Ryan speaks with Philipp Meyer about his novels American Rust and The Son, processing the morally questionable history of the American west through literature, how he battled through ten years of failure before his first success, the challenge of balancing ego with ambition, the philosophy that inspires his writing, and more.

Philipp Meyer is an American fiction writer and novelist. American Rust and The Son have received considerable acclaim, including being included in the “Great American Novel” category, as well as being awarded the Los Angeles Times Book Prize (2009) for the former and the Lucien Barrière Prize in France as well as the Prix Littérature-Monde in France for the latter. He has also written five published short stories. Philip graduated from Cornell University with a degree in English and many years later received an MFA from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas. He has worked many jobs throughout his life, including as a first responder, a derivatives trader, a construction worker, an ambulance driver, and nearly as a paramedic, and he has two unpublished novels and hundreds of unpublished short stories under his belt. In 2010, Meyer was named to The New Yorker's "20 under 40", its decennial list of 20 promising writers under the age of 40. American Rust and The Son have both been adapted for television.

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