46 min listen
Memoir and Autobiography
ratings:
Length:
36 minutes
Released:
Feb 17, 2020
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
This week Marlon and Jake delve into the very real lives of very dead writers. From Gore Vidal to Frank McCourt, Ulysses S. Grant to Gabriel García Márquez, they discuss how memory compares to history and whether the trustworthiness of a memoir really matters if the book is a compelling read. Their discussion about WASPy realism leads them to debate whether John Cheever or John Updike is the better writer, and Marlon poses the scandalous question of whether Jane Austen lacked passion (gasp!). Whether they’re talking about philandering playwrights or humorous newspaper columnists, Marlon and Jake prove that truth really can be stranger than fiction.
Select titles mentioned in this episode:
Personal Memoirs by Ulysses Grant
Palimpsest by Gore Vidal
The Night of the Gun by David Carr
Act One by Moss Hart
Once in a Lifetime by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman
The Man Who Came to Dinner by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
Living to Tell the Tale by Gabriel García Márquez
Rabbit Series (Rabbit, Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit Is Rich and Rabbit
At Rest) by John Updike
The Maples Stories by John Updike
The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
At Wit’s End by Erma Bombeck
If Life is a Bowl of Cherries by Erma Bombeck
Select titles mentioned in this episode:
Personal Memoirs by Ulysses Grant
Palimpsest by Gore Vidal
The Night of the Gun by David Carr
Act One by Moss Hart
Once in a Lifetime by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman
The Man Who Came to Dinner by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
Living to Tell the Tale by Gabriel García Márquez
Rabbit Series (Rabbit, Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit Is Rich and Rabbit
At Rest) by John Updike
The Maples Stories by John Updike
The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
At Wit’s End by Erma Bombeck
If Life is a Bowl of Cherries by Erma Bombeck
Released:
Feb 17, 2020
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (35)
Dead Authors for a Desert Island: Marlon and Jake are back-this time to discuss which dead author they'd take with them to a desert island to reread over and over again-as well as which ones they'd happily leave lost at sea. From the Jamaica of Wide Sargasso Sea to the lonely New England of Shirley Jackson, Marlon and Jake get fired up over the books they vehemently love and the ones they equally hate. Marlon explores his complicated love for James Clavell and the underappreciated wisdom of Pride & Prejudice's Charlotte Lucas, while Jake (unsuccessfully) attempts to convince Marlon that Agatha Christie is, in fact, not overrated. One thing they actually agree on? That would be their passionate disdain for Wuthering Heights-and it's not pretty-so Emily Bronte lovers, consider yourselves warned! Included Titles: - Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James - We Have Always Lived in by Marlon and Jake Read Dead People