Few literary terms are more hotly debated, discounted, or derided than the "Great American Novel." But while critics routinely dismiss the phrase as at best hype and as at worst exclusionary, the belief that a national literature commensurate with both the scope and the contradictions of being American persists. In this podcast Scott Yarbrough and Kirk Curnutt examine totemic works such as Herman Melville's Moby-Dick and Toni Morrison's Beloved that have been labeled GANs, exploring their th ...
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READING MCCARTHY is a podcast devoted to the consideration and discussion of the works of one of our greatest American writers, Cormac McCarthy. Each episode will call upon different well-known Cormackian readers and scholars to help us explore different works and various essential aspects of McCarthy’s writing. (Note these episodes try to offer accessible literary criticism and may contain spoilers from different McCarthy works.)
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Taking on perspective taking, Making peace with opinion pieces. Long-form chats with guests on big leaps and long journeys mixed with thoughts on film & tv, gaming & tech, improv, comedy, music, and the shared experience we have on this rock hurtling through space.
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An Academic Odyssey is your guide to understanding and demystifying the path to a doctorate in the humanities. Join first-generation student, Olivia Ojeda, on her journey through the intricate process of applying for a PhD in the humanities, as she and her mentor, Chuck Robinson, interview scholars from various disciplines to uncover the challenges and opportunities and explore the nuances of advanced graduate study. Gain valuable insights, critiques, and inspiring stories as Olivia navigate ...
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Episode 55: Writer Ron Rash on McCarthy's Work and Influence
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Episode 55 is a discussion with award winning novelist, short story writer, poet, and big-time McCarthy fan, Ron Rash. Ron attended Gardner Webb University in Boiling Rock NC and then earned his master’s in English at Clemson University. He is a writing and English faculty member at Western Carolina in Cullowhee, NC, where he serves as the John and…
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Episode 30: Sailing on the SHIP OF FOOLS
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A couple of weeks ago—after this episode was recorded, but before it was edited and posted—the famous author Stephen King posted online his top ten novels of all time—and among them was Katherine Anne Porter’s Ship of Fools. This 1962 book was the first novel by Porter, a great American writer who had mostly worked in the short story genre and as a…
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Episode 54: Following McCarthy's Tracks with Austin Smith
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This episode of READING MCCARTHY welcomes to the podcast for the first time Austin Smith. Austin studied history and literature at the University of Georgia. He has worked as a photographer and a professional adventure photographer, following the art into aviation, mountaineering, and motorcycle racing. He now leads a human resources consulting bus…
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Episode 29: Rallying Around the Flag in Stephen Crane's THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE
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The Red Badge of Courage (1895) is a singularly unique war novel: whereas most depictions of the horrors of combat and the trauma of the battlefield are naturalistic, attempting to inflict upon the reader the violence the prose describes and terrifying us with the prospect that humans do not rise to heroic occasions, Stephen Crane's novel is impres…
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Episode 53: Rambling Down THE ROAD with Bryan Vescio
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This 53rd episode of READING MCCARTHY takes a long ramble down THE ROAD, McCarthy’s 2006 Pulitzer Prize winning novel of a father and son enduring life in a harrowing, ashen landscape after some undisclosed apocalypse. For this discussion I’m glad to welcome back guest Dr. Bryan Vescio. Professor and Chair of English at High Point University in Nor…
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Episode 52 is a round table considering the impact of Ernest Hemingway’s writing on the works of Cormac McCarthy. Joining us for this discussion are Dr. Olivia Carr Edenfield, Professor of English at Georgia Southern University. She is a founding member of the Society for the Study of the American Short Story and Director of the American Literature…
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9 Wishes for Apple Vision Pro at WWDC 2024
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While the hype may be pointed towards Apple's take on A.I., Gary breaks down his hopes for updates to Vision OS and the Apple Vision Pro ecosystem. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/framerate/message
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Uncovered a time capsule from 2020 - Becky and Gary reflect after a few months (still early days) of the pandemic, feeling grateful to be outside after staying in for months. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/framerate/message
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Episode 28: Falling off the Cliff with The Catcher in the Rye
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The Great American Novel Podcast episode 28 considers JD Salinger’s landmark 1951 classic, The Catcher in the Rye. Your hosts discuss Salinger’s famous reclusiveness, the book’s continuing appeal, and its influence on both the genre of so-called “young adult literature” and post-breakdown lit. We examine the novel in its role of the creation of the…
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Episode 51: Teaching McCarthy Round Table
