Canonical

Can You Create a New Canon?

30 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What can we as readers do to change which books the world considers 'important'? Three years ago, we started this podcast with a mission to create a m...

Why Is Everyone Talking About The Multiverse?

23 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone is talking about the multiverse these days. Why do we so often hear about alternate histories and alternate worlds in the fiction we see in n...

Hidden Subtexts of Never Let Me Go

16 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We've discussed how Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go both is and isn't about cloning. So what is it about? We talk this week about other concerns that...

Is Never Let Me Go Science Fiction?

09 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Never Let Me Go is an unusual novel: Can there be a book about clones that isn't about cloning? In this episode we discuss the genre of this novel and...

Review: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

04 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Spoilers abound in this review of Kazuo Ishiguro's alternate reality classic Never Let Me Go.  One of us found it engrossing.  One of us found it bl...

Rodham: New Timeline, Same Hillary

25 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We wind down our discussion of Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld with the question of how much sidestepping of the facts should be permissible in alternate ...

Rodham: Feminism Without Politics

18 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We continue our discussion of Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld by examining its political point of view (or lack thereof). Despite taking on one of the mo...

Review: Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld

13 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A surprising pick from Eyad is this week's read and review.  Sittenfeld's Rodham, an alternate history what-if about Hilary Clinton, spurs discussion...

Ghosts + History = Lincoln in the Bardo

04 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In our last week with George Saunders's Lincoln in the Bardo, we talk about whether it matters if some of the "quotations" from supposedly contemporar...

Has George Saunders Changed?

28 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In our second look at George Saunders' Lincoln in the Bardo, we examine whether his book has more to say about history or theology, its mixture or Bud...

Review: Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

22 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week we start our new series Alternate Histories/Alternate Realities with a novel from a master of the short story George Saunders. We loved Saun...

Realist Literature under Communism: Herta Müller, László Krasznahorkai, and Mo Yan

14 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Today we conclude our series Life under Communism by taking a second look at all three novels, The Passport, Satantango, and The Garlic Ballads. We ta...

The Garlic Ballads: Are we too harsh on Mo Yan’s politics?

07 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For our last week with Mo Yan's The Garlic Ballads, we question whether the writer deserves the cold treatment he gets from others in the literary com...

The Garlic Ballads: Can you trust Mo Yan?

30 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In our second look at Mo Yan's The Garlic Ballads we examine the complicated publication history of this novel: bannings, unbannings, swapped chapter...

Review: The Garlic Ballads by Mo Yan

23 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week, we review Mo Yan's novel The Garlic Ballads.  Mo's work is intertwined with the politics of his country but we do our best to focus on the...

Why is Satantango So Hard to Read?

16 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

László Krasznahorkai's Satantango is a book with a distinct, challenging style that can annoy some readers, so why is it written that way? Join us a...

Decoding Krasznahorkai’s Satantango

09 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We're back with more of László Krasznahorkai's grim world in Satantango.  We keep the giggles going a little before delving into whether László o...

Review: Satantango by László Krasznahorkai

03 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week we shine a light onto the bleak world of László Krasznahorkai with a review of his prize-winning debut novel Satantango.  We discuss whet...

Herta Müller and Feminism

26 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We're concluding our look at Herta Müller's The Passport by examining it as a feminist novel. How does the novel's exploration of sexual exchange in...

Herta Müller: A German home in Romania?

19 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We're back to discuss more of The Passport by Herta Müller. This week, we talk about the German concept of heimat, as well as Müller's criticisms o...

Review: The Passport by Herta Müller

14 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We kick off our new series Life Under Communism, with a review of The Passport by Nobel prize winner Herta Müller. In a terse prose style, Müller us...

Power in literature: Viet Thanh Nguyen, Abdulrazak Gurnah, and Yun Ko-Eun

05 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Today we conclude our series Rich Country/Poor Country by taking a second look at all three novels, The Disaster Tourist, The Sympathizer, and Paradis...

Abdulrazak Gurnah and the Justice of Colonialism

29 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We're concluding our discussion of Abdulrazak Gurnah's Paradise by taking a look at what it has to say about justice and colonialism. We connect this...

Abdulrazak Gurnah—Who can understand Paradise?

22 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We're continuing our discussion of Abdulrazak Gurnah's Paradise, today exploring whether a comparison to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness is fair, a...

Review: Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah

16 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We're concluding our series Rich Country, Poor Country with Abdulrazak Gurnah's Paradise, a quiet but surprising novel that is at turns perhaps a he...

The Politics of Race in Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer

08 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We're wrapping up our look at Viet Thanh Nguyen's Pulitzer prize winning novel The Sympathizer with an analysis of the racial and political implicatio...

