Sophus Helle Why Alexander Wept

Desire is a strange thing. It is always raging inside us, driving us on to our next pursuit. But figuring out where it comes from or where exactly it is taking us can be surprisingly tricky. Sophus ponders the nature of desire, reflecting on a quote from Die Hard, a scene from Calvin and Hobbes, why he’s not a Buddhist, and what a diamond failed to teach him. To live well, we have to learn to live with the restlessness inside us and to appease it in ways that make our lives richer. Hosted and written...

Engels | 18 minuten (13 MB) | SAGA Egmont, København | 2025

Luisterboek (digitaal)

Sophus Helle The Sex Talk

When we speak of “sexual orientation,” we really just mean whether people are gay, straight, or bi. But people differ from each other in many other interesting ways. Sex, as a realm of difference, is much richer than this single orientation implies. When I talk with my friends about their desires, I am often surprised by how many things it is possible to want. Talking about sex makes sex better, because it opens our minds to an endless expanse of possibility. Hosted and written by Sophus Helle. Sound...

Engels | 14 minuten (10 MB) | SAGA Egmont, København | 2025

Luisterboek (digitaal)

Sophus Helle Spellbound

We all make typos. Spelling mistakes range from the harmless to the disastrous, and they are almost impossible to get rid of. But what can typos teach us? What do they reveal about language and the human mind? This episode explores the hidden history of spelling mistakes, delving deep into their demonic past and discovering the forgotten origins of the Demogorgon, an ancient monster brought back to fame by the TV series Stranger Things. Hosted and written by Sophus Helle. Sound editing by Simone...

Engels | 15 minuten (11 MB) | SAGA Egmont, København | 2025

Luisterboek (digitaal)

Sophus Helle Drowning a Dragonfly

Why do kids kill insects? It is a strange, disturbing fact that so many of us have, at some early point in our lives, plucked wings off butterflies, burned ants with magnifying glasses, or, in Sophus’s case, drowned a dragonfly. But where does semi-psychotic instinct comes from? In this episode, Sophus explains that our encounter with insects—whether as kids or as adults—is like a miniature moral lab, where we can experiment with our relation to the world. Hosted and written by Sophus Helle. Sound...

Engels | 14 minuten (11 MB) | SAGA Egmont, København | 2025

Luisterboek (digitaal)

Julian Barnes Hm, hé, ha: kunst en woorden

Tekst en vertaling van de tweede Joost Zwagerman Lezing (2019) van de Britse schrijver en kunstkenner Julian Barnes over kunst en taal.

Non-fictie

Engels | Nederlands | 53 pagina's | Uitgeverij Atlas Contact, Amsterdam | 2019

Gedrukt boek

Jonathan Swift A Modest Proposal

In a time when poor Irish families struggled to feed their children, Jonathan Swift wrote an essay, which he published anonymously, making a few suggestions. He called it ‘A Modest Proposal’ (1729) or ‘A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People from Being a Burthen to their Parents, or the Country, and for Making them Beneficial to the Publick.’ The solution was simple: Fatten up the undernourished children and sell them as food for the rich. Everybody wins! Though written in a...

Engels | 25 minuten (19 MB) | SAGA Egmont, København | 2016

Luisterboek (digitaal)

Julian Barnes Hm, hé, ha: kunst en woorden

Deze tweetalige uitgave ‘Hm, hé, ha: Kunst en woorden’ bevat de prikkelende tekst die Julian Barnes uitsprak ter gelegenheid van de tweede Joost Zwagerman Lezing in november 2019 te Alkmaar. We lijken niet in staat schilderijen te bekijken zonder erop los te leuteren. Waarom hebben we niet genoeg aan de schilderijen? En waarom verwachten we dat de kunstenaars zelf zo behulpzaam zijn hun eigen prestaties te verwoorden? Of dat critici dat voor hen doen? Woorden zijn niet altijd vrienden van de kunst.’...

Non-fictie

Engels | Nederlands | 64 pagina's (ePub2) | Atlas Contact, Amsterdam | 2019

E-book

Willem Jan Otten Niets heb ik van mijzelf

een hommage aan het lezen

Essays van drie schrijvers over hun grote voorbeeld.

Non-fictie

Engels | Nederlands | 203 pagina's | Van Oorschot, Amsterdam | 2010

Gedrukt boek

Bernhard Schlink Objectieve wetgeving en subjectieve rechters

Dispuut over de positie van de rechter in de westerse samenleving.

Non-fictie

Engels | Nederlands | 96 pagina's | Cossee, Amsterdam | 2011

Gedrukt boek

Maggie Nelson Bluets

Associatieve aaneenschakeling van persoonlijke beschouwingen, geïnspireerd door liefde voor de kleur blauw.

Fictie

Engels | 99 pagina's | Wave Books, Seattle, New York | 2009

Gedrukt boek