
Episode 82 - Lauren Elkin, author of Scaffolding
12/30/24 • 48 min
In this episode, Matt speaks with Lauren Elkin about her new novel, Scaffolding. They discuss Lacan, marriage, and why Paris is so damn literary, among other things.
Lauren Elkin is a French and American writer and translator, most recently the author of the novel Scaffolding (FSG), a New York Times Editor's Choice which the Observer called both "erudite" and "horny."
Previous books include Art Monsters: Unruly Bodies in Feminist Art, No. 91/92: Notes on a Parisian Commute, and Flâneuse: Women Walk the City, which was a finalist for the 2018 PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay, a New York Times Editor’s Choice and a Notable Books of 2017, a Radio 4 Book of the Week, and a best book of 2016 by the Guardian, the Financial Times, the New Statesman, and the Observer. Her writings on books, art, and culture have appeared in a variety of publications including the London Review of Books, the New York Times, Granta, Harper’s, Le Monde, the Times Literary Supplement, Les Inrockuptibles, and Frieze, and her essay "This is the Beginning of Writing," published in the Sewanee Review, was awarded notable distinction in the Best American Essays of 2019, edited by Rebecca Solnit.
Her website is: https://www.laurenelkin.com/
You can find her on BlueSky here: https://bsky.app/profile/laurenelkin.bsky.social
The Spotify playlist she created for the novel is here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3saYDj2BSKyCFWGXsUhCTZ?si=f7a471a0e77e45bc
Contact Dave & Matt:
Email - [email protected]
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/concavityshow/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/ConcavityShow
Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/concavityshow
Threadless Merch Store - https://concavityshow.threadless.com/
In this episode, Matt speaks with Lauren Elkin about her new novel, Scaffolding. They discuss Lacan, marriage, and why Paris is so damn literary, among other things.
Lauren Elkin is a French and American writer and translator, most recently the author of the novel Scaffolding (FSG), a New York Times Editor's Choice which the Observer called both "erudite" and "horny."
Previous books include Art Monsters: Unruly Bodies in Feminist Art, No. 91/92: Notes on a Parisian Commute, and Flâneuse: Women Walk the City, which was a finalist for the 2018 PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay, a New York Times Editor’s Choice and a Notable Books of 2017, a Radio 4 Book of the Week, and a best book of 2016 by the Guardian, the Financial Times, the New Statesman, and the Observer. Her writings on books, art, and culture have appeared in a variety of publications including the London Review of Books, the New York Times, Granta, Harper’s, Le Monde, the Times Literary Supplement, Les Inrockuptibles, and Frieze, and her essay "This is the Beginning of Writing," published in the Sewanee Review, was awarded notable distinction in the Best American Essays of 2019, edited by Rebecca Solnit.
Her website is: https://www.laurenelkin.com/
You can find her on BlueSky here: https://bsky.app/profile/laurenelkin.bsky.social
The Spotify playlist she created for the novel is here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3saYDj2BSKyCFWGXsUhCTZ?si=f7a471a0e77e45bc
Contact Dave & Matt:
Email - [email protected]
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/concavityshow/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/ConcavityShow
Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/concavityshow
Threadless Merch Store - https://concavityshow.threadless.com/
Previous Episode

Episode 81 - Benjamín Labatut, Author of The MANIAC and When We Cease to Understand the World
We're delighted to present our conversation with the remarkable Benjamín Labatut for Episode 81, in which we primarily discuss his 2023 non-fiction novel The MANIAC, its primary figure John von Neumann, the madness and magic of fiction, and the limits and future of science and the human mind.
Run, don't walk to buy Benjamín's two English-language books:
When We Cease to Understand the World
Extra special thanks to Cameron Waller of Penguin Random House Canada (@cameronsbookshelf) for (a) putting us onto Benjamín's work in a personal way, and (b) making this conversation with Benjamín possible.
Contact Dave & Matt:
Email - [email protected]
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/concavityshow/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/ConcavityShow
Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/concavityshow
Threadless Merch Store - https://concavityshow.threadless.com/
Next Episode

Episode 83 - 2024 Year in Review
Join Matt and Dave as they look back at the best of their year in reading during 2024, each with a list of ten(ish) books they found compelling and noteworthy.
Dave's top 10:
Dayspring by Anthony Oliveira
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem
Coexistence by Billy-Rae Belcourt
What Remains of Elsie Jane by Chelsea Wakelyn
Same Bed Different Dreams by Ed Park
Assembly by Natasha Brown
Matt's top 10:
SUNDAY by Olivier Schrauwen
Blood of the Virgin by Sammy Harkham
The Horse by Willy Vlautin
Caged by Brandon Lamson
The Book of Losman by KE Semmel
Avid Reader by Robert Gottlieb
You'll Like it Here by Ashton Politanoff
A Primer for Forgetting by Lewis Hyde
The Notebook by Roland Allen
Al rio / To the River by Zoe Leonard
Stay tuned for the Patreon bonus episode in two weeks that covers all other things we liked this year in pop-culture.
As always, this episode comes with a playlist of our favorite songs of 2024:
Apple Music - https://music.apple.com/ca/playlist/concavity-show-best-of-2024/pl.u-pMylAeRi4KoErM
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5fVLMtsQSVBCLQUbDxhUFM?si=FaHzQsz8ThCZLMtAWO81tg
Contact Dave & Matt:
Email - [email protected]
Twitter - https://twitter.com/ConcavityShow
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/concavityshow/
Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/concavityshow
Threadless Merch Store - https://concavityshow.threadless.com/
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