David, Eric, and Nick spend a beautiful Saturday doing what they love: wading into the tides of the irrational, crushing systems in which we have existed, currently exist, and will continue to exist. In other words: Discussing Franz Kafka!
Three of Kafka’s short works provide more than enough to chew on, whether it is The Judgment and its quick turn from mundane to surreal, A Country Doctor and its full-blown phantasmagoria, or In the Penal Colony and its melding of mental and bodily anguish. Kafka’s brand of malaise hits just as hard now as it presumably did one hundred years ago — and as it presumably will one hundred years from now.
So grab yourself a spot out in the sun, mix up a nice Mai Tai, and listen in as we discuss humanity’s unavoidable contract with the daily absurd.
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No more searching is necessary. It’s time. It’s time to read In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust, that is. And we here at Books of Some Substance will be doing just that, starting off with this episode on the first volume, Swann’s Way.
Listen in as David, Nick, and Nathan begin this long journey by attempting to summarize the actual events in the book (likely to be a recurring challenge); by scratching the surface of the concepts of remembering via the senses, attempting to slow down the passage of time, and the tension between the world of the material vs. the world of idea; and by simply getting lost in passage after passage of beautiful prose.
If you enjoy this episode, know that there will be five more on their way. We’ll be releasing a Proust episode every two months as we continue reading this masterpiece. If you’ve always had In Search of Lost Time on your to-read pile, now is as good of time as any to dig in and join us. Come for the madeleines, stay for the memories.
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David, Nick, and Nathan dive into Bohumil Hrabal’s short novel Closely Watched Trains in this latest episode of the podcast. One part coming of age tale, one part (somewhat) epic tale of resistance, and one part celebration of life’s beautiful banality, this compact work will have you simultaneously smirking and wincing as Hrabal somehow weaves the lightness of youth in with the darkness of living under Nazi occupation in World War II. Grab a copy, give it a quick read, maybe even watch the brilliant Jiří Menzel film adaptation, and listen in for the discussion.
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