The World in Time

Stephen Greenblatt

Friday, September 15, 2017

The Fall of Man, by Titian, c. 1550.

The Fall of Man (detail), by Titian, c. 1550. Prado Museum.

In a new book Pulitzer Prize–winning author Stephen Greenblatt takes up the tale of Adam and Eve, the world’s most famous origin story. Greenblatt tracks the tale from its creation, perhaps as a response to the Jews’ Babylonian exile, through its varied interpretations, from the time it was viewed symbolically (as it was by early Christian historians) to its acceptance as a literal event (by no less an authority than Saint Augustine) to its deep influence on Renaissance art and literature and its collision with the modern world, most consequentially with the thought of Charles Darwin.

 

Lewis H. Lapham talks with Stephen Greenblatt, author of The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve.

 

Thanks to our generous donors. Lead support for this podcast has been provided by Lisette Prince through the EJMP Fund for Philanthropy. Additional support was provided by James J. “Jimmy” Coleman Jr.

Discussed in this episode

The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve

More Podcasts

Midwinter rural scene in far-west Texas. February 15, 2014. Carol M. Highsmith. The Library of Congress.

November 10, 2017

The World in Time:

Roger D. Hodge

Lewis H. Lapham talks with Roger D. Hodge, author of Texas Blood: Seven Generations Among the Outlaws, Ranchers, Indians, Missionaries, Soldiers, and Smugglers of the Borderlands. More

June 15, 2018

The World in Time:

Steve Fraser

Lewis H. Lapham talks with Steve Fraser, author of Class Matters: The Strange Career of an American Delusion. More

April 30, 2021

The World in Time:

Louis Menand

Lewis H. Lapham speaks with the author of The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War. More

October 12, 2018

The World in Time:

Jill Lepore

Lewis H. Lapham talks with Jill Lepore, author of These Truths: A History of the United States. More

December 03, 2021

The World in Time:

Geoffrey Wheatcroft

Lewis H. Lapham speaks with the author of Churchill’s Shadow: The Life and Afterlife of Winston Churchill. More

August 11, 2011

The World in Time:

Vicars of Christ

Lewis Lapham talks with historian John Julius Norwich about one of the most successful institutions the world has ever known. More