Susan Choi joins Kate Wolf and Medaya Ocher to speak about her new novel, Flashlight. An epic story that spans multiple generations of a single family, the book is an astute exploration of identity, migration, memory, kinship and the irrepressibility of the past. It begins in the wake of the mysterious disappearance of a young academic named Serk. An ethnic Korean, who was raised in Japan and decided to continue his studies there when his family returned to Korea after WWII, Serk later moves to the US and marries Anne, who is also estranged from her family and has her own secrets. Their daughter, Louisa, is with her father on the night of his disappearance, from a beach back in Japan, where the family has come for Serk’s year-long academic appointment. Washing up on the shore in the morning, Louisa has little memory of what has taken place, and it will take her many decades, and the course of the novel, to discover the truth.
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PRIDE SHOW: Featuring Milo Todd and Vince Aletti
In this double episode celebrating pride month, Kate Wolf speaks with the critic Vince Aletti about his new book, Physique, an assortment of hundreds of physique photos from Aletti’s own personal collection. The images in the book represent a time when homosexual life in the US was illegal, existed mostly underground, and was by necessity furtive and coded. Yet throughout the country there were photo studios producing erotic and often very beautiful photographs of barely clothed men, and distributing them through mail order catalogues and small magazines. Aletti revisits these images and their quiet revolution in his book; post-Stonewall physique photos may have appeared timid or kitsch but today they point to a largely unknown story and genre of imagery that is worthy of reconsideration as well as enjoyment. Then Milo Todd discusses his novel The Lilac People with Eric Newman. Set in the aftermath of World War II, The Lilac People follows three queer Holocaust survivors—Bertie, a trans man; his girlfriend, Sofie; and a young trans man named Karl—as they attempt to flee a hostile postwar Germany. As they evade Allied forces who are re-imprisoning queer and trans survivors, they must also navigate betrayal, suspicion, and the ongoing threat of violence from neighbors and hidden Nazis alike. Todd’s debut shines a light on a buried chapter of Holocaust history, one in which the queer and trans people, who were among the Reich's first victims, became victims anew after its fall.Â
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Alison Bechdel's "Spent"
Eric Newman and Medaya Ocher speak with Alison Bechdel about her new graphic novel, Spent. Bechdel is the author of "Essential Dykes to Watch Out For," "Fun Home," and "Are You My Mother?" Spent fictionalizes Bechdel’s life with her wife Holly on their pygmy goat sanctuary in Vermont. The comic chronicles political and local dramas, generational shifts, experiments with polyamory, and navigating the relationship between success and art. In conversation, Alison shares her struggles with fame, success, and the Trump era with a view toward the steadying forces of our relationships with others.
Dan Nadel joins Kate Wolf and Eric Newman to speak about his new biography, Crumb: A Cartoonist's Life. The book traces the life and art of Robert Crumb, arguably the most influential cartoonist of the last half century. Crumb emerged from the world of underground comics that he helped create in the late 1960s to both mainstream fame and commercial success. But he was a reticent celebrity who often felt at odds with the hippie culture that he became so identified with. Nadel sifts through the aspects of American culture that did inspire Crumb—from Disney cartoons to pre-war comic books to old blues 78s— and also looks closely at his troubled early life and complicated family. The book also faces the misogyny and racism in much of Crumb’s work and explores his long marriage to his wife and frequent collaborator, cartoonist Aline Kominsky-Crumb.
The Los Angeles Review of Books Radio Hour is a weekly show featuring interviews, readings and discussions about all things literary. Hosted by LARB Editors-at-Large Kate Wolf, Medaya Ocher, and Eric Newman.
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