Reading in the Time of Monsters

<p>We’re back! I took a little break. My friend Quentin — poet, musician, bartender, general man of letters and experience — comes on to talk about scifi legend Robert A. Heinlein. We get down to cases with the Heinlein Hero as a type, the hero of an individuality so profound that his creator eventually pushes him into some deeply unsettling sexual scenarios - not (just) to satisfy horniness, but to efface the stain of reproduction on his solipsism. We had a great time with this one, and we both agree: for all his flaws, at least Heinlein was complex and seldom boring. </p><p>You can find some of Quentin’s work published by 1080 Press, findable at the instagram handle (at sign)1080press, and you can see his band Harmonium in the Woodstock, New York area. </p><p>If you like this podcast, consider subscribing, for free! to Melendy Avenue Review to hear and read more, or pay $5 dollars a month to access an outstanding Discord community. </p><p></p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://peterberard.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_1">peterberard.substack.com</a>

<p>On this RITTOM we discuss the great and vile Louis-Ferdinand Celine! We here at RITTOM reject the cop-outs criticism deploys to avoid uncomfortable dealing with great artists who have done monstrous things. Celine was one of the greaters writers of his time and still highly readable today- Celine was a scabrous anti-semite, fascist, and self-serving liar. My friend and historian of France <a target="_blank" href="https://www.upb.pitt.edu/drewflanagan">Drew Flanagan</a> and I discuss the life and legacy of Celine in part through the lens of one of his most important American interlocutors, Milton Hindus, a man in a position many of us might find familiar when it comes to admire troubling artists. </p><p>If you get this in your inbox instead of through a podcatcher, you get to see a cute picture of my cat! Consider subscribing to my podcast and newsletter at <a target="_blank" href="https://peterberard.substack.com">https://peterberard.substack.com</a>. </p><p></p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://peterberard.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_1">peterberard.substack.com</a>

<p>EDIT- I sent out a minorly glitchy version of this. But this one should be good. </p><p>On this episode, I talk about what antifascism might add to critical perspective. People commonly treat the antifascist attitude to criticism as, basically, a limiting factor, that you’re not supposed to like or enjoy works by artists you might otherwise be in the streets protesting against. Maybe I’ll get more into the specifics in a later episode, but as far as actual practicing antifascist organizers such as myself go, this is not the case. Rather, it’s the application of ideas to practice and the lessons drawn from practice to ideas. Left-leaning intellectuals ignore this at their peril, as we’ve seen in the embarassing spectacle of the hosts of Dissent’s “Know Your Enemy” podcast failing to know when a 23-year-old forum fascist, Nate Hochman, was taking them for a ride, and completely failing to own up to it when the extent of how badly they were duped was revealed after Hochman was fired from the DeSantis campaign for posting memes. The ways in which left intellectuals fail to engage with antifascism might be harmful for the left… but it’s damn sure harmful for my ability to take these people seriously. What do they care? They still get paid.</p><p>Think about subscribing to Melendy Avenue Review to get all the RITTOM podcasts, my book reviews, pictures of my beautiful cat, and other fun contributions. https://peterberard.substack.com .</p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://peterberard.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_1">peterberard.substack.com</a>

<p>On this episode of RITTOM, we talk with Russian historian Kevin Murphy about his Deutscher Prize-winning book, “Revolution and Counterrevolution: Class Struggle in a Moscow Metal Factory.” Since the Russian Revolution and its descent into Stalinist tyranny, there’s been a great deal of debate of how and why things went the way it did. Much of the discussion focuses on major individual political actors and on ideologies. Kevin chose to delve into the world of the Hammer and Sickle metal factory in Moscow, its labor disputes, political debates amongst workers, and conditions on the shop floor. The result is a fascinating work of history that sheds light on the fate of the revolution in Russia. Kevin was good enough to join me in discussing his work, and I think you’ll all enjoy it. </p><p>Please consider subscribing to Melendy Avenue Review on substack, where alongside my podcasts, you’ll also get written criticism, life updates, and fun cat pictures. For a bit of money, you can join our thriving discord community! <a target="_blank" href="https://peterberard.substack.com">https://peterberard.substack.com</a></p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://peterberard.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_1">peterberard.substack.com</a>

<p>This is a big one! One my literary heroes, John Dolan aka Gary Brecher aka The War Nerd comes onto RITTOM to discuss Rick Emerson’s “Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World’s Most Notorious Diaries” and the broader topic of literary forgery and fraud. You may have read some of Beatrice Sparks’ fabulisms in middle school, maybe even got assigned such dubious classics as “Go Ask Alice” without having been told it wasn’t a real druggie diary, but the fabrication of a supremely frustrated middle class Mormon housewife. John and I get into the broader history of literary forgery, why people produce and believe them, and some dirty truths about the reader-author-publisher relationship. “Unmask Alice” is a great book and this was a fantastic discussion, if I do say so myself.</p><p>I mentioned Strange Aeons, a youtuber who does internet history, including work on literary fabulism, which as you can imagine gets pretty wild in internet fandom communities. She’s a really great historian and critic, check out her YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/@STRANGEONS . You might figure this isn’t my thing- but thoughtful, rigorous history of culture that isn’t my thing IS my thing, indeed. Plus she’s funny! A good place to start, if you’re into literary fraud, is her story on tumblr fandom gadabout “hivliving”.</p><p>If you’re listening to this, there’s a good chance you already know of this, but John Dolan is one half of Radio War Nerd, a podcast covering the “world of wars” and occasionally other topics like literature as well, from the unique and uncompromising perspective Dolan and Mark Ames bring to things. You can find it at: https://www.patreon.com/radiowarnerd/posts</p><p><p>Melendy Avenue Review is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://peterberard.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_1">peterberard.substack.com</a>