Episode 334 – Caleb Crain

Virtual Memories Show 334:
Caleb Crain

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“My first novel was about growth and integration, and this one’s more about death and disintegration in the face of technological change.”

Occupy, telepathy, the surveillance state, and poetic treatment of reversion in 16th/17th century English poetry: Caleb Crain’s brand-new novel, Overthrow (Viking) has it all! Caleb & I talk about the image that evoked his new book, why this one is his “dark novel”, and how its writing was filled with a sense of inevitability (and maybe a little bit of prophecy). We get into the notion of self-surveillance and why he carries a dumb-phone (even though it almost led to his failure to show up for our podcast session), the way gay people have a theory of mind for straight people but not necessarily vice versa, the optimism of Occupy and the dreadful fate of Aaron Swartz, the difference between fiction and nonfiction editing, the importance of unscheduled nap-time, and the challenge of writing a novel about the weaponization of our relationships. Give it a listen! And go buy Overthrow!

“There are these moments now when it feels like the existing governance structure fractures and can’t handle things.”

“Gay life is different than straight life, and it’s different across a wide spectrum of experience, not just in bed.”

“To write, I have to be alone. And if I had a smartphone, I would never be alone.”

“Why should human communication be the exclusive property of one corporation that’s making ethically dubious choices?”

Enjoy the conversation! Then check out the archives for more great episodes!

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About our Guest

Caleb Crain has written for The New Yorker, Harper’s, the Paris Review, The Atlantic, The New York Review of Books, n+1, and The New York Times Book Review. He is the author of the novel Necessary Errors and the critical work American Sympathy: Men, Friendship, and Literature in the New Nation. He was born in Texas, raised in Massachusetts, and lives in Brooklyn, New York. His new novel is Overthrow.

Credits: This episode’s music is Fella by Hal Mayforth, used with permission from the artist. The conversation was recorded at stately Virtual Memories Manor on a pair of Blue enCORE 200 Microphones feeding into a Zoom H5 digital recorder. I recorded the intro and outro on a Heil PR-40 Dynamic Studio Recording Microphone feeding into a Cloudlifter CL-1 and a Mackie Onyx Blackjack 2×2 USB Recording Interface. All processing and editing done in Adobe Audition CC. Photo of Mr. Crain by me. It’s on my instagram.