Andrew Leland’s Country of the Blind: It’s the Same World

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Andrew Leland is a major figure as a writer, editor, producer, teacher, and podcaster across the mainstream American cultural landscape. He has contributed to the New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, The Believer, McSweeney’s, Radiolab, The Organist, and 99% Invisible among other respected sources, and has taught at prestigious universities. Amidst it all, he has been progressing towards blindness as a result of retinitis pigmentosa. As his sight diminished to the extent he needed assistance, Leland became motivated to investigate what the world would be for him when his sight was all but gone. In his book, The Country of the Blind, he reports his findings and conclusions. He shares this title with the H.G. Wells story he uses as a touchstone and through line. Cohosts Russell Teagarden and Dan Albrant talk about what can be drawn from Leland’s experiences and from the writers and artists he calls mentors, and how he expects his world will be the same when he is blind as it was before.
Citation:
Andrew Leland, The Country of the Blind, New York, Penguin Press, 2023. (The paperback edition will be available on July 23, 2024).
Links:

• Andrew Leland’s website.
• Russell Teagarden’s blog piece on Andrew Leland’s book, The Country of the Blind.
• A pdf of H.G. Wells’ story, The Country of the Blind.
• Trailer for the Apple TV+ series, See.
• Video clip from Seinfeld featuring Kramer acting as patient for medical students.
• Video clip from Monty Python and the Holy Grail about burning the witch.

Thanks to Andrew Leland for permission to use a clip from the audio edition of his book, The Country of the Blind.

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Executive producer: Anne Bentley