{"id":10149,"date":"2017-01-16T20:28:02","date_gmt":"2017-01-17T00:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=10149"},"modified":"2017-12-27T12:40:00","modified_gmt":"2017-12-27T16:40:00","slug":"episode-201-brad-gooch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-201-brad-gooch","title":{"rendered":"Episode 201 – Brad Gooch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virtual Memories Show 201: Brad Gooch<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/virtualmemories\/Episode_201_-_Brad_Gooch.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

Podcast: Play in new window<\/a> | Download<\/a><\/p>

Subscribe: Spotify<\/a> | TuneIn<\/a> | RSS<\/a> | More<\/a><\/p>\n

“Rumi has the reputation of tinkling wind-chimes, but at the center is the pain of separation, both personally with Shams of Tabriz, and the human condition of separation with God.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/a>Brad Gooch<\/a> returns to the show to talk about his new book, Rumi’s Secret: The Life of the Sufi Poet of Love<\/a>\"\" (Harper). We dive right into Brad’s Orientalist fantasy of researching Rumi and the realpolitik that intruded on it (including getting detained at gunpoint), how he recreated the polyglot, multi-religious culture of 13th century Turkey (hint: it involved having to learn Farsi), the temptation to psychologize Rumi’s life, why the poet’s work has survived all these centuries (and what makes it so tweetable<\/a>), what his own new fatherhood taught him about Rumi’s later years, and more! Give it a listen!<\/a> And go buy Rumi’s Secret<\/a>\"\"!<\/p>\n

“There’s a little method actor in me when it comes to biography writing.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

NOTE: We talk about a New Yorker article during the conversation. It’s “The Erasure of Islam form the Poetry of Rumi”<\/a>, by Rozina Ali.<\/p>\n