Mini-Review: Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch by Rivka Galchen

05 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Rivka Galchen's Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch is a darkly funny historical novel about witchcraft, justice, and stupidity: Through the story o...

Duality and Divided Existence in Nguyen’s The Sympathizer

01 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week, we're continuing our discussion of Viet Thanh Nguyen's The Sympathizer, this time exploring Nguyen's themes of duality and divided existen...

Review: The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

27 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Our apologies as illness delayed the release of this episode.  This week we are reviewing a book that was hailed by some as one of the most important...

Korea vs. Capitalism: The Disaster Tourist, Parasite, and Squid Game

17 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We conclude our discussion of Yun Ko-Eun's The Disaster Tourist by comparing it to Parasite and Squid Game, two other Korean works that may share a si...

Man versus Nature: The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko Eun

10 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week, we're continuing our discussion of Yun Ko-eun’s The Disaster Tourist with a focus on everyone's favorite topic: literary criticism! We'r...

Review: The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-eun

03 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week, we read The Disaster Tourist by South Korean writer Yun Ko-eun, her first novel to be translated into English.  Labeled by reviewers as a ...

Mini-Review: When We Cease To Understand The World by Benjamín Labatut

31 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This might be unlike any novel you've ever read before. It's a novel but it's nonfiction; it's about true events but it's important that you understan...

A Look at Experimental Forms: Wong Kar-Wai’s 2046 and The Novel in Stories

28 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

And that's a wrap for our series on the Novel in Stories! We examine how this kind of composite structure might work in film with Wong Kar-Wai's 2004 ...

What does Russia look like to American eyes? The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra

21 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, we wonder who the heck Anthony Marra thinks he is, an American (!) writing about Russians (!!) in The Tsar of Love and Techno (!!!)...

Is Knowledge of Russian History Key for Understanding The Tsar of Love and Techno?

13 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we talk about the historical context of Anthony Marra's The Tsar of Love and Techno. Sam begins by giving us a history lesson. We then...

Review: The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra

07 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Anthony Marra's first book A Constellation of Vital Phenomena was an award-winning bestseller and his third book Mercury Pictures Presents (set to be ...

Different Ways of Understanding There But For The by Ali Smith

29 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What is this book about?  Is it about class protest? Is it about trauma? Both? For this series, we will read and discuss three novels-in-stories: Jen...

There but for the: Quietly about the refugee crisis?

22 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We're continuing our look at Ali Smith's There But For The with an examination of empathy and borders. You might not imagine that those two themes go ...

Mini-Review: Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen

19 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What is it about Jonathan Franzen's latest novel Crossroads that has many claiming it to be best novel yet by the most important novelist of our time?...

Review: There But For The by Ali Smith

16 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Ali Smith's new book Companion Piece has just been published, but we're actually reviewing an older book of hers: There But For The. We talk about th...

A Visit from the Goon Squad: Can form be content?

08 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Hey aging punk rockers, We're wrapping up our deep dive into Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad, focusing a bit more on the structure this ti...

Decoding the Narrative of A Visit from the Goon Squad

01 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What theme unifies A Visit from the Goon Squad? Do any of the individual stories stand out? In this episode we discuss the different ways these storie...

Review: A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

26 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On the eve of the publication of Egan's novel The Candy House, we review her 2011 prize winning prequel A Visit from the Goon Squad. We introduce our ...

On the Impossibility of Utopias in Fiction

19 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week we wrap up our Contemporary Utopian Fiction series by discussing all the ways they are impossible.  Impossible to take seriously.  Impossi...

Mini-Review: Scattered All Over the Earth by Yoko Tawada

16 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Eyad reviews Yoko Tawada's new novel Scattered All Over the Earth.  Tawada is one of our favorite writers and we loved her 2014 novel The Emissary w...

Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed: Is anarchism still relevant?

11 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week we dive into the central theme of the book-- anarchism-- and discuss whether or not it is still relevant 50 years after the publication of T...

Just How Radical is Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed?

05 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Dispossessed describes a radical political ideology but are there any aspects of this book that are, in fact, not radical? This week we look at th...

Review: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

26 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week we review a classic of philosophical science fiction: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin.  Why read The Dispossessed? 1:05 Are the Anarr...

Postcolonial Africa in Mike Resnick’s Kirinyaga

18 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Eyad leads this episode's discussion as we finish up our examinations of Resnick's utopian story cycle Kirinyaga.  Does this book say anything about ...

