Neurotic Literature
James Lark
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Top 10 Neurotic Literature Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Neurotic Literature episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Neurotic Literature for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Neurotic Literature episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
The New Member
Neurotic Literature
06/12/24 • 53 min
"You know what I reckon? They’re so up against it, right, with the state of the hospitals and underfunding and so on, that they don’t know who’s in for what. So they do everything on everyone to be on the safe side."
You will, no doubt, have your own views on the state of the NHS and the reasons (calculated or otherwise) for its 14 years (coincidental or otherwise) of neglect and underfunding. Do feel free to bang some pots and pans on your doorstep if it makes you feel better, but whatever your political viewpoint, I think we can all agree that our health service has been through some rough times lately.
Even so, there are some things one doesn't expect from a routine operation.
But mistakes happen, don't they?
Neurotic Literature Preview
Neurotic Literature
02/28/23 • 1 min
Introducing Neurotic Literature: stories about people who are almost certainly worse off than you.
Often bizarre, sometimes unsettling, occasionally downright upsetting, these yarns can at least guarantee to provoke a response - and, in an increasingly mechanised world, you can take comfort from the fact that no AI could possibly come up with anything like this.
Have a laugh at somebody else's expense, or at the very least, reassure yourself that reality is not quite as bad as all that in comparison.
A warning that this podcast will occasionally include words or topics that you wouldn't necessarily want your Grandmother to hear. Not this one, though: this is a trailer that you can play to your Grandmother to your heart's content.
Let's Pretend
Neurotic Literature
05/16/24 • 16 min
It's a wonderful thing, a school. A place that allows you to learn, to be taught concepts that enable you to move beyond your experience, a place to develop skills and knowledge, and to grow as a person.
But what is even more wonderful is a school where you are allowed to live as well. A school with your own bed, where you can go to sleep with your head full of learning, and wake up ready to carry on being educated. Every night a sleepover with your friends! The fun it must be.
It is rather perplexing, then, when young Thomas Jenkins decides that he doesn't want to go back to his school, even though it promises all kinds of unbridled fun on his return. What are his parents supposed to make of such ingratitude? And even if for some bizarre reason he doesn't like his school, surely he could at least pretend that he does.....?
A story about learning, playing, and the things that make grown-ups turn out so well.
Rectangles
Neurotic Literature
06/04/24 • 13 min
Folklore tells of a town where everyone was a mathematician. Each person was an expert, whether in arithmetic, algebra, geometry or topology; thanks to this expertise, measurements were always very precisely measured, definitions very precisely defined and costs very precisely calculated.
Yet, as a mathematician called Simplex discovered, just because people think they've got everything worked out, doesn't mean they won't find themselves confronted by new ideas...
A story about quadrilaterals, and the difference between knowledge and understanding.
Season 2 trailer
Neurotic Literature
04/25/24 • 3 min
A sneak preview of what lies in store in the long-awaited second season of Neurotic Literature, dropping soon!
Flakes
Neurotic Literature
05/16/23 • 50 min
It is surprising how much discomfort people are prepared to put up with when the cause it out of sight: surveys suggest that three in four men don't go to the doctor when suffering pain or illness, even when it might be life threatening. Arthur Westrip was very much one of the three-in-four men.
Perhaps if he had been in possession of a partner, somebody in a position to nag him or at least to see how painful the skin behind his ears had looked from the start, he would have gone to the doctor sooner. But he did not have a partner and he was, he had to admit, pretty unlikely to get one now that his condition was visible, and pretty gross at that.
Fortunately, Arthur's overbearing sister is on hand, and a visit to the doctor is, in this narrative at least, a predictable inevitability. What that visit reveals, though, is far from predictable, and when Arthur finds out what is actually happening to him, a whole new world opens up - a world of opportunity, an exciting social life, maybe even the long-hoped-for partner.
Not to mention a very different kind of pain.
A story about dry skin and self-loathing, relationships and family... and the things people say in cold blood.
