In this episode we talk about the first three chapters of Fifty Degrees Below, "Primate in Forest," "Abrupt Climate Change," and "Return to Khembalung."

We discuss the way this novel works within the mode of realism and look for areas where it pushes against that mode to find possibly utopian, possibly fantastical, alternatives. Our focus here is on comparing what we regard as the novel's two main characters, Frank and Charlie, and the way they are negotiating the "new normal" they find themselves in. They each seem to resist the new at the same time they are struggling to build it, whether that be in legislation (writing the book of the future) or in a treehouse (a Swiss Family Robinsonade). We talk about genre, truth claims, rewilding, and lama-grooming.

We'll be back in a couple weeks with our discussion of the next three chapters "Is There a Technical Solution?" "Autumn in New York," and "Optimodal."

Thanks for listening!

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Music by Spirit of Space