Patrick Madden and Joey Franklin are English professors at Brigham Young University. Madden’s latest book is Disparates (U Nebraska Press, 2020) and Franklin’s is The Writer's Hustle: A Professional Guide to the Creativity, Discipline, Humility, and Grit Every Writer Needs to Flourish (Bloomsbury, 2022). They serve as co-editors-in-chief of Fourth Genre.

Two guest voices in this episode means twice the fun, as Patrick Madden and Joey Franklin reinforce as well as diverge somewhat in their essay preferences. Madden is more in the Montaigne reflection vein, whereas Franklin admits he can prefer a narrative-driven memoir approach. Together, we worked our way through three essays from a recent issue of Fourth Genre, one of three magazines that spearheaded a renewed appreciation for the essay form beginning a quarter of a century ago. Both editors enjoyed the surprises that bubble up in Peggy Shinner’s essay, “The Rest Is History,” which explores the conflation of female sexuality and nuclear testing during World War Two and on Bikini Atoll subsequently. Kabi Hartman’s essay “Nipple Day” visits and revisits the circumstances surrounding her own father’s leering behavior, trying to make sense of it all. Finally, on a quieter note is “Garden Hunter” by Joanne Hartman, where the beauty of nature contrasts with parents falling apart physically and between themselves prior to their ultimate deaths.

Dan Hill, PhD, is the author of ten books and leads Sensory Logic, Inc.

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