Category Archives: Mullikin, Kent
Working the Land
Dan Butterworth and Richard Schramm discuss Butterworth’s new book, Waiting for Rain, an account of farming in the American South. Kent Mullikin reviews Second Nature: a Gardener’s Education (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1991), by Michael Pollan. 633 – Working the Land
That’s What Friends Are For
Ronald Sharp discusses The Norton Book of Friendship, which he co-edited with Eudora Welty. Readings are by Zhang Zhilian of Peking University, Hortense Spillers of Emory University, David Smith of Williams College, Annabel Patterson of Duke University, and Robert Connor … Continue reading
The Profession of Authorship in America, Part 3 of 5
Edmund Fuller, Matthew Hodgson, Lee Smith, and James West discuss the role of literary agents in the United States, from Paul Revere Reynolds in the 1890s to the 1980s. Initially tackling transatlantic publishing issues, literary agents have become general business managers … Continue reading
Citizenship, Politics, and the American Character, Part 3 of 5
John Agresto, Alvin Bernstein, and Jean Yarbrough discuss politics, citizenship, and individual character in the United States, focusing on ways in which social institutions such as religion, the family, and education in ancient Rome and Greece influenced America’s founders. At the … Continue reading
The Profession of Authorship in America, Part 1 of 5
Edmund Fuller, Matthew Hodgson, Dan Lacy, Lee Smith, and James West discuss the profession of authorship in the United States, including standards and ethical codes for writers, critics, and editors. They debate whether writers can be considered professionals. The speakers address … Continue reading
(1) James Joyce; (2) Chinese Education: Western Literature and Censorship
Matthew Hodgart discusses the Irish writer James Joyce, emphasizing the entertainment value of Joyce’s work. Finnegans Wake and Ulysses illustrate this humor, as well as other themes such as Joyce’s use of language, the long political history of Ireland, the rejection of … Continue reading
Mysticism and William Butler Yeats
George Mills Harper speaks with Kent Mullikin about the life and writing of William Butler Yeats, with an emphasis on Yeats’s interest in the occult, which included experiments with automatic writing, and the presence of spirits or “communications” in automatic … Continue reading
(1) Philosophy and Public Policy, Part 4 of 7: Nuclear Power, Affirmative Action; (2) Humankind and the Environment
William Bennett, Steven Cahn, James Rachels, and George Sher continue the series on philosophy and public policy. Topics include nuclear power, affirmative action and other solutions to racial discrimination, and professional ethics. In the second segment [16:45], John Passmore discusses his book Man’s Responsibility for Nature (1974) with Kent … Continue reading
(1) Current Black American Literature; (2) Philosophy and Public Policy, Part 3 of 7: Education and Politics
Darwin Turner discusses African American literature with Kent Mullikin. Turner speaks about black writers’ reactions in the face of criticism, forms of creative writing by black authors, and black authors’ working relationships with publishers. In the second segment (14:30), the series on … Continue reading