Problematizing the Fable in Resnick’s Kirinyaga

11 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This is week 2 of our discussion on Resnick's Kirinyaga. Ostensibly this collection is a fable but perhaps it shouldn't be labeled as such? And hey d...

Review: Kirinyaga by Mike Resnick

04 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Kirinyaga by Mike Resnick is an odd little book.  It's about post-colonial Africa and the future of the Kikuyu, an ethnic group native to Kenya-- but...

Toni Morrison’s Paradise and Critical Race Theory

28 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week we discuss Fox News' favorite bogeyman du jour, Critical Race Theory, and how it pertains to this novel. What does Critical Race Theory have...

Toni Morrison’s Paradise and the Supernatural

21 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We're continuing our analysis of Toni Morrison's 1998 novel Paradise by examining some of the religious and magical aspects of the novel. The way Mo...

Review: Paradise by Toni Morrison

15 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We kick off our new series with a review of Toni Morrison's Paradise, the third book in her Beloved trilogy.  Not as well known or well regarded as h...

A Good Adaptation?! Murakami’s Drive My Car and Structuralism

07 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We wrap up our series on Bad Adaptations by reviewing Ryusuke Hamaguchi's film Drive My Car, an excellent adaptation of the Murakami story of the same...

Bad Adaptation: Discussing As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

31 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week we invite author and friend of the pod Jon Sealy (http://www.jonsealy.com/) to join us for a discussion of As I Lay Dying.  We talk about t...

Review: As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

24 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Hello fellow Literature snobs!   Today we review a classic—Faulkner's As I Lay Dying—and a less than stellar adaptation by James Franco. Is the...

Bad Adaptation: Discussing The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

18 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Last week we discussed the merits of the criticisms lobbed at Tartt's The Goldfinch, the chief of which was that this was not real Literature. This we...

Review: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

10 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Today we review The Goldfinch, the second book in Bad Adaptation, a series of episodes all about good books made into bad movies. How does this book c...

Bad Adaptation: Discussing High-Rise by J.G. Ballard

03 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode we chart Laing's psychological journey in High-Rise and discuss whether or not this portrayal differs in the film.  We also discuss B...

Review: High Rise by J.G. Ballard

27 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

J.G. Ballard's fiction had a way of focusing on the psychological pressures of modern life and in his 1975 novel High-Rise he explores how quickly the...

Apocalypse Soon! A Series Review

20 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We've read three books about climate change-- so what?  Can fiction actually impact the real world?  A recent published psychological suggests it mi...

Apocalypse Soon! Discussing Weather by Jenny Offill

12 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Weather is a great book.  What makes it so good?  This week we discuss the style and plot and how Offill manages to capture this feeling of being al...

Review: Weather by Jenny Offill

05 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Reading a novel while awaiting the imminent climate apocalypse isn't the best way to spend one's time, but if you do wish to spend your pre-apocalypse...

Apocalypse Soon! Discussing The Man with the Compound Eyes by Wu Ming-Yi

29 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Last week we panned The Man with the Compound Eyes.  This week we discuss whether looking at this book from an ecocritical perspective can rescue thi...

Review: The Man with the Compound Eyes by Wu Ming-Yi

22 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Welcome to Apocalypse Soon: Book 2!  Our climate fiction series continues with Wu Ming-Yi's The Man with the Compound Eyes. Reviewers have compared W...

Apocalypse Soon! Discussing A Children‘s Bible by Lydia Millet

15 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week we present different readings of A Children's Bible.  We puzzle through the parents' disappearance, Jack's illness and Art equaling the Hol...

Review: A Children‘s Bible by Lydia Millet

08 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We kick off our climate fiction series Apocalypse Soon! with a review of Lydia Millet's A Children's Bible.  We discuss the narrative voice and the t...

Contemporary Nigerian Fiction: A Series Review

02 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The recent popularity of Nigerian fiction coincided with the rise of Nigeria and its middle class.  What constraints does this put on Nigerian fictio...

Contemporary Nigerian Fiction: Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo

24 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Things get heated this week as we debate if the plot is problematic, if the ending is problematic, if writing this novel in English is problematic... ...

Review: Stay with Me by Ayobami Adebayo

17 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week James drinks the haterade while Eyad is moved by the novel: a surprising twist for a book full of them!  We also discuss whether our Americ...

Contemporary Nigerian Fiction: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

10 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

There will be spoilers in this episode as we nitpick the ending and the structure of Americanah, both of which we found to be problematic in parts.  ...

Review: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

03 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We're more contrarian than most readers. So how did we feel about Americanah, one of the most celebrated novels of the last decade? All thumbs up! Joi...

