Virtual Memories Show 210: Tony Tulathimutte
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“There’s no way to write about millennials without adopting a comic tone.”
I get over my insecurity about younger authors and talk with Tony Tulathmiutte about his debut novel, Private Citizens
“I don’t think of writing as a therapeutic activity. It’s more like exhibitionist wallowing.”
“It’s not fair to castigate David Foster Wallace for the purposes to which other people put his writing.”
Enjoy the conversation! Then check out the archives for more great episodes!
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About our Guest
From tonytula.com: “I’ve written for The New York Times, VICE, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New Republic, N+1, Playboy, The Paris Review, and elsewhere. I come from the Pioneer Valley in the Bay State, and used to work in Silicon Valley in the Bay Area. For some reason I’ve received an O. Henry Award and a MacDowell Fellowship, and I appeared as a guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers. I work in New York.” His new novel is Private Citizens
Credits: This episode’s music is Nothing’s Gonna Bring Me Down by David Baerwald, used with permission from the artist. The conversation was recorded at Tony’s apartment on a pair of Blue enCORE 200 Microphones
by Bruce Jay Friedman (and this 
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We also talk about Charlie Hebdo, the historical arc of gay marriage covers, the contrasts of her multimodal education in France with the American model, which comics she started her kids off with, how she deals with the moving target of diversity, the evolution of women in the comics scene, and why kids are a fantastic audience. 
collection of comics with HarperCollins, then 
with Abrams, and launched the TOON Books imprint.
feeding into a 
digital recorder. I recorded the intro and outro on a 
. Processing was done in Audacity and Logic Pro. Photo of me & Ms. Mouly by 
(Pegasus Books). We discuss the importance of reading for pleasure, the difference between book-collecting and shopping, the role of the book reviewer (and how it differs from that of the critic), a recent negative review he didn’t want to write, why he doesn’t read reviews of his work, what his mother said when he won the Pulitzer Prize, and more! 
– Thomas Berger
– Thomas Berger
– Daniel Boorstin
– Daniel Boorstin
– Joseph Conrad
– Cyril Connolly
– Edmund Crispin
– Michael Dirda
– Michael Dirda
– Lloyd C. Douglas
– Clifton Fadiman
– Clifton Fadiman
– Clifton Fadiman
– William Gaddis
– Jonathan Galassi
– Robert Hichens
– Homer
– Michael Innes
– Clive James
– Rudyard Kipling
– Nikos Kazantzakis
– Judith Krantz
– Alison Lurie
– Charles Mackay
– Jay McInerney
– Baroness Orczy
– Ayn Rand
– James Salter
– Neal Stephenson
– Thoreau
– John Williams
– William Zinsser
Michael Dirda is a weekly book columnist for 
, and of four previous collections of essays: 
, 
, and 
, in addition to his newest collection, 
(Other Press). We discuss the arc of Zweig’s exile, why Zweig remains important to our age (both in his writing and in his character), how he lost his belief in the power of bildung, the fleetingness of fame and the accident of survival, the role of education in changing political dynamics, the contemporary revival of Viennese culture, the reason why Zweig fled New York City, and more!
and 
. He lives in New York City.
. The intro and outro were recorded on