92Y Poetry Center's Read By podcast continues with never-before-heard readings by Anne Carson (July 26 at 11 am) and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jennifer Egan (August 2, 11 am).
The podcast, which 92Y launched in March, features prominent authors reading literary works that have had a lasting personal effect on them; Carson's reading centers on dance critic
Edwin Denby, while Egan chose a cherished novel,
Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth.
All of the readings featured on the podcast were commissioned by 92Y - and they were recorded by the authors in their homes. Margaret Atwood,
Jonathan Franzen,
George Saunders,
Claudia Rankine, Billy Collins and many others have contributed readings, which can be found at 92y.org/readby.
Anne Carson wrote of Denby: "His observation of what happens on stage is so punctilious, his way of telling you about it so simple and clear, his manner of telling so gracious.a??He was friends with magical people like Alice B. Toklas and Frank O'Hara and seems to have been a bucket of fun. His critical writinga??achievesa??a standard rarely seen anymore."
Egan wrote about Wharton's novel: "The House of Mirth was the first literary classic that I picked up entirely on my own, without prodding from a teacher or a parent, and adored. I read it as a teenager, during a stifling summer visit to my grandparents, when my literary tastes were unsophisticated (Archie comics were high on my list). I recall the experience as my coming-of-age as a reader-when I learned, years before discovering that I wanted to write, what transformative power a work of fiction can have."
Other Read By readings in August include Geoff Dyer, Elizabeth Strout and Francisco Goldman.
