Episode 22: "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" by Muriel Spark

Kicking off 2024 we welcome Tara Cheesman to the podcast with her recommendation, Being Here Is Everything: The Life and Times of Paula Modersohn-Becker by Marie Darriussecq, translated by Penny Hueston. Tara is a freelance critic, former judge of the Best Translated Book Award, and she brings us our first work of nonfiction. We have an absolutely fascinating conversation on art, motherhood, representations of women, and a lot more. And recommend a small syllabus of titles to dig into.

Titles/authors mentioned:

Imperium by Christian Kracht, translated by Daniel Bowles

Nathalie Léger: Suite for Barbara Loden, Exposition, The White Dress

Éric Plamondon: Apple S and Mayonnaise

Jean Echenoz’s biographical novels: Running, Lightning, Ravel

Sharks, Death, Surfers by Melissa McCarthy

Kate Zambreno: Book of Mutter and To Write As If Already Dead

Margaret the First by Danielle Dutton

Jazmina Barrera: On Lighthouses and Linea Nigra

Georges Perec: Ellis Island, I Remember, An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in Paris

To hear more from Tara follow her on Instagram: @taracheesman or subscribe (and you should!) to her Substack: Ex Libris.

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Music: “The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys” by Traffic

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The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is upon us and it does not disappoint. Too much to say about this one and, as always, we could have gone an hour longer and still not covered it all. An absolutely fantastic novel and one that certainly lives up to the hype and praise that surrounds it.

Titles/authors mentioned:

• The Secret History by Donna Tartt
• O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker
• Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa
• The Old Devils by Kingsley Amis
• Ottessa Moshfegh
• Bryan Washington

Click here to subscribe to our Substack and find us on the socials: @lostinredonda just about everywhere.

Music: “The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys” by Traffic

Logo design: Flynn Kidz Designs

We stand on the precipice, one episode away from THE PRIME! Before that, though, we discuss The Bachelors, a fantastic novel chock full of some of the strangest characters Spark has written, which is really saying something. Mediums, epileptics, blackmail, criminality, and much, much more abound in this one. And one of the funniest scenes yet involving a gentleman’s club, a game of hide-and-seek, and drapes. As always: a really great time.

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Music: “The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys” by Traffic

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We’re edging closer to THE PRIME, but today we chat about The Ballad of Peckham Rye. Spark’s novels are incredibly fun, but this might be the wildest, featuring an incredible character name (Dougal Douglas), a lot of absenteeism, a textile factory, a Nun Tunnel, and dancing. Lots of dancing.

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Music: “The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys” by Traffic

Logo design: Flynn Kidz Designs

This week we discuss Tell Them of Battles, Kings, and Elephants, an absolutely wonderful gem of a novel from French author Mathias Énard, translated by Charlotte Mandell. In 150ish pages Énard recreates the Constantinople of the early 16th Century and the brief time Michelangelo resided there to build a grand bridge. If you’ve not read Énard before this is an absolutely fantastic jumping on point.

(We have done A LOT of New Directions this season (with more to come), which isn’t a bad thing but, yes, we’ve noticed and we are trying to be mindful of representing other presses doing the good work of translation.)

Towards the end of the episode Lori mentions a lecture Énard delivered at Barnard College. You can find that here.

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Music: “The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys” by Traffic

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This week we discuss Memento Mori, Spark’s third novel and, as we’ve come to expect, it’s a really fun ride. This go-round she brings us into the lives of septuagenarians and octogenarians as they fume, backbite, explore their sexual proclivities, and all come to terms (or not) with their impending deaths. And, of course, it’s very, very funny.

Click here to subscribe to our Substack and find us on the socials: @lostinredonda just about everywhere.

Music: “The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys” by Traffic

Logo design: Flynn Kidz Designs

Episode 5 of Season 2: we get to chat with Robin McLean about Ceremony by Leslie Marion Silko. And, yeah, this is probably our best episode so far, which isn’t shocking because we’re talking about talking with Robin McLean.

So, all that aside, it’s a great conversation and one that could have gone on for hours and hours yet. We could have gone deeper into nuclear weapons/testing, the residential school system, the “fragile web of the world” as Lori describes it, and so much more, but: that’s the joy of reading and of great books.

So thank you Robin.

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Music: “The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys” by Traffic

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In Episode 4 of Season 2 we dig into Muriel Spark’s sophomore effort, Robinson. Gotta say: it’s incredible and we couldn’t be more excited to keep on keeping on with her work. This time around we trade London (mostly) for a lonely island in the Atlantic and a story that is funny, tense, clever, whimsical, and just an all-around masterclass in writerly control. None of which is surprising at this point, but absolutely riveting and delightful.

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Music: “The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys” by Traffic

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Having sorted some annoying technical issues, herewith Episode 3 of Season 2 (our way of apologizing for the delay in uploading this episode) in which we discuss The Conqueror by Jan Kjærstad, translated by Barbara Haveland and published by Open Letter Books.

And to kick off our series of guest hosts, Chad Post of Open Letter Books (and Dalkey Archive Press (and the Two Month Review)) joins to chat about The Conqueror, publishing writ large, publishing works in translation, and, well, to maybe have a go at a few different…peoples? (In fairness to Chad, Tom very much started it.) It’s a fun conversation and a really amazing book.

Titles discussed/mentioned:

Jacob’s Room by Virginia Woolf

kind of all of Knausgaard

also kind of a lot of Dag Solstad

Your Face Tomorrow (you really ought to know who wrote and translated this one)

Njál’s Saga

Egil’s Saga

Dickens, but specifically David Copperfield

W. Somerset Maugham, but specifically Of Human Bondage

Tirza by Arnon Grunberg, translated by Sam Garrett (and the forthcoming Good Men by Arnon Grunberg, translated by Sam Garrett (out 5/23/23 and click here to order from Open Letter)

The Seventh Function of Language by Laurent Binet, translated by Sam Taylor

all of Jean Echenoz: really, all of it

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Music: “The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys” by Traffic

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We kick off our season-long read of Muriel Spark's novels this week and what a start! The Comforters is Spark's debut, published in 1956, and is, quite simply, magnificent. Lori and Tom wax heavily on how impressive this novel is and how incredibly fun it is, too! It's going to be quite a great season judging by this title alone.

Click here to subscribe to our Substack and do follow us on the socials, @lostinredonda across most apps (Twitter and Instagram for now; we’re coming for you eventually #booktok).

Music: “The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys” by Traffic

Logo design: Flynn Kidz Designs