You Write Because You Want to Feel Free: Katie Kitamura and Alexander Manshel (SW)

Although Katie Kitamura feels free when she writes—free from the “soup of everyday life,” from the political realities that weigh upon her, and even at times from the limits of her own thinking—she is keenly aware of the unfreedoms her novels explore. Katie, author of the award-winning Intimacies (2021), talks with critic Alexander Manshel about the darker corners of the human psyche and the inescapable contours of history that shape her fiction. Alexander and Katie explore how she brings these tensions to “the space of interpretation, where the book exists” and places trust in her readers to dwell there thoughtfully. They also discuss the influence of absent men (including Henry James), love triangles, love stories, long books, and titles (hint: someone close to Katie says all her novels could be called Complicity). Stay tuned for Katie’s answer to the signature question, which takes listeners from to the farmlands of Avonlea to the mean streets of Chicago.

Mentioned in this episode

By Katie Kitamura:

Intimacies

A Separation

Gone to the Forest

Japanese for Travelers

The Longshot

Also mentioned:

Flannery O’Connor, “Revelation”

Henry James, Portrait of a Lady

Garth Greenwell, What Belongs to You

Elena Ferrante, The Neapolitan Novels

Elsa Morante, Lies and Sorcery

Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

John Steinbeck, East of Eden

Theodore Dreiser, An American Tragedy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network