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Micheline Aharonian Marcom,
"Three Apples Fell from Heaven", August 2 2001
Micheline Aharonian Marcom
"Three Apples Fell from Heaven", August 2 2001
A stunning first novel that imagines the Armenian genocide. We explore the radical techniques that the author developed to give ferocity and destruction a new literary form.
Real Audio: Three Apples Fell from Heaven
Micheline Aharonian Marcom Bio and Cross Links
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Ben Marcus,
"Notable American Women", October 24 2002
Ben Marcus
"Notable American Women", October 24 2002
Ben Marcus, a younger member of the avant-garde, talks about some of the devices that have structured his books. In Notable American Women, his imagination builds a fierce matriarchal culture--one that attacks the author, himself, humiliating him in his own novel.
Real Audio: Notable American Women
Ben Marcus Bio and Cross Links
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James McCourt,
"Queer Street: The Rise and Fall of an American Culture, 1947-1985", March 11 2004
James McCourt
"Queer Street: The Rise and Fall of an American Culture, 1947-1985", March 11 2004
Although camouflaged as a social history, Queer Street is a memoir of sexual initiation and awareness. Novelist James McCourt (using the nickname Q.T.) transforms a young boy into the embodiment of Queer Temperament.
Real Audio: Queer Street: The Rise and Fall of an American Culture, 1947-1985
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Rick Moody,
"The Black Veil: A Memoir with Digressions", October 03 2002
Rick Moody
"The Black Veil: A Memoir with Digressions", October 03 2002
Rick Moody explores his dark ancestry, which includes the Puritan minister who inspired a famous Hawthorne story. It’s a conversation that contrasts the desire to hide familial guilt from the world with the self-revelation that is necessary for a writer.
Real Audio: The Black Veil: A Memoir with Digressions
Rick Moody Bio and Cross Links
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Rick Moody,
"Purple America", July 31 1997
Rick Moody
"Purple America", July 31 1997
Nuclear energy, nuclear family: Does the metaphor of fission apply equally to both? Rick Moody on the disintegration of values and the reintergarion of fiction.
Real Audio: Purple America
Rick Moody Bio and Cross Links
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Lorrie Moore,
"Birds of America", July 15 1999
Lorrie Moore
"Birds of America", July 15 1999
Lorrie Moore shows how her short stories compare with the ballads of Tin Pan Alley. That is: how do you give misery and lovesickness the bounce of a popular tune?
Real Audio: Birds of America
Lorrie Moore Bio and Cross Links
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Walter Moseley,
"Fearless Jones", September 13 2001
Walter Moseley
"Fearless Jones", September 13 2001
Walter Moseley is best known for his noir mysteries. With books set in the black communities of Los Angeles, he writes the hidden histories of race, sensuality, crime and cultural apiration. Here, we discuss the comic noir, the beginning of new series whose hero is a bookworm.
Real Audio: Fearless Jones
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Marc Norman,
"Playing with Shakespeare", February 18 1999
Marc Norman
"Playing with Shakespeare", February 18 1999
Screenwriters Tom Stoppard and Marc Norman re-imagine Shakespeare’s life as a high-flying farce in Shakespeare in Love. We talk about gender, comedic structure and the obstacles faced in putting Shakespeare on the screen.
Real Audio: Playing with Shakespeare
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Sigrid Nunez,
"For Rouenna", March 21 2002
Sigrid Nunez
"For Rouenna", March 21 2002
Sigrid Nunex’s books reveal the secrets of lives that have fallen through the cracks. Here we explore her need to rescuethe lost--and the special mixture of fact and fiction she has developed for this mission.
Real Audio: For Rouenna
Sigrid Nunez Bio and Cross Links
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Edna O'Brien,
"Untitled", December 04 1990
Edna O'Brien
"Untitled", December 04 1990
No show description provided.
Real Audio: Untitled
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Carl Phillips,
"The Tether; Pastoral", July 12 2001
Carl Phillips
"The Tether; Pastoral", July 12 2001
Strongly influenced by the Metaphysical poets, Carl Phillips writes a mixture of erotic and devotional poetry. How refreshing that he finds his work to be simply descriptive of love and its postures!
Real Audio: The Tether; Pastoral
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Caryl Phillips,
"The Nature of Blood", September 11 1997
Caryl Phillips
"The Nature of Blood", September 11 1997
This novel contrasts slavery and genocide in the lives of Jews and Africans over several centuries. A discussion about the parallel history of prejudice.
Real Audio: The Nature of Blood
Caryl Phillips Bio and Cross Links
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DBC Pierre,
"Vernon God Little", January 8 2004
DBC Pierre
"Vernon God Little", January 8 2004
DBC Pierre (the dark horse underdog who surprised the literary world by winning the 2003 Booker Prize) divulges the hidden workings of his rebellious Columbine-inspired novel: His narrator, a disguised St. Peter, retells Christ's story, using a uniquely profane American vernacular.
Real Audio: Vernon God Little
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George Plimpton,
"In Memory", January 1 2004
George Plimpton
"In Memory", January 1 2004
In memory of George Plimpton, who died late last year, we rebroadcast this 1998 interview. Plimpton, the founding father of the modern literary interview and for years the editor of The Paris Review, talks about the nature of the literary interview and the art of biography.
Real Audio: In Memory
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Richard Powers,
"Plowing the Dark", March 15 2001
Richard Powers
"Plowing the Dark", March 15 2001
Although Richard Powers rarely grants interviews, his intensity and sincerity blaze through as he talks about science, personal sacrifice and the common misassumption that cerebral writers are without passion.
Real Audio: Plowing the Dark
Richard Powers Bio and Cross Links
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Francine Prose,
"The Lives of the Muses: Nine Women and the Artists They Inspired", September 26 2002
Francine Prose
"The Lives of the Muses: Nine Women and the Artists They Inspired", September 26 2002
Francine Prose’s new book is a series of brief livesof women who inspired famous men—from the real-life Alice of Alice in Wonderland to Yoko Ono. Hear about the odd couplings of the unsocialized Mr. and Mrs. Salvator Dali, the sex-crimes of the pre-Raphaelites, and the three-way rivalries engineered by Lou Andreas-Salome. The conversation is a tabloid collage of intellect and sexuality informed by Ms. Prose’s cool wit.
Real Audio: The Lives of the Muses: Nine Women and the Artists They Inspired
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Annie Proulx,
"Close Range: Wyoming Stories", August 19 1999
Annie Proulx
"Close Range: Wyoming Stories", August 19 1999
Annie Proulx has written an omnibus of Western tales—tall tales, rodeo bragging, cowboy love stories—profusely illustrated and emotionally dark. Annie Proulx on learning the secret language of Wyoming.
Real Audio: Close Range: Wyoming Stories
Annie Proulx Bio and Cross Links
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Annie Proulx,
"Accordion Crimes", October 31 1996
Annie Proulx
"Accordion Crimes", October 31 1996
In Accordion Crimes, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist presents an historical cavalcade: her vision of the violence that has been perpertrated against emerging minority cultures.
Real Audio: Accordion Crimes
Annie Proulx Bio and Cross Links
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Rikki Ducornet