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Every book Dennis Duncan recommended on podcasts
Dennis Duncan appeared on The Book Review podcast to discuss the history and invention of the index in literature. Duncan recommended the 1929 poetry anthology The Stuffed Owl, edited by D.B. Wyndham Lewis and Charles Lee, highlighting it as an example of a book featuring a particularly snarky and memorable index. Expanding on the presence of indexes in fictional works, Duncan discussed several classic books that incorporate them into their structure. He mentioned Virginia Woolf's novel Orlando, Vladimir Nabokov's Pale Fire, and Samuel Richardson's novels Pamela and Clarissa, noting that Richardson even created an index for his own works. Duncan also discussed Lewis Carroll's final novel, Sylvie and Bruno, which includes an author-created index, and used Jane Austen's Emma as an example of an uber-classic text that readers frequently return to. Through these examples, Duncan illustrated the historical relationship between authors and the art of indexing.
Books recommended by Dennis Duncan
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The stuffed owl
The Stuffed Owl is an anthology of deliberately bad, pretentious, or unintentionally hilarious bad verse edited by D.
Recommended“there's a really good one from 19 29 it's it's from a book called The Stuffed owl which is a poetry anthology early 20th century poetry anthology”
Where to get it
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Clarissa; or, The history of a young lady: comprehending the most important concerns of private life; and particularly shewing the distresses that may attend the misconduct both of parents and children, in relation to marriage ..
Clarissa; or, The history of a young lady by Samuel Richardson is an expansive epistolary novel detailing the tragic story of a virtuous young woman whose attempts to escape forced marriage lead to severe distress and downfall.
Discussed“he writes an index for Isa”
Where to get it
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Emma
Emma by Jane Austen is a classic comedic novel about a wealthy, clever young woman in Regency-era England who fancies herself a matchmaker with disastrous results.
Discussed“I know that I'm going to want to look something up in Jane Austin's Emma or something like that”
Where to get it
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Orlando
Orlando by Virginia Woolf is a landmark modernist novel about a poet who changes sex across centuries and lives.
Discussed“so Virginia wolf Orlando has an index”
Where to get it
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Pale Fire
Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov is a complex postmodern novel structured as a long narrative poem with an extensive, eccentric commentary and index written by a deranged scholar.
Discussed“nabokov's pale fly has an index”
Where to get it
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Pamela
Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson is a pioneering 18th-century epistolary novel that tells the story of a devoted maidservant defending her virtue against her master, who eventually marries her.
Discussed“Samuel richon writes an index for Pamela”
Where to get it
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Sylvie and Bruno
Discussed“LS Carroll has an index for his last novel Sylvan Bruno”
Where to get it
Books Dennis Duncan wrote
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Invention of the Index | The Book Review | 2024-07-18 | 8 |