series first heard May 2026 last heard 16 Jul

Catherine Nixey’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 5 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 2.

Appearances

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The Intelligence from The Economist · Pulp fiction v the classics: summer reading · 25 May 2026 podcast

So Philip Larkin wrote an essay called The Pleasure Principle, where he said, the only reason to read is because you're enjoying it, more or less is what he says.

And he wrote his poems when his friends were going to the pub, on the principle that if it wasn't more enjoyable for him to write a poem when his friends were going to the pub, then it wouldn't be more enjoyable for someone to read it rather than going to the pub.

And there's a Virginia Wolf essay where she

She says, How should you read a book?

And she says, you know, in everywhere else in life you're told what to do.

In books the world is your own.

Is Hamlet better?

Your choice?

Having said that.

Uh, what was the question?

Are some books better?

Why do we read?

Some books are better.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

The Intelligence from The Economist · Spread too thin: Africa’s next Ebola outbreak · 19 May 2026 podcast

What makes a good literary critic?

For centuries writers were in agreement.

The critic, Wordsworth noted, was a scornful sort, who frowned on things.

A critic knows, said the American writer Dorothy Parker, when a book is not to be tossed aside lightly, but instead thrown with great force.

A critic should, as Graeme Green said of all writers, have a splinter of ice in the heart.

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