The Bleeding Radiator
Neurotic Literature
05/09/23 • 27 min
Had it been a continuous noise, that would not have been a problem. Lucy could have gone to sleep with a constant rumble, or a low hum, or even a regular trickle of water. But it wasn’t any of those things. Or rather, it was all of them, but mixed up and unpredictable, as though the radiator was trying to say something.
Even the way the radiator looked was frightening. It was a huge old thing crouching at the side of the room; not the unassuming rectangular kind they’d had in the old house, but a giant, iron skeleton, all ridges and angles. It was painted in a sickly creamy grey, the colour of hospitals, and the paint was flaking, like dead skin, exposing dark patches like raw meat underneath.
The only thing that was perhaps even more frightening than the radiator was the prospect of going downstairs again to tell Mummy and Richard about the noise it was making. Because Richard was definitely beginning to lose his temper with her.
But at some point soon, Lucy was going to need to confront at least one of them.
A ghost story of sorts, in which (as in all of the best ghost stories) the people who are still alive are probably scarier than the dead ones. As are the inanimate objects that were never supposed to be alive in the first place.
Packed With Memories
Neurotic Literature
05/02/23 • 44 min
We all have them. Those memories which resurface again and again, the petty resentments that every adult clings onto, which rankle with the same vibrancy each time we relive them.
But what if, instead of merely reliving them, we could change them?
George Goode has been given the opportunity to try. To go back and fix the things he said, or left unsaid, as well as the things he did or didn't do that he wishes he hadn't, or indeed, had. And what possible reason could anyone have to turn down such a chance? Apart, of course, from the rather steep cost, not to mention the weight of cultural and religious suspicion of demons which tends to scream at every bone in your body to walk away quickly without looking back.
But demons are just fallen angels, aren't they? Consider this: here is a chance for George to right wrongs, mend mistakes, to be a better person. As well as potentially to have quite a lot more sex than he managed to on his first attempt at life.
It seems like a pretty good deal at any price.
But when you deal with the devil, things are not always what they seem...
Wallpaper
Neurotic Literature
04/25/23 • 15 min
A long time ago, it was made out of paper. Patterned paper or coloured paper. And it was put on walls.
It didn't sound like anything. You saw it, but you didn't hear it. Of course, that was very distracting, but it was a long time ago and the people were primitive.
As for sounds, they had to make those themselves, with things carved from wood, or made from metal. Even with their voices.
It is common knowledge that, before wallpaper (or rather, when wallpaper was merely paper stuck on walls) people were unhappy much of the time. The regulation of emotions with constant sound is one of the great breakthroughs of modern times.
So why do you feel so nostalgic for that past you never knew, and why does your body refuse to be regulated?
The Locked Room
Neurotic Literature
04/11/23 • 28 min
To what lengths are fathers prepared to go in order to keep their daughters safe and pure? Some quite extreme ones, it turns out.
This is a story about a humble baker (although he isn't that humble) who realises that his precious daughter (let's call her Jennifer) is desired by all of the young men in the village (yes, all of them) and who, knowing enough about local boys to see the invidious position in which this might put her, puts plans in place to fend off the social and moral dangers that await.
But the best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft a-gley (and these schemes are not even particularly well laid), so it's entirely possible that in trying to protect Jennifer, the baker will end up putting her in the path of some considerable peril. Peril even greater, some would suggest, than local boys.
A story about fathers and daughters, moral jeopardy, and unintended consequences.
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FAQ
How many episodes does Neurotic Literature have?
Neurotic Literature currently has 18 episodes available.
What topics does Neurotic Literature cover?
The podcast is about Fiction, Comedy Fiction and Podcasts.
What is the most popular episode on Neurotic Literature?
The episode title 'Flakes' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Neurotic Literature?
The average episode length on Neurotic Literature is 30 minutes.
How often are episodes of Neurotic Literature released?
Episodes of Neurotic Literature are typically released every 7 days, 1 hour.
When was the first episode of Neurotic Literature?
The first episode of Neurotic Literature was released on Feb 28, 2023.
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