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The Scholar's Armchair

Dr. John Burton

Arts

Fréquence : 1 épisode/8j. Total Éps: 24

Great minds on the greatest ideas: Conversations with scholars on their area of expertise for a general audience. Less like a lecture, more a conversation with an expert. Check us out on YouTube!

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The Lost Art of Dying Well | Molly Conisbee

dimanche 26 juillet 2026 • Durée 58:56

Death is one of the few experiences every human being shares, yet in the modern world it has become something we rarely talk about. How did that happen? And what have we lost by pushing death to the margins of everyday life?

In this episode of The Scholar’s Armchair, I speak with social historian and bereavement counsellor Molly Conisbee about her remarkable book No Ordinary Deaths: A People’s History of Mortality. Rather than focusing on the deaths of kings and queens, Molly uncovers the experiences of ordinary people, revealing how communities across Britain have faced death, cared for the dying, mourned their loved ones, and searched for meaning in loss over the centuries.

Together we discuss the dramatic decline in child mortality, medieval and Victorian attitudes towards death, the changing role of hospitals and medicine, the disappearance of communal mourning rituals, and whether modern society has lost the “art of dying well.” Along the way we ask what history can teach us about grief, community, and ultimately what it means to live a good life.

Whether you’re interested in social history, cultural history, medicine, philosophy, or simply one of the most universal aspects of human experience, this is a thoughtful and deeply humane conversation.

Links:

Molly Conisbee’s book: No Ordinary Deaths: A People’s History of Mortality https://profilebooks.com/work/no-ordinary-deaths/

Molly’s profile page: https://www.bath.ac.uk/person/509812

If you enjoy conversations like this, please like, subscribe, and let me know your thoughts in the comments.

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Meeting the real Lord BYRON | Prof Andrew Stauffer

dimanche 19 juillet 2026 • Durée 48:13

Who was the real Lord Byron?

Was he really the brooding, scandalous Romantic we’ve inherited through legend? Or was there a very different Byron hiding in plain sight—in the extraordinary letters he wrote to friends, lovers, family and fellow writers?

In this episode of The Scholar’s Armchair, I speak with Professor Andrew Stauffer about his acclaimed new book, Byron: A Life in Ten Letters. Rather than telling Byron’s story through a conventional biography, Stauffer lets Byron speak for himself, revealing a man who was witty, self-aware, vulnerable, contradictory and startlingly modern.

Along the way we discuss the birth of celebrity culture, the origins of the Byronic hero, Byron’s influence on Mary Shelley, the Brontës and the Gothic tradition, his friendships with Percy Shelley and Thomas Moore, his role in the Greek War of Independence, and why his life and work continue to shape literature more than two centuries after his death.

Whether you’re a lifelong admirer of Romantic poetry or simply curious about one of history’s most fascinating literary figures, I hope you enjoy the conversation.

Andrew Stauffer’s book:

Byron: A Life in Ten Letters (Cambridge University Press)⁠ https://share.google/XCk4I1M8cAQuRkHOE

If you enjoyed this interview, please consider subscribing to The Scholar’s Armchair, where I speak to leading scholars and authors about literature, history, philosophy and the ideas that continue to shape our world.

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Virginia WOOLF’s Philosophy of Reality | Prof Thomas Nail

Saison 1 · Épisode 13

dimanche 17 mai 2026 • Durée 01:17:05

What did Virginia Woolf really mean by her famous “moments of being”? Were they simply flashes of heightened consciousness… or was Woolf trying to reveal something deeper about reality itself?

In this episode of The Scholar’s Armchair, I’m joined by philosopher Thomas Nail to discuss his fascinating new book The Philosophy of Virginia Woolf: Moments of Becoming. Nail argues that Woolf was not just a novelist of inner life, but a philosopher in her own right — one who saw reality not as made of fixed things, but of movement, flow, and interrelated processes.

Together we explore:

* Woolf’s “moments of being”

* Why Nail calls them “moments of becoming”

* Time, perception, and the unstable self

* Mrs Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, and The Waves

* Woolf’s relevance to modern philosophy and new materialism

* Whether literature can actually change how we perceive reality

If you enjoy Virginia Woolf, modernism, philosophy, literary theory, or process thought, this conversation offers a fresh and deeply thought-provoking way into her work.

========================

Links:

Thomas’s book: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/philosophy-of-virginia-woolf-9781350526051/

Thomas’s university profile: https://liberalarts.du.edu/about/people/thomas-andrew-nail

What SHAKESPEARE really teaches us about how to listen | Prof Kent Lehnhof

Saison 1 · Épisode 12

dimanche 10 mai 2026 • Durée 42:18

What if ethics begins not with understanding… but with listening?

