Concavity Show

By Matt Bucher & Dave LairdArts

Concavity Show episodes

September 16, 2016 Episode 18 - Discussing Infinite Jest with Sean Pratt
In this episode we speak with audiobook narrator extraordinaire, Sean Pratt. Sean is the narrator of the 56-hour-long audiobook of Infinite Jest. He has also narrated over 800 other books. Believe it or not, Infinite Jest is not even the longest book Sean has narrated! We discuss the mechanics of recording, the different voices in the book, the endnotes issue, what it takes to become an audiobook narrator, and many other things

You can find Sean on Twitter at @SPPresents and his website http://www.SeanPrattPresents.com

Show Notes
2:06 - Sean Pratt’s background & how he got the part
7:04 - So you want to be an audiobook narrator
10:01 - The economics of recording an audiobook
13:30 - A state of “flow”
16:24 - How many hours did this really take?
20:51 - When we first meet Ken Erdedy
24:30 - Acting vs. Reading: Tom Robbins
28:04 - A silk purse out of a sow’s ear
32:01 - Reading the paratext & The Four Voices of Nonfiction
35:10 - Just skip the endnotes: a debate
41:50 - No really, how to do the endnotes?
44:02 - Blood Sister: One Tough Nun & comedy
47:50 - Do you listen to yourself?
50:38 - Always Be Entertaining
52:52 - How to navigate all the voices
58:10 - Don’t do it like a puppet show
59:15 - Hal watching a video cartridge
1:01:15 - Some of Sean’s best audiobooks
1:06:25 - Speed vs. Tempo
1:12:20 - To honor the text
1:16:15 - Easter egg

1 hr 17 min
August 27, 2016 Episode 17.2 - David Foster Wallace Conference 2016 Recap Show - Part 2
In Part 2 of this episode we look back at the 3rd Annual David Foster Wallace Conference, held at Illinois State University July 28-30. We talk with a number of DFW scholars and conference attendees.
In this episode are interviews with Melissa Holton, Jane Carman, Emily Spalding & Josh Katz, Tony McMahon, Ryan Marnane, and Rob Short & Chris Ayers.

Last day for photo caption contest entries is end of day Aug 31st, so post on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram! Winner to be determined shortly thereafter.

Show Notes:

00:00:55 - Melissa Holton - @maccalisa17

00:12:27 - Jane Carman - festivalwriter.org

00:21:40 - Josh Katz & Emily Spalding - @ewspalding

00:41:17 - Tony McMahon - @tony_mcmahon2

00:59:57 - Ryan Marnane - @ryanmarnane

1:20:00 - Chris Ayers & Rob Short - @chrisAcreative pooryorickentertainment.tumblr.com & @vismeainlabore
1 hr 50 min
August 15, 2016 Episode 17.1 - David Foster Wallace Conference 2016 Recap Show - Part 1
In Part 1 of this two-part episode we look back at the 3rd Annual David Foster Wallace Conference, held at Illinois State University. We talk with a number of DFW scholars and conference attendees.

In this episode are interviews with keynote speaker Marshall Boswell, Michael O'Connell, Jeff Severs, Corrie Baldauf, Matt Luter, Mike Miley, and Samantha Wallace.

Show notes:
00:00:45 - Recap of our respective summers
00:05:30 - The Inkiest Black
00:06:55 - Online communities
00:10:30 - 4th Annual Conference
00:15:01 - photo caption contest
00:17:18 - Interview with Michael O'Connell
00:27:51 - Interview with Marshall Boswell
00:29:00 - Cambridge Companion to David Foster Wallace, edited by Ralph Clare
00:38:20 - Interview with Jeff Severs
00:50:57 - Interview with Corrie Baldauf
01:04:37 - Interview with Matt Luter
01:17:03 - Interview with Mike Miley
01:30:53 - Interview with Samantha 'No Relation' Wallace

People notes:
Michael O'Connell, Siena Heights University
“Your temple is self and sentiment”: David Foster Wallace’s diagnostic novels

Marshall Boswell, author of Understanding David Foster Wallace

Jeff Severs, author of David Foster Wallace's Balancing Books
https://jeffreysevers.wordpress.com/

Corrie Baldauf
https://twitter.com/CorrieBaldauf
http://greatconcavity.podbean.com/e/episode-4-discussing-david-foster-wallace-with-corrie-baldauf/

Matt Luter, author of Understanding Jonathan Lethem
St. Andrew’s Episcopal School
Twitter: @matthewjluter

Mike Miley
https://twitter.com/MikeCMiley

Samantha Wallace, University of Virginia

1 hr 44 min
July 27, 2016 Episode 16 - Discussing David Foster Wallace with Edmund Waldstein
In this episode, we talk with Pater Edmund Waldstein.

