Podcast: The 19th-Century Novel and Situations of Sympathy

How do 19th-century novels let us explore the limits of our sympathy? In this episode, Tone Selboe, Professor of Comparative literature, presents her research on how feelings are conveyed and challenged in George Eliot, Dickens and Tolstoy.

Tone Selboe in the podcast studio.

Photo: Vera Syrovatskaya

In this episode, Karin Kukkonen interviews Tone Selboe, Professor in Comparative Literature at the University of Oslo, about her research on feelings in the "big" 19th-century novels, such as Anna Karenina. They adress so-called 'situations of sympathy', how these novels relate to our socially contingent everyday emotions, how they explore the possibility of sympathy — and in which way the legacy from the 19th-century novel is carried on today.

Tone's reading recommendations

  • George Eliot, Daniel Deronda (1876)
  • Ali Smith's Seasonal quartet: Autumn (2016), Winter (2017), Spring (2019), and Summer (2020)

Post-production: Bård Ingebrigtsen & Vera Syrovatskaya.

Written alternative

Published Feb. 3, 2023 12:00 PM