{"id":15795,"date":"2023-01-09T16:04:45","date_gmt":"2023-01-09T21:04:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=15795"},"modified":"2023-01-09T16:04:47","modified_gmt":"2023-01-09T21:04:47","slug":"episode-521-sara-lippmann","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-521-sara-lippmann","title":{"rendered":"Episode 521 – Sara Lippmann"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virtual Memories Show 521:
\nSara Lippmann<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/virtualmemories\/Episode_521_-_Sara_Lippmann.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

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

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

“All we’re doing is telling stories and getting them out, and if one person on the other end is there to receive it and \u00a0have an experience that shifts them in some small way, then you’ve done your fucking job.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>Author Sara Lippmann<\/a> returns to The Virtual Memories Show<\/strong><\/em> after almost a decade<\/a> to celebrate her debut novel, LECH<\/a> (Tortoise Books). We talk about how she had to move out of her comfort zone of short fiction (see her collections Doll Palace<\/a> and Jerks<\/a>) to write a novel, whether she felt guilty teaching a course on novel-writing before she’d finished her first one, the research that went into writing a book about the Catskills in decline, and what it means to find the right container for a story. We also get into the book’s title, and how it plays off of the Biblical notion of Lech Lecha<\/em> (“go forth”) and the tradition of novels named after their protagonists’ last names (Herzog<\/a>, Stern<\/a>, Jernigan<\/a>), and how LECH<\/em> looks at those books through a feminist lens. On top of that, we discuss the silliness of “literary immortality” and what it means that almost no one reads Saul Bellow anymore, my absolutely ingenious idea for changing the nature of my podcast, how she took up running at 40 to combat depression, the moment she learned to stop caring about external validation, and the new<\/em> novel she’s working on. Oh, and I stupidly ask her for a writing prompt. Give it a listen!<\/a> And go read LECH<\/a>!<\/p>\n

(And go listen to my 2014 conversation with Sara<\/a>!)<\/em><\/p>\n

“I consider myself a short story writer. I think everyone has a narrative sweet spot, in how they conceive of story and narrative. The danger is becoming complacent with that comfort level.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n