The Compulsion of Optimism and the Culture of Denial

In this episode, we talk to the writers, editors, publishers, translators, publicists, librarians, & brilliant commentators Peter Dimock, Eugene Lim, and Ian Dreiblatt. We explore the future of the book, the form of the novel, the political potency of experimental writing and publishing, the monetization of attention, and how to value reading over books, reading beyond the commodification of content. We consider the book as testament to the principle that “everyone is valuable and everyone needs to talk to everybody else.” Along the way we find ourselves discussing apocalypse, the potential unrecognizability of the future, the coercion of optimism, the vitality and productivity of despair, and “joy in the triage.”   

You’ll want to find these: Peter Dimock’s most recent book Daybook from Sheep Meadow: The Notebooks of Tallis Martinson (Deep Vellum); Eugene Lim’s Search History (Coffee House Press); Ian Dreiblatt’s forget thee (Ugly Duckling Presse).  

This one was recorded—and is best heard—in the dark.