the next book in our second-person module is suicide by édouard levé, which kicks off a mini-module of shorter writing that is also european as hell. after discussing a gem of a film we discovered on the criterion channel, we talk about suicide‘s up-ending afterward and the manipulation found within the text. we discuss suicide as the defining moment in anyone’s life who dies that way and why it’s hard to reflect on what happens within the book. we explore how (and why) first-person is found more in this book than in our other books this module, the wildly different alt cover, and how the extensive poetry that ends the text reads in french. we talk about wanting to learn more about translators and the act of translation. egg does a great job of articulating thoughts about this text.

reading list for season thirteen

interior chinatown by charles yu

if on a winter’s night a traveler by italo calvino

bright lights, big city by jay mcinerney

suicide by édouard levé

the malady of death by marguerite duras

how like a god by rex stout

the diver’s clothes lie empty by vendela vida

the night circus by erin morgenstern

a man asleep by georges perec

open water by caleb azumah nelson