# A Conversation on Difficulty and Ambiguity

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-reading-life-a-writing-life-with-sally-bayley-5890400/a-conversation-on-difficulty-and-ambiguity
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-reading-life-a-writing-life-with-sally-bayley-5890400/a-conversation-on-difficulty-and-ambiguity.md
Podcast: [A Reading Life, A Writing Life, with Sally Bayley](https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-reading-life-a-writing-life-with-sally-bayley-5890400)
Published: 2025-09-20T22:00:50+00:00
Episode link: https://readinglifewritinglife.podbean.com/e/a-conversation-on-difficulty-and-ambiguity/
Audio file: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/sacujnu4rhtc9kvz/JB_Draft_29jekq.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/a-reading-life-a-writing-life-with-sally-bayley-5890400/episodes/a-conversation-on-difficulty-and-ambiguity
Duration seconds: 2839

## Resource

‘From Waterloo Station to the small country town of Ramsgard in Dorset is a journey of not more than three or four hours, but having by good luck found a compartment to himself, Wolf Solent was able to indulge in such an orgy of concentrated thought, that these three or four hours lengthened themselves out into something beyond all human measurement.’ We rejoin Sally this week in conversation with the producer, James Bowen, discussing how to navigate, and ultimately teach, ‘difficult’ literature, drawing on John Cooper Powys’ Wolf Solent (1929) and James Joyce’s Ulysses (1922). Listen for a discussion of ambiguity, pedagogy, and the role of the author in narrative resolution. More information on Powys can be found here. Sally’s fable, Worm in the Bud, will be published in November of this year by The New Menard Press. It will be available from all good booksellers. You can also find out more about James and his work here. This episode was edited and produced by James Bowen. Special thanks to Andrew Smith, Violet Henderson, Kris Dyer, and Maeve Magnus.

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## Transcript

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