The Casual Academic: A Literary Podcast

We're getting the band back together! After a few guest-filled episodes we're back to talk summer reads, weddings and of course Neil Gaiman and his mammoth tome "American Gods." In our introduction to our new featured writer, we outline his decorated and eclectic career, the praise and criticism of "American Gods," and the hullabaloo surrounding the new TV adaptation.

We're back with a brand new episode, after some delay caused by the ever-dreaded summer camp schedule - just kidding, we love escaping the big city, but it's good to be back and talking about Neil Gaiman's "American Gods," a novel loved by many and recently adapted to TV. It was a lighter turn for us, but we still enjoyed Gaiman's perspective on U.S. culture and its relationship to myths touching religion, identity and the long-established character of the grifter, or con artist. There is a definite postmodern touch to the novel, and we discuss some of our favorite references, as well as Gaiman's use of Joseph Campbell's ideas found in "The Hero With a Thousand Faces." Finally, stick around for the end when we compare the TV series to the book and highlight what we like about the new adaptation. ***Some news - for you Goodreads users out there, we've started a reading group called "The Casual Academic Podcast," where you can find discussion questions on the books we've read, peruse our bookshelves, and get involved in the preparation for our episodes! We're excited about it, and we hope you will be too. **Don't forget, you can find us on instagram, twitter, facebook and soundcloud, or email us at [email protected]. Finally, check our website www.thecasualacademic.com for a bibliography of the episode, including articles, interviews and videos on "American Gods." Happy listening!

In this Aside, special guest Shawn Moksvold joins me to talk about our upcoming episode on Fred Hoyle's "The Black Cloud." We introduce Shawn, talk about Science Fiction in general and why it is maligned, and then preview Hoyle's novel. BE SURE NOT TO MISS: Shawn and I finally settle the great debate on which is a better Sci-Fi movie: Mars Attacks or Independence Day.

In this episode, special guest Zak Breckenridge joins us to talk about Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale." We discuss the power dynamics of language in a dystopia, survival, and maintaining a sense of self. Plus, we consider how exactly to categorize the novel (if that is even important) as well as try to navigate through all the internet noise surrounding this book/television show. If you liked the novel or the show and are fed up with disingenuous internet opinions, don't miss this one!

On this episode, we discuss various stories found in Jorge Luis Borges' "Fictions," and in the process might have created a labyrinth of our own. In thinking about what many “boom” writers of Latin America were playing with in their fictional work, we draw upon Kafka, parallel universes, and some other-worldly music (made on Garage Band) to help us out. Some of the highlighted stories are "The Garden of Forking Paths," "Death and the Compass," "The Library of Babel," and "The Aleph," (taken from a different collection of short stories).