VINELAND EP 5: It's The Libidinal Economy, Stupid! (W/Subliminal Jihad)
THIS WEEK: John and Asher reads through Chapters 10-12 of Vineland, which takes them back in their shared semester at the College of the Surf (John was Asher's RA). We also learn about the scintillating backstory of Frenesi Gates and her love affair with a COP (ew)--the betrayal of all her ostensible values. We also talk Marx, Freud, Lyotard, Thorazine as a bad-trip-killer, cinematic radicalism, the horny monster who lives inside of you and makes you do stuff you shouldn't want to (or even don't want to) do, May '68, the Emerald Triangle, and the Pynchonian figure of the evil dentist.THEN: Asher is joined by Dimitri and Khalid of the Subliminal Jihad podcast to talk about Pynchon's ties (literary and otherwise) to deep state conspiracism, occult machinations, and all things para-political (or as the boys would say it: political). The truth is out there? WRONG AGAIN. The truth is in...here.MUSIC:Kimi-Bogdan Raczynski
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2:25:06
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2:25:06
VINELAND EP 4: Keeping it DL (w/Ana Gavrilovska)
This week: John and Asher continue reading through and chatting about Vineland, a journey that takes us from California to Ohio to Japan and back again. We mull the novel's conspicuous "Eastern" influences, deep state machinations pitting the mob against the feds, and spend a lot of time with the curious--and amazing!--character Daryl Louise Chastain.Then: we're joined by writer Ana Gavrilovska to talk about D.L., One Battle After Another, Against the Day....and we finally and definitively answer the question: can Pynchon write women?Follow Ana on Twitter and read her Substack, why dontcha!Music in this Episode:Black Flag - "TV Party"Cold Foamers - "Always"
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1:02:59
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1:02:59
VINELAND EP 3: Whether Underground (w/Eleanor Stein)
And we're back! With VINELAND, chapters 6-8.John and Asher discuss inter-generational negation, luddites, the computerized future, communitarian happenings, Esalen, transpersonal psychology, holotropic breathwork, and '70s solipsism.THEN: We speak with former member of the Students for Democratic Society and the Weatherman Eleanor Stein about '60s radicalism and their intersection with the hippier counterculture, left politics tactics, and the moral crises of then and now.MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE:"God's Children (End)" - The Kinks
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1:38:34
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1:38:34
VINELAND EP 2: What Was The Hippie? (w/Jesse Jarnow)
We begin our read-through of Thomas Pynchon's Vineland in earnest, covering Chapters 1-5.John and Asher discuss the amateurishness of opening a novel with a character waking up, the perils of transfenestration, the ersatzness of Hawaiian holidays, and whether Billy Barf and the Vomitones are a heavy metal band or a hardcore band. Was there D-beat before the band Discharge? We'll never know...Also! We welcome author, broadcaster and podcaster Jesse Jarnow to talk about the legacy of the '60s hippie counterculture and help situate Pynchon's novel, culturally. Jesse is the author of arguably the chronicle of the hippie underground, Heads (among other wonderful volumes), host of The Frow Show on the mighty WFMU in Jersey, also the co-host of The Good Ol' Grateful Deadcast. Follow Jesse on Bluesky, why dontcha?Here's John's article (that Asher helped edit) in Rolling Stone, about the history of LSD manufacture, that comes up in this episode.Music in this Episode:The Last Poets - "When the Revolution Comes" (1970)The Watts Prophets - "Public Enemy Number One" (1996)Jane Birkin - "Ex-fan des sixties" (1978)
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1:37:56
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1:37:56
VINELAND EP 1: Snitches Get Stitches (w/ Noah Kulwin)
We missed "Pynchon Summer." But just barely! Cut us some slack, eh?In any event, we are back with our read-through of Thomas Pynchon's Vineland (1990). Is it a triumphant return following the interminable 17 interregnum since Gravity's Rainbow? Or a total piece of junk! As usual, the truth is...what we say it is.This intro episode sets up the book, its themes, and background. Then we chat with returning guest Noah Kulwin about the role of the snitch or government informant in American politics and culture. Make sure to check out Noah and Brendan James' essential pod-chronicle of American Empire, Blowback, which just launched its sixth season.OK we are glad to be back! New episodes every week or so!MUSIC in this Episode:The Exploited - "Police Informer" (1987)The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy - "California Über Alles" (1992)
A podcast about big books. Season One is devoted to a reading an analysis of Thomas Pynchon's 1973 novel "Gravity's Rainbow," and other issues directly related to the text.
Canada - english