Best Carl Rollyson Podcasts (2024)

How does a biographer deal with the world of pornography and so-called porn stars. Jared Stearns knows how in his biography, Pure: The Sexual Revolutions of Marilyn Chambers.

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The Existential Loneliness of the Long Distance Biographer 1:09:42

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2M ago1:09:42

1:09:42

This podcast is not as pretentious or self-pitying as you might suppose.

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Malcolm W. Browne reporting from Vietnam and other biographical matters with Ray Boomhower 41:22

2M ago41:22

41:22

Ray Boomhower talks about what it is like to be a journalist in Vietnam and about what it is like writing biographies of journalists.

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Biography in the Prison House of Modernism, Part 2 41:08

2M ago41:08

41:08

I had fun with this one. I really let it rip, if I do say so myself.

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A new Greta Garbo biography by Lois Banner, with new sources and insights 42:43

3M ago42:43

42:43

Lois Banner, biographer of Marilyn Monroe, turns to Garbo, learns Swedish, and discovers all sorts of important sources not to be found in previous biographies.

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Mary Dearborn discusses her new biography of Carson McCullers 52:07

3M ago52:07

52:07

Mary Dearborn does a valiant job of dealing with my interruptions in our discussion of her splendid biography of Carson McCullers.

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Sylvia Plath’s “Mirror” and the Prison House Modernism 17:18

3M ago17:18

17:18

You might want to read Plath’s poem “Mirror” as I explain my reactions to it as a biographer.

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Authors vanish after they die and are revived. A talk with the biographer of Carolyn Wells. 17:18

3M ago17:18

17:18

How Rebecca Rego Barry discovered Carolyn Wells, and why she wrote a biography of a forgotten literary figure, and how she did it.

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A rollicking interview with Paul Alexander about his new biography of Billie Holiday. 34:25

4M ago34:25

34:25

Paul Alexander talks about his new state of the art biography of Billie Holiday. I listened and I learned.

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My listeners respond 30:28

4M ago30:28

30:28

My listeners respond and I comment on their comments

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Why Biography Doesn’t Belong 16:28

4M ago16:28

16:28

A rambling meditation on the biographer as exile.

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A talk with Marian Janssen, biographer of Carolyn Kizer, one of the wild women of American poetry 30:58

4M ago30:58

30:58

A talk with the delightful Marian Janssen who describes her career as a biographer and why she chose to write about the American poet Carolyn Kizer.

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How close is too close when it comes to the biography of your subject? 33:41

5M ago33:41

33:41

I explain what happened when I became part of the lives of my two subjects while researching and writing To Be a Woman: The Life of Jill Craigie and A Private Life of Michael Foot

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You’ve heard of Chaplin and Keaton, but Al Christie?—the subject of Mark Kearney’s new biography 36:37

5M ago36:37

36:37

Al Christie: Hollywood’s Forgotten Film Pioneer by Mark Kearney. A wide ranging discussion of a pioneer Hollywood filmmaker, how to write his biography, and what implications there are for biographers of film figures.

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Tim Christian discusses his audiobook version of Hemingway’s Widow 29:45

5M ago29:45

29:45

How to do a biography as an audiobook

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The author records his book: Tim Christian on Hemingway’s Widow 29:49

5M ago29:49

29:49

Tim Christian describes the process of doing an audiobook, with some very specific advice and technical specifications.

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Biographer Ruth Laney discusses her decades of work on the life and world of Ernest J. Gaines 50:48

5M ago50:48

50:48

Cherie Quarters: The Place and People That Inspire Ernest J. Gaines: biography, memoir, history, and an evocation of the material world out of which a great American writer fashioned his fiction.

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Whose biography is it, anyway? My answer to Joyce Carol Oates 9:48

6M ago9:48

9:48

A brief podcast, what you might call a short snort, about those who malign biography.

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Honey Traps! Why spies make good if spooky biographical subjects. 26:58

6M ago26:58

26:58

A talk with Henry Schlesinger about his book on Honey Traps and the biographies of alluring spies.

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A slightly trimmed version of my talk with Chris Wallace about biographers and political lives 40:34

6M ago40:34

40:34

What happens when the biographer becomes part of the story? Chris Wallace shows us in her unique book, Political Lives.

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A conversation with Chris Wallace about her book Political Lives and how biographers get the story 41:02

6M ago41:02

41:02

A discussion of a unique book by Chris Wallace, a journalist turned scholar, and how biographers interact with their subjects.

