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font-weight: 400; font-family: Inter, sans-serif;'> <span class='description'> Critics at Large is a weekly culture podcast from The New Yorker. Every Thursday, the staff writers Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss current obsessions, classic texts they’re revisiting with fresh eyes, and trends that are emerging across books, television, film, and more. The show runs the gamut of the arts and pop culture, with lively, surprising conversations about everything from Salman Rushdie to “The Real Housewives.” Through rigorous analysis and behind-the-scenes insights into The New Yorker’s reporting, the magazine’s critics help listeners make sense of our moment—and how we got here. </span> <span class='link pointer dn no-underline text-button o-70' style='color: #333333'>Show more</span> <div class='mt5 f6 fw-700 o-80 lh-title tl-ns ttu tracked link-header web' style='color: #333333; font-family: Inter'>Episodes</div> <div class='episode-feed-container web' style='color: #333333'></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class='f7 tc w-100 o-70 mt5 out-links pb5' style='color: #333333'> <div class='pb4'> Powered by <a class="link underline" style="color: inherit" href="https://chartable.com/smartlinks?utm_source=smartlink">Chartable SmartLinks</a> · <a class="link" style="color: inherit" href="https://chartable.com/privacy?utm_source=smartlink">Privacy & Terms</a> </div> </div> <div class='w-100 fixed bottom-0 mobile-player'> <div class='maximized-content' style='display: none;'> <div class='w-100 flex justify-center pt2 pointer minimize-button' style='height: 60px'> <div class='bg-moon-gray w2 br3' style='width: 40px; 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if (JSON.stringify({"cid":"d35d99e6-f6d7-4865-8e6b-8bc0101a8506","id":205604752,"title":"Gossip, Then and Now","description":"Gossip, an essential human pastime, is full of contradictions. It has the potential to be as destructive to its subjects as it is titillating to its practitioners; it can protect against very real threats, as in the case of certain pre-#MeToo whisper networks, or tip over into the realm of conspiracy. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz consider the role gossip has played in society over the centuries. They discuss Kelsey McKinney’s new book on the topic, “You Didn’t Hear This from Me,” which Schwartz recently reviewed in The New Yorker, and consider instructive cultural examples—from the Old Testament to “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.” Today, many celebrities have embraced being talked about as a badge of honor, even as new technologies allow questionable assertions about anyone—famous or otherwise—to spread more freely and quickly than ever before. “Just being in public makes you potentially fodder for gossip,” Schwartz says. “I do worry about a world in which privacy is compromised for everybody.”\n\nRead, watch, and listen with the critics:\n\n“You Didn’t Hear This from Me: (Mostly) True Notes on Gossip,” by Kelsey McKinney\n“Is Gossip Good for Us?,” by Alexandra Schwartz (The New Yorker)\n“A Lover’s Discourse,” by Roland Barthes\n“Grease” (1978)\n“The House of Mirth,” by Edith Wharton\n“The Custom of the Country,” by Edith Wharton\n“Moses, Man of the Mountain,” by Zora Neale Hurston\n“Emma,” by Jane Austen\n“Gossip Girl” (2007-12)\n“The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” (2010—)\n\nNew episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts.","url":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/pdrl.fm/cf3795/tracking.swap.fm/track/uJwtcKQUPuqBQPfusm59/dovetail.prxu.org/5868/17cde4a8-3f34-49c2-8cf9-943541763c2d/tnycriticsatlarge_040325_gossip.mp3","published_at":"2025-04-03T10:00:00.000Z"}) !== JSON.stringify({})) { currentEpisode = {"cid":"d35d99e6-f6d7-4865-8e6b-8bc0101a8506","id":205604752,"title":"Gossip, Then and Now","description":"Gossip, an essential human pastime, is full of contradictions. It has the potential to be as destructive to its subjects as it is titillating to its practitioners; it can protect against very real threats, as in the case of certain pre-#MeToo whisper networks, or tip over into the realm of conspiracy. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz consider the role gossip has played in society over the centuries. They discuss Kelsey McKinney’s new book on the topic, “You Didn’t Hear This from Me,” which Schwartz recently reviewed in The New Yorker, and consider instructive cultural examples—from the Old Testament to “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.” Today, many celebrities have embraced being talked about as a badge of honor, even as new technologies allow questionable assertions about anyone—famous or otherwise—to spread more freely and quickly than ever before. “Just being in public makes you potentially fodder for gossip,” Schwartz says. “I do worry about a world in which privacy is compromised for everybody.”\n\nRead, watch, and listen with the critics:\n\n“You Didn’t Hear This from Me: (Mostly) True Notes on Gossip,” by Kelsey McKinney\n“Is Gossip Good for Us?,” by Alexandra Schwartz (The New Yorker)\n“A Lover’s Discourse,” by Roland Barthes\n“Grease” (1978)\n“The House of Mirth,” by Edith Wharton\n“The Custom of the Country,” by Edith Wharton\n“Moses, Man of the Mountain,” by Zora Neale Hurston\n“Emma,” by Jane Austen\n“Gossip Girl” (2007-12)\n“The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” (2010—)\n\nNew episodes drop every Thursday. Follow Critics at Large wherever you get your podcasts.","url":"https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/pdrl.fm/cf3795/tracking.swap.fm/track/uJwtcKQUPuqBQPfusm59/dovetail.prxu.org/5868/17cde4a8-3f34-49c2-8cf9-943541763c2d/tnycriticsatlarge_040325_gossip.mp3","published_at":"2025-04-03T10:00:00.000Z"}; } let currentEpisodeTitleLabel = document.querySelector('.current-episode-title'); let currentEpisodeTitleLabel2 = document.querySelector('.current-episode-title-2'); let currentEpisodeTitleLabel3 = document.querySelector('.current-episode-title-3'); let currentEpisodeDescriptionLabel = document.querySelector('.current-episode-description'); let descriptionContainer = document.querySelector('.description-container'); function setEpisode(newEpisode) { if (newEpisode) { currentEpisodeTitleLabel.innerText = newEpisode.title; currentEpisodeTitleLabel2.innerText = newEpisode.title; currentEpisodeTitleLabel3.innerText = newEpisode.title; if (newEpisode.description) { descriptionContainer.style.display = "block"; currentEpisodeDescriptionLabel.innerText = newEpisode.description; } else { descriptionContainer.style.display = "none"; } player.src = encodeURI(newEpisode.url); currentEpisode = newEpisode; } } // MARK - Episode feed var loadMoreButton = document.createElement("div"); loadMoreButton.classList = `br2 pa2 f5 ba tc pointer dim mw4 mt4 center ${lightMode ? 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" dark-gray" : " white"; renderEpisodeFeed(); } getEpisodes(); </script> </html>