In this episode of The Scholar’s Armchair, I’m joined by Professor Kent Lehnhof to explore his book Voice and Ethics in Shakespeare’s Late Plays — a fascinating rethinking of how we relate to one another through literature, philosophy, and everyday life.

Drawing on the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas, Lehnhof argues that Shakespeare’s plays are not just about misunderstanding or miscommunication, but about something more fundamental: our failure to truly hear one another. Moving beyond the traditional focus on sight and interpretation, this conversation explores the ethical power of the human voice — not just what is said, but the act of speaking and listening itself.

Through plays like King Lear, Pericles, The Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest, we examine how voices can dominate, deceive, disrupt, and ultimately restore human connection. From the collapse of language in tragedy to the redemptive power of listening in Shakespeare’s late romances, this interview uncovers a quietly radical idea:

👉 Ethics begins in the ear, not the eye.

This episode will change the way you think about Shakespeare — and perhaps the way you listen to others.

Topics discussed include:

Why listening is central to ethical life

William Shakespeare and the power of voice in drama

Levinas, responsibility, and the encounter with the Other

The breakdown of language in King Lear

The redemptive voice in Pericles

How ORWELL makes the mundane meaningful | Professor Nathan Waddell

Saison 1 · Épisode 11

dimanche 3 mai 2026 • Durée 57:01

We think we know George Orwell. The author of 1984. The prophet of surveillance, propaganda, and political control.

But what if that version of Orwell is only part of the story?

In this conversation, I’m joined by Nathan Waddell to discuss his book A Bright Cold Day: The Wonder of George Orwell. Rather than focusing on Orwell’s big ideas alone, Waddell invites us to see something often overlooked: Orwell as a writer of the everyday, of habits, routines, small observations, and the quiet textures of ordinary life.

Together we explore a different way of reading Orwell, one that shifts attention away from grand political abstractions and toward the lived experience that underpins them. From the role of attention and memory, to the emotional life behind Nineteen Eighty-Four, this discussion asks a simple but important question:

Have we been reading Orwell wrong?

This is a conversation about literature, but also about how we live, about how meaning is found not only in the large forces that shape history, but in the small details that shape our days.

🔍 Topics discussed

-Why Orwell is more than a political writer

-The importance of the everyday in literature

-Rethinking Nineteen Eighty-Four

-Attention, memory, and lived experience

-The relationship between the ordinary and the political

-Which of Orwell’s other forgotten novels we should read

📚 Links

A Bright Cold Day: The Wonder of George Orwell by Nathan Waddell https://oneworld-publications.com/work/a-bright-cold-day/

Lone Genius? SHAKESPEARE’S Influences and Collaborators | Dr Darren Freebury-Jones

Saison 1 · Épisode 10

dimanche 26 avril 2026 • Durée 54:05

Did Shakespeare really write alone… or was he borrowing from the greatest playwrights of his time?

In this episode of The Scholar’s Armchair, I speak with Darren Freebury-Jones about his fascinating book Shakespeare’s Borrowed Feathers, which rethinks one of the biggest myths in literary history.

We explore the world Shakespeare actually lived and worked in: a vibrant, competitive theatre scene filled with extraordinary writers like Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Kyd, Ben Jonson, and Thomas Middleton. Far from being a solitary genius, Shakespeare emerges as a playwright shaped by collaboration, rivalry, and creative borrowing.

Together, we discuss:

* The meaning behind the famous “upstart crow” insult

* Whether Shakespeare collaborated on early plays like Henry VI and Titus Andronicus

* How writers like Marlowe and Kyd influenced Shakespeare’s dramatic style

* The role of modern attribution studies and stylometry in uncovering authorship

* The legendary “wit combats” between Shakespeare and Jonson

* What truly made Shakespeare Shakespeare

This conversation offers a fresh and accessible way into one of the most exciting areas of literary scholarship today: the idea that Shakespeare’s genius lies not just in originality, but in his extraordinary ability to absorb and transform the work of others.

If you love Shakespeare, theatre history, or the hidden stories behind great literature, this episode will change the way you think about the world’s most famous writer.

How Jane AUSTEN Conquered The World | Professor Juliette Wells

Saison 1 · Épisode 9

dimanche 19 avril 2026 • Durée 46:51

How did Jane Austen go from a little-known novelist to a global phenomenon?

In this episode of The Scholar’s Armchair, I’m joined by literary scholar Professor Juliette Wells, author of Reading Austen in America, Everybody’s Jane, and A New Jane Austen: How Americans Gave Us The World’s Greatest Novelist to explore the remarkable story of Austen’s rise to fame.

