The controlling idea: learning from stories ‘The Power of the Dog’

Talk details

In the second season of talks, publisher Katie Isbester and her daughter Teddy, a film buff, will discuss the central idea of some of the greatest stories told. Each session will grapple with the big issue embedded in the story, and compare how the book and film treat this central idea. And each session will feature an expert guest and a Q&A with the audience.

Season 2, episode 2: Toxic masculinity

The Power of the Dog by Thomas Savage

The lead character of this story is supposed to be an exemplar of toxic masculinity who drives his sister-in-law to drink and alienates everyone he meets. But maybe he's just a jerk. We need to unpick the reasons why his personality is considered to be manliness at its worst, or indeed why it is considered to have anything to do with being a man.

Our hosts are: Katie Isbester is the publisher of Claret Press, an independent publishing house specialising in stories that deal with politics, issues and places. Teddy 't Hooft, aged 20, is a student at university, doing an arts undergraduate degree. Peter Wood, consultant psychotherapist, former lecturer, former chair of The Site For Contemporary Psychoanalysis’s London Training Committee.