The Harper’s Podcast

About The Harper’s Podcast

Since 1850, Harper’s Magazine has provided its readers with a unique perspective on the issues that drive our national conversation, featuring writing from some of the most promising to most distinguished names in literature–from Barbara Ehrenreich to Rachel Kushner. Listen as Harper's editors and contributing writers take a deep dive into these topics and the craft of long-form narrative journalism. harpersmagazine.substack.com (https://harpersmagazine.substack.com/s/the-harpers-podcast?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Harper's Magazine

Category

news · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

28 Jun 2018

Latest episode

10 Jul 2024

Latest episodes

183 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   10 Jul 2024

   Rachel Cusk and Ben Lerner: Live in Conversation

   In June, writers Rachel Cusk and Ben Lerner joined Harper’s Magazine editor Christopher Carroll for a conversation and Q&A in front of a live audience at the NYU Skirball Center in downtown Manhattan. Listen to Cusk and Lerner read from their recent Harper’s essays and discuss the state of contemporary fiction, Cusk’s use of artists’ biographies in her newest novel Parade, reading in a second language, parenthood, the role of ego in writing, and much more. Subscribe to Harper’s Magazine for only $16.97 per year: harpers.org/save. (http://harpers.org/save) * “The Hofmann Wobble (https://harpers.org/archive/2023/12/the-hofmann-wobble-wikipedia-and-the-problem-of-historical-memory/)” by Ben Lerner, from the December 2023 issue of Harper’s * “The Spy (https://harpers.org/archive/2023/10/the-spy-cusk/)” by Rachel Cusk, from the October 2023 issue of Harper’s * 11:31: “You can’t be both an encyclopedia and a news source without some kind of contamination.” —Ben Lerner * 19:09: “First of all, I thought, God, if I’d never told anyone who I was, starting with my parents, if I hadn’t accepted that containment in myself, what would I have created? What would my relationship to reality be?”  —Rachel Cusk * 25:18: “I mean this as a total compliment, but I read your books with a lot of dread.” —Ben Lerner to Rachel Cusk * 26:36: “What the novel has tried to do, kind of wrongly, I guess, in the end, is for the act of reading to also be an act of shared experience.” —Rachel Cusk * 28:34: “Being a good parent in the moment of composition, if you’re trying to take care of those imagined readers, can be deadly for the work – not always, but sometimes.” —Ben Lerner * 28:49: “On the other hand, having kids for me, especially young kids, it does refresh your wonder before language.” —Ben Lerner * 29:43: “If your work can change in the way you change, or people change, when you have children, I think that’s a really powerful thing.” —Rachel Cusk * 32:10: “I’m really into animal vocalization stuff.” —Ben Lerner * 34:23: “French has completely changed my English.” —Rachel Cusk * 40:24: “My dad told me never to learn to type because I would end up being someone’s secretary, which was kind of feminist of him I guess, but typing is the thing I’ve done the best with in my whole life.” —Rachel Cusk * 41:23: “I think there’s a lot of ego involved in the claim to disavow ego in writing.” —Ben Lerner * 42:45: “What is a shame is the idea that examination of self is egotistical.” —Rachel Cusk Thanks for listening to The Harper’s Podcast. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit harpersmagazine.substack.com (https://harpersmagazine.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

2. 

   30 Oct 2023

   Pulp Fiction

   Inspired by the pulp collectors Gary Lovisi and Lucille Cali, Harper’s Magazine senior editor Joe Kloc embarked on a freewheeling search for a magazine lost to time: the inaugural issue of Golden Fleece Historical Adventure. In this week’s episode, Kloc joins Violet Lucca to discuss his adventures exploring the world of pulp magazines, the act of collecting, and Lost at Sea, a book based on a previous feature Kloc wrote for Harper’s, slated for release in 2025. * Subscribe to Harper’s for only $16.97: harpers.org/save * “The Golden Fleece (https://harpers.org/archive/2023/10/the-golden-fleece-kloc/)” * “Empathy, My Dear Sherlock” (https://harpers.org/archive/2020/09/empathy-my-dear-watson-netflix/) * “Lost at Sea (https://harpers.org/archive/2019/05/lost-at-sea-richardson-bay/)” * 3:55 “What appealed to me about Gary and pulp collecting in general is, this is really for the love of the game.” * 4:06 “I was interested in the idea that people would be so passionate about those objects when it didn’t have that same monetary incentive.” * 16:20 “Pulps technically mean only the magazines, not the paperbacks.” * 19:00 “These pulp writers became those comic book writers. Those comic books become comic book movies, and these comic book movies are constantly competing for your attention.” * 25:52 “It gives you a feeling of being a child and remembering a time when all was before you and anything could happen.” * 27:28 “These objects carry a deeper meaning, even if they’ve been destroyed or lost.” * 37:18 “It’s hard to describe the power of Sherlock Holmes in the pulp collecting world.” * 41:02 “I’m not going to let go of my imagination. It always has been fun to think like this and it always will be fun to think like this.” * 44:40 “It’s a form of vernacular creativity.” This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit harpersmagazine.substack.com (https://harpersmagazine.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

3. 

   2 Oct 2023

   Party Fouls

   With Trump as the forerunning Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election, the Democratic Party appears to be falling back on the same familiar logic: better than the alternative. But certain progressive candidates are still looking to disrupt the status quo, however unlikely support from the establishment left may be. In this week’s episode, Harper’s Magazine’s Washington editor, Andrew Cockburn, joins senior editor Elena Saavedra Buckley to survey the landscape of the 2024 election with a focus on three insurgent candidates: Marianne Williamson, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Cornel West. Subscribe to Harper’s for only $16.97: harpers.org/save * Andrew Cockburn’s article “Against the Current (https://harpers.org/archive/2023/10/against-the-current/)” * An interview (https://theintercept.com/2023/05/06/deconstructed-dmitri-mehlhorn-democratic-party/) with Dmitri Mehlhorn in the Intercept * 3:03: “Popping up on the picket line is actually a very hard turn for him as a president.” * 4:08: “It’s Trump all over, fake populism as usual.” * 5:40: “It’s only when the DNC decided to throw its full weight behind him … then Biden was popular for a while.” * 7:42: “He’s really not that old.” * 12:10: “I can’t think of any example where a president nominates a strong alternative. Instinctively no leader wants to be encouraging a potential rival.” * 14:39: “You don’t get anywhere by promising to make people’s lives better. The only thing you can do is convince people the alternative is worse, which is an infinitely depressing point of view.” * 17:30: “Obviously the candidate who has gotten the most attention has been Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and he has evoked a hysterical response.” * 19:14: “Marianne Williamson, who has gotten much less attention, has detailed proposals on everything.” * 19:53: “Cornel West has the most straightforwardly progressive agenda.” * 26:58: “She said the Republicans were like the dog who caught the car, and it was a car full of angry women.” * 28:44: “When people are asked why they don’t support Biden, they always cite the economy. The economy seems to be doing well, and yet, people are hurting.” * 31:38: “It’s getting late now for any kind of insurgency.” * 39:40: “The other fear is that people who would never vote for Trump can’t be bothered to vote for Biden or stay home.” This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit harpersmagazine.substack.com (https://harpersmagazine.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.3 / 5

137 ratings

Contact The Harper’s Podcast

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

Shows with a similar audience

• 

  The Shakespeare and Company Interview

• 

  Bookworm

• 

  The LRB Podcast

• 

  Poured Over

• 

  Between The Covers : Conversations with Writers in Fiction, Nonfiction & Poetry

• 

  The New Yorker: Fiction