Hold That Thought

Many of the biggest literary successes in the past decade have involved elements of the fantastic, and we have seen these stories come to life on both the small and big screens: Harry Potter, True Blood, The Walking Dead, dare we mention Twilight? This is to say nothing of the various primetime TV shows that reimagine fairy tales, or the ghost story franchises from The Ring to Paranormal Activity. What draws us to these stories of the supernatural? How do they relate to our real lives while relying on the unbelievable? Acclaimed author of magical realism, Kelly Link, explores the pleasure of surprising readers when using traditional story tropes, and discusses the archetypes of the genre. In the second half of the episode, William McKelvy, associate professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis, explains the hallmarks and legacy of Gothic literature. In addition to the interview, you can find a reading selection from the short story, "The Hortlak," from Kelly's collection, Magic for Beginners in

Kelly Link, acclaimed writer of fabulist fiction and a 2013 Visiting Hurst Professor at Washington University in St. Louis, reads a selection from her short story "The Hortlak" which appeared in her collection, Magic for Beginners.

Nonfiction, simply put, is anything that isn't fiction. Easy enough, right? However, in recent years, several controversies have arisen as supposed factual memoirs are revealed to be nothing but a string of exaggerations or, well, fiction. But how well does any nonfiction writer capture "The Truth?" Numerous psychological studies have shown that if multiple people witness the same event, it's possible for all of them to walk away with very different stories of what happened. Edward McPherson, essayist and assistant professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis, explores truth and memory in nonfiction. We also discuss how a place's identity can be shaped by fiction as easily as reality in his essay, "Dallas: From Afar." In addition to the interview, you can find a reading selection from his essay in a second podcast.

Edward McPherson, essayist and assistant professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis, reads a selection from his essay, "Dallas: From Afar," which appeared in the Paris Review in December 2012.

In literature classes, we often turn back to study "classics" that are hundreds of years old, and while the core message of these works remain intact, the once-contemporary references to politics, the snide remarks about rivals, and the nuances of a word that has since taken on another meaning can go whizzing past our heads unless we are given notes and annotations to explain. How, then, can we make these texts as funny and engaging for modern audiences as they were for the original readers? Or should we allow these texts to become literary artifacts? Mary Jo Bang, poet and professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis, explores the process she undertook in her recent translation of Dante Alighieri's Inferno, while Jessica Rosenfeld, medievalist and associate professor of English, explains why the Middle Ages are the origins of literature as we know it. In addition to the interview, you can find a reading selection from "Inferno: A New Translation" in a second podcast

Mary Jo Bang, poet and professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis, reads Canto 3 from her work "Inferno: A New Translation"

When tragedy strikes, we often comfort ourselves by saying "everything happens for a reason," and while the veracity of this statement in life is debated, it is always true in good literature. Every word is working toward building character, plot, setting, or layers of meaning. In this episode, Carl Phillips, poet and professor of English at Washington University, explores how life influences the creation of his poetry and the reoccurence of faith in his new collection, Silverchest. Timothy Moore, chair and professor of classics, then takes us back to ancient Greece where, even two thousand years ago, they searched for meaning in their lives and literature. In addition to the interview, you can find a reading selection from Silverchest by Carl Phillips in a second track.

Carl Phillips, poet and professor of English at Washington University, reads from his new collection, Silverchest.

Adolescence is a difficult transition for many—a time when everything seems urgent and nothing seems certain, when we weigh our family and childhood values against who we are and who we want to become as adults. It's a period fraught with conflict, internal and otherwise, so it's no wonder authors like Anton DiSclafani, Washington University alumna and Writer in Residence, return to it in their work. In this episode, Anton examines the fundamentals of a coming-of-age story, the impact of place on identity, and the writing process she adopted for her acclaimed debut novel, The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls. In a second podcast, you can hear her read from her novel

Anton DiSclafani, Washington University alumna and Writer in Residence, reads from her acclaimed debut novel, The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls.

In theaters and classrooms around the world, audiences and students experience the stories and emotions behind plays penned thousands of years ago by writers like Euripidies, Plautus, and Terence. But how do these modern encounters compare with original performances, and how are scholars even able to determine what it might have been like to view one of these plays in its original setting? Timothy Moore, professor and chair of classics at Washington University in St. Louis, describes the historical context of Greek tragedies and shares his own research into the music of ancient Roman comedies.