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Although the fact often goes unacknowledged, it is a truth that sometimes an author’s residence within and endurance in the canon is a result of how that author is perceived and taught in the academy. Most literary scholars are also professors and teachers. For this episode of Reading McCarthy I round up some of the usual suspects for a panel discu…
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Episode 27: Filtering the Static in Don DeLillo's WHITE NOISE
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Often hailed as the quintessential exemplum of Reagan-era postmodernism, Don DeLillo's eighth novel, White Noise (1985), is part academic satire, part media excoriation, and part exploration of the "simulacrum" or simulated feel of everyday life. With its absurdist asides on the iconicity of both Elvis and Hitler, the unrelenting stress of consumer…
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Episode 50: Barreling through No Country for Old Men with Rick Wallach
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The guest for our 50th episode is the OG himself, the redoubtable RICK WALLACH, who joins us for a rousing discussion of No Country for Old Men. Somehow both Batman and Godzilla are referenced as we consider both the novel and the Coen Bros. film. Rick Wallach has recently retired from teaching English at the University of Miami. He is a founder of…
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Episode 26: Seekers of the Lonely Heart: Carson McCullers' The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
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The 26th episode of the Great American Novel Podcast delves into Carson McCullers’ 1940 debut novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. Published when the author was only 23, the novel tells the tale of a variety of misfits who don’t seem to belong in their small milltown in depression-era, 1930s Georgia. Tackling race, disability, sexuality, classism, s…
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Frame Rate - Legacyquels With My Father: Rocky pt. 3
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Part 3 concludes with Gary and his Father Jim capping off the Rocky franchise, reflecting on the relaunch with Creed 1, 2, and 3 and the saga as a whole. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/framerate/message
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Episode 49: a Filibuster Panel on the BORDER TRILOGY
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In this episode we head across the border one more time for a consideration of the Border Trilogy as a whole. How does knowing how the story begins and ends change how we read any of the different parts? My guests on this filibuster over the border include Dr. Nell Sullivan, a Kentuckian who earned her BA in English from Vanderbilt University and e…
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Episode 25: Surmising the Motives in Henry James's THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY
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Published in 1881, The Portrait of a Lady was Henry James's seventh novel and marked his transition away from the novel of manners that only three years earlier had made his novella Daisy Miller a succès de scandale toward the more meticulous, inward study of individual perception, or what would come to be known as psychological realism. The story …
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Episode 48: Tearing Down the Walls of THE STONEMASON with Nick Monk
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The guest for this episode is Dr. Nick Monk, who joins me for a consideration of perhaps McCarthy’s most idiosyncratic work. The 90s were an exciting time for McCarthy fans. In 92 he published the award winning All the Pretty Horses, followed two years later by the next installment in the Border Trilogy, The Crossing. Before he would go on to close…
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Episode 47: McCarthy and Disability with Brent Cline
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Episode 47 of READING MCCARTHY considers the author’s references to and uses of disability in its many forms. My guest DR BRENT CLINE. He has published articles and chapters involving disability on Walker Percy, James Agee, and Daniel Keyes. His review of The Passenger/Stella Maris was published with The University Bookman. He teaches a seminar on …
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Episode 24: Speeding Down the Highway with PLAY IT AS IT LAYS by Joan Didion
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Great American Novel Podcast 24 considers Joan Didion’s 1970 novel Play It as It Lays, which shut the door on the 60s and sped down the freeway into the 70s, eyes on the rearview mirror all the while. In a wide-ranging discussion which touches not only upon Didion and her screenwriter husband but also John Wayne, Ernest Hemingway, the Manson cult, …
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Will Duffy - Academia is not the Same Thing as Higher Education
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We round out our first season with University of Memphis's Will Duffy. Professor Duffy helps us differentiate between "Academia" and "Higher Education." Importantly, he advocates for "hitting the ground running" and "doing the work" as a powerful way of setting aside the sometimes stress-inducing, sometimes impenetrable professional languages and c…
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Michael Trujillo: Interdisciplinary studies, choosing a PhD program, and having high standards when looking at offers
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On this episode we welcome Professor Michael Trujillo, Ph.D. It is through his expertise in Interdisciplinary Studies that we get insightful advice on how to choose, and signal, a specific study in Ph.D. applications.By Olivia Ojeda and Chuck Robinson
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Scott Yarbrough: Mentorship, Academic Publishing, and the Academic Lifestyle
