Books of Some Substance

What do you call it when a cynical intellectual, a loyal party member, and a Moravian folklorist walk into a bar? A joke! Or rather, The Joke. Milan Kundera’s 1968 debut novel, that is. Join Nathan, David, and Nick for a lengthy — and tricky — discussion on the individual vs. the collective, the tendency of history to turn into myth, and tips for the best way to unassumingly hide a bunch of laxatives. Is this Kundera jam only a political novel, or does it use a political setting as a way to chase a deeper, more broadly applicable truth? Listen in to find out (but check your Trotskyite humor at the door, obviously).

Explore the complex plot and structure of 'Omensetter's Luck' by William H. Gass, a book set in a small town; delve into the mystery surrounding a death and the characterization of Omen Setter; analyze the book's unevenness and moments of brilliance; examine the clash of views between Omen's Setter and Pember; delve into themes of envy, madness, and existentialism; debate whether the book offers hope or is primarily bleak and nihilistic.

Obsessions! Cacophony! Typography! Listen in as we dissect William H. Gass’ post-modern cult classic, Willie Masters’ Lonesome Wife, a bizarre kaleidoscope of killer sentences, 1960s design, and, of course, gratuitous nudity. David argues that the book’s overtly sexual content actually maps to Gass’ love of language. Nathan provides a breakdown of the typefaces and visual strategies at play. And Nick takes a break from musing on the intellectual properties of eroticism to give a shout out to his mom for (theoretically) making it all the way through this episode. Also featuring a guest appearance by Nathan’s cat, which we’re pretty sure Gass would have wholeheartedly supported.

They say that reading Albert Camus’ The Plague in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic is trendy. Well, it’s not so bad being trendy. Join us this month as David, Nathan, and Nick unpack Camus’ classic work and ask all of the questions on everyone’s minds: Is it logical to do good? Are pestilences real or mere abstractions? Is the philosophical novel genre fiction? For the sake of maintaining normalcy in our now chaotic, fully virtual world, the B.O.S.S. hosts have done their best to stay true to their pre-pandemic IRL characters. Listen in as David aptly summarizes the tenets of existentialism and the world’s associated meaninglessness, Nathan yet again brings up questions about his emotional vacancy, and Nick makes sure everyone knows that he is alternative by comparing the novel to ‘90s straight edge hardcore. Together, we will fight this thing. Break! Down! The walls!

What do you get when you create a society with no fixed gender, a whole hell of a lot of snow, a shitload of shifgrethor, and a week off every month for carnal activities? You guessed it: Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness. Listen in as Nathan, Stephanie, and Nick discuss the many flavors of science fiction, Le Guin’s nuanced role as a prominent feminist writer, and how this book seems to deal with so many moving subjects but also lacks an emphatic touch. Also included are flagrant errors by wannabe scholars Nick and Stephanie, because, well, mistakes are simply a lot more fun sometimes. Whether you are co-quarantining at home or on a thousand mile journey across an isolated, icy landscape with the frenemy of your dreams, let’s partake in some good-hearted attempted-intellectualism together.

Pragmatic non-hierarchical structures! Breaking the space time continuum! The sociopolitical and philosophical dualities that exist between two planets — but also inside us all! Join David, Eric, and Nick as they dissect Ursula K. Le Guin’s often revered classic The Dispossessed. They wonder if the book is the left-wing equivalent of The Fountainhead, if the neon color scheme of the mass market paperback version was an agent of pre-bias, and if they are missing some key aspect of the book that makes this such a beloved tome to many a sci-fi reader. And perhaps most predictably, Nick finds another excuse to talk about the Warped Tour (metaphorically speaking, of course).

What’s the deal with how choppy this Nabokov book is? Is the character of Pnin actually the target of a faculty conspiracy? Or is the real conspiracy the fact that David is secretly employed as a salesman for the word-a-day industry? Join Nick, Nathan, and David for another rousing discussion on Vladimir Nabokov, this time on the (sometimes) beloved Pnin. And don’t worry, even if they may be a bit critical, many a failed attempt at reading Nabokov passages out loud proves who the real master is. Dude’s got some killer words in his employ, amirite?

Drama! Comedy! Opacity! Turpitude! All are up for grabs in Vladimir Nabokov’s holiday classic, Invitation to a Beheading. Listen in as Nathan, David, and Nick try to figure out just what exactly is going on in Nabokov’s oft-overlooked gem that may or may not be about: personal exile, political exile, gnosticism, or the inability to get a good night’s sleep. Just don’t call it Kafka-esque (even though it’s definitely Kafka-esque).

In this edition of The Substance of Influence Nick chats with Ross Farrar, vocalist of the Northern California punk band Ceremony, about the connections between the band’s latest record In the Spirit World Now and the classic Saul Bellow novel Humboldt’s Gift.  Listen in as we discuss the similarities between Bellow’s blend of rough intellectualism and the literary underpinnings of punk music, why poetry should just tell you what it is, and the psychological impact of being on a Megabus for over ten hours. Additionally, convincing arguments are presented for why you should stop being a square, yo.

In this edition of The Substance of Influence, Nick chats with University of California-Berkeley English Professor Catherine Flynn about her new book, James Joyce and the Matter of Paris.  Listen in for discussion on the (un)romantic Paris of yesteryear, the sources of all those cool modernist moves, and why Joyce’s fiction is, um, a bit smelly.  In other news, members of the B.O.S.S. reading group in San Francisco are now terrified about the potentially impending selection (read: assignment) of Finnegans Wake.  Our deepest apologies in advance.