EPISODE 6 — JESSICA ANYA BLAU

Jessica and I, in conversation.  She’s an author.  She writes novels.

Listen.

EPISODE 1 — JONATHAN EVISON

Episode 1 of Other People is now live. 

It’s my new podcast.

In-depth, inappropriate interviews with authors.

In this episode:  a conversation with Jonathan Evison, bestselling author of All About Lulu and West of Here.

Enjoy!

-BL

REALITY CHECK: AN INTERVIEW WITH DAVID SHIELDS

Few books in recent memory have caused as much of a stir as Reality Hunger, the 219-page “manifesto” by David Shields.

It’s a book that defies easy classification.

An argument.  A clarion call.  An affront.  A life story.

An unapologetic assault on the literary status quo.

An essay-memoir-pointillistic-literary-collage-and-exercise-in-appropriation-art, one which argues that a new artistic movement is forming, a movement which prizes as its virtues things like randomness, self-reflexivity, reader/viewer participation, and the total obliteration of the line between fiction and nonfiction.

The book has been greeted as a revelation.  A game-changer.  A thunderous ars poetica.

The book has been greeted as reprehensible.  Tired.  An irresponsible attempt to subvert existing copyright law, all while generating a massive wave of cheap publicity.

Writers in particular have reacted strongly to the book.  Some with venemous anger; others, a fit of nervousness; others still with unbridled enthusiasm.

“To call something a manifesto is a brave step,” writes Luc Sante in the New York Times.  ”It signals that you are hoisting a flag and are prepared to go down with the ship.”

Shields—-as far as I can tell—-is still afloat, and he was kind enough to speak with me recently about his life, his work, and his assessment of the cultural moment.

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