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In our conversation with veteran professor and administrator Scott Yarbrough, we spend plenty of time on the "have and have not situation" of academia. Other topics we cover include the sources of mentorship and the demands of academic publishing.By Olivia Ojeda and Chuck Robinson
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Frame Rate - Legacyquels With My Father: Rocky pt. 2
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Part 2 of this special episode pulls no punches. Gary and his Father Jim get into the personal and political backgrounds of Rocky 4, and the meaning of legacy in Rocky 5 and Rocky Balboa. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/framerate/message
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Episode 23: Hearing Voices in William Faulkner's AS I LAY DYING
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William Faulkner's fifth published novel, As I Lay Dying (1930), is a self-described tour de force that the author cranked out in roughly two months while working as the night manager at the University of Mississippi power plant in his hometown of Oxford. This dark tragicomedy about a family on a quest to bury its matriarch helped win the author hi…
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Rachel Griffis: The Academic Conference, School Ethos, and the Benefits of Collaboration
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On this episode we welcome Rachel Griffis, Ph.D. We cover important topics of academia such as the academic conference, school ethos, and how collaboration benefits emerging scholars.By Olivia Ojeda and Chuck Robinson
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Episode 46: Crossing the CITIES OF THE PLAIN with Bryan Vescio
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In this episode we ride to the end of the road in the last episode of the Border Trilogy, CITIES ON THE PLAIN. My guest for this foray is Dr. Bryan Vescio, Professor and Chair of English at High Point University in North Carolina. A guest on former episodes on faith and Suttree, Dr. Vescio is the author of the 2014 book Reconstruction in Literary S…
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Frame Rate - Legacyquels With My Father: Rocky pt. 1
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Put on your gloves and get ready to rumble. In the inaugural episode of this new series, distinguished Father and guest Jim Yarbrough joins the show for a nostalgic look back at the Rocky and Creed sagas. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/framerate/message
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Martin Tracey: How Undergrad Matters and the Changing Landscape of Graduate Studies
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Benedictine University's Dr. Martin Tracey gives subtle and ultimately optimistic insight into the pressures and pleasures of graduate study in the humanities. Our discussion covers topics such as the importance of one's BA program and experiences, mentoring relationships, and the affordances of today's increasing digital and online university syst…
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CedarBough Saeji: Accessing Academia as a Nontraditional Student
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On this episode we interview CedarBough Saeji: With her help we gain insight into the nontraditional student’s experience with funding, tenure track positions, research and more.By Olivia Ojeda and Chuck Robinson
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Nathan Ellstrand: Research Assistantships, Postdocs, and Growing Up in Academia
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On this episode we welcome our first guest: Nathan Ellstrand. We cover important topics of academia such as the postdoc and research assistantships.By Olivia Ojeda and Chuck Robinson
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Episode 45: Tribute to McCarthy Part 3
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This is our final of 3 tribute episodes in the wake of Cormac McCarthy's passing this past June. Guests on this final tribute episode include: Dr. Steven Frye, professor and chair of English at California State University in Bakersfield. Steve has just stepped down as President of the Cormac McCarthy Society. He is the author of Understanding Corma…
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The hosts, Olivia Ojeda and Chuck Robinson, introduce themselves and discuss their various reasons for creating the podcast. Punk rock is surprisingly central in their candid conversation.By Olivia Ojeda and Chuck Robinson
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Episode 44: Tribute to Cormac, part the second.
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In the wake of Cormac McCarthy's passing on June 13, 2023, a number of excellent tributes and discussion pieces were published. In this second of three tribute episode, we've asked for permission for the authors to read some of those tributes to McCarthy here on the podcast and we have also solicited a couple of others. The guests this episode incl…
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Episode 22: Rambling Along the REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
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In Great American Novel Podcast Episode 22, we wrestle with the old Thoreau quote "The majority of men lead lives of quiet desperation" as we delve into the soul-sapping mid-century suburbs in Richard Yates' 1961 novel Revolutionary Road. Join the hosts for a conversation that considers other suburban chroniclers such as Updike and Cheever and othe…
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Episode 43: Tribute to McCarthy, Part the First
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On June 13, 2023, we lost a literary giant. Cormac McCarthy, the greatest writer of our time (in this podcast's completely unbiased opinion) passed away in Santa Fe, New Mexico, his home these past couple of decades. E-mails and queries started pouring in, mostly asking, "are you going to do a special tribute podcast? And the answer to that, is yes…
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Episode 42: Fly them, Cormac. 16 Responses to "What is your favorite McCarthy novel, and why?"
