Show Notes: This week, Matt and Cameron chart new territory by covering the novella “The Devil’s Yard” by Yugoslav writer, poet, and diplomat (at varying times) Ivo Andrić. Covering a story within a story, they’ll have plenty to say about the construction of narrative, storytelling from the core and periphery of empire, and what’s up with everybody talking about eyes, huh? Grab your prison blanket, find a safe spot to sleep in the yard, and tune in!  Major themes: Narrative confusion, Residue of truth, The eyes have it 10:35 - “Narrative and Narrative Structure in Ivo Andric’s Devil’s ..read more

Show Notes: This week, Matt and Cameron get into something a little more modern with a short story from Ukrainian writer and translator Sophia Andrukhovych, “An Out-Of-Tune Piano, An Accordion.” Come join in as they debate the meaning of the fantasy or dream (or maybe terrifying reality?) of a woman named Viola as she stumbles upon a sort of danse macabre in the midst of worrying about her dying husband, Renat.  Major themes: Dreams, Cats = good/bad?, “Diseased predator” 02:04 - The White Chalk of Days 26:45 - Sophia Andrukhovych In Dialogue With Orhan Pamuk 28:58 - A Curse on Dostoe ..read more

Note: This episode originally aired in February 2024. Matt and Cameron are taking a much needed break this August and wanted to re-up some mid-series Life and Fate episodes they thought deserved more attention. Pick up a copy of The Czech Manuscripts here. Show Notes: This week, Matt and Cameron are joined by Professor David L. Cooper to talk about his new book The Czech Manuscripts: Forgery, Translation, and National Myth. In the book, Dr. Cooper takes a new look at the so-called Czech Manuscripts — several forged literary works that played a large role i ..read more

Note: This episode originally aired in April 2024. Matt and Cameron are taking a much needed break this August and wanted to re-up some mid-series Life and Fate episodes they thought deserved more attention. You can pick up a copy of Dr. Maya Vinokour’s book Work Flows: Stalinist Liquids in Russian Labor Culture here.  Show Notes: This week, Matt and Cameron sit down with Dr. Maya Vinokour to talk about her book Work Flows: Stalinist Liquids in Russian Labor Culture and touch on Daniil Kharms’ short story “How the Old Woman Tried to Buy Ink.”  Dr. Vinokour is A ..read more

Show Notes: They said it couldn’t be done; they said it was too much work; they say it was simply too much Grossman. (The ‘they’ here is Matt and Cameron, to be clear). This week, more than 7 months after starting their Life and Fate series, Matt and Cameron proved them (us) wrong by covering Chapters 49 through 61 of Part 3. It’s time to say goodbye to characters we’ve followed across nearly 900 pages (or around 1700 pages if you also read Stalingrad), with many of them going out on notes both painful and poignant. But the novel’s end does not imply the end of Grossman’s characters — you’ll g ..read more

Show Notes: This week, Matt and Cameron finish the encirclement of Paulus’ 6th Army in Stalingrad as they cover Vasily Grossman’s Life and Fate from Part 2, Chapter 51 through Part 3, Chapter 18. After fighting from the back foot for months — exhausting all those still on the front line, civilian and soldier alike — it’s time for the USSR to swing two great hammers down into the fascist forces. Despite their victory, all is not well for the Red Army. Major themes: Madonna and babe, redemptive humanism, gossip 29:08 - We all make mistakes in the heat of passion, Jimbo.  The music used i ..read more

Show Notes: This week, Matt and Cameron keep up the pace in Vasily Grossman’s Life and Fate, covering Part 2, chapters 21 through 50. They’ll be covering everything from Klimov’s All Quiet on the Western Front moment in Battlefield Stalingrad to the death camps that take up much of the latter chapters for this part. Get ready to get sad, and tune in.  Major themes: Why fight wars, no step on snake, not the purge exactly 01:02:19 - “Art and Politics” by William T. Vollman The music used in this episode was “Старое Кино / Staroye Kino,” by Перемотка / Peremotka. You can find more of thei ..read more

Show Notes: This week, Matt and Cameron continue their quest through Vasily Grossman’s Life and Fate, covering Part 1, chs.61-70 along with Part 2, chs. 1-20. They’ll be going into greater depth about the state of Grossman’s world, the nature of fascism, and will dive a little bit into the nature of science in the USSR.  Major themes: Provocative moral questions, totalitarian ideology, World War 2 worship 01:57 - Find “Life and Fate - Chapter A Day Read Along” anywhere you get your podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever!  3:52 - Sorry about the weird noises over this part! T ..read more

Show Notes: This week, Matt and Cameron stay on the Life and Fate grind, covering Part 1’s chapters 32 through 60. Time to talk hospital tours, tank corp organization, and front-line commissars oh my! Get your canteen full of carefully boiled water and tune in!  They’ll be briefly recapping the events covered in these chapters, but for a complete play-by-play, check out our daily read along episodes: the current’s month’s chapters will be in our main feed, and all previous month’s chapters can be found under Vasily Grossman’s Life and Fate Read Along (available wherever you already list ..read more

Show Notes: You can sign up for our email list here, where we are currently sending daily analysis emails as part of our Life and Fate read along This week, Matt and Cameron — after numerous daily episodes — start outlining some of the main themes covered in Vasily Grossman’s Life and Fate, chapters 1-31, and talk a little (read: a lot) more about his life. Grab your flak vest and get ready for some front-line reporting, it’s time for the Gross-cast.  Major themes: A wolfish era, memorialization not valorization, emerging identities 23:59 - “Free at Last: Vasily Grossman and the Battl ..read more