{"podcast":{"title":"Private Life: A New York Review Podcast","slug":"private-life-a-new-york-review-podcast-7689958","podcast_index_feed_id":7689958,"rss_url":"https://feeds.transistor.fm/private-life","website_url":"https://www.nybooks.com","image_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/gnQ-tYKkQUrf9KBbX-Lv2CitGexgv0Aij1cs3L5VRhY/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8wODA5/ZGRiYmU0NTg3OTY0/Y2RkNDQzMTJhZjU3/NWUyZS5wbmc.jpg","author":"New York Review Podcasts","episode_count":22,"summary":"Private Life is a podcast from The New York Review, hosted by contributor Jarrett Earnest. Each episode offers intimate, in-depth conversations with distinguished voices from across the literary landscape—about their lives, their work, and the ideas that shape both. Along the way, they revisit pieces from the The New York Review of Books's robust sixty-year archive (some episodes of the podcast will feature newly recorded readings of these classic essays) to situate arguments within contemporary culture. The show also includes discussions of titles from our book publishing arm, New York Review Books, featuring talks with translator Mark Polizzotti on Andre Breton's surrealist masterpiece Nadja and musician Richard Hell on the re-issue of his novel Godlike. Other early episodes find Joyce Carol Oates ruminating on true crime, while Darryl Pinckney opens up about the perils of memoir and his formative friendship with essayist Elizabeth Hardwick. Private Life is a personable, expansive invitation for longtime subscribers and a new generation of readers alike to connect with the past, present and future of The New York Review.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-09T00:19:47.670598+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/private-life-a-new-york-review-podcast-7689958"},"episode":{"title":"Joyce Carol Oates on True Crime, Her Improbable Life, and Joan Didion","slug":"joyce-carol-oates-on-true-crime-her-improbable-life-and-joan-didion","published_at":"2026-02-25T16:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/private-life-a-new-york-review-podcast-7689958/joyce-carol-oates-on-true-crime-her-improbable-life-and-joan-didion","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/private-life-a-new-york-review-podcast-7689958","url":"https://share.transistor.fm/s/fe795756","audio_url":"https://media.transistor.fm/fe795756/24f29cf9.mp3","summary":"In the third episode of Private Life , Joyce Carol Oates joins Jarrett Earnest for an expansive conversation on everything from Joan Didion to serial killers. They discuss “New York: Sentimental Journeys,” Didion’s essay from the Review ’s March 7, 1991, issue about the Central Park Five, the rush to judgment in a sensational murder case, media mythmaking, and sentimentalized narratives about crime. The conversation also touches on the state of long-form criticism, true crime’s grip on pop culture, and the elusive art of the novella, and Oates reflects on her writing (including three essays about murderers that she wrote for the Review : “‘ I Had No Other Thrill or Happiness ,’” “ The Mystery of JonBenét Ramsey ,” and “ Death in the Air ”) and the improbability of her life. Joyce Carol Oates’s many novels, essays, short stories, poems, and works of criticism have addressed subjects ranging from boxing to Marilyn Monroe, often exploring the dark underbelly of American life. She is a Visiting Distinguished Professor at Rutgers–New Brunswick and her work has appeared in The New Yorker , The Paris Review , and Harper’s , among many other publications. She has been a contributor to The New York Review of Books since 1992, when she wrote “ The Cruelest Sport ,” about boxing, Muhammad Ali, and masculinity. Her most recent novel, Fox , about a predatory English teacher at a New Jersey boarding school, came out last year. Read the essays discussed in this episode with a subscription to The New York Review of Books , which, in addition to twenty issues a year, gives you access to our full archive since 1963, searchable on our website. Read the essays discussed in this episode: New York: Sentimental Journeys I Had No Other Thrill or Happiness The Mystery of JonBenét Ramsey Death…","meta_description":"In the third episode of Private Life , Joyce Carol Oates joins Jarrett Earnest for an expansive conversation on everything from Joan Didion to serial kill…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3806,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/private-life-a-new-york-review-podcast-7689958/episodes/joyce-carol-oates-on-true-crime-her-improbable-life-and-joan-didion/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/private-life-a-new-york-review-podcast-7689958/joyce-carol-oates-on-true-crime-her-improbable-life-and-joan-didion.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}