Manifesto!
Manifesto! A Podcast
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.
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.
Episodes
Mentioned books
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
May 30, 2024 • 59min
Episode 67: Wallace Stegner's Crossing to Safety
Jake and Phil are joined by Sam Kimbriel, director of the Aspen Institute's Philosophy and Society Initiative, to discuss Wallace Stegner's 1987 novel Crossing to Safety.
10 snips
Apr 29, 2024 • 1h 23min
Episode 66: Hobbits, Goblins and the Very Adult World of Fairy-Stories
Jake and Phil are joined by the novelist and chronicler of post-secular religious movements, Tara Isabella Burton, to discuss J.R.R. Tolkien's 1939 essay “On Fairy-Stories” and Christina Rossetti's 1862 poem, "Goblin Market."
The manifesto:
https://ieas-szeged.hu/downtherabbithole/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Tolkien-On-Fairy-Stories.pdf
The Art:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44996/goblin-market
Tara's new novel, Here In Avalon:
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Here-in-Avalon/Tara-Isabella-Burton/9781982170097
Mar 30, 2024 • 1h 11min
Episode 65: Orwell and Ukraine
Author Matt Gallagher, known for Daybreak, joins Phil and Jake to discuss George Orwell's 'Looking Back on the Spanish War' and Benjamin Busch's photographs from Ukraine. They explore themes of self-determination, democracy, and resistance against totalitarianism, drawing parallels to current events in Ukraine and reflecting on Orwell's experiences in the Spanish Civil War. The conversation delves into historical and contemporary support for dictators, media influence on public opinion, humanizing the enemy in wartime, and the unique perspective of photographer Benjamin Busch capturing war propaganda in Ukraine.
Feb 28, 2024 • 1h 22min
Episode 64: Power of the Powerless and the Velvet Underground
Jake and Phil are joined by the novelist and essayist Jared Marcel Pollen to discuss Vaclav Havel’s “The Power of the Powerless” and The Velvet Underground’s second album, White Light/White Heat
The Manifesto:
https://www.nonviolent-conflict.org/wp-content/uploads/1979/01/the-power-of-the-powerless.pdf
The Art:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJy0LP8iYPg&list=PLaVHibd49QFIsKywss9Jh0rati5skWEYD
Jared's essay, The Metaphysician-in-Chief, in Liberties
https://libertiesjournal.com/articles/the-metaphysician-in-chief/
