Island Idylls

In their last episode of season three, the Menikoffs discuss one of the most interesting writers of the twentieth century, Flannery O’Connor.

Her stories, categorized in the genre of Southern Literature or Gothic Literature, are dark, realistic, and reflective of the South in her generation.

A Roman Catholic, O’Connor rejects the existentialism of other, famous, twentieth-century authors. But there is no sappy Christianese on the pages of her stories. She writes of horror, but she leaves room for hope, too.

Barry and Aaron talk about “Revelation,” “The LIfe You Save May Be Your Own,” and “Everything that Rises Must Converge.”

Everybody’s heard of Ernest Hemingway, that leader of the “Lost Generation” and author of The Old Man and the Sea. By most accounts he wasn’t what we’d consider a “good” man but he was a writer of unparalleled skill.

Barry and Aaron look at three of his short stories: “The Killers,” “The Snows of Kilimanjaro,” and “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place.” The main thread tying each story together is death, it’s inevitability, and how people respond to it.

Does Hemingway believe life has meaning? Not really, at least not more than any individual can give to it. Aaron disagrees, but that’s what makes their conversations so interesting.

For those keeping track, this may be the only podcast episode on the dictionary out there!

In this episode, Barry and Aaron take a break from the short story to think and talk about English dictionaries. Where did they come from, what are they, and why do they matter? Are dictionaries prescriptive--telling you what words should mean or descriptive--reflecting how we use words today? In the world of Google does anyone even need a dictionary today?

Speaking of words, they begin this episode with a brief discussion of plagiarism, the stealing of someone else’s words.

Take a break and enjoy a conversation you won’t hear anywhere else.

Barry and Aaron are back working through three of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s most famous short stories: “May Day,” “The Rich Boy,” and “Babylon Revisited.”

After emerging as a rising star in his twenties, critics largely dismissed Fitzgerald in his own generation. However, few writers in American are as influential. His description of life in the Roaring Twenties of a hundred years ago is picked up by students and readers all across the land.

Listen in as father and son discuss class conflict, getting ahead, wealth, and much more.

In this episode, Barry and Aaron take a break from working through literature to hit the question of God head on. Why is it family members have such a hard time talking about politics and religion? Should they?

These are hard questions to answer, but they’re important. Religion matters and even when we disagree we ought to be able to do so charitably, respecting the opinion of others regardless of whether we see eye-to-eye.

But this episode isn’t about lecturing the listener--it’s about a Jewish father and his evangelical son talking openly and honestly about questions they both care about deeply.

Listen and enjoy!

Salinger is most famous for that often-banned book, The Catcher in the Rye. It catapulted him to fame. However, in this episode, Barry and Aaron discuss his second popular work, a collection of stories not-so-creatively entitled, Nine Short Stories.

From a man who playfully pretends to swim with bananafish--have you heard of them?--to a child who tries to comfort a soldier before he heads to battle, Nine Short Stories present us with the fact that reality can be hard and cold. One might wonder if Salinger channels Thomas Hobbes who insisted life is “nasty, brutish, and short.”

Barry is captivated by the sparse and nearly-perfect writing of this mysterious, twentieth-century author. Aaron is impressed but raises questions about the theme of hopelessness that seems to saturate each tale.

Take a moment and join another fascinating conversation.

Master. Short. Story. Writer.

Seriously, if you pick up one of his short stories you will be impressed by his engaging and thoughtful writing.

In episode 30, Barry and Aaron revisit their conversation about the nature of true beauty, but they also dig into Shaw. They examine four of his short stories: Main Currents of American Thought, The Fifty-Yard Run, Mixed Doubles, and The Girls in Their Summer Dresses.

Each of these works can be found in his book, Short Stories: Five Decades.

Who even asks this question anymore? Isn’t art whatever gets hung up on a wall in a museum? Barry and Aaron don’t think so--though they don’t agree about why this is the case!

You’ve probably heard that beauty is in the eye of the beholder? But is it? Are there any universal principles that help explain why some art is better than other art?

In this episode, the Menikoffs take a break from their series on short stories and explore what makes some art better than others.

Please listen, and if you have a definition of art or beauty, let them know!

This past year we’ve all learned about the pandemic of 1918. (By the way, the book to read is The Great Influenza by John M. Barry.) Katherine Anne Porter, a young drama critic in Denver, caught the flu and made it out alive. Her story, Pale Horse, Pale Rider (an allusion from Revelation 6) tells the tale.

Barry and Aaron discuss four of her stories, giving you a taste of this incredible author who married at sixteen, divorced at 25, acted in movies, traveled the word, served the Mexican Revolution, married repeatedly, and won a Pulitzer Prize.

In all the stories Barry and Aaron talk about, death is central. People don’t talk much about death--even as Covid-19 has taken 400,000 American souls! Barry takes comfort in the stoicism of Marcus Aurelius while Aaron asserts the human soul is eternal.

Island Idylls is a podcast about books, life, and sometimes, death.

Happy New Year! Before you say goodbye to the Christmas season why not take a break and spend a few minutes listening to Barry and Aaron talk about a beautiful short story, “A Christmas Memory,” by Truman Capote.

Capote is most famous for In Cold Blood and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. He wrote stories and screenplays and wound up something of a celebrity in his day before dying at the age of 60. He had great gifts and they are on full display in this autobiographical account of a few days he spent when just seven years old with his older cousin in a backwater town in the South.

Of course, as usual, Barry and Aaron go down a few rabbit trails. They talk about censorship at the beginning of the episode and theology at the end.

Enjoy!