LARB Radio Hour - Recent Episodes

garth greenwell’s “small rain”

I speak with Garth Greenwell about his latest novel, Small Rain, which picks up the story of the unnamed narrator from his earlier novels, What Belongs to You and Cleanness. A poet and teacher now in his forties and settled down with his partner in the Midwest, the narrator’s placid life is upended when a sudden and excruciating pain sends the narrator to the hospital, where he’s diagnosed with a life-threatening condition. Unfolding from this flashpoint, the novel explores the narrator’s recovery in a cramped hospital room in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dilating on the power of art and intimacy to buoy us up in moments of extreme suffering, as well as the moments in which suffering overwhelms the transcendent capacity of art, Small Rain reckons with how we make our way through the agonies and ecstasies, unique and mundane, of life itself.

KATHERINE BUCKNELL’S “CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD: INSIDE OUT”

I talk to Katherine Bucknell about her new biography of Christopher Isherwood, which charts the pathbreaking British writer’s excavation of fascist terrors and queer pleasures in plays, films, memoir, voluminous diaries, and celebrated novels such as Goodbye to Berlin and A Single Man. We discuss the difficulties of writing biography, and how Isherwood’s life and career were shaped by the tectonic forces of the 20th century, including two world wars, gay liberation and the AIDS crisis, and the spiritual awakening in America of the 1950s and 1960s.

LARB Radio hour chat show: pessimism and politics

In this special episode, I speak with my co-hosts Medaya Ocher and Kate Wolf about the ways in which feeling bad might actually be good, and consider the utility of pessimism in our approach to contemporary politics. Digging into Joshua Foa Dienstag’s 2006 book Pessimism: Philosophy, Ethic, Spirit we discuss the core beliefs and practitioners of pessimism as a branch of philosophical thought, exploring how it’s been misunderstood (usually as cynicism), how we’ve encountered pessimism in our own lives, and how our refreshed understanding of pessimism might bolster us in the anxiety of the coming presidential election and a world on fire.

nell irvin painter at the crossroads of art, politics, and race in america

I speak with historian Nell Irvin Painter about her new book, I Just Keep Talking: A Life in Essays, a compendium of her writing about art, politics, and race across nearly four decades. The wide-ranging discussion moves from how researching Sojourner Truth inspired her to get an MFA in Visual Art, to the struggle over what can be taught and known about American history, to the ways modern information technology impacts our experience of the present and its echoes in the past, and how we might navigate a bleak present in which fascism seems newly on the march.

larb radio hour chat show: does criticism still matter?

In this special episode, I speak with my co-hosts Medaya Ocher and Kate Wolf about this age-old question that’s being taken up in new ways amid an increasingly atomized landscape for thinking and writing about the literature, film, and art that excites and enervates us. What does it mean for criticism to “matter”? And what indications do we have that it does beyond the measure of the marketplace? Together, we discuss what has changed—and hasn’t—about how and where criticism circulates, the art of the take down, what we look for in a good piece of criticism, and if you can trust the New York Times Book Review. We also shine a light on the many roles critics play in contemporary cultural life—from forming and destroying canons, to transforming personal taste and sensibility into something that can, occasionally, change culture.

Brad Gooch’s “Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring”

I chat speak with Brad Gooch about his new biography, Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring. A deep-dive into the life of an artist whose work can be seen today on everything from museum walls to t-shirts and tote bags, we discuss how Gooch’s book unearths the cultural moment that gave rise to Haring’s meteoric career before his untimely death in 1990. Moving across topics including the commercialization of art, cultural appropriation, the AIDS crisis, and more, our conversation brings the highly-recognizable artist into nuanced focus.

Morgan Neville’s “STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces”

I speak with director Morgan Neville about his new film STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces, airing on Apple TV, which explores the legendary comedian’s meteoric rise to standup stardom, his abrupt pivot to TV and film, and his return to stage in the present as he and close friend Martin Short prep a new comedy tour. We discuss the treasure trove of never-before-seen archival that brings Martin’s early career to life, what Morgan has learned about fame and the psychology of entertainers from his storied work documenting the lives of cultural luminaries, and much more.