In this inaugural episode, I describe the podcast's coverage and format, and then introduce myself and my motives for hosting the series. I conclude: "Think of the episodes in this series as a set of exploratory essays, of varying lengths, gathering evidence from sources on some central topic. The topics will vary, but each episode of Open Book will (I hope) do just what it says on the tin: open a book to your mind." Here are the five book titles I'll cover this season: Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote (Part 1, 1605; Part 2, 1615; we’re reading selections from the 2003 Edith Grossman translation); Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey (1803; we’re using the 2013 David M. Shapard edition); David Treuer’s The Translation of Dr Apelles (2006); John Milton’s Paradise Lost (1667; in the 2005 Norton edition of Gordon Teskey; the more recent 2020 edition appeared too late for this series); and selections from Metaphysical Poetry (Colin Burrow’s 2006 Penguin anthology).

Ask this episode

“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

Transcript

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