Western Thought

Western Thought

By Jonah AndristArtsBooks
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Western Thought episodes

  • Episode 16: Milan Kundera and Michel Houellebecq
    This episode's discussion begins with a reading from Kundera's THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING.
    I cannot stress this enough - if you go out and get one of Kundera's middle period novels (and you should, right now) you need to get the Aaron Asher translations. He worked closely with Kundera in the 90's and they really are superior in every way.
    We get pretty french this week.
    1 hr 36 min
  • William Gibson's PATTERN RECOGNITION
    Will and Jonah are on their game for this one. Unfortunately for you we shut off the recorder and talked for another two hours, but I like to think that it's burying peat, fertilizing the soil for future episodes.
    1 hr 6 min
  • Edits and Improv on a Novel Idea - Part 1?
    Doing something different this week. Taking 'the bones' of a novella idea that Will had some years ago and riffing off its theme. Will gave Jonah the book to possibly edit and Jonah thought that this would be much effort with little reward. But talking candidly for you here is pretty fun. Anyway, who wants to read expertly crafted sentences when they can just listen to a couple whiskey drinking yahoos bullshit on the main topic of the book. Called, by the way, KHAMSIN. A story of a lonely lost German tank in the North African desert.
    1 hr 33 min
  • Fall Fiction
    When Will and I first conceived of Western Thought we pictured it as a literary magazine. Obviously there were practical roadblocks to this and I thought a podcast would be more fun. But I've maintained interest in doing something with more fiction. If you or anyone you know has a piece of fiction that they think is solid and would be good as audio I encourage you to submit. Will and I do this podcast cause we like reading and will read most anything.
    Submit to my email [email protected]
    If we like it I'll find an actor and we'll record something like this.
    Regarding this specific story titled INNOCENCE. It's a story I drove up to Alaska to do research for. It's a true story about my great uncle. While the prose does have some youthful indulgences I think the essential core of the story still comes through. Read with emotion by the actor Stanton Pavlichek.
    I edited this purposefully with some flubs cause I think including outtakes in your art can be fun.
    Finally, this episode is sponsored by the superior audio product, my novella, The Town of Books.
    https://www.amazon.com/The-Town-of-Books/dp/B082WYBXFC
    1 hr 7 min
  • Is Our Podcast Elitist?
    Jonah and Will discuss the writer Harold Brodkey's collection of non-fiction: SEA BATTLES ON DRY LAND. The title of this one says it all. The answer? Yeah, we probably are.
    Brodkey has a very slash and burn (solipsistic might be another word for it) writing style that very much attracted Jonah when he was younger. The idea of being absolutely free when creating your art. Perhaps Jonah has grown up a little since then. Don't start with Brodkey's non-fiction. His short stories are where all the magic is.
    I'd promise that one day I'll get the audio consistent, but I'd be lying.
    1 hr 22 min
  • Grace Paley and a (bad) Introduction to Postmodernism
    Joined again by Andrea Lovelace to discuss another female writer ... though a writer not particularly liked by Andrea or Will. Digressions are had, as the last time Andrea was on, about genre. Including discussion of a new young adult series that Jonah will have no part in writing.
    1 hr 30 min
  • Friedrich Nietzsche's THE BIRTH OF TRAGEDY
    Other writers discussed in conversation. Italo Calvino, Proust, Toni Morrison. Pretty hard to do a whole podcast on Nietzsche without lecture notes, but you should learn something. One thing each podcast - that's all I ever hope for.
    1 hr 25 min
  • Vladimir Nabokov's PALE FIRE
    We are joined by the subtle wit of sir Thomas Strah. Painter, writer, narrator of Jonah's audiobook The Town of Books. What isn't to like about Nabokov. Hopefully this will urge you to pick him up again.
    1 hr 20 min
  • Raymond Chandler's FAREWELL MY LOVELY
    This is one of Will's favorite writers. Jonah gets Chandlerian level drunk. We are joined again by the lovely Andrea Lovelace, pay extra attention to her laugh. Also, enjoy the outdoors bird sounds. patreon.com/westernthought for archived episodes.
    1 hr 35 min

About Western Thought

From the publisher's feed

A couple of years ago Jonah Andrist convinced Will Peterson, of the Walrus and Carpenter bookstore in Pocatello ID, to go halfsies on a recorder. Every month or so we've sat down in front of this recorder for a chat, with some beer, to talk about writing and great writers and the philosophy of doing as such. Will has an incredible amount of developed training as a talker - being a personal knowledge hub who people look to for suggestion and guidance, a great bookstore owner - and as a writer himself knows the pains and pleasures of trying to do something great. Jonah felt doomed to becoming a writer, come hell or high water (of which there's been plenty) and with less life experience than Will has yet tried to read as widely as possible to truly understand the magic of the craft.

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