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.
Together they form a highly educated 45 year old who has dedicated their life to books and the people who read them.
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.
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.
This episode mainly discusses Will's new literary theory. It's not so fully formed but we try and get there. Luckily for you the listener, we are joined by Mark, a beer bumming customer of the bookshop who will be your voice of confusion.
I think this is a fun one.
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