{"id":6625,"date":"2012-10-16T06:24:06","date_gmt":"2012-10-16T10:24:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=6625"},"modified":"2014-08-08T15:33:22","modified_gmt":"2014-08-08T19:33:22","slug":"podcast-the-correction-of-taste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/podcast-the-correction-of-taste","title":{"rendered":"Podcast: The Correction of Taste"},"content":{"rendered":"

The original version of this episode had terrible audio quality, so I went back and remastered it! Enjoy!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

(And\u00a0go listen to the followup episode we recorded in July 2014:\u00a0Bookman’s Holiday<\/a>!)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Season 2 episode 13 \u2013 Michael Dirda – The Correction of Taste<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/virtualmemories\/Season_2_Episode_13_-_The_Correction_of_Taste.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

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

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

“My personal crusade has been to urge people to read books they might otherwise not think of reading. . . . There are a lot better books that have been forgotten than are being published today.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Are you ready for a new<\/del>\u00a0beautifully remastered<\/strong> episode of The Virtual Memories Show<\/strong><\/em>?<\/p>\n

“Some very self-confident writers feel they are among the chosen, the ones that will last forever, but they’re like deluded Calvinists.'”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This time, Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic Michael Dirda<\/strong> talks about his lifetime of reading and career in writing, the essence of book reviewing and the role of negative reviews, breaking free of genre ghettoes and the pretense of literary immortality, how the internet has changed the reviewing ecosystem, and why Mao would have loved the collective wisdom of the internet.<\/p>\n

“I think of it all as ‘literary fiction,’ if it’s well written.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/virtualmemories\/Season_2_Episode_13_-_The_Correction_of_Taste.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

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

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

We also get in some literary kibitzing, touching on John Crowley, Neil Gaiman, Marilynne Robinson and a host of other writers and books.<\/p>\n

“One of the things I’ve lamented in the course of my lifetime is the changeover in the English curriculum in the universities. English majors will really only know the literature of their time. They will know the same 40 or 50 authors and books. Anyone off the obvious track of the times, they won’t know. They’ll know Gary Shteyngart, but they won’t know Mikhail Bulgakhov, or Gogol. It’s that narrowness, that feeling that anything not of the moment is irrelevant. That worries me.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Listen to the conversation:\u00a0Virtual Memories \u2013 season 2 episode 13 \u2013 The Correction of Taste<\/a> \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

(BONUS: Go listen to the followup episode we recorded in July 2014: Bookman’s Holiday<\/a>!)<\/em><\/p>\n

About Our Guest<\/strong><\/p>\n

Michael Dirda, a weekly book columnist for The Washington Post, received the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for criticism. He is the author of the memoir An Open Book<\/a>\"\" and of four collections of essays: Readings<\/a>\"\", Bound to Please<\/a>\"\", Book by Book<\/a>\"\", and Classics for Pleasure<\/a>\"\". His most recent book, On Conan Doyle<\/a>\"\", received a 2012 Edgar Award for best critical\/biographical work of the year.Mr. Dirda graduated with Highest Honors in English from Oberlin College and earned a Ph.D. in comparative literature (medieval studies and European romanticism) from Cornell University. He is a contributor to The New York Review of Books<\/a>, The Times Literary Supplement<\/a>, the online <\/a>Barnes & Noble Review<\/a>, and several other periodicals, as well as a frequent lecturer and an occasional college teacher. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

About Our Sponsor<\/strong><\/p>\n

This episode is sponsored by Out of Print Clothing<\/a>! Visit their site and check out their great selection of T-shirts, fleeces, bags and other gear featuring gorgeous and iconic book cover designs.<\/p>\n

The Virtual Memories Show<\/strong><\/em> is on iTunes! If you’d like to subscribe, visit our iTunes page<\/a>! If you’d like to check out past episodes, you can find us on iTunes<\/a> or visit the Podcast page<\/a> for all our back episodes, as well as e-mail signup and tip jar! And why don’t you friend the Virtual Memories Show at our Facebook page<\/a>? It’d make my mom happy.<\/p>\n

Credits: This episode\u2019s music is <\/em>Desert Prayer\u00a0by John Sheehan. I recorded the intro on a Blue Yeti mic into Audacity, and the conversation with was recorded in Mr. Dirda’s home in Silver Spring, MD on a pair of Blue Encore 100 mics, feeding into a Zoom H4N recorder. All editing was done in Garage Band, with some post-processing in Audacity. This is a remastered version of the October 2012 episode, with better sound quality. Photo by Amy Roth<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The original version of this episode had terrible audio quality, so I went back and remastered it! Enjoy! (And\u00a0go listen to the followup episode we recorded in July 2014:\u00a0Bookman’s Holiday!) Season 2 episode 13 \u2013 Michael Dirda – The Correction of Taste “My personal crusade has been to urge people to read books they might … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Podcast: The Correction of Taste”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26,4,1183],"tags":[1459,1463,741,1457,497,1462,1461,171,1460,1464,1455,1385,1465,1386,346,884,1456,1412,1466,1454,1467,881,1458],"class_list":["post-6625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comics","category-literature","category-podcasts","tag-agatha-christie","tag-china-mieville","tag-cormac-mccarthy","tag-ford-madox-ford","tag-frederick-exley","tag-harold-brodkey","tag-john-clute","tag-john-crowley","tag-john-dickson-carr","tag-john-hergesheimer","tag-judith-krantz","tag-lampedusa","tag-marilynne-robinson","tag-michael-chabon","tag-neil-gaiman","tag-p-g-wodehouse","tag-randall-jarrell","tag-robert-heinlein","tag-russell-hober","tag-science-fiction","tag-tom-wolfe","tag-william-gass","tag-william-willkie-collins"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-1IR","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8084,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/podcast-bookmans-holiday","url_meta":{"origin":6625,"position":0},"title":"Podcast: Bookman’s Holiday","author":"Gil","date":"August 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Virtual Memories: Michael Dirda\u00a0- Bookman's Holiday \"I see people walking their dogs and looking down at their phones. When you're out walking your dog, you should be thinking great thoughts, or reviewing your life's major blunders, or having some moments alone with yourself.\" It's a bookman's life for him! 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The rest of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Comic books & strips"","block_context":{"text":"Comic books & strips","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature\/comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"browsingscover","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/browsingscover-294x440.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11431,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-269-michael-kupperman","url_meta":{"origin":6625,"position":2},"title":"Episode 269 – Michael Kupperman","author":"Gil","date":"May 15, 2018","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 269: Michael Kupperman \"My old work was about the absence of meaning; it's just trying to be funny.\" Michael Kupperman rejoins the show to talk about his new book, All The Answers (Gallery 13)! We talk about his father Joel Kupperman's experience on the Quiz Kids radio\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_9560.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_9560.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_9560.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_9560.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_9560.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3935,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/0-fer-20th-century-edition","url_meta":{"origin":6625,"position":3},"title":"0-fer 20th century edition","author":"Gil","date":"June 10, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Because I'm not some commie pinko, I don't listen to NPR. 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