Island Idylls

In their last episode of season three, the Menikoffs discuss one of the most interesting writers of the twentieth century, Flannery O’Connor. Her stories, categorized in the genre...

Everybody’s heard of Ernest Hemingway, that leader of the “Lost Generation” and author of The Old Man and the Sea. By most accounts he wasn’t what we’d consider a “good” man but he...

For those keeping track, this may be the only podcast episode on the dictionary out there! In this episode, Barry and Aaron take a break from the short story to think and talk ab...

Barry and Aaron are back working through three of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s most famous short stories: “May Day,” “The Rich Boy,” and “Babylon Revisited.” After emerging as a rising ...

In this episode, Barry and Aaron take a break from working through literature to hit the question of God head on. Why is it family members have such a hard time talking about polit...

Salinger is most famous for that often-banned book, The Catcher in the Rye. It catapulted him to fame. However, in this episode, Barry and Aaron discuss his second popular work, a ...

Master. Short. Story. Writer. Seriously, if you pick up one of his short stories you will be impressed by his engaging and thoughtful writing. In episode 30, Barry and Aaron rev...

Who even asks this question anymore? Isn’t art whatever gets hung up on a wall in a museum? Barry and Aaron don’t think so--though they don’t agree about why this is the case! You...

This past year we’ve all learned about the pandemic of 1918. (By the way, the book to read is The Great Influenza by John M. Barry.) Katherine Anne Porter, a young drama critic in ...

Happy New Year! Before you say goodbye to the Christmas season why not take a break and spend a few minutes listening to Barry and Aaron talk about a beautiful short story, “A Chri...

Can you know Truth, with a capital T? Is uncertainty a necessary condition of our existence? After studying the canon of Robert Louis Stevenson, Barry argues the famous writer woul...

It’s chilly outside so why not warm up to a brand new season of Island Idylls! If you’re new to the podcast, Barry is a retired English professor with a Jewish background and agnos...