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One Hundred Years of Solitude: The optimal amount of incest is non-zero
Everyone loves Gabriel García Márquez' 1967 genre-defining classic One Hundred Years of Solitude. At first we were charmed. But after trying to track a complex web of births and deaths and affairs and inc*stuous unions all taking place in the first 100 pages we found ourselves mired deep in the swamp. When we reached the halfway mark we recorded an episode so hopelessly confused that we had to junk it. As we trudged through the second half, we fantasised about the devastating critiques we would unleash. then right on the very cusp of recording this pod, we all sheepishly admitted we were kinda back on board again?? Come on a journey with us to Macondo: often maddening but always magical. The elephant in the room is magical realism: have we found our kryptonite? Rich accepts that we're meant to soak up the vibe rather than spergily analyse it, but still has problems with the genre. How can characters have meaningful stakes in an arbitrary world? is it even possible to write a non-fatalistic work? Can fiction be in some sense 'truer than true'? Cam advances the bold thesis that magic is cool, actually. On the cyclicality of human decline: do the characters matter as individuals, or are they fractals of Macondo itsef? Is this a biblical post-eden loss of innocence story? A nod to Spengler's theory of cyclical civilizational collapse? Is historical determinism total bullshit? We're not sure but we don't love the fatalism here. On the solipsism of the Buendia family: seriously, what's with all the inc*st?? why is there so little true love or tenderness? why couldn't they have called their kids Pedro or Juan or something? This book is supposedly critical of colonialism and material progress but Cam and Rich can't help coming away with a straussian reading in which GGM is mostly mocking his stupid inbred countrymen. On the belovedness of this book, and why it missed the mark for us: Is there something here that only Latin American people can understand? Do you need to be familiar with the history of Colombia? Is the book better in the original Spanish? Is it a dose-dependent thing? Plus: new book announcement. it's a big one CHAPTERS (00:00:00) first impressions (00:06:40) The case against magical realism (00:26:08) Fiction is ‘truer’ than real life (Baudrillard redux) (00:31:45) Macondo as a fractal set of human failures (00:38:37) Spengler’s theory of cyclical history (00:43:00) biblical parallels: post-Eden loss of innocence (00:44:53) A Straussian reading contra the anti-progress themes (00:50:48) Back to Spengler: is historical determinism bullshit? (01:01:34) ‘The optimal amount of inc*st is non-zero’ (01:10:55) Solipsism and lack of true connection amongst the Buendías (01:16:34) Do we like this book? Would we recommend it? (01:27:45) BIG SUMMER BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT WRITE US: We love listener feedback. Send us a note at [email protected] to correct our hot takes, add your own, or ask a question. NEXT ON THE READING LIST: Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
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1:31:13
Everything is Illuminated: Cultural Learnings of Trachimbrod for Make Benefit Glorious Book Club
we have very premium episode for you this week. welcoming special guest Nicole (@elocinationn), one of the great up-and-coming poasters of our time. We revisit one of her younger self's favourite books, Jonathan Safran Foer's ambitious 2002 novel Everything is Illuminated. On being disconnected from history: can you be traumatised by losing connection with your past? how reliable is our conception of history anyway? can the stories we tell ourselves be 'truer than true'? do we care about our own family genealogies? what are the challenges of trying to write about the Holocaust as a third-generation survivor? Foer's incredible ambition: How derivative is this book? does it really matter? Who are Foer's postmodernist forebears, and what did he do differently? Should more young authors try to swing for the fences like this? Plus we stumble upon the inspiration for borat, find out who invented the gloryhole, and MORE CHAPTERS (00:00:00) intro and why we chose the book (00:07:10) Alex as the proto-borat (00:25:50) playing at happy families with Brod and Yankel (00:33:56) traumatic impact of being disconnected from history (00:46:42) Lista and Alex's grandad: survivor guilt (01:02:21) Brod and the Kolker's violent love (01:16:00) Jonathan's grandad finally achieves release (01:28:10) Truth of fact, truth of feeling redux (01:35:53) How original is this book? mapping influences and forebears (01:52:18) final thoughts WRITE US: We love listener feedback. Send us a note at [email protected] to correct our hot takes, add your own, or ask a question. NEXT ON THE READING LIST: One Hundred Days of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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1:57:21
Truth of Fact, Truth of Fiction: Is Ted Chiang a Luddite?
