{"id":17773,"date":"2025-10-14T16:30:52","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T20:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=17773"},"modified":"2025-10-14T18:38:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T22:38:12","slug":"episode-658-lance-richardson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-658-lance-richardson","title":{"rendered":"Episode 658 – Lance Richardson"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virtual Memories Show 658:
\nLance Richardson<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/secure\/virtualmemories\/Episode_658_-_Lance_Richardson.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

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

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

“‘Who was Peter Matthiessen?’ is one of those fractals; the closer you look, the more complicated the question becomes.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>Writer Lance Richardson<\/a> rejoins the show to celebrate his magnificent new biography, TRUE NATURE: The Pilgrimage of Peter Matthiessen<\/a> (Pantheon). We talk about his youthful introduction to Peter Matthiessen via The Snow Leopard<\/a>, how this project grew beyond his (& his publisher’s) original concept, the health risks of following PM’s trek through Nepal to the Crystal Monastery and the fleetingness of his time there, and which of PM’s many hyphens he focuses on (novelist-naturalist-Zen roshi). We get into Matthiessen’s journey into American Zen, the problematic nature of race and gender in PM’s life and work, PM’s fixation on Bigfoot and how that shifted to the notional, the Paris Review<\/em>\/CIA connection that everyone asks about, and how Matthiessen’s widow came to trust Lance with the project. We also discuss his fave of Matthiessen’s novels<\/a>, the financial challenges of long-term writing projects (this one took eight years<\/em>), getting over self-doubt and learning from his previous biography of Tommy Nutter<\/a>, enjoying the research-hunt of biography more than the writing, what his literary upbringing in Australia was like, whether he came to like or despite Matthiessen, and more! Plus, I monologue-ramble about my 20,000th day on earth and the pod-retirement of Marc Maron<\/a>! Give it a listen!<\/a> And go read TRUE NATURE<\/a>!<\/p>\n

“If you go with the expectation of enlightenment, then it’s not going to happen. You can’t force it.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n