Desperate Readers

This week Niko and Tatiana discuss the ultimate Russian writer Alexander Pushkin. They read the novella "The Queen of Spades" and talk about certainty, obsession, gambling, and sports betting. 

This week welcomes back to the pod Heinrich von Kleist and perhaps his most famous novella, "Michael Kohlhaas"! Niko and Tatiana discuss justice, certainty, and doubt in a story that even Kafka read with "true piety" 

This week Niko and Tatiana return to the Harlem Renaissance and discuss Langston Hughes's short story "Passing" from the collection The Ways of White Folks. They discuss identity, economic freedom, patronage, and the Kendrick-Drake feud. 

Niko and Tatiana discuss Flannery O'Connor's iconic short story "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" with special guest Sophie.

Spooky Season has come and gone but we're still talking about witches on the podcast. Niko and Tatiana read When I Sing, Mountains Dance by Irene Solà, translated from its original Catalan. Each chapter of the novel is told from a different narrator to weave a story crossing generations and mountain ranges. We discuss the Pyrenees, trauma, and the relationship between nature and poetry. 

Welcome back to the pod, William Faulkner! This week, Tatiana and Niko read the short story "Barn Burning," originally published in Harper's Magazine in 1939. They discuss cycles of violence within the structures of family, history, and class, make comparisons to Juan Rulfo, and try to figure out why so many people love American Southern Gothic literature. 

A underrated classic praised by Nobel winners. Niko and Tatiana read two short stories, "The Burning Plain" and "Tell Them Not to Kill Me!", from Juan Rulfo's El llano en llamas recently translated by Douglas J. Weatherford. 

On to the Booker International Shortlist! This week Niko and Tatiana read Not a River by Selva Almada, translated from the Spanish by Annie McDermott. They talk about water, fire, eco-criticism, masculinity, and girlhood, and touch on authors like Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, and Juan Rulfo.

We're back!! Niko and Tatiana read the 2024 Booker International Longlist and Strega-Prize winning The House on Via Gemito by Domenico Starnone. We talk about memory, family, painting, and touch on Starnone's possible connection to the mysterious writer Elena Ferrante. 

On the last episode of our pilgrimage, we meet one of the most colorful characters in Chaucer's tale: The Wife of Bath. Niko and Tatiana discuss experience, sovereignty, and what women most desire. Drop us a DM if you think you know! 

The pilgrimage continues! Niko and Tatiana dive into some of the most famous stories from the Canterbury Tales: the Miller's Tale and the Reeve's Tale. They discuss entertainment and morals, what it means to repay a tale, and why the Reeve's tale is a bad tale. A long digression on the Godfather at the end of the episode awaits. 

...with his shoures soote, Niko and Tatiana celebrate spring by starting the Canterbury Tales by Geoffery Chaucer. They focus on the General Prologue and the Knight's Tale while discussing Middle English, medieval life, storytelling, and chivalry. 

The Nordic trilogy wraps up with The Ice Palace by Norwegian novelist Tarjei Vesaas, which recounts the strange relationship between two girls, Siss and Unn, and the aftermath when one of them disappears. Niko and Tatiana discuss girlhood, the Other, the psyche, and community. 

The overdue Nordic winter trilogy continues: Tatiana and Niko read 2023 Nobel Prize Laureate Jon Fosse's most recent translated work, A Shining, about a man who begins to drive until he finds himself in the woods during a snow storm. They discuss modern inner monologues, psychoanalysis, and the limits of language. 

We're Back! After a long winter (and winter break), Niko and Tatiana read the classic Old English epic Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney. They discuss legacy, vigilance,  steadfastness, and how lads love lads.   This episode was recorded in January 2024.

In preparation for the new Yorgos Lanthimos movie, Niko and Tatiana read Poor Things by Alasdair Gray. They discuss Bella Baxter's story, ethics and aesthetics, nineteenth-century medicine, and muse a little on the movie starring Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo. 

This week, Niko and Tatiana read Woman at Point Zero by Egyptian feminist author and doctor Nawal El Saadawi, the "Simone de Beauvoir of the Arab world". Based on a true story, Woman at Point Zero recounts the life of Firdaus, a young prostitute on death row, allowing her to reclaim the meaning of her life and depict the lot of Egyptian women. Niko and Tatiana discuss consciousness, sex work, and...

A true American classic! Niko and Tatiana read Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita and discuss eroticism, the English language, and America!

Spooky season comes late to the pod as Niko and Tatiana invite special guest Alex to talk about Henry James's ghost story, The Turn of the Screw. The three discuss psychoanalytic interpretation, turning, the unknowable, and of course, ghosts. 

For literature and literature lovers. Niko and Tatiana read The Most Secret Memory of Men by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, winner of the 2021 Prix Goncourt. They discuss plagiarism, fragmentation, and jokes, with lots of references to Roberto Bolaño and Yambo Ouologuem. 

What's Achilles's problem? Can we understand the classical mind? Tatiana and Niko read (arguably) the first book in the Western Canon, Homer's Iliad. They discuss glory, Homeric similes, and how war shapes our perspective on life. All your favorite Greek heroes are here!   Small corrections: at around minute 19, Niko says 'Achilles's house' instead of 'Odysseus's house,' and around minute 26, Tati...

Welcome to the official first episode of Season Two! Niko and Tatiana go back to their roots and start with the book that gave the podcast its name: Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño. They discuss impending globalization, the consequences of literature, haunting writers, and jokes.   Want to read along? Find out BookShop link here: https://bookshop.org/shop/desperatereaders     Find us on Substa...

In a special Bonus episode, Niko and Tatiana read the short story The House of Asterion by Jorges Luis Borges.  Read the short story here: https://klasrum.weebly.com/uploads/9/0/9/1/9091667/the_house_of_asterion.pdf   Follow us on Substack here: https://desperatereaders.substack.com/  

This episode wraps up the metamorphosis trilogy with a short story about weird little guys. Niko and Tatiana read Axolotl by Julio Cortázar, in which a man imagines himself transformed into an axolotl at the Jardin des Plantes. They discuss sight, reflection, and morphing time and space.  

... I sing. The whole gang is here! Niko and Tatiana read Ovid’s Metamorphoses, touching on everyone: Zeus, Medusa, Julius Caesar, Juno, Apollo, Diana, and all your other favorite Roman deities.