The Professor and Other Writings

By: Terry Castle

Narrated by: Maggi-Meg Reed

“[Terry Castle is] the most expressive, most enlightening literary critic at large today.” —Susan Sontag

From one of America’s most brilliant critics and cultural commentators, Terry Castle, comes The Professor and Other Writings: a collection of startling, gorgeously-written autobiographical essays and a new, long-form piece about the devastation and beauty of early love. James Wolcott, contributing writer to Vanity Fair, calls Terry Castle a “Jedi knight of literary exploration and lesbian scholarship,” and The Professor and Other Writings “a greatest-hits package of show-stopping monologues and offhand-genius riffs.” The Professor and Other Writings is a hilarious and heartbreaking exploration of gender, identity, and sexuality in the grand tradition of such feminist luminaries as Susan Sontag, Camille Paglia, and Joan Didion.

Outstanding personal essays

Would you consider the audio edition of The Professor and Other Writings to be better than the print version?

The narration is top-notch. Many great listens make great reads and vise versa so I’d recommend both.

What other book might you compare The Professor and Other Writings to and why?

Dave Hickey’s, The Perfect Wave — it was Dave’s essay/review of this book that led me to it. Both books are eye-opening, self-aware, and hillarious. Listen to both, they enhance each other.

Which character – as performed by Maggi-Meg Reed – was your favorite?

Terry Castle

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, I wanted to savor it in sections.

Any additional comments?

Dave Hickey said he read it, then read it again, and then read it again a third time to figure out how she did it. It’s that good. Like Hickey, Castle can be a brutal, ruthless — and often gut-splittingly funny — critic of people, behaviors, art and ideas. Neither of them suffer fools lightly especially the fool they often see themselves to be.