David Lynch died earlier this month, and like many others I’ve been reflecting on his legacy, not only in the wider culture but in my own personal trajectory and identity. In this episode, I focus on the latter. Rather than trying to analyze the larger meaning of Lynch’s filmography, I wanted to sort out how his work intervened on my life, in particular considering how ideas of dark magic, synchronicity, and dreams in his films connect with my own weird experience of American reality. So I share some strange stories here, along with stray thoughts on how David Lynch, more than any other artist, somehow captured the uncanny feeling that some dark undercurrent pulsed beneath the surface of American life.  

Some reading recs I mention in the episode:

Greil Marcus, The Shape of Things to Come: Prophecy and the American Voice

David Foster Wallace, “David Lynch Keeps His Head”

Laura Dern, “You Wove L.A. Into Our Dreams”

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