Show Notes: This week, Matt and Cameron wrap up Mikhail Bulgakov’s Soviet-era masterpiece The Master and Margarita, covering chapters 26 to the epilogue. Come see the Devil and a representative of Yeshua Ha-Nozri hack out the fate of our eponymous characters, as the Moscow investigators finally try to put a pin into this whole “magic” thing.  Major themes: Comedy in translation, Ivan as creative process, PG shootouts for Americans 01:35 - “Soviet-era” literature, I should say  04:03 - Covering “The Best Ever Death Metal Band from Denton” on I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats 14 ..read more

Show Notes: This week, Matt and Cameron finish the last three parts of Guzel Yakhina’s A Volga Tale, discuss fairytales as history, talk about best character Vaska, and think about billiards as a metaphor for World War II. Join us as we think about just what does the Volga mean.  Major themes: Knowing The Big Lie, WWII as billiards, rivers as historical force  43:56 - Part 1 of our series on Fyodor Gladkov’s Cement.  The music used in this episode was “Старое Кино / Staroye Kino,” by Перемотка / Peremotka. You can find more of their work on Bandcamp and Youtube.  Buy t ..read more

Sign up for emails related to our Life and Fate read along here! Show Notes: This week, it’s time for Office Hours, which Matt and Cameron are contractually obliged to hold at least once per quarter. This episode they’ll be revealing a little something-something that you should look forward to, talk about violence and discomfort in media, and spend a little time on Reddit. Just another day on campus. Major themes: The Home Depot-Lowe’s spectrum, violence in media, Crime and Punishment and CCTV 04:40 - Our interview with Robert Chandler The music used in this episode was “Старое Кино / Staroye ..read more

Show Notes: Content warning: there will be a brief mention of rape from 12:20 to 12:28.  This week, Matt and Cameron get into their tuxes for a Devil’s Ball celebrated all the way from across the skies to the distorted apartments of Moscow, covering chapters 19 through 25 of Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita. They’ll be talking sex, they’ll be talking fairytale morality, and you bet they’ll be talking about dismembered heads. All in all, fairly normal things when you’re celebrating with hell’s annual ball.  Major themes: Eroticism as individuality, fairytales as moral cl ..read more

Show Notes: This week, Matt and Cameron explore Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1972 film Solaris. They talk genre, they talk the meaning of the soul, and they draw a couple points from — hold on, what do you mean he wrote a book about it? I did all this research and he just…he just wrote a book? Okay, that’s fine. Well, they’ll cover what he has to say, where they agree and disagree, and what it means to become human.  Major themes: The only genre is film, ears: the road to the soul, “just be happy doing chores” 02:43 - 1968, not 1969.  The music used in this episode was “Старое Кино / Staro ..read more

Show Notes: This week, Matt and Cameron track the (alleged) Devil’s progress through Moscow through his debut at the Variety Theatre and beyond in Chapters 10-18 of Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita. Grab your hidden speculative currency and turn in to follow the aftermath of Woland’s arrival, his magic tricks, and — finally — the arrival of The Master into the plot.  Major themes: Referential mania, a theoretical Margarita, Is the Soviet Man actually new? 13:45 - Nathan for you clip Ending - Bojack and Daniel The music used in this episode was “Старое Кино / Staroye Kino ..read more

Show Notes: This week, Matt and Cameron kick off their biggest podcast series ever with one of the most obscure choices possible for such a venture: Stalingrad by Vasily Grossman. Stalingrad is the first book in a dilogy, followed by the much more famous Life and Fate, which covers the siege of the city of Stalingrad by the German Wehrmacht in World War 2. We’re going to be dealing with a whole cast of characters here and their varied experiences of the war so get a pencil and paper, get ready to start diagramming family trees, and tune in! Major themes: Getting off-topic, Ways of looking at ..read more

Show Notes: This week, Matt and Cameron debut the first episode of a new series we’re calling “Office Hours.” Sit down with us as we catch up about our lives, talk about Matt’s thoughts on Reddit and bookstagram, and stray into Cameron’s fascination with a particular alternate history author. We recorded this episode while sipping on Espresso Martinis, per the request of our supporter Kaitlin. Major themes: What is fiction anyway?, Rodion “Richard” Raskolnikov, Suspicious Civil War literature 2:59 - First mis-speak of the episode and I wasn’t even drunk yet. “IBM” not “IGM.” 3:08 - A fun l ..read more

Show Notes: This week, Matt and Cameron continue their slog through Book 3 of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, covering part 1. Get ready for more teen marriage plots, a little elucidation on Tolstoy’s thoughts on doctors, and the funniest section for Pierre so far. And trust us - that last bit jumped over a high bar. Grab your copies of the Book of Revelations and tune in! Major themes: More Teen Marriage Plots, Too Hot to be Godly, Anti Doctor Content 12:21 - As Eric Blaire, a.k.a. George Orwell, explored in “Shooting an Elephant.” Also a lot to explore about colonialism and perspectives on t ..read more

Show Notes: This week, Matt and Cameron kick off their next big read, The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, covering chapters one through nine. Join us as we talk about how the devil definitely doesn’t exist according to the USSR, how the devil definitely does exist according to the Devil, and the true story of the Gospels (at least, if you believe the Devil). Oh, also there’s a lot to say about Soviet life. And, somehow, all these features come together much more neatly than you’d expect. But you’ll have to tune in to learn how.  Major themes: Speculating on currency, writing i ..read more