We've all been there: staring at the ceiling at 2:43 a.m., unable to fall asleep while the world slumbers around us. How do our internal clocks stay synced to our environment? What exactly do they control? Might future research provide relief for late-night workers or the jet-lagged when the natural rhythms of the body are disturbed? Erik Herzog, professor of biology at Washington University in St. Louis, explains how the brain's "master clock" works and how genetic mutations and natural toxins can influence our daily biological rhythms.

In a follow-up to the episode Global Cities, Carol Camp Yeakey, founding director of the Center for Urban Research and Public Policy at Washington University in St. Louis, shares her own work and describes some of the interdisciplinary issues that students and practitioners of Urban Studies confront today. Camp Yeakey's ongoing research projects include the forthcoming studies No Place to Be Somebody, about Detroit, and Up From Rust?: The Promise and Peril of Urban Renewal, about neighborhoods in Cleveland, Chicago, and Pittsburgh.

Creation doesn't happen in a vacuum. Artists and writers find inspiration in the world around them and in the work of their peers and predecessors. Today we offer a sneak peak into the new literary summer podcast series, Retellings, which will explore the complex web of inspiration and influence in literature. For this preview, host Rebecca King will introduce the series and provide a clip of her interview with Washington University alumna and current Writer-in-Residence Anton DiSclafani, whose first novel, The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls, releases on June 4th. The full interview with Anton can be heard on June 17th as the pilot episode of Retellings.

With the help of scientists like Sophia Hayes, associate professor of chemistry, new technologies may make it possible to remove the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, turn it into a solid, and store it in a safe environment elsewhere. Hayes uses a technique called nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to understand the structure of materials, including carbon dioxide. Hear her describe this research project, explain how NMR works, and reveal how “the magic angle” – a Washington University innovation – changed the field.

In the late 1980s, Marla Sokolowski noticed that if she placed fly larvae on a pile of yeast in a petri dish, some would sit and eat the yeast which they sat upon, while others would move, creating wild trails through the yeast as they ate. What makes some larvae rove around, while others simply sit and eat? And what do these fly larvae have to do with bees? Yehuda Ben-Shahar, assistant professor of biology, returns to continue his discussion on how genes can affect behavior and the various ways the same genes express themselves across species.

In an increasingly global and interconnected world, cities across the world confront similar issues. Where and how are people to live as urban centers become both larger and more dense? What are the effects of urban renewal on lower-income populations, and what sort of government policies can help bridge the widening divide between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots'? Carol Camp Yeakey, founding director of the Center on Urban Research & Public Policy and Interdisciplinary Program in Urban Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, shares her perspecives on urban studies in a global context.

Between 1950 and 2000, some 60% of the built environment in St. Louis's Old North neighborhood was demolished, and the majority of its residents left the area. Abandoned buildings have fallen into disrepair, but should they remain standing? If the last houses on a block are torn down, leaving empty, litter-filled lots, how can we expect neighborhoods to repopulate and rebuild? Michael Allen, architectural historian and director of the Preservation Research Office in St. Louis, describes the ambiguous role of historic preservation in neighborhoods like Old North, and challenges us to see declining urban landscapes both for what they are and what they might become.

Cities are often synonymous with modernity, but what exactly does modernity look like? In cities with a colonial history, such as Algiers and Cairo, often there are two city centers, two hearts: one with narrow alleys and courtyards, the other with broad boulevards and European-style storefronts. These separate architectural identities have led scholars and visitors to describe such places as “dual cities,” but Nancy Reynolds, associate professor of history at Washington University in St. Louis, questions whether this label truly applies to the complex city of Cairo.

As the face of Chicago changed during industrialization, so too did its workforce. The city had become a bustling metropolis, but at what cost? Dangerous working conditions prompted the rise of organized labor and a progressive movement, championed by social reformers like Jane Addams and Florence Kelley. In the second part of our look at turn of the century Chicago, Margaret Garb, associate professor of history at Washington University in St. Louis, examines the social and political movements that took place in reaction to the rapid industrialization of the city.