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Come On! Get Happy! How Summer Stock with Judy Garland and Gene Kelly got made 41:02

6M ago41:02

41:02

Join David Fantle and Tom Johnson for a lively discussion of the backstory and performances and production of the MGM musical, Summer Stock

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Danny Fingeroth’s new biography of Jack Ruby 40:51

7M ago40:51

40:51

How to deal with a figure so involved with conspiracy theories: What does a biography have to add to history?

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Listening to Larry Lockridge, Part 2, biographer turned novelist 36:11

7M ago36:11

36:11

What happens when a biographer turns from the themes of his biography to a series of novels that are biographical and then some.

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What happened when T. S. Matthews decided to write the first biography of T. S. Eliot? Find out! 44:16

7M ago44:16

44:16

A conversation with Karen Christensen about her edition of Writing The Great Tom as well as her own work on a biography of Valerie Eliot.

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The role of place and the place of the biographer’s biography in biography 16:08

7M ago16:08

16:08

An example from my Lillian Hellman biography.

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Larry Lockridge discusses his biography of his father Ross Lockridge and his novel Raintree County 41:51

7M ago41:51

41:51

Listen to a fascinating discussion of how biographers deal with success and suicide and what happens when you discover details that fundamentally alter what is known about your subject.

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Talking with Dan Van Neste about Warner Baxter, the “accidental star” 40:07

7M ago40:07

40:07

Why is it that some important actors are remembered and not others? Find out by listening to this discussion about Dan Van Neste’s biography of Warner Baxter.

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The Warner Brothers: How They Became That Way 38:01

8M ago38:01

38:01

Movie making in Hollywood’s heyday, but also much that applies to today, to Netflix, Amazon, and the world of streaming

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Paula Broussard and Lisa Royére discuss Eleanor Powell: Born to Dance 40:17

8M ago40:17

40:17

Two biographers who befriended their subject and lived to tell an inspiring tale of a life well lived and a biography well written.

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Eric Laursen talks about his biography of Alex Comfort & The Joy of Sex 43:27

8M ago43:27

43:27

Sexologist, gerontologist, novelist, poet, anarchist—just some of the work that Alex Comfort accomplished, the subject of a brilliant new biography.

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Sylvia Plath Day by Day, volume 1: Why did I do it. What’s in it? 16:08

8M ago16:08

16:08

A podcast that reflects on how I got started on studying Sylvia Plath and why I’ve written so many books about her.

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A new biography of Betty Friedan and why it matters. 38:29

9M ago38:29

38:29

Rachel Shteir takes us inside of making of her Jewish Lives biography of the author of The Feminine Mystique

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An Emergency Podcast: What To Do When You Don’t Have Primary Sources 11:09

9M ago11:09

11:09

My response to an email asking me for help

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A preview of coming attractions and of my work in progress on presidential biography 9:58

9M ago9:58

9:58

Forthcoming podcasts on new biographies of Betty Friedan, Warner Baxter, Alex Comfort, Eleanor Powell, Jack Ruby, T. S. Eliot and my working in progress on presidential biography

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FDR Unmasked: What the Biographers Missed 45:24

9M ago45:24

45:24

My conversation with neurologist Steven Lomazow about his revelatory book about FDR and the impact of his health on biographies of Roosevelt

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Fair Use Biography 16:54

11M ago16:54

16:54

Just remember: You are the one in charge of fair use. Don’t give your rights away.

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Finding Ursula Parrott: One biographer’s quest. 39:49

11M ago39:49

39:49

My talk with Marsha Gordon about her sensational new biography of an important writer you probably have never heard of.

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The Different Discourses of Biographers and Subjects 24:08

11M ago24:08

24:08

Knowing your subject may mean knowing his or her discourse, and the same can be said of reading biographies when considering the voices of biographer and subject.

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The Way I Work 25:46

12M ago25:46

25:46

How I go about each day as a biographer, the sources I use, as I assemble my own archive and write my biography—in this case the one I’m working on now: Ronald Colman: Hollywood’s Gentleman Hero

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What It Takes To Do Biography 21:35

12M ago21:35

21:35

Find out

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Gabriella Kelly-Davies on writing biographies of scientists and doctors and much more 43:18

1y ago43:18

43:18

A wide ranging discussion of how to write about science and medicine in a biographical narrative, with some talk of other biographers including Kai Bird and Hermione Lee

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What memory tells us about biography and doesn’t. 43:18

1y ago43:18

43:18

A continuation of the previous podcast about the variables in understanding a writer and his world.

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The nature of literary power, who holds it, and how the biographer should understand it. 52:35

1y ago52:35

52:35

Samuel R. Delany presents the writer as biographical subject and what it is the biographer needs to know about literary world and how reputations are made. But first a discussion of a movie, The Wife