Human Voices Wake Us

An episode from 3/21/21: Tonight, I read from three newspaper articles by George Orwell on the outcry over the Allied bombings of German cities during World War Two, and the aftermath of the atomic bombs being dropped on Japan. Nobody writes about war like George Orwell, and it's refreshing to hear someone suggest that there's no point in trying to civilize, or be more humane, when it come...

An episode from 2/26/21: In this last episode on Egyptian mythology, I read from Herodotus's account of Egyptian embalming and mummification practices, followed by a summing up of the Egyptian myth episodes. The translation of Herodotus used is the Landmark Herodotus ; the essays I read from can be found in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt , and the entries on "Mythological Texts&...

An episode from 2/23/21: Tonight, I read a few poems from Lawrence Ferlinghetti's A Coney Island of the Mind . He died yesterday at the age of 101, and you can read his obituary here . A friend introduced me to Ferlinghetti's book in high school, and I've always associated him with my earliest reading, and my earliest attempts at poetry. Don’t forget to support Human Voices Wake Us  on...

An episode from 2/19/21: In this third episode on Egyptian mythology, I give a brief introduction to the famous Book of the Dead, and then read from the longest chapter in the book, Chapter 125. Both come from Miriam Lichtheim's Ancient Egyptian Literature, vol. 2: The New Kingdom . Other episodes on Egyptian mythology ⁠ are here ⁠ . Don’t forget to support Human Voices Wake Us  on Substack ,...

An episode from 2/17/21: Tonight, I read what is probably Walt Whitman's greatest single poem, " Crossing Brooklyn Ferry ." More focused than "Song of Myself," and concerned with much more than the mourning that consumes "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd," here Whitman gives himself over to sympathy with the past and the future. He shows all of us how...

An episode from 2/13/21: George Orwell's 1933 memoir of voluntary poverty, Down and Out in Paris and London , can still rip your heart out. Tonight, I read a few passages from it. Few people have ever written about the reality of poverty as viscerally and sympathetically as him. Don’t forget to support Human Voices Wake Us on Substack , where you can also get our newsletter and other extras. Y...

An episode from 2/7/21: In this second episode on Egyptian mythology, I offer an overview of the story of the god Osiris, with readings from the most complete Egyptian and Greek sources. As with so much of the surviving corpus of Egyptian religious writings, hardly any attention is paid to our idea of a coherent narrative. The focus is almost entirely on an incantatory summary of what Osiris can d...

An episode from 1/31/21: The American writer Laurie Sheck (born 1953) was the first poet that I read extensively from on Human Voices Wake Us . Her 1996 book, The Willow Grove , remains one of the best single collections of poetry I’ve ever read, especially where Sheck remembers her childhood, learning to read, first going to museums, and so much else. And for someone like me, for whom the mystiqu...

An episode from 1/28/21: Tonight, I read from perhaps the oldest surviving religious texts in the world, the spells and prayers that were inscribed into the walls of the tombs of the pharaohs as early as 2353 BC. Collectively referred to as the Pyramid Texts, they were the basis of the later Coffin Texts, and the more famous Egyptian Book of the Dead. These texts were not meant as "literature...

An episode from 12/31/20: In this last episode on the Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh, I read of Gilgamesh's travels to the ends of the earth as he mourns the death of his friend, Enkidu. There, he meets with Utanapishti, who relates the Mesopotamian account of the Flood. The story ends with Gilgamesh’s failure at achieving immortality. The translations I read from are by ⁠⁠ Andrew George ⁠⁠ an...

An episode from 12/27/20: Tonight, I read one of T. S. Eliot's earliest poems, " Preludes ". While many readers rightly go for his more famous poems, I take the time to discuss here how "Preludes" was my way into Eliot's later, and more allusive, poetry. Don’t forget to support Human Voices Wake Us  on Substack , where you can also get our newsletter and other extras. Y...

An episode from 11/28/20: Tonight, I read from Andrew Solomon’s book, Far From the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity . This passage is taken from the chapter on the lives of deaf children, their parents, and the difficulties they face. Don’t forget to support Human Voices Wake Us  on Substack , where you can also get our newsletter and other extras. You can also support the podca...

An episode from 11/27/20: A reading from Studs Terkel’s book, ⁠ American Dreams: Lost & Found ⁠ . Here, Andy Johnson talks about his life in rural Minnesota at the turn of the twentieth century. The interview is also included in Terkel’s best-of volume, ⁠ The Studs Terkel Reader ⁠ .  Don’t forget to support Human Voices Wake Us on Substack , where you can also get our newsletter and other extr...

