{"id":18308,"date":"2026-08-24T19:29:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T23:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=18308"},"modified":"2026-08-24T20:11:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T00:11:13","slug":"episode-688-phillip-lopate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-688-phillip-lopate","title":{"rendered":"Episode 688 – Phillip Lopate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virtual Memories Show 688:
\nPhillip Lopate<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/virtualmemories\/Episode_688_-_Phillip_Lopate.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

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

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

“The whole history of American prose passed through Irving, then went somewhere else.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>Five-Timer Club Alert! Essayist Phillip Lopate<\/a> rejoins the show as we celebrate his wonderful new book, A WASHINGTON IRVING SKETCH BOOK<\/a> (Princeton)! We talk about the origins of the biography, incl. how he wound up with a 12-volume set of Washington Irving’s complete works, his choice to write the bio in the form of sketches, how Irving as America’s first professional writer is a precursor\/trailblazer for Phillip’s career, and how well Irving understood the fickleness of literary fame. We get into 19th Century American lit and its tensions with Europe, Irving’s fixation on Spain, why he wrote under pseudonyms even late in his career, and how Phillip’s affection for Irving deepened over the course of the book. We also discuss Phillip\u2019s complicated relationship with his brother, Leonard Lopate<\/a>, why personal essayists tend not to write autobiographies, and how Leonards\u2019s death has spurred him to write a memoir,\u00a0his passion for visiting writers’ homes (including Irving’s Sunnyside<\/a> and Montaigne’s tower<\/a>), his career-long goal of passing along the writing that’s worth keeping (whether through teaching, editing essay anthologies, or appearing multiple times on some guy’s podcast), our shared exhilaration over the Knicks’ championship (and how we can’t get excited about baseball this season), and a lot more. Give it a listen!<\/a> And go read A WASHINGTON IRVING SKETCH BOOK<\/a>!<\/p>\n

And\u00a0listen to our 2013<\/a>, 2017<\/a>, 2020<\/a>, 2023<\/a> conversations!<\/p>\n

“What I was trying to do in the essay anthologies I edited was to pass on the canon of what was worth keeping. I felt that was deeply part of my teaching, and that’s one of the reasons that I stopped teaching; I felt that I’d done it.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n