David Marchese

Can you share one of those experiences?

I just want to zoom out for a little bit here at the end.

So you're one of those writers who people will say things like, oh, you know, they anticipated this aspect of contemporary life or this bizarre, paranoid detail feels like something out of those writers' books.

And actually, I was just using Amazon the other day, and I got a prompt to use its AI bot, Rufus,

And I thought, oh, A.I.

Rufus.

That's something from George Soder's novel.

A.I.

Rufus.

Do you ever have the experience of seeing something or experiencing something and thinking, gosh, that seems like something that I would have thought of or came from my book?

Is there anything you feel like you're picking a hint up of now?

Anything that piques interest?

After the break, George and I speak again, this time about how when it comes to teaching, less can often be more.

So I have some questions about teaching and academia.

But before I get to those, there was one question I asked you earlier, and I thought your answer was a bit of a dodge.

Or maybe I just asked the question early.

Yeah, probably.

But I had asked about this idea that engaging with literature can make readers and writers more expansive or more generous, despite the counterexamples.

And you answered by saying, basically, the art is, when it's working, it should be better than the person who made it.

And I thought, well, the question, it's not really about whether or not the art is better than