{"id":16965,"date":"2024-08-06T19:40:29","date_gmt":"2024-08-06T23:40:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=16965"},"modified":"2024-08-07T17:25:39","modified_gmt":"2024-08-07T21:25:39","slug":"episode-599-mirana-comstock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-599-mirana-comstock","title":{"rendered":"Episode 599 – Mirana Comstock"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virtual Memories Show 599:
\nMirana Comstock<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/virtualmemories\/Episode_599_-_Mirana_Comstock.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

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

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

“This is the first book in 70 years that can conjure up that era, and there will never ben another book that can, because everyone connected with that era is gone.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>This one’s all about legacies: familial, literary, cultural & institutional! Mirana Comstock<\/a> joins the show to celebrate the publication of The Algonquin Round Table: 25 Years with the Legends Who Lunch<\/a> (Excelsior Editions\/SUNY Press), by her grandfather, the late literary lion Konrad Bercovici<\/a>. We get into how Mirana discovered this manuscript, what it meant to edit it & write the intro, what it was like to help bring the Algonquin scene & Konrad’s writing to life for a new generation of readers, and the experience of growing up in a multigenerational household of compulsive artists & writers. We talk about why her grandfather’s immense literary stature<\/a> diminished, the nature of charisma and The Aura, the scandal of Chaplin stealing Konrad’s script for The Great Dictator<\/a>, how the Algonquin habitu\u00e9s were the influencers of their time (only with<\/em> something to say), how the Algonquin scene was like Vienna caf\u00e9 society transposed into New York & American capitalism, Mirana’s discoveries as she researched the figures in the book, and why there’ll never be another book like this one. We also discuss the New-York Historical Society’s acquisition of Konrad’s papers<\/a>, her New York and how it’s changed, her idea for transforming her family’s writing into a meta-stage production, and a lot<\/em> more. Give it a listen!<\/a> And go read The Algonquin Round Table: 25 Years with the Legends Who Lunch<\/a> !<\/p>\n

“I’m not a book writer. I’m a published poet, I write lyrics, I’m a singer-songwriter, I’m an advertising writer, I’m screenwriter; I’ve written everything but books. It’s like I left that for the family to do.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n