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
Oct 28, 2023 • 1h 53min
Episode 59: Israel and Hamas
A Jewish American living in Israel provides historical context and discusses their love for Israel; Reflections on 9-11, volunteering, and war; Israel's failure to secure peace and criticism of their approach; challenges of urban warfare in Gaza; the importance of navigating the fog of war; speculations on a hospital explosion; book recommendations on the Israel-Palestine conflict; discussing the use of 'genocide' and Hamas' belief on Jewish settlement in Israel.
Sep 27, 2023 • 31min
Episode 58: The Enlightenment of Katzuo Nakamatsu
Phil is joined by Sam Kimbriel, director of the Aspen Institute's Philosophy and Society Initiative, and Jennifer Shyue, a Spanish language literary translator, to discuss her recently published translation of Augusto Higa Oshiro's The Enlightenment of Katzuo Nakamatsu.
https://archipelagobooks.org/book/the-enlightenment-of-katzuo-nakamatsu/
Sep 10, 2023 • 1h 35min
Episode 57: Some Lying and Some BS
Jake and Phil are joined by Walter Kirn to discuss Kirn's essay "The Bullshit" alongside Mark Twain's "My First Lie and How I Got Out of It"
The Manifesto:
Walter Kirn, "The Bullshit"
https://walterkirn.substack.com/p/the-bullshit
The Art:
Mark Twain's "My First Lie and How I Got Out of It"
https://americanliterature.com/author/mark-twain/short-story/my-first-lie-and-how-i-got-out-of-it
Aug 9, 2023 • 1h 35min
Episode 56: The Secular Saint
Jake and Phil are joined by Santiago Ramos, a contributing writer to Commonweal Magazine, to discuss Michael Novak's The Secular Saint and the epilogue to Michel Houellebecq's 1998 novel The Elementary Particles.
The Manifesto:
Michael Novak, The Secular Saint
https://www.amazon.com/theology-radical-politics-Michael-Novak/dp/B0006BZ4H2
The Art:
Michel Houellebecq, The Elementary Particles, Epilogue
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/83039/the-elementary-particles-by-michel-houellebecq/
Jul 12, 2023 • 1h 18min
Episode 55: The Great Mating Debate
Phil is joined by Becca Rothfeld, BD McClay, and Jon Baskin to discuss Norman Rush's 1991 novel Mating, and whether it offers a roadmap for love in the 21st century.
Becca Rothfeld is the nonfiction book critic at the Washington Post and an editor at the Point.
BD McClay is an essayist and critic who has written for publications like Lapham's Quarterly, The New Yorker, and New York Times Magazine.
Jon Baskin is Deputy Editor at Harper's and a founding editor of The Point.
The Art:
Norman Rush, Mating
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/158972/mating-by-norman-rush/
Article cited:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/29/style/mating-norman-rush.html
Jun 13, 2023 • 1h 20min
Episode 54: Nirvana and The Trials of the Young
Phil is joined by the great novelist, short story writer and essayist Mary Gaitskill to discuss Gaitskill's essay "The Trials of the Young" in the most recent Liberties Journal, alongside the Nirvana songs "Drain You" and "Moist Vagina."
The Manifesto:
Mary Gaitskill, "The Trials of the Young "
https://marygaitskill.substack.com/p/the-despair-of-the-young
The Art:
Nirvana, "Drain You"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJUpHxlJUNQ
Nirvana, "Moist Vagina"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRT6sYzVN78
May 16, 2023 • 1h 37min
Episode 53: Poe's Law and Philip K. Dick's Faith of Our Fathers
Jake and Phil are joined by Gurwinder Bhogal to discuss Poe's Law and Philip K. Dick's Faith of Our Fathers
The Manifesto: "Poe's Law"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law
The Art: Philip K. Dick's "Faith of Our Fathers"
https://genius.com/Philip-k-dick-faith-of-our-fathers-annotated
Also discussed:
Gurwinder Bhogal, "The Best Cure for Fake News is Fake News"
https://rabbitholemag.com/the-best-cure-for-fake-news-is-fake-news/
Ryan Ruby, A Golden Age?
https://www.vinduet.no/essayistikk/a-golden-age-ryan-ruby-on-literary-criticism-and-the-internet/
20 snips
Apr 13, 2023 • 1h 51min
Episode 52: True Believers and the Case of the Writer Turned Congressman
Jake and Phil are joined by former Michigan Congressman Peter Meijer to discuss longshoreman philosopher Eric Hoffer’s 1951 book, The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements, and the poem “On Reading Crowds and Power,” by Geoffrey Hill.
The Manifesto (an edition with some very cool cover art):
The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements
https://archive.org/details/truebelieverthou0000hoff/mode/2up
The Art:
On Reading Crowds and Power
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/49285/on-reading-crowds-and-power
Mar 21, 2023 • 1h 9min
Episode 51: A Public Address, A Colloquium, or Maybe Just a Q&A
Jake and Phil answer questions from our listeners.
Feb 22, 2023 • 1h 8min
Episode 50: El Greco, Picasso, and The Pleasures of Ignorance
Jake and Phil discuss Aldous Huxley's "Meditation on El Greco", and Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.
The Manifesto:
Aldous Huxley - "Meditation on El Greco"
https://cooperative-individualism.org/huxley-aldous_meditation-on-el-greco-pleasure-that-comes-from-ignorance.pdf
The Art:
Picasso - Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
https://www.moma.org/collection/works/79766?sov_referrer=theme&theme_id=5135
