Lit Talk*

The party is coming to a close. Soon the music will end, the lights will be shut off, the groundkeepers will start cleaning up, and all we’ll have left is the memory...but maybe this story was already a memory.

In the final episode of season 2, Nesha and Bobby sit down with Kait Kerrigan of The Great Gatsby Musical, currently on Broadway, to discuss bringing the novel to the stage, Nick’s fractured memory, and what Gatsby means…100 years later. 

If Chapter 7 was about the true James Gatz, the man hidden beneath the veneer of Gatsby, Chapter 8 is about the true world, the one hidden beneath the shiny exterior of the dreams we adorn it with. What Fitzgerald creates is a world without meaning, a world of raw matter, and while it isn’t a pretty sight, it's an important one. 

In our penultimate episode of season 2, Bobby and Nesha sit down with book collector and Fitzgerald aficionado Sarah Goldstein to discuss the Great Depression, Bruce Springsteen, and what happens when dreams don’t come true.

There is a distinct quality to Fitzgerald’s writing that made it so unique in 1925. It was not just that it was beautiful, but that it was cinematic. Today, we are used to reading books and imagining their scenes playing out on the big screen, but before the rise of Hollywood, this mode of reading and writing stories within the cinematic imagination didn’t exist. And while Scott could write cinematic novels better than just about anyone, actually writing for film was a whole other story…

In this episode, Nesha and Bobby sit down with comedian Beth Stelling to discuss writing for Hollywood, early 2000s pick-up artists, and whether aspiring artists are romantic heroes or delusional fools.

Nick and Gatsby’s relationship is intimate, to say the least. Of all the attendees at Gatsby’s party, it’s Nick who receives a formal invitation. It’s Nick to whom Gatsby confesses his true origins, and it’s Nick who arranges Gatsby’s funeral, meets with his father, and stays with him until the very end. Therefore, it’s little wonder that Queer readings of the novel have emerged; the book positively brims with innuendo and unspoken desire. 

This episode, Nesha and Bobby are joined by novelist AJ Odasso to discuss fan fiction, crying in English class, and what Queer life was like in the 1920s. Also, the fine line the characters in Gatsby straddle between love and obsession.

F. Scott Fitzgerald identified a fatal flaw in The Great Gatsby—the novel's women. In this episode, we’ll be talking about the girls of Gatsby alongside another 1920s classic that, in many ways, is Gatsby if it were written for and by women. That novel is Ex-Wife by Ursula Parrott

Joining Bobby and Nesha is Dr. Marsha Gordon. Together, we’ll discuss the New Women of the 1920s, if Daisy is a victim or a perpetrator, and how traditional values are being repackaged for modern women.

In the 1920s, the United States was changing. By boat and by train, European immigrants and Black migrants arrived in New York trying to achieve the American Dream. And while Jay Gatsby isn’t secretly an immigrant or a migrant, he is metaphorically an immigrant and a migrant. 

Join Bobby and Nesha for a conversation with Dr. Caroline Brown about the changing racial and ethnic landscape of America in the 1920s, how Gatsby represents a country in flux, and why we’re still dealing with the racist ideas of Tom Buchanan…100 years later. 

Jay Gatsby’s parties are described as a neon-bright spectacle, a gilded carnival. The music is playing, the liquor is flowing, and is that the latest film star dipping her toes into the pool? But there is also a dark, tragic mystery that lurks beneath the surface. Because what is a spectacle without a hint of foreboding? A perfect summer day with storm clouds on the horizon...

Join Bobby and Nesha for a conversation with Dr. Philip McGowan about carnivals, earthquakes, and why Americans can't resist a spectacle.

The Great Gatsby is, at its core, a novel about class. You fundamentally cannot read the book without engaging with it. This, perhaps, is why its status as The Great American novel is so fascinating, because we Americans, as much as we like to pretend otherwise, are deeply uncomfortable discussing class. 

This episode, Bobby and Nesha sit down with Dr. Michael Nowlin to talk about the laboring underclass in Gatsby, discuss the outrageous spending habits of F. Scott Fitzgerald, and break down the competing messages of the American dream. Deep in the Valley of Ashes is where the real story of America unfolds. Meet you there.

The Great Gatsby is a deceptively simple text. It comes in at roughly 200 pages, and most of us read it before we turn 18. But as any novel that is so much about lies and facades should be, there are many hidden messages to be uncovered in its lush, radiant prose...

On episode 1 of the new season of Lit Talk* Bobby and Nesha sit down with Hillary Copsey from the Mercantile Library to discuss unreliable narrators, flyover states, and whether Gatsby truly is The Great American Novel.

Hello Old Sports.

This season on Lit Talk we are diving headfirst into the glittering, gleaming world of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s magnum opus, The Great Gatsby; a novel that has shaped the literary canon and our very national identity for the last century.  The first of nine episodes airs June 11th and will drop weekly on Wednesdays.

So get gussied up, down a shot of liquid courage, and get ready for the ride of your lives. This is a party you don’t want to miss. 

Bond & Grace's Lit Talk* is the show for people who love to think, talk, and learn about books. Lit Talk* explores the strange, fascinating, and completely true stories behind your favorite classic novels. 

Each season investigates a work of fiction, its historical influences, the life of its author, and how we can apply its teachings to our modern lives. Scholars, industry experts, and book lovers join us in conversation to get to the heart of what makes these timeless stories so extraordinary, and why they are just as important today as they were when they were written.