Few literary terms are more hotly debated, discounted, or derided than the "Great American Novel." But while critics routinely dismiss the phrase as at best hyp...
Episode 32: Watching the Flames from Slaughterhouse-Five
In Episode 32 of the Great American Novel podcast, we slip through time with Billy Pilgrim as we shuffle between the character’s experiences as a prisoner of war and first hand witness to the Dresden firebombing in World War II and then trip the light fantastic to the far flung planet Tralfamadore. Or…do we? Yes, this episode has your intrepid explorers hiding in Kurt Vonnegut’s masterful 1969 post-modern novel SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE. We ponder the author’s central questions: are all war novels doomed to sensationalize war? Can you capture such a horrific experience realistically? Must we become automatons to survive wars? The Great American Novel podcast is an ongoing discussion about the novels we hold up as significant achievements in our American literary culture. Additionally, we sometimes suggest novels who should break into the sometimes problematical canon and at other times we’ll suggest books which can be dropped from such lofty consideration. Your hosts are Kirk Curnutt and Scott Yarbrough, professors with little time and less sense who nonetheless enjoy a good book banter. All opinions are their own and do not reflect the points of view of their employers, publishers, relatives, pets, or accountants. Brief correction: in the episode Scott states that the protagonist of The Forever War is frozen cryogenically; this is incorrect. He is sent to places at relativistic speed and upon returning a great deal of time has passed.All show music is by Lobo Loco. The intro song is “Old Ralley,” and the outro is “Inspector Invisible.” For more information visit: https://locolobomusic.com/. The trailer clips are from the film adaptation, Slaughterhouse-Five, adapted in a screenplay by Stephen Geller, dir. George Roy Hill.We may be contacted at greatamericannovelpodcast (@) gmail.com.
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Episode 31: Crossing the Country with Jack Kerouac's ON THE ROAD
Few novels have had the cultural impact of Jack Kerouac's speed-fueled mad dash across the continent in search of kicks as On the Road. One doubts the 1960s ever would have happened had Kerouac's Beat Generation coterie not inspired a mass embrace (and mockery) of bohemian jazz culture rebelling against the conformity of Eisenhower-era conservatism and Atomic Age anxieties. This episodes explores the background of Kerouac's famous experiment in spontaneous prose, noting its affinities with both the picaresque and the roman a clef. We talk such pivotal influences as Allen Ginsberg and Neal Cassady and the steep price of fame the increasingly embittered Kerouac paid as he became the guru to the hipsters and hippies. And we do it all while snapping our fingers, Daddio.
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Episode 30: Sailing on the SHIP OF FOOLS
A couple of weeks ago—after this episode was recorded, but before it was edited and posted—the famous author Stephen King posted online his top ten novels of all time—and among them was Katherine Anne Porter’s Ship of Fools. This 1962 book was the first novel by Porter, a great American writer who had mostly worked in the short story genre and as a journalist and editor. The novel tells of a German passenger liner traveling from Mexico to different ports of Europe in the 1930s. It presents a multinational, highly varied cast of characters. Ship of Fools received rave reviews at first, before then suffering through the obligatory critical backlash. The film rights sold for what at the time was a kaboodle of money and the movie was nominated for and received a number of Academy Awards. Hosts Kirk Curnutt and Scott Yarbrough wrestle with these questions: is this work a great American novel after all? Are we all fools bound on an eternal quest for understanding or relevance or fares with inclusive food and drinks? Why did the author take thirty years (almost) to finish the book? Come steam away with us as we sort it out. Listeners are warned as always: there be spoilers here!The film audio clips are from the trailer to Ship of Fools, directed and produced in 1965 by Stanley Kramer and starring Vivien Leigh and Lee Marvin, among others. Released by Columbia Pictures. The show music is by Lobo Loco. The intro song is “Old Ralley,” and the outro is “Inspector Invisible.” For more information visit: https://locolobomusic.com/.
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Episode 29: Rallying Around the Flag in Stephen Crane's THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE
The Red Badge of Courage (1895) is a singularly unique war novel: whereas most depictions of the horrors of combat and the trauma of the battlefield are naturalistic, attempting to inflict upon the reader the violence the prose describes and terrifying us with the prospect that humans do not rise to heroic occasions, Stephen Crane's novel is impressionistic, blurring detail at the edges and giving scattershot glimpses of confusion, guilt, regret, and even envy and resentment. Through the story of Private Henry Fleming (aka "The Youth"), Red Badge is arguably the novel that best encapsulates the phrase "the fog of war," a term credited to the 19th-century military theorist Carl von Clausewitz. In this episode we explore how Crane---who was not yet born when the battle of Chancellorsville that is the setting occurred---managed to capture the experience so authentically that Union veterans assumed he had worn the blue alongside them. The novel launched its twenty-four-year-old author into the type of fame few writers experience: as a journalist, pulp writer, and celebrity observer of international conflagrations (not to mention fan of bordellos), Crane epitomized the image of the author as a globetrotting adventurer---an image only elevated to tragic irony when he died from tuberculosis in 1900.
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Episode 28: Falling off the Cliff with The Catcher in the Rye
The Great American Novel Podcast episode 28 considers JD Salinger’s landmark 1951 classic, The Catcher in the Rye. Your hosts discuss Salinger’s famous reclusiveness, the book’s continuing appeal, and its influence on both the genre of so-called “young adult literature” and post-breakdown lit. We examine the novel in its role of the creation of the American teenager as a marketing sector and artistic project. We don’t dodge the thorny issues of Salinger’s life while separating artist from the art, and perhaps we even disagree, just a little, on where we place this novel when all is said and done. The Great American Novel podcast is an ongoing discussion about the novels we hold up as significant achievements in our American literary culture. Additionally, we sometimes suggest novels which should break into the sometimes problematical canon and at other times we’ll suggest books which can be dropped from such lofty consideration. Your hosts are Kirk Curnutt and Scott Yarbrough, professors with little time and less sense who nonetheless enjoy a good book banter. All opinions are their own and do not reflect the points of view of their employers, publishers, relatives, pets, or accountants. Correction: in the episode Scott refers incorrectly to George Bush as an Army Air Force Pilot; he was a naval pilot.Intro and outro music is by Lobo Loco. The intro song is “Old Ralley,” and the outro is “Inspector Invisible.” For more information visit: https://locolobomusic.com/. We may be contacted at greatamericannovelpodcast (@) gmail.com.
Few literary terms are more hotly debated, discounted, or derided than the "Great American Novel." But while critics routinely dismiss the phrase as at best hype and as at worst exclusionary, the belief that a national literature commensurate with both the scope and the contradictions of being American persists. In this podcast Scott Yarbrough and Kirk Curnutt examine totemic works such as Herman Melville's Moby-Dick and Toni Morrison's Beloved that have been labeled GANs, exploring their themes, forms, and reception histories, asking why, when, and how they entered the literary canon. Readers beware: there be spoilers here, and other hijinks ensue...
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