An episode from 11/11/20: Tonight, I read from Lawrence Weschler’s collection of essays, Vermeer in Bosnia . In the title essay, Weschler describes a war-crimes trial judge who can only find solace from his daily work by visiting Vermeer’s paintings at the Mauritshuis museum. Weschler also mentions the context of Vermeer's career as an artists, which coincided with a series of wars. Don’t forg...

An episode from 11/10/20: Tonight, I read Walt Whitman's 1863 letter to the parents of Erastus Haskell. Haskell was wounded during the Civil War, and was befriended and cared for by Whitman in one of the many Washington, D.C., hospitals that the poet frequented. Haskell eventually died of his wounds. The letter can be found in the best account of Whitman’s life during the Civil War, Roy Morris...

An episode from 11/9/20: Tonight, I read one of the most moving sections of George Orwell’s 1937 book, The Road to Wigan Pier . In the book, Orwell goes to live in the mining district of Northern England, and this passage comes after he spent only a small amount of time in the mines himself, amid their horrible conditions. The question to ask after listening to what Orwell has to say is, "Wha...

An episode from 11/5/2020: Tonight, I read a handful of poems from Robinson Jeffers's late collection, Hungerfield . The book, especially the title poem, is taken up with the death of Jeffers's wife, Una, in 1950: Animals Time of Disturbance The Beauty of Things The World's Wonders The Old Stone-Mason excerpt from Hungerfield De Rerum Virtute The Deer Lay Down Their Bones Jeffers remai...

An episode from 11/01/20: Tonight, I read two passages from Franz Kafka's The Trial : the fable known as "Before the Law," and the concluding scene, where Josef K. is executed. Kafka's ability to portray those who are powerless when faced with vast bureaucracy, or simply before the rituals of everyday interaction (which many also find impenetrable), is still so important to exper...

An episode from 10/28/20: Tonight, I read from Stephen Ambrose's book on the Lewis & Clark expedition, Undaunted Courage . I've chosen a scene from the end of the book, detailing the last night of Meriwether Lewis's life, in October of 1809. Unlike his more famous companion, William Clark, Lewis suffered from what we today would call depression, and this passage is one of the sadde...

An episode from 10/26/20: Tonight, I read six poems from the Last Poems of Robinson Jeffers (1887-1962): Explosion Vulture 'The polar ice-caps are melting, the mountain glaciers' 'As the eye fails through age or disease' 'It nearly cancels my fear of death, my dearest said' 'I am seventy-four years old and suddenly all my strength' Jeffers remains one of the few poe...

An episode from 10/25/20: A reading from the poet W. S. Merwin’s memoir, The Mays of Ventadorn , where he recalls meeting the poet Ezra Pound in 1949. Merwin, who died in 2019 at the age of ninety-one, was just starting out when he paid a visit to Pound. For his part, by 1949 Ezra Pound (1885-1972) had already known and influenced every great Modernist poet since 1900, going to university in Ameri...

An episode from 10/23/20: Tonight, I read from Michael Ondaatje’s 1993 novel, The English Patient . The book beautifully captures the experiences of time and nostalgia, especially when they are connected with romantic love. I also talk about how certain books become reference points in our lives. Don’t forget to support Human Voices Wake Us  on Substack , where you can also get our newsletter and...

An episode from 10/22/20: Tonight, I read five poems from a (as yet unpublished) book, School of Night . Each circle around the strange feeling of being awake and alone at night, in an empty house or an apartment shared with family or friends, and the creativity and paranoia that can result. You can find links to more poems from the book here . Don’t forget to support Human Voices Wake Us  on Subs...

An episode from 10/15/20: Only the third episode in this podcast (and you can hear it in my voice, where I still sound a little uncomfortable), tonight I read Carl Jung's description of his famous "Dream of the House." In the dream, Jung walks from the top floor and down through the rest of the house, into the basement, and beyond. As each lower level in the house appeared to represe...

An episode from 10/10/20: A reading from Mary Pipher’s 1994 book, Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls . It is fascinating to see how the internet is nowhere to be found here, and how in the years after the book was published, technology and smartphones have only exacerbated these age-old difficulties. Don’t forget to support Human Voices Wake Us  on Substack , where you can als...