He is a Cistercian monk at a monastery in Austria and a David Foster Wallace scholar.

We talk about religion and morals and a number of other related issues in Wallace's work.

His blog is an excellent resource for his writing about Wallace and other topics: https://sancrucensis.wordpress.com/

Pater Edmund is on Twitter @sancrucensis
57 min
June 29, 2016 Episode 15 - Discussing David Foster Wallace with Krzys Piekarski
In this episode, we talk with Krzys Piekarski, PhD. Krzys is a DFW scholar who has written extensively on DFW and Buddhism. He also runs a wisdom program in Austin called Character by Design: https://characterbydesign.org/
We cover a variety of topics in this show, from parables to stress and boredom to the basics of Buddhism and how it manifests in Wallace’s writing.
The book Krzys mentions is at the end of the show is called Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, and we talk about the books of Steven Batchelor - Buddhism without Beliefs.
His podcast, with author Sunni Brown is called Sunni & Wise. http://sunniandwise.com / @sunniandwise
There are some weird booming sounds in this episode. Sorry about that!

Show Notes
01:46 - Introduction Krzys & his teaching background
03:00 - Teaching in prison
04:24 - Krzys’s dissertation on Buddhism, Philosophy, and David Foster Wallace
06:48 - Can Wallace be considered a Buddhist thinker?
08:30 - Krzys’s path to Buddhism
11:00 - DFW’s undergrad years at Amherst & Wittgenstein
12:08 - Wittgensteinian zen parable
14:14 - The limits of language
14:25 - Buddhism 101
15:15 - Suffering
18:59 - How we can gain freedom
21:50 - George Saunders calls Wallace a great Buddhist writer
23:57 - Wallace and meditation
25:38 - The boredom thing
29:11 - Flow state
35:49 - What is the purpose of life?
36:00 - David Foster Wallace and the Velveteen Rabbit
38:30 - Escape from the self
43:10 - Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind
44:20 - Mario Incandenza
47:00 - Disgust and addicts
52:00 - Trying to express inexpressible truths
53:20 - Double binds
57:20 - Stepping in to a monastery
1:00:30 - Sincere curiosity
1:02:15 - There is nothing missing in you
1:07:00 - Show wrap-up, thanks, and links

1 hr 12 min
May 25, 2016 Episode 14: Discussing David Foster Wallace with Josh Roiland and his class at the University of Maine
In this special episode we talk with Professor Josh Roiland and his class at the University of Maine. Roiland is Assistant Professor + CLAS-Honors Preceptor of Journalism in the Department of Communication and Journalism + Honors College. Roiland’s class this semester was called “Consider David Foster Wallace” and they read a TON of DFW work. As part of their class project, the students also created a really useful website about IJ called Consider Infinite Jest https://considerinfinitejest.wordpress.com/
Josh has written a lot about Wallace and here are a few of his pieces we mention in this episode:
·        "Getting Away from It All: The Literary Journalism of David Foster Wallace and Nietzsche's Concept of 'Oblivion'"Literary Journalism Studies, Vol. 1, No. 2, Fall 2009, 89-105. (Revised and reprinted in The Legacy of David Foster Wallace, University of Iowa Press).
·        "The Fine Print: Uncovering the True Story of David Foster Wallace and the 'Reality Boundary'" Literary Journalism Studies, Vol. 5, No. 2, Fall 2013, 148-161. (Reprinted by Longreads; 10 Most Popular Exclusives of 2014).
·        "Spiritually Midwestern: What Middle America Meant to David Foster Wallace" published (w/essential footnotes maddeningly located on the side of the text) by A24 Film Studios "Just Words" site in conjunction w/the release of The End of The Tour.
You can follow Josh Roiland on Twitter @JoshRoiland or check out his website: www.joshroiland.com
SPECIAL THANKS are due to Justin Harlan-Haughey for his audio expertise.Thanks also to Robyn O’Neil, Parquet Courts, Josh Roiland, Derrek Schrader, Alex Abrahams, Emily McNair, Atticus Dennis, and Taylor Cunningham.
SHOW NOTES
03:00 – Josh’s writing on Wallace
04:38 – Josh’s email intro to the class
06:34 – Class syllabus and reading list
08:38 – Reconciling Wallace’s death with his writing
10:21 – Starting the class with a discussion onsuicide
13:52 – Is Wallace’s writing autobiographical?
16:55 – The class on Twitter
18:20 – The Wallace community on Twitter
19:51 – When the class read Infinite Jest
21:35 – Meeting in different spaces
22:45 – The ending of Infinite Jest
24:35 – Is the graveyard scene real? What’s going onthere?
27:49 – Waiting for plotlines to converge
30:30 – Reading IJ in public
31:07 – The cliché of dudes/bros reading Infinite Jest
37:38 – The marginalization of journalism in Englishdepartments
39:06 – DFW’s exaggerations in non-fiction
40:25 – Your favorite Wallace piece?
48:24 – Your least favorite Wallace piece?
53:33 – How to teach Infinite Jest
55:25 – Class-created website about IJ
1:01:32 – What to read after Wallace?
1:05:15 – Your favorite Wallace character?
1:09:52 – Any huge takeaways from this experience?
Contact us at [email protected]or @concavityshow
1 hr 19 min
April 27, 2016 Episode 13: Discussing David Foster Wallace with Rob Short
In this episode we talk with Wallace scholar Rob Short. We discuss everything from AA & recovery to William James and summer camp.
You can follow Rob on twitter and academia.edu here:
https://twitter.com/vismeainlabore
http://florida.academia.edu/RobShort

