Sherds Podcast

The House of Hunger was originally published in by Heinemann in 1978. The book is a collection of harrowing, autobiographical short stories in which Marechera’s experiences both in his native Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and as a university student at Oxford, are channeled into a psychedelic cascade of blistering imagery and broken stream-of-consciousness narratives. In his own words

Juan Rulfo’s Pedro Páramo was originally published in Spanish in 1955. The book is published by Serpent’s Tail, the translation is by Margaret Sayers Peden and the readings in this episode are by Jakub Blank. The book concerns the journey of a young man to his mother’s native village of Comala, where he will search for his father, the elusive figure, Pedro Páramo. What he f

In this episode, I spoke to the writer, Rebecca Lloyd, about her novel, The Child Cephalina (2019), which is published by Tartarus Press: Rebecca Lloyd’s superb Gothic novel explores friendship, obsession and the uncanny in teeming mid-Victorian London. At its heart is a tale of human relationships threatened by an unknowable force.’ From the very first, the child Cephalina bro

Sweet Days of Discipline by Fleur Jaeggy was originally published in Italian in 1989. The translation is by Tim Parks, and the book is published by And Other Stories. The novel concerns the early years in the life of a young student at an exclusive boarding school in the Swiss mountains. Throughout the book, her strained relationship with her environment, her peers, and her inner s

I’m joined by Stefan Głowacki to discuss Cinnamon Shops, a collection of short stories by Bruno Schulz, which was originally published in Polish in 1934. In this episode, we discuss this classic of Polish literature in its most recent translation by Madeline G. Levine, which is published by Northwestern University Press. The readings are by Marceli Sommer. In these magnificent a

Samuel R. Delany’s Dhalgren was originally published in 1975. Since its publication, Dhalgren has had its fair share of proponents and enemies - it has been called both the best and the worst book ever to come out of the field of science fiction. Over the course of its eight-hundred pages, we follow our main character, the Kid, as he wanders listlessly through devastated city of

The Naked Woman by Armonía Somers was originally published in Spanish in 1950. The translation was made by Kit Maude and the book is published by The Feminist Press. On her thirtieth birthday, the main character, Rebeca Linke undergoes a violent physical and mental transformation. She leaves her home in only an overcoat and wanders through the local forests and fields. When she is

Octavia Butler’s Bloochild and Other Stories was originally published in 1995. The book collects seven stories from throughout Butler’s career, and in this episode we focus on the title story, which depicts a social and sexual relationship between humans and a race of alien beings. Later, we discuss the penultimate story in the collection, Amnesty, which explores the complexiti

Jean Ray’s The Mainz Psalter was originally published in 1930. We read the story in Jeff and Ann Vandermeer’s anothology, The Weird, and the translation is by Lowell Blair. The story tells the grizzly tale of The Mainz Psalter, a ship en route to Greenland under the ownership of the shadowy figure of the schoolmaster, with a purpose that remains a mystery to its crew. As the sh

Caradoc Prichard’s One Moonlit Night was originally published in Welsh in 1961. The book is a classic of Welsh literature, which though greatly admired in its native country, is still shamefully neglected in the English-speaking world. Set in a small village in North Wales, One Moonlit Night is the breathless monologue of a young boy who unveils the sorrows and torments, the ecst