The Infinite Library

Sorry this one's a little late! We finish out our series on "The Tunnel" by William Gass!

This week John and Ben discuss what might be greatest novel in the history of the very silly Dutch language: "Max Havelaar, or, the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company" by Multatuli. Topics of conversation include the absurd structures of colonial administration, the origins of Indonesian statehood, and books no one in the English speaking world have heard of that changed the world.

As always, we hope that you enjoy the conversation.

Note: John was having some microphone difficulties throughout the episode, so the audio is a little inconsistent on this one. Problem should be fixed by next episode :)

We're back in the Tunnel! This week, we discuss how Gass does and does not make his characters sympathetic, how Kohler would be as a professor, and a major twist in the story!

This week we're discussing "Possession" by AS Byatt. Topics of conversation include literary pastiche, the pleasures and perils of genre, and The Middlebrow.

As always, we hope that you enjoy the conversation.

Somehow we didn't even notice that this was Episode 69 while we were recording. We sincerely apologize to our listeners for the lack of 69-related bits.

We hope that, despite our oversight, you enjoy Part 2 of our series on "The Tunnel" by William Gass.

John and Ben get topical and talk about John's #1 Op's new movie: Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey". We chat about our relationships with the source material, Christopher Nolan's aesthetic sensibility (or lack thereof), Emily Wilson's translation and thoughts on translation, and how good Robert Pattinson is.

As always, we hope you enjoy the conversation.

This week, we have two Bens! Ben's friend Ben Rosenzweig joins us to discuss "The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge" by Rainer Maria Rilke. We discuss our personal relationships with Rilke's work, love and death, and how this book smacks of gender.

As always, we hope that you enjoy the conversation.

We begin our Summer 2026 series on "The Tunnel" by William Gass. Topics of conversation include, literary Big Boys, Gass' problematizing of academic humanism, and The Fasicism of the Heart.

As always, we hope that you enjoy the conversation.

We're back and it's Pride! As is tradition, John has made Ben read a big gay book, in this case Anne Rice's classic "Interview with the Vampire". Before we discuss the book, we do a brief debrief on last season and Woke 2. Then we dig into the goth gayness of Anne Rice's bloodsuckers. Topics of conversations include the life and times of Anne Rice, the figure of the vampire in literature, and the recent adaptation of IWTV.

As always, we hope you enjoy the conversation!

We'll be back in two weeks with our first episode on William Gass' "The Tunnel"!

We close out this season by discussing "Rakesfall" by Vajra Chandrasekera. This might be one of the toughest books to have a straightforward conversation about that we've done, but we hope our chit chat is still enjoyable to listen to.

Vajra's Unbuddhism essay: https://vajra.me/2021/10/27/%E0%B6%85%E0%B6%B6%E0%B7%9E%E0%B6%AF%E0%B7%8A%E0%B6%B0%E0%B6%9A%E0%B6%B8-unbuddhism/

WE'RE TAKING A VACATION! The Infinite Library will return in mid-June. We'll share next season's schedule before then. Stay Cool, Bookheads!