Do You Even Lit?

• The Dispossessed part 2: Why would capitalism make me do this?

  This week we wrap up our discussion of Ursula LeGuin's 1974 classic The Dispossessed. Simultaneity physics: just a mcguffin, or deeper thematic significance? How is it different to a block universe? Does this count as hard sci-fi? on the [redacted] scene: why would LeGuin include this? how are we supposed to feel about our hero Shevek? why would capitalism make me do this?? Final thoughts on the book: was Shevek's arc satisfying? who would we recommend it to? are we gonna read more LeGuin? Ted Chiang story coming soon. plus special guest episode! CHAPTERS (00:00:00) shevek’s arc or lack thereof (00:11:20) talking about THAT scene (00:16:40) Simultaneity theory unpacked (00:25:45) Final thoughts on the book WRITE US: We love listener feedback. Send us a note at [email protected] to correct our hot takes, add your own, or ask a question. NEXT ON THE READING LIST: Truth of Fact, Truth of Feeling - Ted Chiang Everything is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer One Hundred Days of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

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• Ursula Le Guin's The Dispossessed: Real anarchy has never been tried

  A brilliant physicist grows disenchanted with the stifling anarchist society of his home planet, defecting to a capitalist world in the hopes of finding true freedom...but what he finds only horrifies him. Cam says Ursula K. Le Guin's 1974 award-winning piece of sociological fiction is a leftist pamphlet. Benny and Rich call bs. who's right? let us examine the textual evidence. On incentives: Are social sanctions powerful enough to get everyone to work voluntarily? Can an economy function without price signals and division of labour? How does crime and justice work with no police or courts? Do we have any existence proofs of flourishing anarchist societies? On family life: Is having your children raised by other people as grotesque as it sounds? How about mere copulation without monogamy? Or living in communal dorms? The boys are much more sympathetic to the idea of ditching compulsory education, but wonder if unschooling etc is a luxury belief. And the million-dollar question: from behind the veil of ignorance, would we rather be born on Anarres or Urras? A fun wonky discussion of the central ideological clash. In part 2 we'll try to talk more about the characters and the story. Also: a humiliating question in the reader mailbag! bold of you to assume we actually read books outside of the podcast. CHAPTERS (00:00:00) an ambiguous anarchist utopia (00:09:33) communal parenting, unschooling, and luxury beliefs (00:19:10) soft coercion through social norms (00:33:18) the free-rider problem and central planning (00:42:52) capitalism as the root cause of all antisocial behaviour (00:48:02) crime rate is zero if you don't have any laws hehe (00:59:42) has real syndicalist anarchism ever been tried? (01:04:37) how good is le guin’s worldbuilding (01:15:21) reader mailbag: which new releases from living authors do we read immediately? WRITE US: We love listener feedback. Send us a note at [email protected] to correct our hot takes, add your own, or ask a question. NEXT ON THE READING LIST: Truth of Fact, Truth of Feeling - Ted Chiang Everything is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer One Hundred Days of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

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• DeLillo's White Noise: psy-opping ourselves on death and po-mo

  “All plots tend to move deathward. This is the nature of plots.” After a break, the boys jump into the 1980s po-mo White Noise by Don DeLillo. We talk about the denial of death, toxic airborne events, and Baudrillardian copies of copies of copies (of copies...) Simulacra: The boys shake off their reddit I Love Science teenage years and start to embrace all things post-modernism. Namely, Baudrilliard's idea of the Simulacra where some "signs" no longer point to any underlying reality. Denial of Death: A fairly straight-forward retelling of Ernest Becker's Denial of Death: We're all terrified of death, so we build our entire lives to avoid confronting it. Cam and Benny try denying Becker's denial thesis. CHAPTERS (00:00:00) Chitter chatter (00:03:13) Quick summary (00:09:16) The most photographed barn in America (00:13:51) Post-modernism (00:16:35) Baudrillard's Simulacra (00:24:26) How po-mo is DeLillo himself (00:32:18) Fake preferences & signalling (00:36:36) Airborne Toxic Event (00:55:17) Fear of Death (01:17:50) Ending and Jack's arc (01:31:26) Final thoughts WRITE US: We love listener feedback. Send us a note at [email protected] to correct our bad takes, add your own, or just say hi. NEXT ON THE READING LIST: Ursula Le Guin - The Dispossessed Ted Chiang - Truth of Fact, Truth of Feeling Jonathan Safran Foer - Everything is Illuminated

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  1:40:00
• The Odyssey, part 2: Failsons and deadbeat dads

  This week we finally shut up about translations and get into some juicy themes and character analysis. Telemachus: why is he such a dweeb compared to his dad? Rich argues that he's doing the best he can growing up with an absent father. The others are less sympathetic. Odysseus: is his paranoid murderous rampage justified? what are his singular heroic attributes? Is he portrayed more as admirable or a hubristic figure? Why won't his men obey him? On homecoming: Why was Odysseus away for so long? Was he kinda dragging his heels on the return voyage? How much strange was he getting? What motivated him to finally come home? The Ancient Greek marshmallow test: exploring the recurring themes of self-denial, time preference, binding mechanisms, and whether playing the long game could arguably be the central theme of the whole poem. CHAPTERS (00:00:00) Telemachus the failson (00:19:39) why the poem spends so much time on household politics (00:29:31) Bronze Age morality redux: what have we learned? (00:36:28) The Ancient Greek Marshmallow Test (00:45:12) Odysseus’ slow homecoming (00:57:04) Godhood and rat bastard cunning (01:13:07) Suitor slaughtering time (01:17:25) Final thoughts on Odysseus and bronze age heroism (01:32:48) Listener mailbag and next book announcement WRITE US: We love listener feedback. Send us a note at [email protected] to correct our bad takes, add your own, or just say hi. NEXT ON THE READING LIST: White Noise - Don DeLillo

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  1:37:51
• Emily Wilson's The Odyssey, part 1: Bronze age perversion

  WOKE classics professor DESTROYED by three random guys who've never read homer before!!! just kidding we love it. Wilson translation discourse: is she really importing her feminist beliefs into the text? has she stripped the grandeur out to take 'complicated' Odysseus down a peg? what are the connotations of sluts and slaves? is the fancy language of other translators really just stylistic anachronism? who would win in a fight between the yass queens and the greek statue avatars? Odysseus the hero: what's with all the false modesty? where is the line between seeking glory and outright hubris? did he do the Cyclops dirty or did the rude savage get what was coming to him? a comparison of the Greek heroic obsession with honour and social status vs Byronic heroes and modern superheroes. Bronze age morality: which ethical framework does it correspond to? is the hospitality stuff a useful cultural adaptation? same for the tit-for-tat honour culture? do the greek gods enforce morality, or they more like regular capricious people who happen to have super powers? what are the other big differences to judeo-christian morality? This episode is pretty light on actual plot and character stuff but I promise we will get into it much more next week: especially the ousting of the suitors, cunning Penelope, Telemachus arc, etc. CHAPTERS (00:00:00) intro and initial reactions (00:04:52) does Wilson strip the majesty out of the poem? (00:19:50) wading into the woke and anti-woke accusations (00:36:32) Civilisation vs barbarism: sympathy for the Cyclops (00:47:57) Walking the line between fame and hubris (00:54:00) Bronze age morality: you gotta give respect to get respect WRITE US: We love listener feedback. Send us a note at [email protected] to correct our bad takes, add your own, or just say hi. NEXT ON THE READING LIST: White Noise - Don DeLillo

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