Show Notes

Urine trouble? You’re in luck! - 00:49
Rob’s academic background – 1:09
Wallace’s interview with SPEAK magazine – 3:15
Rob’s paper at the 2014 DFW Conference – 5:26
The idea of “worshipping” – 6:30
Readers at academic conferences – 8:42
The obtuseness of Derrida – 10:24
Glenn K. – 11:30
“To impress people when you are 24” – 12:19
Teaching Wallace - 15:18
DFW’s early publishing history & audience – 29:00
David Markson – 30:26
Wallace’s inter-novel period – 34:00
Rob’s dissertation’s structure – 37:27
William James – 41:26
The rhetoric of AA – 46:33
How Don Gately goes straight – 50:30
Zadie Smith on DFW – 52:29
Catholics by Brian Moore – 56:33
Personal religion stuff – 57:45
United Church of Canada and atheism– 1:01:21
Post-secular society – 1:03:36
A spectrum of salvation/hope - 1:05:47
Addicts are throwaway people – 1:08:15
“Use” and usefulness - 1:09:55
Rote discipline and routine – 1:12:35
Wallace at Le Conversazioni http://robshort.org/files/Le_Conversazioni_2006.mp4 - 1:15:48
Eternal thanks to Parquet Courts, David C. Jensen, and Robyn O’Neil … and You of course.
1 hr 24 min
April 08, 2016 Episode 12: Discussing David Foster Wallace with David Hering
In this episode we talk with DFW scholar David Hering. Hering is the author of the forthcoming book David Foster Wallace: Fiction + Form. He's also a Lecturer at the University of Liverpool and editor of the book Consider David Foster Wallace. You can follow him on Twitter at @hering_david

1 hr 11 min
March 24, 2016 Episode 11: Answering Your Questions about David Foster Wallace
THE Q&A EPISODE

In this episode, we finally get around to answering the questions you submitted in February. Listen to find out if we answered yours!

We also mention this clip of Wallace talking about traveling to Italy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVzhhvCRTCo

If you haven't read Wallace on Federer, it's here: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/sports/playmagazine/20federer.html?pagewanted=all

And be sure to follow our show on Twitter over yonder ----> @ConcavityShow
59 min
February 26, 2016 Episode 10: Discussing David Foster Wallace with Nick Maniatis of The Howling Fantods
In this episode, we talk with Nick Maniatis, proprietor and webmaster of the invaluable website, The Howling Fantods.

http://www.thehowlingfantods.com/dfw/

If you are a DFW fan, Nick probably needs no introduction, but we do ask him how the site came to be and how it has evolved over the years.

Be sure to follow him on Twitter here:@nick_maniatis or on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/and.but.so/
1 hr 4 min