Daniel Mendelsohn on How Greek Tragedy Speaks to Our Present Moment

Hosted by Paul Holdengräber, The Quarantine Tapes chronicle shifting paradigms in the age of social distancing. Each day, Paul calls a guest for a brief discussion about how they are experiencing the global pandemic.

Episode 96 of The Quarantine Tapes sees Paul Holdengräber joined by writer and critic Daniel Mendelsohn. A professor at Bard College, Daniel talks about the challenges of teaching remotely in recent months. He and Paul also express their concerns about how the pandemic and the economic crisis could negatively affect the humanities in a moment when that field of study may be more valuable than ever. Later, Paul and Daniel talk about Daniel’s upcoming book, Three Rings: A Tale of Exile, Narrative, and Fate. They dig into history, The Odyssey, and Daniel’s belief that Greek tragedy can offer incredible insight into this moment of national consequences and reckoning.

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Daniel Mendelsohn is a frequent contributor to the New Yorker and the New York Review of Books, where he is Editor-at-Large. His books include the memoirs An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic and The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million as well as three collections of essays and criticism, most recently Ecstasy and Terror: From the Greeks to Game of Thrones. He teaches literature at Bard College.