{"id":7814,"date":"2014-04-07T17:46:36","date_gmt":"2014-04-07T21:46:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=7814"},"modified":"2014-09-28T11:51:45","modified_gmt":"2014-09-28T15:51:45","slug":"podcast-reading-maketh-a-full-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/podcast-reading-maketh-a-full-man","title":{"rendered":"Podcast: Reading Maketh a Full Man"},"content":{"rendered":"

Note: DG Myers died on Sept. 26, 2014, about 6 months after we recorded this episode. You can read my contribution to his festscrhift here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"DG<\/a><\/p>\n

Virtual Memories \u2013 season 4 episode 13 – Reading Maketh a Full Man,
\nor, “Where is the Lesbian on This List?”<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/virtualmemories\/Season_4_Episode_13_-_Reading_Maketh_a_Full_Man.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

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

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

“I would take an evil delight in asking my colleagues what they were reading, and watching the look of panic on their faces. Because everyone reads scholarship now, and very few primary materials. Our academic specialties are an inch wide and a mile deep.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Literature professor and book critic DG Myers<\/a> is dying of cancer, but that doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s planning to go gentle into that good night. In a far-ranging conversation, we talk about why he believes university English departments will barely outlast him, how he\u00a0made the move from Southern Baptist to Orthodox Judaism (getting recircumcised a few times along the way), what he\u2019d like to be remembered for, why the idea of The Western Canon is a canard, which books and authors he’s trying to get to before he dies, who he regrets not reading before now, and the identity of the one author he\u2019d like to hear from. Give it a listen!<\/a><\/p>\n

“Every Shabbos I thank Hashem for my cancer, because it has focused me on what’s good and enabled me to ignore what’s not.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We also talk about his plans to dispose of his library, the joys of studying under Stanley Elkin, the relation of books to moral life, the things that cease to matter in the face of a terminal diagnosis, the failure of English departments in the age of Theory, the thorny question of whether creative writing can be taught, and\u00a0what writers and readers should do to save the humanities. Also, check out the list of books that came up in our conversation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/virtualmemories\/Season_4_Episode_13_-_Reading_Maketh_a_Full_Man.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

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

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

Enjoy the conversation!<\/a>\u00a0Then check out\u00a0the archives<\/a>\u00a0for more great episodes! Related conversations:<\/p>\n