It’s the <a href="https://newbooksnetwork.com/category/academic-partners/uconn-popcast">UConn Popcast</a>, and today we discuss<a href="https://bookshop.org/a/12343/9780802163011"> Prophet Song</a> (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2023), Paul Lynch’s Booker Prize winning novel about a totalitarian regime coming to power in Ireland. We discuss the novel’s theorization of individual rights and political power, its success in depicting a family’s unraveling and its failures in telling a broader, more universal story. Why have critics lauded this novel, and who is its intended audience? More fundamentally, what is the role of literary fiction in popular culture?The UConn Popcast is proud to be sponsored by the <a href="https://humanities.uconn.edu/">University of Connecticut Humanities Institute</a>. Check out the institute’s <a href="https://humanities.uconn.edu/initiatives/the-popular-culture-initiative/">Popular Culture Initiative</a>. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Reading Taylor Swift as a Cultural and Political Text

Analysis of popular culture and how it shapes society, with an emphasis on film and television. Features in-depth discussion, interviews with prominent scholars, and recordings of live shows. Hosted by Stephen Dyson, the associate director of the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute, and a professor of political science, and Jeffrey R. Dudas, professor of political science and affiliate faculty of American Studies at the University of Connecticut.