Desperate Readers

As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams… Niko and Tatiana are joined by special guest Zach McRae for Franz Kafka’s novella The Metamorphosis. We talk about what it’s like to be a bug, workers and artists, sadomasochism, body horror, and more. This episode gets very silly at times.  

Niko and Tatiana read Nigerian author Buchi Emecheta. They discuss The Joys of Motherhood, gender expectations, children, and city living.

The number one best mom award goes to…! Niko and Tatiana revisit Euripides and read his most famous play, Medea. They discuss Medea’s motherhood, foreign status, cunning, and vengeance.  

A book surrounded by scandal and mythos: Niko and Tatiana read Bound to Violence by Yambo Ouologuem. The story follows an African tribe from precolonial times to the twentieth century and plots the evolution of violence. Niko and Tatiana discuss the significance and form of this violence, as well as fertility and power. The Other Press will release a new critical edition of Bound to Violence in Se...

April is the cruelest month. Niko and Tatiana welcome special guest Bart Bolander to talk about The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot. The three discuss Eliot’s poetic philosophy, fragmentation, and the modernism, while scratching the surface of Eliot’s symbolism and references.

This week, Niko and Tatiana read Potiki by Patricia Grace, one of the first published Māori writer, and discuss memory, the flavors of tragedy, and the interpretation of disaster.

An incredible short story taking place in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Niko and Tatiana discuss the human spirit, the spectacle of life, and the craft of the short story in Heinrich von Kleist’s “The Earthquake in Chile.” Read the story before you listen here: https://www.scarsdaleschools.k12.ny.us/cms/lib5/NY01001205/Centricity/Domain/237/Reading%2019%20-%20Kleist-Earthquake.pdf  

As the clock strikes midnight, Saleem is born with the partition of India. Niko and Tatiana discuss the flavors of magical realism, the spread of democracy, and the power of scent as they talk about Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie.

The devil comes to Moscow, and Pontius Pilate meets Jesus of Nazareth in The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. Tatiana and Niko discuss magical realism and the evils of bureaucracy.

*MAJOR SPOILERS* in this episode on an award-winning Polish murder mystery. Niko and Tatiana discuss astrology, the ethics of hunting, and materialism in Olga Tokarczuk’s Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, about a woman obsessed with William Blake and stars observing the mysterious deaths arising in her rural town.

Sensational and violent, Sanctuary was written by William Faulkner to be a "pot boiler" and make money; it ended up being the novel that brought him critical and commercial attention. Niko and Tatiana read this sensational, southern novel, and discuss the story of Temple Drake, drinking, vanity, and corruption.

A little-known novel in the Anglophone world, The Last Summer of Reason by Tahar Djaout reveals the quite rebellion of a bookseller living under a fundamentalist regime. Niko and Tatiana briefly go over the history of the author and the Algerian Civil War, before diving into themes of faith, purity, and the power of books in this short but powerful story published after Djaout's assassination.  

Get in your final winter reads—the podcast is covering Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak. For this 20th century epic, Niko and Tatiana discuss history, life, love triangles (again), and the metaphor of snow. Read about the translation history of Doctor Zhivago in the Los Angeles Review of Books: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/giving-doctor-zhivago-another-chance/ Learn about how the CIA helpe...

Wrapping up the mini Valentine’s day series, Niko and Tatiana read about Janie and her three husbands in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. They discuss self-fulfillment, storytelling, primordial imagery, and more.

The second installment in the Valentine’s day series. Tatiana and Niko discuss their first text of philosophy with Plato’s Symposium. We go through the arguments of the drinking party and ask What is Eros?

Niko and Tatiana start their Valentine series with a classic by the bard. We discuss young love, warring families, and the colorful host of characters in Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.

Niko and Tatiana discuss beauty, delusions, violence, and heritage in Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima, based on the real life burning of the Kinkakuji in Kyoto in 1950. To find Mishima’s body-building photos posted, go to our Instagram page: @desperatereaderspod

Heathcliff, it’s me! Niko and Tatiana talk about Emily Brontë’s gothic, melodramatic novel and discuss ghosts, winds, and whether Wuthering Heights is actually a love story. Apologies in advance for Niko’s terrible Kate Bush impression.

In this week’s episode, we settle into the English seaside. Niko and Tatiana discuss sailors, longing gazes, character, and courtship in Jane Austen’s Persuasion.   You can read John Michael Colón's article "On the End of the Canon Wars" here: https://thepointmag.com/letter/on-the-end-of-the-canon-wars/  

Niko and Tatiana welcome their first guest, Sophia, to discuss 20th century French literature. While tackling Le ravissment de Lol V. Stein (The Ravishing of Lol Stein), the three talk about desire, obsession, reality in fiction, and the works of Marguerite Duras.

Niko and Tatiana read the last story in James Joyce’s Dubliners. They discuss food, Irish heritage, and long lost loves in “The Dead.” "The Dead" is easily accessible online at Project Gutenberg.

A classic why-dunnit. Niko and Tatiana talk about honor, the significance of marriage, Angela and Bayardo, and the death of Santiago Nasar in this short novella by Gabriel García Márquez. Production notes: There is a consistent tapping noise in the background. Apologies in advance.

In this episode Niko and Tatiana share a glass of wine to honor the god Dionysus while discussing ceremonial violence, bodily ecstasy, and the divine madness. This play is easily available online for your reading pleasure.

According to the Yoruba tradition in Nigeria, the King’s Horseman, Elesin, must die by ritual suicide 30 days after the king’s death. Conflict arises as District Officer Pilkings tries to put a stop to it with universe-altering effects—Niko and Tatiana discuss metaphysics, traditions, and dance in this multifaceted play by Wole Soyinka. In the last 10 minutes they discuss the film adaptation (now...

Why is no one talking about the Odyssey by Homer? We discuss translation, violence, and the possibility of homecoming in the story that started story-telling.