The Back of the Book

Novelist Karan Mahajan joins the show to talk with Chris about his new work, The Complex. They discuss the novel’s memorable characters, settings, and themes, as well as Karan’s literary influences and the challenges of writing about Indian culture and politics for a non-Indian audience.

Show notes: Karan’s novel, The Complex
“The True Margaret,” a short story excerpted from The Complex in The New Yorker
Chris’s review of The Complex in the Washington Examiner
Karan’s previous novels, The Association of Small Bombs and Family Planning
Time stamps:
 
5:08 – The Complex’s cast: The Chopra clan
17:58 – Laxman Chopra & literary villainy
32:27 – Karan’s literary influences, Tolstoy and Naipaul
42:55 – Experimenting with narrative perspective
48:54 – Modern readers & writers

Opening and closing music: Brendan Benson, “Spit It Out,” used with permission from the artist.

Produced by Sean Doolan.

Chris talks to Tess Chakkalakal about her new literary biography, A Matter of Complexion: The Life and Fictions of Charles W. Chesnutt. Tess explains why Chesnutt is such an important figure in American literary history, how his short stories and novels made the case for a color-blind society, and why he should be more widely read today.

Show notes:
Tess’s book, A Matter of Complexion
Chesnutt’s short stories: The Conjure Woman and Other Conjure Tales and “The Wife of His Youth”
Chesnutt’s novels: The House Behind the Cedars and The Marrow of Tradition
Chesnutt’s speech, “Race Prejudice; Its Causes and Its Cure”

Time stamps:
2:22 – Chesnutt’s early life and education
15:16 – The Conjure Woman
25:09 – The House Behind the Cedars
44:28 – The Marrow of Tradition
52:44 – Chesnutt’s views on race and their legacy

Opening and closing music: Brendan Benson, “Spit It Out,” used with permission from the artist.

Produced by Sean Doolan.

In this re-pea—er, very special encore presentation, Chris’s brother, Father Paul Scalia, joins the show to discuss the significance of Holy Week and how Catholics in particular celebrate this most important (and for priests, most exhausting) week in the liturgical calendar. Father Scalia also recounts his road to the priesthood, shares his favorite Christian apologists and novelists, and discusses the state of the Catholic Church in America. Show notes: 
Father Scalia’s books: That Nothing May be Lost; Sermons in Times of Crisis (editor)
Father Scalia at The Catholic Thing
Father Scalia’s homilies (audio)
The New York Times: “Roman Catholic Churches See a Surge of New Converts”
Time stamps:
 
2:53 – Holy Week & Easter
24:20 – Fr. Scalia's vocation and the meaning of the priesthood
41:08 – The Catholic literary tradition
48:42 – The state of the Church and hope for its future

Opening and closing music: Brendan Benson, “Spit It Out,” used with permission from the artist.

Writer Lionel Shriver joins Chris to discuss her provocative new novel, A Better Life. They touch on the novel’s relation to Lionel’s broader thematic interests, the challenges of navigating political controversy in literature, and the worrying decline of literacy and readership.

 Show notes: 
Lionel's new novel, A Better Life
Lionel on cultural appropriation
Lionel on American Dirt
Time stamps:
 
3:15 – A Better Life
17:29 – Gen Z and the population apocalypse
26:08 – Political controversy, literary representation, and the “vibe shift”
40:41 – The decline of reading & the case for literature

Opening and closing music: Brendan Benson, “Spit It Out,” used with permission from the artist.

Produced by Sean Doolan.

Sunil Iyengar, editor of an outstanding new poetry anthology, joins the podcast to discuss all things narrative verse: its origins, its virtues, and its place in contemporary poetry. He and Chris also take turns reading some memorable narrative poems, including some of their own.

 Show notes:
Sunil's new anthology, The Colosseum Book of Contemporary Narrative Verse
Andy Ferguson on John McCain and Robert Service's “The Cremation of Sam McGee"
Sunil's poem “The Omission” (New Verse Review)
Chris's poem “Singing Along to Billy Joel at My Roommate’s First Wedding” (New Verse Review) 
Time stamps:
5:00 – Why narrative poetry?
17:09 – The Colosseum Book of Contemporary Narrative Verse
36:05 – Memorable narrative poems
57:06 – Poems by Sunil and Chris

Opening and closing music: Brendan Benson, “Spit It Out,” used with permission from the artist.

Produced by Sean Doolan.