Michael Hartford

Some more podcasts that have piqued my interest recently:

Lorrie Moore on Donald Barthelme

From the New York Review of Books, one of my favorite living short story writers talks about one of my favorite dead short story writers. The discussion begins with a reflection on the near-simultaneous passing of Raymond Carver (August 2, 1988) and Donald Barthelme (July 23, 1989), who together bookended the modern American short story. It’s hard to imagine two less similar writers–one a grim naturalist, the other a playfully anarchic surrealist–but their influence can be seen still in the American short story, not least in Moore’s own work. A new biography of Barthelme, Hiding Man by Tracy Daugherty, is available from St. Martin’s Press.

Campaign in Verse: Calvin Trillin on MPR Midmorning

Kerri Miller interviews Calvin Trillin, The Nation’s “deadline poet” and New Yorker essayist, about his new book of doggerel, Deciding the Next Decider: The 2008 Presidential Race in Rhyme. Trillin is, as ever, witty and charming. If you’re already a member of your local public radio station, go ahead and skip the pledge plea in the middle; if you’re not, then let the guilt sink in and help support this kind of radio.

In Our Time: The Waste Land and Modernity

“In Our Time” probably isn’t to everyone’s taste: a bunch of tweedy academics chat with host Melvyn Bragg about the obscure minutiae of literature, history, physics, and philosophy. I like the way Bragg prods his professors along, getting them to stay on topic and hit the key points he’s decided they need to discuss, and the way the professors balk along their naturally elliptical courses. This discussion of T.S. Elliot’s The Waste Land is a good example of the genre. I was especially intrigued to discover that the footnotes in “The Waste Land” (might this have been the first poem written with a scholarly apparatus provided by the poet himself?) were an afterthought, added to pad out the first edition from Boni and Liveright.

Miette’s Bedtime Story Podcast: Various Miracles

Still on Canadian Fiction Month, Miette offers Carol Shields’ “Various Miracles,” a series of coincidences that starts off subtly enough and then grows increasingly strange, unlikely, and elliptical. This is a delightful introduction to Shields, best known in the U.S. for The Stone Diaries but equally a master of the short story; see her Collected Stories for ample proof.

Downtime: The Sacred Art of Stopping

Barbara Brown Taylor, author of An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith and Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith, talks about the importance and difficulty of hearing our own thoughts in an increasingly loud, busy, and connected world. If this speech doesn’t inspire you to turn off the phone, computer, television, and iPod, and spend a few minutes looking at the grass or the stars or into your own head and heart, then it’s probably too late anyway.

Boise Philharmonic: Courage and Hope

The Boise (Idaho) Philharmonic has begun releasing full concert recordings as podcasts. They’re all enjoyable, but I was especially struck by the third concert, “Courage and Hope,” which pairs Gustav Mahler’s 5th symphony with Shulamit Ran’s “Vessels of Hope and Courage.” The pairing works well: Mahler’s long symphony starts with a dark and roiling chaos that finally opens up into a triumphal exultation; and Ran’s work, inspired by the 1947 “Exodus” voyage of European Jewish refugees to Palestine, is characterized by a defiant hopefulness tinged with darkness. This is an interesting experiment that I hope other regional orchestras pursue; the podcasts fulfill the mission of bringing music to the public, while also serving as advertising for the organization. If you enjoy this sort of podcast, consider making a domation to the Boise Philharmonic, and encourage your own local orchestra to pursue a similar campaign.