
Manifesto!
Your regular visit to the archives of vanity, where men and women who stopped making myths turned to issuing commandments.
Your guides for this journey are the writers Phil Klay and Jacob Siegel, along with their trusty engineer, Jacqui Rigazio
May you continue to be a person.
Manifesto! Is now sponsored by Fairfield University, a Jesuit University in Fairfield Connecticut. Fairfield’s mission is to develop the creative intellectual potential of students and to foster in them ethical and religious values and a sense of social responsibility. Phil also teaches at Fairfield, in both their undergraduate English department and in their Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program. We’re very pleased to be associated with Fairfield, and thank them for their sponsorship.
Latest episodes

Mar 27, 2025 • 1h 37min
Episode 77: Fascist Apologetics and the Memoirs of an Anti-Semite
Jake and Phil discuss David Jones 1939 essay on Hitler, courtesy of Thomas Dilworth's "David Jones and Fascism," alongside Gregor von Rezzori's "Troth," from his Memoirs of an Anti-Semite
The Manifesto:
Thomas Dilworth, "David Jones and Fascism"
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3831437
The Art:
Gregor von Rezzori, "Troth," from his Memoirs of an Anti-Semite
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1969/04/26/memoirs-of-an-anti-semite

Feb 27, 2025 • 1h 10min
Episode 76: Against Poets
Phil and Jake discuss Witold Gombrowicz's "Against Poets" and Czeslaw Milosz's "Ars Poetica?"
The Manifesto:
Witold Gombrowicz, "Against Poets"
https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.12987/9780300183399-006/html?lang=en&srsltid=AfmBOopUFE9LX61sfmOAYszduQw78uOlvfHGgFOUPvi-0afjm9eQ2nhI
The Art:
Czeslaw Milosz, "Ars Poetica?"
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49455/ars-poetica-56d22b8f31558

4 snips
Jan 25, 2025 • 1h 13min
Episode 75: American Honor and the Iliad
Jake and Phil discuss Phil's New York Times essay "Trump, Hegseth, and the Honor of the American Military" and Homer's "Embassy to Achilles"
The Manifesto:
Phil Klay, "Trump, Hegseth, and the Honor of the American Military"
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/02/opinion/trump-hegseth-military-morality.html
The Art:
Homer, "Embassy to Achilles"
https://www.penguinbookshop.com/book/9780140275360

Dec 21, 2024 • 53min
Episode 74: Christmas Poetry and the Pogues
Jake and Phil discuss Thomas Hardy’s The Oxen, TS Eliot’s Journey of the Magi, and The Pogues Fairytale of New York
Thomas Hardy - The Oxen
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53215/the-oxen-56d232503c32d
TS Eliot - Journey of the Magi
https://poetryarchive.org/poem/journey-magi/
The Pogues - Fairytale of New York
https://youtu.be/j9jbdgZidu8?si=AWYk4ya5bFPUyFtd

Nov 26, 2024 • 1h 31min
Episode 73: Is America Ready for a Religious Revival?
Jake and Phil are joined by Ross Douthat, New York Times columnist and author of the forthcoming Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious, to discuss Ross' essay "Is the World Ready for a Religious Comeback" and Christian Wiman's 2008 essay in the American Scholar, "My Bright Abyss"
The Manifesto:
Ross Douthat, "Is the World Ready for a Religious Comeback"
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/19/opinion/religion-atheism-books.html
The Art:
Christian Wiman, My Bright Abyss
https://theamericanscholar.org/my-bright-abyss/
Pre-order Ross' book
https://www.zondervan.com/9780310367604/believe/

Oct 28, 2024 • 1h 14min
Episode 72: Revolutionary Art and Coat-Snatching Ghosts
Jake and Phil discuss Leon Trotsky's "Communist Policy Toward Art" and Gogol's "The Overcoat"
The Manifesto:
Leon Trotsky - "Communist Policy Toward Art"
https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1924/lit_revo/ch07.htm
The Art
Gogol - "The Overcoat"
https://www.fountainheadpress.com/expandingthearc/assets/gogolovercoat.pdf

Sep 27, 2024 • 49min
Episode 71: Politics and Merciless Nature
Phil and Jake discuss Joan Didion's "Politics in the New Normal America" and Robinson Jeffers "Fire on the Hills"
The Manifesto:
Joan Didion, Politics in the New Normal America
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2004/10/21/politics-in-the-new-normal-america/
The Art:
Robinson Jeffers, Fire on the Hills
https://ronnowpoetry.com/contents/jeffers/FireontheHills.html
For more on Jeffers in Czechoslovakia, see The Warm Reception of Robinson Jeffers’s Poetry in Cold War Czechoslovakia, by Petr Kopecky
https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/169/edited_volume/chapter/1524695/pdf

Aug 30, 2024 • 1h 31min
Episode 70: Punk and Metal
Nate DiMeo, a notable podcaster and author of The Memory Palace, dives into the world of punk and metal. He discusses the influential Riot Grrrl Manifesto and Steve Albini's critical views on the music industry. The conversation explores the cultural significance of manifestos in shaping identity and community within capitalist society. They also tackle the harsh realities musicians face with major labels and delve into the emotional complexities of first love, all intertwined with the raw power of punk and metal music.

Jul 25, 2024 • 2h 4min
Episode 69: Should We Bring Children Into Existence?
Phil and Jake are joined by Anastasia Berg and Rachel Wiseman, the authors of What Are Children For? On Ambivalence and Choice, to discuss David Benatar's 1997 paper "Why It Is Better Never to Come into Existence," alongside Paul Schrader's 2017 film First Reformed.
The Manifesto:
David Benatar - "Why It Is Better Never to Come into Existence"
https://www.jstor.org/stable/20009904
The Art:
Paul Schrader - First Reformed
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6053438/
Anastasia Berg and Rachel Wiseman - What Are Children For? On Ambivalence and Choice
https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250276131/whatarechildrenfor
For more of Anastasia's work
https://www.anastasiaberg.com/
Rachel's work at The Point
https://thepointmag.com/author/rwiseman/

Jun 28, 2024 • 1h 49min
Episode 68: The Serious Artist
Jake and Phil are joined by the poet and critic Alice Gribbin to discuss Ezra Pound's The Serious Artist and Eliot Weinberger's The Life of Tu Fu
The Manifesto:
Ezra Pound, The Serious Artist
https://archive.org/details/literaryessaysof00poun/page/n5/mode/2up
The Art:
Eliot Weinberger, The Life of Tu Fu
https://www.ndbooks.com/book/the-life-of-tu-fu/
For more of Alice's writing:
https://www.alicegribbin.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=substack_profile
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