Writer and co-host of the Vollmannia podcast Ryan Alexander joins us to discuss Moravagine, first published in 1926. The novel was written by Blaise Cendrars (given name: Frédéric-Louis Sauser) and translated from French by Alan Brown. The plot involves a monstrous criminal who, once released from a mental hospital, goes on a worldwide killing spree before returning to Europe to fight in World War I. We talk about the book's unique representation of violence, its social commentary on misogyny and antisemitism, and the false promises of progress.
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Writer Bijan Stephen joins us to discuss David R. Bunch's short story collection Moderan. In Moderan, people replace their "soft parts" with metal and...
We paired last month's NYRB Classic, The Golovlyov Family, with another Russian classic on the Patreon, The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov, and compare...
Author James Kelman joins us to discuss James Hogg's The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, originally published in 1824. It tells...