In this installment of the Books of Some Substance podcast, Nick is joined by University of California-Berkeley English Professor Catherine Flynn to dissect the endless permutations of Samuel Beckett’s oft-overlooked Watt. Is there meaning behind Sam’s lists upon lists upon lists? Is this a reality more real than realism itself? And will there be an opportunity for Nick to —most predictably — use the term “post-post-post modern”?

To language, we raise our glass, and descend into the Schopenhauerian darkness . . . but with a few delightful aphorisms destined for refrigerator magnets along the way.