Western Thought

About 4 minutes in Jonah reveals the idea for this episode: he is going to list off bursts of authors he's read in the last five years of doing the podcast which they haven't featured and Will is going to riff on whatever comes to mind. Thanks for listening fellow littérateurs. This may be our last episode ... Jonah is tired of doing jobs he doesn't like so he's gonna get out of Idaho and get beat on the dirty streets of Hollywood. He is leaving behind a box of books of his short stories at the Walrus and Carpenter. If you take a pilgrimage you can get one for free. It really is a great bookstore. Come sit with us in front of the fire for a while.

This is a very loosely styled podcast. I know, usually we keep it so on point and tight. But often I think podcasts are more fun this way. At least we had fun. It's the conversation you'll get in the Walrus and Carpenter bookstore. Come sit for a while and geek out about language.

A eulogy Live from the Walrus and Carpenter bookstore. Ten years ago, when Jonah first fell headfirst into an obsession with Kundera (and his new English translations) Jonah was surprised to learn Kundera was still alive.  Shortly after he started writing notes for an article about the importance of Kundera's novel Immortality to 20th century literature - halfway expecting at some point to have a relationship with a literary journal which might publish it. Those notes still exist but suffice to say said relationship never occurred. But what might be the best simplification is Immortality and NOT the unbearable lightness of being is Kundera's most important novel. In all Kundera's obituaries they lead with him being a commenter on Communism in The Czech Republic and his writings on sexual desire but Kundera dedicated his life to literature and the resonant feeling which displays this best is in the novel Immortality. Don't worry, this point isn't belabored in the show but Jonah needed to make that clear. (Although, perhaps, Immortality makes the most significant impression after reading Kundera's previously published works. Well, no one said dedicating your life to understanding the relationship between metaphor and man and the limits of our desires was streamlined. It's rather rambling and don't expect to look for it knowing what you're going to get. Kind of like this podcast.)

From the Western Thought archive a conversation about an author who hasn't been in style for decades - but is arguably one of the most interesting prose stylists to have ever lived. Jonah had a love affair with Brodkey and as such, during this conversation, is probably a bit overly denigrating due to the feelings once held so convincingly. This conversation is from the early second year of the podcast where Jonah could still talk Will into closing the store and sitting in the back where there's less traffic noise. Initially never released because Jonah didn't think the content was good enough - but we've put out plenty of worse shows since. Give Brodkey a google and come to sit in the bookstore for a while.

Just a little short story told loosely.This is a little inside baseball for anyone who wonders why creators keep stumbling into using sites like patreon. And like inside baseball, you're gonna have to care to find this interesting so feel free to change channels quickly. At a certain threshold of published episodes your server fees for posting continue to grow, steeply. From where this podcast is now to the next level would cost me triple the yearly cost. On Patreon you can post anything with no upfront cost they just take a little cut on the backend. So, for the forseeable future, that is where our back catalogue will be. Honestly, if it was me and I was interested I'd pay the five bucks one month, listen and download to what I cared about then drop it right after. I condone this behavior. Anyway, this is the last time I'm ever trying to shill. I'm done. I guess some people must think it works because they end up doing it all the time on their shows but for an audience like you intelligent motherfuckers I know I'm only risking becoming annoying and ridiculous.

This month we discuss perhaps the most famous novel in the world. A novel which was said to possess every aspect of human life and feeling. Despite its aging in certain, one might even say, predictable, ways. the attempt still holds solid. The realism of this grand Russian exploration of the soul is solidified with potent realism considering the randomness our universe (cultural and physical) can throw at a living being. As always, in the podcast tradition, we engage with that randomness perhaps a little too willingly but another chance to come sit in the bookstore for a while.

You've been clamoring for it and it's finally here! More clanging of the chimes on Will's bookstore door, more conversational meandering.  More of Jonah suggesting they talk about books which Will hasn't looked at in decades but Jonah stubbornly thinks will be interesting anyway until he realizes, again, he's forced a topic which he wasn't prepared for. This topic is the physicist Richard Feynman. Apparently you can get free pdf's of this classic lighthearted romp through the intellect online. So, go give Feynman a looksee. The pleasures of thinking really do drip off the page. Come sit in the bookstore for a while. See the Patreon for backlisted episodes.

Did Joseph Campbell make out with John Steinbeck's wife? Why yes, he did. Also in discussion Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire which Will reveals he owns a first edition of. You better watch out Will, with this public knowledge someone might try to break into the bookstore and mug you with an automatic pistol. Enjoy a chat about John's. Weirdly, we didn't even plan it this way.

It would be cool to be really interesting in one of these description areas ... But I don't think it is possible. It's like the summation for a piece of fiction. You're sort of telling what the story is about but if you get to close to saying exactly what happens you either A. Miss the larger metaphorical or allegorical content or B. You end up risking spoilers. The thing, with podcasts, is they're impossible to spoil so I suppose this could literally be a transcription for words spoken. Yuck.Oh I read something from my friend, a poet, Sam Caton at the end. Go look him up on social media if you'd like? Multi-task, look him up while you're virtually hanging out with Jonah and Will in the bookstore.

The second and third acts to a Scooby Doo! mystery started at the end of the Metalhead trailer. I got one comment about enjoying the imagination so I continued to think about what the rest of the story might be. It's kinda fun to write movies where you don't have to pay attention to all the dialogue. Legitimate literary conversations having to be moved over to the Patreon for our podcast. I'm still in the red over here making stuff for you guys. But what else am I gonna do, really? Apply to medical school?