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Literary critic Brooke Allen drops by to talk about her new essay collection, Good Bones: Glorious Relics from the Age of Reading. She and Chris also discuss Brooke’s idiosyncratic career path (including her time writing for Divorce Court), the emergence of a post-literate culture, and the future of criticism.
Show notes:
- Brooke’s new collection, Good Bones
- Brooke’s New Yorker essay on Bennington's Prison Education Initiative
- Brooke’s essays for The New Criterion
- Adam Kirsch on the decline of book reviews
- David Brent (Ricky Gervais) analyzes the poetry of Sir John Betjeman
Time stamps:
1:58 – Good bones: Updike, Betjeman, Nash, and Hunt
26:02 – The art of the literary biography
32:20 – Brooke’s career
40:23 – “Post-literacy” & the future of criticism
Opening and closing music: Brendan Benson, “Spit It Out,” used with permission from the artist.
Produced by Sean Doolan
Christopher J. Scalia