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Like the rest of the world I learned this past Tuesday, June 13th, that Cormac McCarthy had passed away at the age of 89. This episode had already been recorded, but I thought it would still serve as an initial and quick response to the need to offer a tribute: it's a compilation of the responses to the question What's your favorite McCarthy novel,…
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Defining Dignity through Service in Ernest J. Gaines' A LESSON BEFORE DYING
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Only thirty years old this year, Ernest J. Gaines' A Lesson Before Dying (1993) is a powerful testament to social justice and to the search for individual dignity in an oppressive legal system. Set in the late 1940s in a small Louisiana community, the book tells the story of two men, one a convicted murderer on death's row (Jefferson) and the other…
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Episode 41: Over the Border Again with the Bros. Elmore: Part 2 on THE CROSSING
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Episode 41 is our second excursion over the border as the Brothers Elmore and I finish our conversation about THE CROSSING. Returning as the guests are twin scholars Jonathan and Rick Elmore. That's right, twins. Jonathan Elmore is Associate Professor of English at Savannah State University and the Managing Editor of Watchung Review.. He is the edi…
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Episode 40: A rough ride into THE CROSSING with Jonathan and Rick Elmore PART I
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Episode 40 is a long ride through rough country as we dig into The CROSSING, McCarthy's masterful middle volume in the Border Trilogy. My guests today are twin scholars Jonathan and Rick Elmore. That's right, twins. Jonathan Elmore is Associate Professor of English at Savannah State University and the Managing Editor of Watchung Review.. He is the …
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Episode 39: Riding into the Evening Reddit in the West with Joe Parslow
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Cormac still types his novels on an Olivetti typewriter and your host can't figure out Facebook. So for Episode 39 we bring in some expert help in the form of a lively discussion with Redditor supreme Joe Parslow. He has moderated the Cormac McCarthy subreddit for over a decade and has seen it grow from its first post in April 2012 to its current p…
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Episode 20: Cracking Through the Scrub with THE YEARLING
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In Great American Novel Podcast Episode 20, your fearless (or is it feckless) hosts find themselves in the damp swamps and thick scrublands of north central Florida in the post-Reconstruction era as we struggle to survive with the settlers of the brush country in Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' Pulitzer Prize winning 1938 novel, The Yearling. We discuss …
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Episode 38: Covering the UK Book Beat: George Berridge of the Times Literary Supplement
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Today's guest is George Berridge. George began academic life as a journalist but like Hank Williams saw the light and also began digging deeply into American Literature. He's now the American Literature editor of the Times Literary Supplement. He lives and works in London. His exceptional review of THE PASSENGER and STELLA MARIS was published in Oc…
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Episode 19: Riding the Rocket with Thomas Pynchon's GRAVITY'S RAINBOW
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Season three kicks off with a fiftieth anniversary celebration of Thomas Pynchon's postmodernist whirl-a-gig Gravity's Rainbow. Originally published on February 28, 1973, this encyclopedic inquiry into the systematicity of existence, power, and technology was just this week described by Esquire as "one of the weirdest, richest, most frustrating, in…
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Episode 37: Another Roundup of All the Pretty Horses, with Steven Frye and Stacey Peebles
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Frequent guests Steven Frye and Stacey Peebles join me for another roundup of All the Pretty Horses, the National Book Award winning novel which finally forced the literary world to sit up and take notice of McCarthy. We climb on and hold tight for this ride through this incredible novel. Stacey Peebles is Chair of the English program, Director of …
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Ride the Proverbial Pony, its a Valentine's Day special! This weekend Magic Mike blessed the big screen once again to cap off the stripper saga. Gary butters up his popcorn and gets deep on dance. Thanks for listening to Frame Rate! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/framerate/message…
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Episode 36: McCarthy's Knoxville with Wes Morgan
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Like Cormac McCarthy, Wes Morgan was born in the North—Albany, New York rather than Rhode Island—but came south at the age of 4. Wes grew up in Atlanta and earned BS degrees in Physics and Applied Psychology at Georgia Tech. In 1962 Wes moved to Knoxville and began working on his doctorate in psychology. He went on to work as a staff psychologist a…
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Episode 18: We Want to Fly Away with Chopin's THE AWAKENING
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In Great American Novel Podcast Episode 18, our final Season 2 episode, we plunge ourselves into New Orleans of the fin de siècle in Kate Chopin's 1899 novel The Awakening. Edna Pontellier wrestles with a life she never chose, beset by a bore of a husband, a flimsy excuse for a lover, and a patriarchal society which has tried to restrain her choice…
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Welcome back! Again! This is a very special episode to celebrate the relaunch of Frame Rate on my one-year anniversary of taking a big leap into the unknown. This is a list of lessons I've taken through that journey this year. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/framerate/message…
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Episode 35: Crossing the border on ALL THE PRETTY HORSES with Allen Josephs
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Episode 35 takes a first ride across the border with the novel that would elevate McCarthy's profile and career. All the Pretty Horses won McCarthy the National Book Award following its publication in 1992 and was McCarthy's first best-selling novel. Our guest for this episode is Dr. Allen Josephs. A Hemingway scholar as well as a Cormackian, Allen…
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Ep 17: Pursuing the Picaro in Saul Bellow's THE ADVENTURES OF AUGIE MARCH
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Saul Bellow's 1953 breakthrough novel The Adventures of Augie March is perhaps, of all the great American novels we've discussed, the one whose cultural imprint has faded the most. Even among Bellow fans this freewheeling exploration of American identity tends to take a backseat to subsequent classics such as Herzog (1964) and Humboldt’s Gift (1975…
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