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The Scramble Got Stuck In a Wormhole

Iryna Yeroshko
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Creative Commons

Let's play a game. I'm going to name five things and you tell me what they are - "An Unnecessary Woman," "All the Light We Cannot See," "Redeployment," "Station Eleven," "Lila." They are the five fiction finalists for this year's National Book Award which will be given out this week.  Don't feel bad if you didn't get the answer - I wouldn't have either. My  connection to the nominees begins and ends with having picked up one of the five books from a table at - of all places - Whole Foods. It was, "All the Light We Cannot See," and I remember thinking it looked like something I might enjoy reading if I weren't so busy, which sums up my relationship with literary fiction in general these days. 

Lisa Lucas is the publisher of the literary online magazine Guernica, and this week's Scramble Superguest. Lisa knows the works of many of these great writers - Guernica published interviews from two of the short-listed. Are we, as a culture, losing touch with good literature? We'll explore that question today, talk about some of the nominated works, and contemplate the future of digital publishing. 

Speaking of culture, Director Christopher Nolan's science fiction blockbuster, Interstellar, is in movie theaters. This heavily-hyped, long-awaited science fiction blockbuster casts Matthew McConaughey as an explorer who travels beyond this galaxy to discover whether we have a shot at surviving beyond our dying planet. Spectacular visuals, mind-bending physics, and a love story keep you on the edge of your seat. But, not everyone loved it, including Yale physicist Douglas Stone.

Last, Emily Gould has a problem with writers, especially privileged white guys, who don't believe that truth is  the "fundamental  part of the deal" they make with their readers. Not only do they hurt their own reputation and that of those who "unwittingly" support them when they lie and plagiarize, they damage the credibility of those writers who honor the trust of their readers. Yet, for all the damage they do, they rarely pay a price. Instead, a well-timed apology, a promise to repent, and a dose of charisma erase the sins of their past. We'll talk about that. 

GUESTS:

SONGS:

Colin McEnroe is a radio host, newspaper columnist, magazine writer, author, playwright, lecturer, moderator, college instructor and occasional singer. Colin can be reached at colin@ctpublic.org.
Chion Wolf is the host of Audacious with Chion Wolf on Connecticut Public.
Betsy started as an intern at WNPR in 2011 after earning a Master's Degree in American and Museum Studies from Trinity College. She served as the Senior Producer for 'The Colin McEnroe Show' for several years before stepping down in 2021 and returning to her previous career as a registered nurse. She still produces shows with Colin and the team when her schedule allows.

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