On this first episode of The Lit Path, TV Writer, Producer and Author John Yorke sits down with the podcast’s host and producer Jack Aldane to explain why Gulliver's Travels redefined the point of reading for him, after he initially rejecting classical literature at a young age.
The Lit Path's mission is to engage with the crisis of masculinity head-on by looking to the transformative power of the novel for wisdom. Each episode will feature a guest — they could be an athlete, a musician, a writer, broadcaster, comedian, entrepreneur or public servant - reflecting on the novel that has resolutely altered their perspective and made them wiser as a result. Whether an episode involves a man telling his story, or someone telling that of someone they know, love or admire, the show will uncover how fiction not self-help manuals, not productivity guides, not scientific explanations of phenomena) can change the depth and texture of a man's inner and outer world.
Against the broader backdrop of men's mental health challenges, The Lit Path addresses two main concerns:
- That male literacy, including pleasure in reading, lags significantly behind that of women and girls, and
- That many male readers demonstrate a marked bias toward non-fiction titles that trade on facts, systems thinking, and broadly rational solutions to life's myriad challenges.
While such books have their value, The Lit Path asks instead: What happens when men turn away from the quantifiable world and towards the psychological, moral, and emotional vistas opened up by great works of fiction?
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