{"id":14217,"date":"2021-01-26T08:20:16","date_gmt":"2021-01-26T13:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=14217"},"modified":"2021-01-26T10:13:14","modified_gmt":"2021-01-26T15:13:14","slug":"episode-418-sven-birkerts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-418-sven-birkerts","title":{"rendered":"Episode 418 – Sven Birkerts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virtual Memories Show 418:
\nSven Birkerts<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/virtualmemories\/Episode_418_-_Sven_Birkerts.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

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

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

“Rather than try to think of a book to write about, why don’t I try to think about where I am in the world, in my life, and my preoccupations, and see if an author announces him- or herself?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>Is it unhip to search for a meaningful pattern in life? Sven Birkerts<\/a> rejoins the show to talk about his new book, Vladimir Nabokov’s Speak, Memory: Bookmarked<\/a> (IG Publishing), which explores time, memory, and those aforementioned meaningful patterns. We get into Sven’s history with Nabokov’s memoir<\/a>, his own impulse toward memoir as he approached 50, and the challenge of writing about someone whose prose is as incandescent as Nabokov’s. We talk about larger questions of literary greatness, the nature of individuality in an age of distributed social networks, whether Nabokov’s best-known book<\/a> will survive, and what other books and authors have become “unsafe” for undergrad readers. We also gab about packing one’s library, finding the perfect notebook, and what the post-pandemic world may look like. Give it a listen!<\/a> And go read Vladimir Nabokov\u2019s Speak, Memory: Bookmarked<\/a>!<\/p>\n

“Rather than try to think of a book to write about, why don’t I try to think about where I am in the world, in my life, and my preoccupations, and see if an author announces him- or herself?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n