A Book - A Place: Geneva cover art

A Book - A Place: Geneva

A Book - A Place: Geneva

By: Robin Pomeroy
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About this listen

 Part history podcast, part travel guide, always a great story.

A Book - A Place: Geneva takes you to unexpected places in an often city that has a unique place in history.

Frankenstein and comic books were born here. Revolutionaries plotted. An enlightenment superstar had good reason to have houses in and just outside Geneva. And science fiction fans became real scientists at the home of the world's greatest science experiment here.

Whether you're a visitor, a newcomer, or a long-time resident, this podcast will take you to corners of the city where history was (and is still being) made.Robin Pomeroy 2024 Art Literary History & Criticism Social Sciences Travel Writing & Commentary World
Episodes
  • Voltaire's Candide: the best of all possible satires

    Voltaire's Candide: the best of all possible satires
    Aug 10 2025
    Voltaire is literally in the pantheon of France's greatest literary heroes. But in his lifetime, the unconventional writer-philosopher was shunned by his home country and lived much of his life in exile - the last two decades in - and importantly - just outside Geneva.

    And it is here that he wrote his most enduring work: Candide, the story of an ingenue who travels the world and suffers the worst cruelties of humanity and nature, clinging to the cod philosophy that "all is for the best in this the best of all possible worlds".

    This episode takes you to the house in Geneva where he wrote the novel, and to the chateau just over the border in France in a village that now bears his name, Ferney-Voltaire.

    More details on the episode, and the sources cited in it, are available on the episode page http://bit.ly/46JI9Xc at www.abookaplace.com.

    Watch a version of this episode with pictures at https://www.youtube.com/@abookaplace
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    47 mins
  • The Birth of the Comic Book

    The Birth of the Comic Book
    Jul 18 2025
    Comic books, or graphic novels, are often associated with the Belgium of Tintin, the America of the superheros, or the Japan of manga and animé.

    But the art form was actually invented in Geneva, almost 200 years ago.

    In this episode we explore the life and legacy of Rodolph Toeppfer, whose work was championed by Goethe and is now acknowledged as the origin of la bande dessinée.

    abookaplace.com
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    37 mins
  • Episode 2 trailer: The Birth of Comic Books

    Episode 2 trailer: The Birth of Comic Books
    Jul 3 2025
    Part history podcast, part travel guide, ‘A Book – A Place: Geneva’ brings you the surprising places and stories that changed Geneva and the world.

    In this episode: the surprising history of comic books - not invented in New York, Brussels or Tokyo, but in Geneva - 200 years ago.

    Visit: abookaplace.com (https://abookaplace.com)
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    1 min
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