Episode 39: Lauren Oyler with Alana Pockros
04/02/24 • 86 min
This week we welcome my friend and writer/editor Alana Pockros to tackle the work and persona of Lauren Oyler. We discuss how Lauren seized authority as the millennial literary critic, how her abandonment of the “rules” makes her work difficult to engage with critically, her famous distaste for Vulnerability, the Berlin piece (...), and what it means to be both brave and mean.
Plus, in my quarterly pulse check on Culture, I declare a massive return to all things folklore: earthy spirituality, magic, psychedelics, freak folk, boho chic, metal music, and more.
Discussed:
Evidence of the Folkloric Return:
- Joanna Newsom upcoming tour
- Timmy as Bob Dylan
- Kacey Musgraves profile by Allison P. David in the Cut
- “The runway—not TikTok—brought back Boho Chic” Madeleine Schulz in Vogue Business
- Rebecca Yarros books
- Sotce and @sighswoon
- Shanin Blake ayahuasca singer vibes
- Shawn Mendes + Hitomi: Page Six, Hola.com (lol!)
Regarding Lauren Oyler:
- Lauren at SantaCon for VICE (2017)
- “The Miseducation of Lady Bird” Oyler in The Baffler (2017)
- “Ha ha! Ha ha!” Oyler on Trick Mirror in LRB (2020)
- “Lauren Oyler thinks she’s better than you” Becca Rothfeld in Washington Post (2024)
- Interview with Lauren Oyler in Lit Hub (2024)
- Fake Accounts, Lauren Oyler (2021)
- No Judgment, Lauren Oyler (2024)
- “Dance Factory” Lauren in Harper’s (2024)
- “What’s Your Type?” Merve Emre in NYRB (2024)
- Rachel Comey x NYRB collab
This week we welcome my friend and writer/editor Alana Pockros to tackle the work and persona of Lauren Oyler. We discuss how Lauren seized authority as the millennial literary critic, how her abandonment of the “rules” makes her work difficult to engage with critically, her famous distaste for Vulnerability, the Berlin piece (...), and what it means to be both brave and mean.
Plus, in my quarterly pulse check on Culture, I declare a massive return to all things folklore: earthy spirituality, magic, psychedelics, freak folk, boho chic, metal music, and more.
Discussed:
Evidence of the Folkloric Return:
- Joanna Newsom upcoming tour
- Timmy as Bob Dylan
- Kacey Musgraves profile by Allison P. David in the Cut
- “The runway—not TikTok—brought back Boho Chic” Madeleine Schulz in Vogue Business
- Rebecca Yarros books
- Sotce and @sighswoon
- Shanin Blake ayahuasca singer vibes
- Shawn Mendes + Hitomi: Page Six, Hola.com (lol!)
Regarding Lauren Oyler:
- Lauren at SantaCon for VICE (2017)
- “The Miseducation of Lady Bird” Oyler in The Baffler (2017)
- “Ha ha! Ha ha!” Oyler on Trick Mirror in LRB (2020)
- “Lauren Oyler thinks she’s better than you” Becca Rothfeld in Washington Post (2024)
- Interview with Lauren Oyler in Lit Hub (2024)
- Fake Accounts, Lauren Oyler (2021)
- No Judgment, Lauren Oyler (2024)
- “Dance Factory” Lauren in Harper’s (2024)
- “What’s Your Type?” Merve Emre in NYRB (2024)
- Rachel Comey x NYRB collab
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Episode 38: The Body Series with Emmeline Clein [TEASER]
This week, we welcome the writer Emmeline Clein to discuss her new book, Dead Weight, a history of eating disorders. She explains how the medical establishment created a diagnostic hierarchy that feeds into the latent competitiveness of the disease, how the impulse to ritualize your diet can both life-affirming and self-destructive, and how cultural characters like Karen Carpenter, Mischa Barton, and Simone Weil shaped her adolescent vision of the type of woman she should be. Thank you Emmeline!
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Episode 40: The Body Series with Tao Lin [UNLOCKED]
*Subscribe to the STARGIRL Patreon!*
This May marks two years of STARGIRL! As a birthday gift from me to you, I’m unlocking the most recent episode of The Body Series, my conversation with Tao Lin. I decided it was so important that everyone needed to hear it! Subscribe to the whole series at Patreon.com/STARGIRLpod.
Tao and I talk about how we live our lives—our exercise and caffeine routines, experiences with pharmaceutical vs. naturally-occurring drugs, seeking magic, conceptions of the afterlife, the healing powers of beef, and much more. We also chat about Tao’s next book, on the environmental factors causing autism, and why it’s scary to submit ideas to a public who’s ready to tear you down.
Discussed: Trip: Psychedelics, Alienation, and Change Tao’s book (2018) “The Story of Autism: How We Got Here, How We Heal” Tao’s essay Life After Life, Raymond Moody (1975)
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