Negotiating for Space: Compromise and Flag-Planting

18 July 2025

Episode 6.05 – Negotiating for Space: Compromise and Flag-Planting

This is getting challenging. What are we to do with the Suffering Child question? And on which form of suffering do I plant my flag of resistance? Dostoevsky and Langston Hughes both offer clues.

• The complete reading of Dostoevsky’s “Rebellion” in The Brothers Karamazov: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17z89hjeEz1Rl_hcx4jUdkQi1M0jzbwv2/view?usp=drive_link 
• Langston Hughes: “Let America Be America Again” – https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/147907/let-america-be-america-again

New to Literary Nomads? Check out episode 5.00 to find out what we’re all about: https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/waywords_podcast/an-introduction-and-irony/

Reading Ahead, Journey 6:

• Ursula K. Le Guin: “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”: https://archive.org/download/the-ones-who-walk-away-from-omelas-ursula-k-leguin/The%20Ones%20Who%20Walk%20Away%20from%20Omelas%20-%20Ursula%20K%20LeGuin.pdf

Complete Resources: https://waywordsstudio.com/project/le-guin-omelas/

CHAPTERS

00:00     Our Suffering Child
02:19     Opening Theme
02:52     And Yet We Know, Too
09:47     A Plethora of Principles
15:35     A Different Hideous Bargain
23:38     Rebellion, Revolution, Reconciliation
28:03     Reading: Langston Hughes “Let America Be America Again”
33:09     Closing Words
34:45     Closing Theme and Credits

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Transcript:  https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/transcript-6-05-negotiating-for-space-compromise-and-flag-planting

Have a Question? Literary Nomads Mailbag: https://forms.gle/WKGp1YWrazNZ3TLt8 

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Literary Nomads is the primary program of Waywords Studio (https://waywordsstudio.com). The podcast posts new material each week, with thought-provoking examinations of literature around selected questions or themes and several smaller supplemental episodes in between the larger programs: history, writing, and contemporary applications of ideas.

Visit us for expanded resources for guests and the Waywords community, for other programs and writing, and for opportunities to support our goal to expand reading. Resources available can include full bibliographies of material referenced, full and partial texts, annotated editions, supplemental and expanded episodes, fictional explorations, teaching and learning resources, additional essays, and online courses.

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CREDITS:

Original music by Randon Myles (https://randonmyles.com/)

Chapter headings by Natalie Harrison and Sarah Skaleski

USING THIS WORK:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It is open to be used and adapted for all not-for-profit uses with proper attribution.

MLA CITATION:

Chisnell, Steve. “Negotiating for Space: Compromise and Flag-Planting,” Literary Nomads. Waywords Studio, 18 July 2025, https://waywordsstudio.com/project/le-guin-omelas/.