Jack Aldane

Host & Producer @BookingClubPod, @MyMartinAmis, @TheLitPathPod | Podcast Producer at @GlobeGov, covering AI and Defence in government

[Jack Aldane @jackaldane]

You’ll soon have the chance to eavesdrop on @j_amesmarriott and I as we prepare to meet for lunch to discuss his forthcoming book The New Dark Ages: The End of Reading and the Dawn of a Post-Literate Society on @bookingclubpod.

The New Dark Ages spells out what societies really lose when the written word cedes cultural power to image and the histrionics of addictive screen media.

For me, this book feels like a natural successor to Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, an alarmingly prescient 1985 polemic written by the American sociologist Neil Postman. The title of the book alone tells you why Postman is still relevant more than forty years on.

But why do I call The New Dark Ages its successor?

Well, like those for whom Amusing Ourselves to Death has served as a supreme sanity check over the past decade or more, readers of The New Dark Ages can expect to gain a significant advantage in their understanding of the decline of cultural capital, and what to do about it, over those who give it a pass.

I’ll leave it to the next episode to explain exactly why I think that is. But for now, let’s not make an enemy of post-literate formats in their entirety, please listeners?!

I’m willing to bet some of the best reading experiences of your life have come explicitly recommended, and that most of those recommendations were explicitly word-of-mouth. So with that, keep reading, and stay tuned.

Subscribe:🔗 https://t.co/Ffgcp5M23E

[Gavin Keulks @GavinKeulks]

Another contributor profile for the forthcoming Cambridge Companion to Martin Amis:

Today's spotlight is Maria Christou, @MariaChristou_ , whose essay "Banality, Evil, and Bearing Witness in Martin Amis’s Holocaust Novels" leads off the Politics and Public Memory section of the book.

Dr. Christou will be appearing with me and 7 other panelists at our London launch event on August 25th with @jackaldane , @wself and @mymartinamis . We would love to see you there.

Book ("Look Inside" PDFs): https://t.co/vlWPtxFytc

Tickets: https://t.co/lALUtvpvRP

[Carlo Lancellotti @_CLancellotti]

Perhaps this is a good time to recall Simone Weil's observation that the Homeric world is ruled by force, not justice.

[Claire Lehmann @clairlemon]

The fact that conservatives are attacking the most conservative cultural artefact produced in decades has to be one of the dumbest things I have ever witnessed. Its honestly dumber than anything the Wokes ever did.

[Gavin Keulks @GavinKeulks]

I'm so looking forward to this event. Thank you to @jackaldane and the fourteen contributors to my edition of the CC to MA. Nine of us will be on panels for the Birkbeck portion of this event. It will be a great day for Amis studies and other book-related banter. Hope to see you there.

Book (note "Look Inside"): https://t.co/vlWPtxFytc

Tickets: https://t.co/lALUtvpvRP

[My Martin Amis @mymartinamis]

🗓️So much to look forward to on Tuesday 25th August.

Highlights include the launch of the Cambridge Companion to Martin Amis @CambridgeUP, a keynote speech from @wself, and a live recording of the My Martin Amis podcast with @jackaldane.

Make your summer complete by joining Jack and co-organisers @GavinKeulks, @JimDiedrickATL and @YorkUnderwood on the day!

🎟️🎟️TICKETS BELOW! 🎟️🎟️

🔗https://t.co/LzNLicYWuj

[JOYCE S. MATTHEWS @Joyce_S_matt]

@thelitpathpod @ioanmarcjones @jackaldane This is wonderful to see. Keep inspiring readers!

[Jack Aldane @jackaldane]

There are a good few writers who ostensibly work to inspire people to engage with literature, yet who are clearly never happier than when The Odyssey is popular again and they get to go around popping everyone’s balloon with a red ballpoint.

[My Martin Amis @mymartinamis]

John McAuliffe of @newwritingMCR reading from #MartinAmis's collection of essays 📚The Rub of Time about...football. #fifaworldcup #SpaArg #ArgSpa

[Jack Aldane @jackaldane]

This was great.

[The Lit Path @thelitpathpod]

🗣️COMING SOON!

Novelist, critic and author of 📚A History of the Novel in Britain📚 @PhilipHensher speaks to @jackaldane on the next episode about Charles Dickens's Bleak House, whether all novels are historical texts of one sort or other, and whether this is enough to get more men reading them.

For now, catch up on Episodes 1 and 2 on Substack and YouTube

🔗https://t.co/hTnOH6BhHj

🔗https://t.co/usMNb2zvv1

[Jack Aldane @jackaldane]

This was great.

[The Booking Club @bookingclubpod]

Stopped reading again? Well, at least you’ve scrolled to the right place.

New episode with @j_amesmarriott and @jackaldane at Larry’s in the @NationalGallery out soon!

[Jack Aldane @jackaldane]

The Odyssey might be Christopher Nolan’s best ever film for no other reason than that he likes to march you on at a consistent pace, and this is, at its heart, an epic poem with its own rhythmic insistence. But that’s not the only reason. It is very, very impressive.

[Jack Aldane @jackaldane]

Jude Bellingham til the very end. #engfra #fraeng #fifaworldcup

[Jack Aldane @jackaldane]

The Odyssey might be Christopher Nolan’s best ever film for no other reason than that he likes to march you on at a consistent pace, and this is, at its heart, an epic poem with its own rhythmic insistence. But that’s not the only reason. It is very, very impressive.

[The Booking Club @bookingclubpod]

Stopped reading again? Well, at least you’ve scrolled to the right place.

New episode with @j_amesmarriott and @jackaldane at Larry’s in the @NationalGallery out soon!

[My Martin Amis @mymartinamis]

📢 August is fast-approaching, so don’t miss your chance to see…

@wself deliver a keynote speech for My Martin Amis LIVE on 🗓️Tuesday 25 August🗓️, as well as

The launch of the Cambridge Companion to Martin Amis, and a live recording of the My Martin Amis podcast, hosted by @jackaldane. @CambridgeUP

Join us and co-organisers @GavinKeulks, @JimDiedrickATL and @YorkUnderwood for a total one-off this summer.

🎟️🎟️🎟️BUY TICKETS HERE !🎟️🎟️🎟️

https://t.co/LzNLicYWuj

[My Martin Amis @mymartinamis]

🗓️ Join us on Tuesday 25 August for a day's celebration of #MartinAmis, featuring a conversation between @GavinKeulks and @JimDiedrickATL about starting the Martin Amis Web, editing Amis in 📚 The War Against Cliche 📚 and a whole lot more.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW!🔗 https://t.co/LzNLicYWuj

[Jack Aldane @jackaldane]

To think that England’s defeat to Argentina this week came down to skills or tactics keeps the problem firmly within the confines of football, which is why fans who rely on the sport for escapism prefer to keep it simple like that. The truth is about anything other than football.

@highfieldboxing on why England will struggle for as long as finance capital, data, and niceness dominate its society and sporting culture.

https://t.co/Ri7MTqjhNA