Out-of-Print

For the season finale of Out-of-Print, our three hosts take on the nitty gritty topic of Side Characters, delving into their importance in a literary, cultural, and real-world sense. This extra-special episode covers Jane Eyre, main character syndrome, Troy McClure from The Simpsons, Noo-Noo, Alice's nickname at her local chicken shop, literary theory, some seriously questionable one-night stands,...

This week, Alice – our self-confessed “gross girl”– takes the mic to discuss hangover cures, 18th century anti-blazon poetry, and the politics of being a party girl in 2026. Key texts referenced: - A Beautiful Young Nymph Going to Bed, Jonathan Swift - Powers of Horror, Julia Kristeva Further Reading: - Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 - Astrophil and Stella, Sir Philip Sidney

By name and by nature, our very own 'Em' takes us through her love of whimsical grammar, and laments that the rise in generative AI has taken the not-so-humble 'em dash' from being an Emily Dickinson moment of pause to a sure sign your CV was written by CHATgpt... Key texts:  Emily Dickinson 'I Felt a Funeral, in my Brain'  Emily Dickinson 'I Started Early – Took my Dog'  Further Reading: Goblinho...

Sophie is hosting this week and has managed to shoehorn an entire episode around a terrible joke she likes. This episode covers the powerful link between modern meme culture + Dadaism, online collectivism, what happens when community art lands in the hands of the powerful, and our three co-hosts living on very different parts of the internet. Key texts referenced: ‘Dada Manifesto 1918’, Tristan Tz...

Is he actually a feminist, or is he putting it on? What does it really mean when a straight man wears a crop top? Do tote bags indicate malicious intent? This week’s host, Alice, takes to the mic to explore the babygirlification of the straight man and the evolution of masculine archetypes from the ‘softboi’ of the 2010s to the performative male of the 2020s.  Key texts referenced: - Rosemary’s Ba...

It’s the pop star confessional poet crossover you never knew you needed!  In this episode, Emmeline opens up discussion about whether the hottest lyricists of our time could ever hold a pen in the face of some of our greatest poets, and the answer is… complicated.  Key Texts:  -Charli XCX ‘Brat’  -Anne Sexton ‘The Double Image’  Further ‘Reading’:  -Sylvia Plath ‘Ariel’  -Lily Allen ‘West End Girl...

This week, Sophie hosts on the concerning trend of founders on LinkedIn starting to write like Patrick Bateman from American Psycho. This episode covers TikTok, LinkedIn close-readings, Bateman’s morning monologue, the line between satire and stereotype, an alarming return to the 80s, the death of context, and the time that Sophie lived with a cult member who is currently on trial for murder.  Key...

This week Emmeline takes to the mic to discuss everything from Shrek 2 to ‘heteropessimism’. Close reading passages from two contemporary articles, the girls in turn discuss some of the pitfalls of modern dating, and why the language we use to talk about it is so important. Texts referenced: - https://youtu.be/A_HjMIjzyMU?si=ZApvBuiCj6DIeOUI - Men, Where Have You Gone? Please Come Back. - The New...

This week, Sophie discusses the importance of dialect as the ‘key to your cities’. The episode covers a (largely unsuccessful) quiz on Glaswegian dialect, a linguistic deep-dive on Scottish slang, how immigrants approach dialect, antilanguage, and how slang is more often than not, a sign of the times. Key texts referenced: Language as a Social Semiotic: The Social Interpretation of Language and Me...

How do you deal with jealousy? Would Shakespeare’s Tragedy, Othello, have ended differently had the eponymous hero had access to The Ethical Slut – a treatise on non-monogamous relationships? This week’s host, Alice, leads the discussion on one of our ‘uglier’ emotions with the girls. Key texts referenced: - Othello, William Shakespeare - ‘Jealousy’, Black Swans, Eve Babitz - ‘Jealousy’, The Ethic...

Out-of-Print is a cultural commentary podcast with a literary twist, where real life best friends and former English students break down the texts and topics most relevant to the highs and lows of early adulthood.