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.)

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.

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 initial idea for this episode was to do a centennial retrospective of the year 1922. The writers TS Eliot, EM Forster, and last but not least, Woolf. Woolf, I think for both of us, ended up being the most fascinating. Partially because a week before, in the Walrus and Carpenter (Will's bookstore) Jonah found a copy of Beginning Again. One part of five of Leonard Woolf's autobiography. A fascinating remnant of literary history which is used to create, in our opinion, literary speculation of which you're hardly going to find the kind in any other podcast (for better and worse). An interesting discussion about stream of conscious - as stream of conscious. Come sit in the bookstore for a while.

Not necessarily literature but a larger discussion about the nature of the universe. Whether it's open or closed. These Meditations are from a book by a anonymous author and are basic discussions for the understanding of Christian Hermeticism. Just pop your head into the bookstore and see if anything peaks your interest. We had fun.

Will stumbled upon a book (Homosexuals in History) with a reference to Hawthorne being potentially homosexual. We try and dig into the confluence of art and sex. So far, for this year, I think this may be our best podcast. Maybe because it's now chilly enough in Idaho that Will has the fireplace running at the front of his store again. Come sit near for a bit. As always, old episodes available at patreon.com/westernthought.

A fairly busy Tuesday at the bookstore with a few sales and auditory distractions from a new roof being applied. Still, there's a few good one-liners and a (possibly) good introduction to Stein and her cubist doodlings with words (my words). Shorter episodes these days as Will now has a standing dinner date. Perhaps we will compensate by doing them more frequently. As always, old episodes are now stored for you perusal at patreon.com/westernthought. Come sit in the bookstore for a while.

Another fictional supplement to the podcast. Two independent stories which have been recorded for your listening interest (written far apart with very different styles). 
The first story is a touch of exaggerated reality - with an artist who makes exceptional pictures in the foam of coffee. The second story is a Henry Miller inspired first person wander through a mysterious death and a "postmodern" deconstruction of the mystery genre. The second story begins 24 minutes in.

A couple technical (battery) hiccups fragment the show a little at the beginning, but not necessarily to its detriment. Beauvoir is a writer that Jonah has wanted to do for some years and it's fun to get around to that period of French letters and another female - though our depth in reviewing Beauvoir's THE SECOND SEX is quite limited. 

Reminder that we have a Patreon for old episodes. 

Another two hours to come hang out in the bookstore.

This felt pretty good after we'd finished. The format Jonah always had in mind for the function of the podcast. A lot of Will talking with some pointed questions and secondary material thrown in. Some other secret magic may also have been involved. Come sit in the bookstore for a while.

We are joined by a cool painter in a Canadian tuxedo named Sydney who plays the good sport. This one is rambling and reaching with a lot of laughter and Will tells me in the second half we get very un-PC. Jonah remembers a certain amount of belligerence ... but that's usually the most fun one can have with a podcast. So come sit in the bookstore and try to figure out what's the deal with William Faulkner.

www.patreon.com/westernthought

An exciting little book from an author to look out for. Jonah drinks his beer too fast and Will talks about Leonard Cohen, which honestly should probably be the title. Come sit in the bookstore for a while.

Warning: this episode contains irony. (To ruin the fun: It's actually about Henry Miller. Wait ... is that technically irony? It's not what I mean, and it's intended for comedic affect - I think it counts. Wallace was more concerned with Irony on a large scale cultural level which is obviously what this podcast will never have - so we get to have fun with the irony instead of wringing our hands.)

Come sit in the bookstore for a while.

www.patreon.com/westernthought

Capote's MUSIC for CHAMELEONS and Toole's "Confederacy of Dunces" are discussed.
Jonah discovers after the fact that he is wrong about much of Toole's biography. This well written article is probably worth more than his words. https://www.newyorker.com/books/second-read/the-uneasy-afterlife-of-a-confederacy-of-dunces
Yet the virtue of the medium allows for the display of ignorance-par-excellance. 
Pretty breezy discussion with perhaps a touch too many personal stories, but hey, we're not getting paid.
Come sit in the bookstore for a while.

With a dash of irony I'm going to set up a false dichotomy: this is either the worst show we've ever done or it's the best. Jonah laments not having it more prepared like a lecture - yet what would a lecture bring that reading Sontag's work in her own words would not? Perhaps this mess is preferable. In fact this is part of Sontag's themes in The Aesthetics of Silence. She argues for the spoken word rather than the written.

Which, by the way, like any difficult or messy work of art, you the listener is probably going to need to bring something to this in order to get anything out of it. Just google Sontag really quick and get a sense of her style if you're not familiar. Again, could probably do so much more on her, but this is it for now.

Will pointed out to me today that all of Sontag's work is out of print, while all of Camille Paglia's work is still in print. You'll have to listen to the episode to get the context. But I guess we're into another exploration of a writer's work who is considered passe. At least, to me, their is value in that. Come sit in the bookstore for a while.

Could probably fill up multiple podcasts with this author. An American and Western writer of first order. Unlike our first episodes we don't really deviate much into other authors - though Will gives some interesting personal accounts. Come sit in the bookstore for a while.

Shorter episode where we discuss the short stories of Murakami. Perhaps the most famous Japanese writer translated into English? Come sit in the bookstore for a while.