Feeling Bookish Podcast

Jun 01 2022 49 ep. 62 mins 69

Feeling Bookish Podcast artwork

Feeling Bookish Podcast focuses on maximalist, innovative novels and literature in translation. Periodic interviews with critics, writers and translators. Hosted by Roman Tsivkin and Robert Fay. Produced by Heston Hoffman. Email: robertfay23 at gmail

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James Joyce in Russian Literature - Episode No. 45

Jun 01 2022 87 mins

Roman talks with José Vergara about Joyce's influence on Soviet and post-Soviet Russian literature. We talk literary heritage, the dangers of translating Ulysses under Stalin, the birth of Social Realism (and its ugly stepsister, Capitalist Primitivism), the schizophrenic nature of the late Soviet period, émigré writing, and Joyce's continued influence on contemporary Russian wr

This Moment of Rapid Change - Episode No. 44

Feb 21 2022 70 mins

We're in a moment of rapid, disorientating change: the fourth industrial revolution, Web 3.0, machine learning, unregulated capitalism, climate change--the list is long and challenging. Roman and Rob share some of their recent readings/investigations and how it's helping them think about technology, economics, and art in a world that seems to change by the week. They talk about Geo

Discovering Sergio Pitol - Episode No. 43

Dec 21 2021 58 mins

We talk with Sergio Pitol translator George Henson, who is the first translator of the Mexican master's work into the English language. We discuss why Pitol is largely unknown in North America (something we hope to change!)and why you should love and treasure Pitol's "The Trilogy of Memory." In January 2022, Pitol's 1984 novel "The Love Parade" will be available from Deep Vellum Pu

Does Literature Have a Place in the Culture? - Episode No. 42

Nov 29 2021 70 mins

We chat with Greg Gerke, the writer and founder of the literary journal "Socrates on the Beach," about his new essay (link below), a cri de coeur about the state of publishing today and why information can never be literature. Read Greg's essay: https://greg-gerke.medium.com/for-feeling-bookish-podcast-why-i-created-the-literary-journal-socrates-on-the-beach-small-446d4931d058 Socr

Thomas Mann & Other Investigations - Episode No. 41

Aug 23 2021 92 mins

We talk Thomas Mann and "The Magic Mountain," and agree (oh boy) to start reading the work Mann considered his masterpiece, "Joseph and His Brothers."

Roaming Entropy, Alexandria Quartet & Pamuk - Episode No. 40

Jun 14 2021 74 mins

We're back with a truly new episode, wherein Roman introduces his theory of "Roaming Entropy," to describe the unplanned, inspired meanderings of a unprogrammed reading life. Rob is also thinking about the Eastern Mediterranean of old, with his reading on the Ottoman Empire, Orhan Pamuk's "Istanbul" and the minor classic that is Lawrence Durrell's "Alexandria Quartet." Music attrib

The Reading Blues & Other Sorrows - Episode No. 39

May 18 2021 75 mins

A conversation from March that we only now just published. We're a bit over-read, over-worked and feeling the general wear-and-tear of COVID-19 and related challenges. We talk about the Philip Roth bio (prior to revelations about the biographer); Raymond Smullyan; the new bio of the painter Lucian Freud; the challenge of directed reading; and the Picasso bio project of the late Joh

Special Guest: Daisy Eris Campbell - Episode No. 38

Mar 22 2021 63 mins

In our latest episode, we talk with writer, director and producer Daisy Eris Campbell, a leading counter-cultural voice in the U.K. We explore the legacy of Robert Anton Wilson and Ken Campbell, the cult classic Illuminatus novels and their legendary 9-hour theatrical adaptation, Daisy's play Cosmic Trigger and the mad fun it spawned, the KLF and burning money, the jesting religion

The Diaries of Emilio Renzi by Ricardo Piglia - Episode No. 37

Feb 28 2021 54 mins

We talk about the "The Diaries of Emilio Renzi" by the Argentine writer Ricardo Piglia with Piglia translator Robert Croll and the publisher of Restless Books Ilan Stavans. We discuss how these books fit into both the Argentine and Latin American literary tradition, along with Piglia's use of the Renzi alter ego, his artistic integrity and "the doubling" that occurs in these specia

The Calvinism in Our Literature - Audio Essay Edition

Feb 15 2021 13 mins

Robert Fay's newest audio essay is inspired by an Alexander Theroux piece titled: “Theroux’s Metaphrastes: An Essay on Literature." Robert tries to understand why American fiction remains so linguistically stingy and wedded to "realist" and "minimalist" modes of expression. He looks at America's protestant inheritance, and finds interesting divergences between "Catholic" and "C