Life, Literature & The Everything Novel - Audio Essay Edition

11/25/20 • 13 min

The total or encyclopedic novel remains a rare and allusive find in this age or any other. In this audio essay, Robert Fay describes it as "the everything novel," and muses on Joyce, S. Yizhar, Tolstoy, Lucy Ellmann and the miraculous belief at the heart of the Catholic mass. In the end, Fay continues to ponder the unanswerable question: "What is the connection between life and literature?" This is The Feeling Bookish Podcast's "Audio Essay Edition." Music: “Sunday Smooth" by Scott Buckley, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License - www.scottbuckley.com.au.

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Rilke, Gombrowicz, Malcolm Lowry & More - Episode No. 32

We discuss a number of books from Roman's library, including 'Ferdydurke' by Gombrowicz; 'Under the Volcano' by Malcolm Lowry; 'The Mass Psychology of Facism' by William Reich; 'The Letters of Rainer Marie Rilke;' 'Hunger' by Knut Hamsun; and 'The String Quartet' by Paul Griffiths. We also touch upon Masha Gessen, William T. Vollmann, Shostakovich and why Milan Kundera and Paul Auster's stars have faded. Music: “Sunday Smooth" by Scott Buckley, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License - www.scottbuckley.com.au.

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Special Guest Steven Moore - Episode No. 33

We talk with critic Steven Moore, the world's leading scholar on William Gaddis and the man who helped edit David Foster Wallace's "Infinite Jest." We talk about his approach to criticism; his "hierarchy of reading;" the influence of Stuart Gilbert's book on "Ulysses;" his love of "Finnegans Wake;" the importance of Catholicism to Alexander Theroux; Moore's relationship with David Foster Wallace; Gaddis' connection to the Beat milieu and how Moore reviewed William T. Vollmann's "Rising Up and Rising Down," and more. Please check out Moore's new book on Theroux: http://zerogrampress.com/2020/03/30/alexander-theroux-a-fans-notes/ Music attribution: “Sunday Smooth" by Scott Buckley, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License - www.scottbuckley.com.au.