Contemporary Nigerian Fiction: The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

27 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Is The Death of Vivek Oji trying to change how transgender people are perceived?  Is it successful in doing so? We talk about these ideas and more in...

Review: The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

20 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We kick off our series on Contemporary Nigerian Fiction with Awkwaeke Emezi's second novel The Death of Vivek Oji.  Disguised as a murder mystery, th...

The Im/possibility of a New Home: A Series Review

13 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week we discuss the different views toward immigration in Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera, Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald and ...

The Im/possibility of a New Home: The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka

07 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week we analyze the first person plural point of view in Otsuka's The Buddha in the Attic.  Does it work? How is it different from other works t...

Review: The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka

30 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week we read Julie Otsuka's The Buddha in the Attic.  The book's publisher calls it a historical novel, but is it actually a novel?  Or is it p...

The Im/possibility of a New Home: Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald

23 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Home, memory, trauma, time, place.  This week we talk about these ideas and more as we dive into an in-depth discussion of Sebald's Austerlitz. This ...

Review: Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald

16 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week we review Austerlitz, a somber, thoughtful novel that examines the trauma of being a holocaust refugee.  Yes, it's an Eyad pick. This is th...

The Im/possibility of a New Home: Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera

09 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

How does Herrera use Aztec death mythology to structure the novel?  Why are the names (and the lack of names) significant?  Are the politics of immi...

Review: Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera

02 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week we review Signs Preceding the End of the World the first Yuri Herrera novel to be translated into English.  We all enjoyed this book so it'...

Afrofuturism: A Series Review

25 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We end our series much like how we began it: puzzling over what Afrofuturism actually is.  Is it in opposition to a post-racial science fiction like ...

Afrofuturism: Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed

18 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Can we blow up the canon?  To what degree is Afrofuturism Afrocentric and essentialist?  These questions and more as we discuss Mumbo Jumbo, the las...

Review: Mumbo Jumbo by Ishmael Reed

11 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The search for a secret history.  A plague spreading across the US.  Mumbo Jumbo gives us a alternative view of history.  What did we make of it? A...

Afrofuturism: The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead

04 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We continue our Afrofuturism series with a discussion of Whitehead's debut novel The Intuitionist.  We decode Intuitionism, Verticality and what all ...

Episode 50

03 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Join James, Sam and Eyad as we celebrate our 50th episode!  We look back at the books that we've read last year and talk about how this podcast came ...

Review: The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead

28 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week we return to one of our favorite writers Colson Whitehead with his debut novel The Intuitionist. Yes, we all know that Whitehead's a writing...

Afrofuturism: Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

22 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Is this an Afrofuturist novel? Is it a moral novel? And what is Afrofuturism anyway?  This week, we continue our discussion on Butler's Parable of th...

Review: Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

15 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We kick off our Afrofuturism series with Butler's Parable of the Sower, a dystopian YA novel that does not hide its politics.  We debate what makes t...

Obsession! A Series Review

08 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week we wrap up our Obsession series where we read three novels from around the world: Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov, The Tunnel by Ernesto Sabat...

Obsession! Novels from around the World: The Lime Works by Thomas Bernhard

30 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Bernhard's The Limeworks is about the failings of language written in a style that reflects these failings.  Join us as we jump into the ideological ...

Review: The Lime Works by Thomas Bernhard

23 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week we review The Lime Works, a classic novel by Thomas Bernhard, one of the most revered European novelists of the post-war era.  A  difficul...

Obsession! A Discussion of Novels from around the World: The Tunnel by Ernesto Sabato

17 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What does this novel say about art?  Is this novel making an great claims about the world?  Join us this week as we have an in-depth discussion of t...

Bonus Episode! Interview with Michael X. Wang, author of Further News of Defeat and winner of the PEN/Bingham prize!

09 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Bonus episode today as James interviews friend of the pod Michael X. Wang whose collection Further News of Defeat recently won the PEN/Bingham prize. ...

Review: The Tunnel by Ernesto Sabato

09 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The Tunnel is an existentialist classic but is it still important to readers today?  Does this seemingly simple novel offer the contemporary discerni...

Obsession! Novels from around the World: Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

03 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week, we continue our debate over different interpretations of Pale Fire-- and whether or not it even matters!  We also discuss Jean Walton's re...

Review: Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

26 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week we kicked off our series on Obsession in Literature from around the World with Vladimir Nabokov's postmodern classic Pale Fire-- and it's on...

Contemporary Chinese Sci-Fi Series Review

19 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week we wrap up our series on Contemporary Chinese Sci-Fi where we read Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem, Hao Jingfang's Vagabonds and Chan Koo...