We tend to assume that great writers become famous simply because of their genius. But Wells reveals a much more surprising story — one shaped by readers, collectors, critics, and fans across two centuries. From the first American edition of Emma in 1816 to the explosion of Austen adaptations, fandom, and literary tourism, this conversation uncovers how Austen’s reputation was built over time.

We also explore the role of early American readers, the influence of figures like William Dean Howells, and the unexpected ways ordinary readers helped turn Austen into one of the most beloved authors in the world.

If you’ve ever wondered why Austen’s novels continue to resonate today — and what her story reveals about how literary reputations are formed — this conversation offers a fascinating answer.

==================================

Professor Wells’ Books:

📖A New Jane Austen: How Americans Gave Us the World’s Greatest Novelist: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/new-jane-austen-9781350365537/

📖Reading Austen In America: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/reading-austen-in-america-9781350012066/

📖Everybody’s Jane: Austen in the Popular Imagination: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/everybodys-jane-9781441111166/

The SALEM Witch Children | Dr Kristina West

Saison 1 · Épisode 8

dimanche 5 avril 2026 • Durée 59:53

The Salem witch trials weren’t just about witches. They were about children—and what adults needed them to be.

What role did children really play in the Salem witch trials? In this conversation, Dr Kristina West reveals how the figure of the child sits at the centre of the panic, challenging our assumptions about innocence, guilt, and history itself.

We discuss her book The Salem Witch Child and explore her current project on perceptions of witches and magic in American culture.

📖 Read Krissie’s book: https://www.waterstones.com/book/reading-the-salem-witch-child/kristina-west/9783030493066

🧑🏼‍🏫 Krissie’s profile at Royal Holloway: https://pure.royalholloway.ac.uk/en/persons/krissie-west/

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The METAMODERN Shift in Contemporary Fiction | Dr Usha Wilbers & Dr Dennis Kersten

Saison 1 · Épisode 7

dimanche 29 mars 2026 • Durée 01:02:24

What comes after postmodernism? In this interview, Dr Usha Wilbers and Dr Dennis Kersten of Radboud University explore metamodernism as a new cultural “structure of feeling” emerging in contemporary literature.

Moving from modernism’s search for meaning to postmodernism’s irony and scepticism, we ask what it means to read and write fiction today in a world that no longer fully believes in either. Drawing on their research into reader responses to novels like NW and How to Be Both, as well as their forthcoming book Glocal Metamodernisms, Wilbers and Kersten reveal how sincerity, irony, and hope coexist in twenty-first-century culture.

Is metamodernism a new era, or simply what it feels like to live after meaning has fractured?

=======================================

References:

📖Read Usha and Dennis' book 'Glocal Metamodernisms' (out May 2026): https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/glocal-metamodernisms-9798216276289/

📖Read their article 'Down the Metamodernist Plain' (2020): https://www.researchgate.net/publication/386531627_Down_in_the_Metamodernist_Plain_Tracing_a_Twenty-First-Century_Structure_of_Feeling_in_the_Reception_of_NW_and_How_to_Be_Both

Their University Profiles

Usha Wilbers: https://www.ru.nl/en/people/wilbers-u

Dennis Kersten: https://www.ru.nl/en/people/kersten-d

Vermeulen and van den Akker's article 'Notes on Metamodernism' (2010): https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233894749_Notes_on_Metamodernism

What SHAKESPEARE’S Mirrors Are Really Showing Us | Dr Valentina Finger

Saison 1 · Épisode 6

jeudi 19 mars 2026 • Durée 47:44

What are the many mirrors of the Shakespearean stage really showing us?

In this episode of The Scholar’s Armchair, I speak with literary scholar Dr. Valentina Finger of LMU Munich about her new book Mirrors in Shakespeare and Early Modern English Drama: Power, Gender and the Magic of the Theatre. Together, we explore how mirrors in plays like Richard II, Macbeth, The Duchess of Malfi, and The Alchemist do far more than reflect reality—they expose it, distort it, and sometimes shatter it completely.

We discuss how mirrors on the early modern stage were used to explore:

• The fragility of kingship and political power

• The construction of identity and the “two bodies” of the king

• Gender, cosmetics, and female agency in Jacobean drama

• Magic, science, and theatrical illusion in the Renaissance

Drawing on history, philosophy, and close reading, this conversation reveals how Shakespeare and his contemporaries used mirrors to turn theatre itself into a space of reflection, inversion, and revelation.

If you’re interested in Shakespeare, early modern drama, literary theory, gender studies, or the history of theatre, this episode offers a fresh way of seeing familiar plays.

📖Read Valentina’s book for FREE: https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/monograph?docid=b-9781350535381

🙋‍♀️ Valentina’s profile at LMU: https://www.anglistik.uni-muenchen.de/personen/wiss_ma/finger/index.htm

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