This week we tackle another short story by Ted Chiang: From his 2019 Exhalation collection Truth of Fact, Truth of Feeling. Luddism and cognitive tool breakthroughs: we go through the pros and cons. Rich wants to go to the moon. We're not sure how much of a luddite, or dare we say relativist, we should make Chiang out to be. Fallible memories: just how bad are our memories? Benny and Rich have opposing intuitions, Special guest episode coming soon! CHAPTERS (00:00:00) Summary (00:00:00) Chiang, a luddite? (00:00:00) Founding myths (00:00:00) Cognitive tools (00:00:00) Fallible memories (00:00:00) Final thoughts WRITE US: We love listener feedback. Send us a note at [email protected] to correct our hot takes, add your own, or ask a question. NEXT ON THE READING LIST: Everything is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer One Hundred Days of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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The Dispossessed part 2: Why would capitalism make me do this?
This week we wrap up our discussion of Ursula LeGuin's 1974 classic The Dispossessed. Simultaneity physics: just a mcguffin, or deeper thematic significance? How is it different to a block universe? Does this count as hard sci-fi? on the [redacted] scene: why would LeGuin include this? how are we supposed to feel about our hero Shevek? why would capitalism make me do this?? Final thoughts on the book: was Shevek's arc satisfying? who would we recommend it to? are we gonna read more LeGuin? Ted Chiang story coming soon. plus special guest episode! CHAPTERS (00:00:00) shevek’s arc or lack thereof (00:11:20) talking about THAT scene (00:16:40) Simultaneity theory unpacked (00:25:45) Final thoughts on the book WRITE US: We love listener feedback. Send us a note at [email protected] to correct our hot takes, add your own, or ask a question. NEXT ON THE READING LIST: Truth of Fact, Truth of Feeling - Ted Chiang Everything is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer One Hundred Days of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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Ursula Le Guin's The Dispossessed: Real anarchy has never been tried
A brilliant physicist grows disenchanted with the stifling anarchist society of his home planet, defecting to a capitalist world in the hopes of finding true freedom...but what he finds only horrifies him. Cam says Ursula K. Le Guin's 1974 award-winning piece of sociological fiction is a leftist pamphlet. Benny and Rich call bs. who's right? let us examine the textual evidence. On incentives: Are social sanctions powerful enough to get everyone to work voluntarily? Can an economy function without price signals and division of labour? How does crime and justice work with no police or courts? Do we have any existence proofs of flourishing anarchist societies? On family life: Is having your children raised by other people as grotesque as it sounds? How about mere copulation without monogamy? Or living in communal dorms? The boys are much more sympathetic to the idea of ditching compulsory education, but wonder if unschooling etc is a luxury belief. And the million-dollar question: from behind the veil of ignorance, would we rather be born on Anarres or Urras? A fun wonky discussion of the central ideological clash. In part 2 we'll try to talk more about the characters and the story. Also: a humiliating question in the reader mailbag! bold of you to assume we actually read books outside of the podcast. CHAPTERS (00:00:00) an ambiguous anarchist utopia (00:09:33) communal parenting, unschooling, and luxury beliefs (00:19:10) soft coercion through social norms (00:33:18) the free-rider problem and central planning (00:42:52) capitalism as the root cause of all antisocial behaviour (00:48:02) crime rate is zero if you don't have any laws hehe (00:59:42) has real syndicalist anarchism ever been tried? (01:04:37) how good is le guin’s worldbuilding (01:15:21) reader mailbag: which new releases from living authors do we read immediately? WRITE US: We love listener feedback. Send us a note at [email protected] to correct our hot takes, add your own, or ask a question. NEXT ON THE READING LIST: Truth of Fact, Truth of Feeling - Ted Chiang Everything is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer One Hundred Days of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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1:23:10