Audiobook Café

Rosy Retrospection: The Cultural Impact of Literature

Episode Summary

What makes a book a classic? Does a bestselling book mean that it will stand the test of time? Are bestselling books as good as we remember them to be? Jacob Shymanski and Red Széll explore these questions and discuss the phenomenon of rosy retrospection as they look back on a list of books that were popular one hundred years ago. Books mentioned in this episode include: “Soundings” by A. Hamilton Gibbs “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald “Mrs. Dalloway” Virginia Woolf “Manhattan Transfer” by John Dos Passos “The Keeper of the Bees” by Gene Stratton-Porter “The Constant Nymph” by Margaret Kennedy “Glorious Apollo” by E. Barrington “The Green Hat” by Michael Arlen “Arrowsmith” by Sinclair Lewis “The Perennial Bachelor” by Anne Parrish “The Carolinian” by Rafael Sabatini “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee “Anne of Green Gables” by Lucy Maud Montgomery “Harry Potter” Series by J.K. Rowling

Episode Notes

What makes a book a classic? Does a bestselling book mean that it will stand the test of time? Are bestselling books as good as we remember them to be? Jacob Shymanski and Red Széll explore these questions and discuss the phenomenon of rosy retrospection as they look back on a list of books that were popular one hundred years ago.  

Books mentioned in this episode include: