麻豆社

In Toby Litt鈥檚 new novel 鈥楶atience鈥� (Galley Beggars), we discover the voice of Elliott, who finds goodness everywhere. Toby explains how the writing process influenced Elliott鈥檚 character. He originally conceived him as 鈥檚narky鈥�, until he realised that Elliott thinks in long sentences, which led him to building rich, detailed sensory and imaginative worlds . Toby also reads a specially commissioned piece of writing meditating on the 鈥榮ake鈥� of 鈥榞oodness sake鈥�.

Will Harris鈥� book 鈥淢ixed-Race Superman鈥� examines heroism and mixed heritage through the figures of Keanu Reeves and Barack Obama. What can these men tell us about the ways we might conceive of goodness? Will鈥檚 debut poetry collection 鈥楻endang鈥� has just been published by Granta.

Verb regular Kate Fox has been to the library to find out which writers consider the nature of goodness in ways that still speak powerfully to us today. Her book report includes Toni Morrison on the relationship between goodness and weakness, and the wisdom of George Eliot, as she depicts her character Dorothea Casaubon鈥檚 misguided search for good in the classic nineteenth century novel 鈥淢iddlemarch鈥�. She also reads a brand new piece of writing in the voice of her favourite time traveller, and general good lass, Dr Who as portrayed by Jodie Whittaker. We also hear a clip of Jodie as Doctor Who produced by 麻豆社 Studios.

The historian Kelcey Wilson-lee takes us back to medieval conduct books to show us how goodness was characterised and celebrated in the past. She directs us to the philosopher Thomas Aquinas, and to the ground-breaking Christine de Pisan, to see how attitudes to piety and humility have changed. 聽We discover that the medievals would have been baffled by the perjorative associations of 鈥榲irtue-signalling鈥�. Kelcey鈥檚 latest book is 鈥楧aughters of Chivalry鈥� (Picador).