Episode notes
Writing is often taken for granted, yet it remains one of humanity's most remarkable inventions. Long before digital screens and printed books, ancient civilisations developed sophisticated systems of symbols that transformed memory into history and speech into permanence. In this episode of Literary Rides, we explore the fascinating evolution of writing systems through two extraordinary traditions: the glyphs of the Maya civilisation and the ancient Chinese script that began with inscriptions on oracle bones during the Shang Dynasty. We examine how these writing systems emerged, how they…
Podcast
Literary Rides
Dr. Vishwanath Bite · Learning · English
Literary Rides, hosted by Dr. Vishwanath Bite — Professor of English, Editor, Author & Rider — explores how language, literature, and thought intersect. Each episode delves into English Literature, Literary Theory, and Linguistics with clarity and practical insights. Ideal for students, teachers, UG
More from Literary Rides All episodes →
-
E115 · 19 Sep 2026 · 45 min
115: Literature and Ideology: Gramsci, Althusser & Hegemony
Why do people often consent to systems that disadvantage them? How does culture transform power into something that appears natural, inevitable, and unquestionable? In this episode of Literary Rides, we explore two of the most influential thinkers in modern Marxist theory: Antonio Gramsci and Louis Althusser. Moving beyond economic explanations of power, both theorists reveal how ideology operates through culture, education, religion, media, and literature to shape human consciousness. The discussion examines Gramsci's concepts of cultural hegemony, common sense, critical consciousness, and…
-
E114 · 12 Sep 2026 · 43 min
114: Henrik Ibsen: Realism & Social Drama
Why is Henrik Ibsen often called the father of modern drama? How did a Norwegian playwright revolutionise theatre and challenge the moral assumptions of nineteenth-century society? In this episode of Literary Rides , we explore Ibsen's transformation of drama through realism, psychological depth, and social criticism. From the groundbreaking feminism of A Doll's House to the unsettling moral questions raised in Ghosts , Ibsen turned the stage into a powerful arena for examining gender, family, morality, and individual freedom. The discussion examines his life, the emergence of the problem…
-
E113 · 5 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 5 min
113: ESL Teaching & Applied Linguistics
Episode Title: ESL Teaching & Applied Linguistics: Theory, Practice and the Future of Language Education What connects language theory, classroom practice, professional teacher training, and artificial intelligence? The answer lies in the dynamic field of Applied Linguistics. In this episode of Literary Rides, we explore how Applied Linguistics shapes modern English language teaching across diverse educational contexts. From understanding the distinctions between ESL, EFL, TESL, TEFL, and TESOL to examining globally recognised qualifications such as CELTA and DELTA, the discussion maps the…
-
E112 · 29 Aug 2026 · 51 min
112: Digital Humanities: Literature in the Age of AI
What happens when literature meets algorithms? Can artificial intelligence truly interpret texts, or does meaning remain an exclusively human achievement? This episode of Literary Rides explores the rapidly evolving field of Digital Humanities and its transformation in the age of AI. From manuscript restoration and authorship attribution to distant reading, corpus analysis, and machine learning, we examine how computational methods are reshaping literary scholarship and cultural research. The discussion traces the historical evolution of Digital Humanities from early digitisation projects to…
-
E111 · 22 Aug 2026 · 47 min
111: Pablo Neruda: Love, Loss & Revolution
Pablo Neruda remains one of the most celebrated and debated poets of the modern era. Revered for the lyrical beauty of Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair , admired for his revolutionary commitment to social justice, and honoured with the Nobel Prize in Literature, Neruda occupies a unique place in world literary history. This episode of Literary Rides explores the many dimensions of Neruda's life and work—from youthful love poems and surrealist experimentation to political activism, humanitarian efforts during the Spanish Civil War, and the monumental vision of Canto General . At the…
-
E109 · 8 Aug 2026 · 46 min
109: Ethical Criticism: Moral Dimensions of Reading
Can literature make us morally wiser? In this episode of Literary Rides , we explore Ethical Criticism , one of the most influential developments in contemporary literary theory. From Plato's suspicion of poetry to Martha Nussbaum's defence of literature as moral education and Nie Zhenzhao's Ethical Literary Criticism, we examine how narratives shape ethical understanding, empathy, and social responsibility. The discussion investigates key concepts such as moralism and autonomism, the ethical turn in literary studies, Theory of Mind, narrative empathy, and the idea of the "brain text" as a…
-
E108 · 1 Aug 2026 · 38 min
108: T.S. Eliot: Modernist Poetry
What happens to poetry when civilisation itself appears fragmented, exhausted, and spiritually uncertain? In this episode of Literary Rides, we explore the revolutionary poetic world of T.S. Eliot — the towering modernist writer who transformed twentieth-century literature through fragmentation, allusion, myth, and intellectual intensity. From the anxious paralysis of “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” to the cultural desolation of “The Waste Land,” Eliot created a poetic language capable of expressing the psychological and spiritual crises of modernity. The episode examines Eliot’s…
-
E107 · 25 Jul 2026 · 52 min
107: Sociophonetics: Sounds of Social Identity
Why do accents matter? How do speech sounds reveal identity, class, gender, region, ethnicity, and social belonging? In this episode of Literary Rides, we explore the fascinating field of sociophonetics through the work of Tyler Kendall and Valerie Fridland. Bringing together sociolinguistics and phonetics, sociophonetics investigates the relationship between sound patterns and social meaning. The episode examines how everyday speech carries markers of regional identity, age, gender performance, and cultural affiliation. It also explains how researchers analyse vowels, consonants,…
-
E106 · 18 Jul 2026 · 25 min
106: Psychoanalytic Criticism: Freud & Literary Mind
What hidden desires shape literature? Why do certain stories resemble dreams, fantasies, fears, and psychological obsessions? In this episode of Literary Rides, we explore the fascinating world of psychoanalytic criticism through the ideas of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and later feminist critiques of representation and the male gaze. The discussion examines Freud’s theory of the unconscious, repression, wish fulfilment, and the idea of the writer as a “dreamer in broad daylight.” We investigate how psychoanalytic criticism interprets literary characters, symbols, and narratives as expressions…
-
E105 · 11 Jul 2026 · 42 min
105: R.K. Narayan: Indian Fiction & Everyday Life
What makes ordinary life extraordinary in literature? In this episode of Literary Rides, we explore the fictional universe of R.K. Narayan, one of the most influential voices in Indian English fiction. From the quiet streets of Malgudi to the emotional complexities of characters struggling between tradition and modernity, Narayan transformed everyday Indian experience into timeless literary art. The discussion examines Narayan’s realism, irony, humour, psychological insight, and deceptively simple prose style. The episode also analyses major works including The Guide, Swami and Friends, The…
Take it with you
The Melo app keeps playing with the screen off, works in the car and on your watch, wakes you to your station, and browses the whole catalogue offline. Free, no ads, no account.
