You can order Johnson’s Novel Takes: Essays on Literature, available for order here
James O’Meara and Derek Hawthorne joined Greg Johnson to discuss his new book Novel Takes: Essays on Literature. It is now available to download or listen to online.
Topics include:
1:30 – Why did Greg decide to publish this book?
10:00 – How James inspired Greg to read A Confederacy of Dunces 13:43 – Greg’s essays on the Dune saga
27:44 – Can we get to Mars with liberal democracy?
32:52 – Frank Herbert was influenced by David Lynch’s film
42:30 – Essays on Lovecraft
1:10:54 – Listener question about speed reading
1:12:50 – Question on The Godfather 1:13:30 – Some more thoughts on Lovecraft’s relevance to the political right
1:21:40 – Derek’s thoughts on A Confederacy of Dunces 1:24:24 – Why A Confederacy of Dunces had trouble finding a publisher
1:42:11 – An amusing anecdote about cinema and actors’ weight
1:44:33 – James O’Meara’s idea of the Trad Queen
1:54:54 – Next episode’s Book Club
To listen in a player, click here or below. To download, right-click the link and click “save as.”
Counter-Currents Radio Podcast No. 624
Novel Takes
My brother has been hounding me for years to read Dune and I finally got around to reading it before Christmas. Six weeks later and I have finished God Emperor Of Dune, and I am taking a short break before I finish the rest of the series. I have been reading your reviews of the books after I have finished each one and I have to thank you for helping to fully grasp the meaning of The Golden Path. Your essays have been a valuable resource to me. But I have to ask you Greg, have you read the two books that his son and partner wrote that finish out the original series, Hunters Of Dune and Sandworms Of Dune and if so, do you recommend them?
I also read Confederacy Of Dunces and absolutely loved it. The comparison to Seinfeld/Larry David rings especially true because when I was approaching the end of the book I thought how much it reminded me of the structure of a season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. You have all of these seemingly random funny moments happening throughout and then they all collide in the last episode. In the right hands, it would make a perfect miniseries for tv. The book has been on my radar for some time but your review piqued my interest and I am thankful for your recommendation.
Thanks. I read the Dune 7 books by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson. They are based on Frank Herbert’s notes. But I didn’t find them that interesting. My feeling is that he would have pruned a lot of material if he’d had the chance to write the book himself.
Unrelated to the books here, I know, but would you ever do a podcast on The Ordeal of Civility by John Cuddihy? I don’t see much mention of it on the website. I’ve heard it described as even better than The Culture of Critique.
Sci-fi was never my thing but I’ve recommended here several times that if anyone is interested in addictive historical fiction circa 1700 in the American colonies, a Bond meets Sherlock Holmes, the Matthew Corbett series by Birmingham’s Robert McCammon is something special.
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10 comments
Very funny. 🙂
My brother has been hounding me for years to read Dune and I finally got around to reading it before Christmas. Six weeks later and I have finished God Emperor Of Dune, and I am taking a short break before I finish the rest of the series. I have been reading your reviews of the books after I have finished each one and I have to thank you for helping to fully grasp the meaning of The Golden Path. Your essays have been a valuable resource to me. But I have to ask you Greg, have you read the two books that his son and partner wrote that finish out the original series, Hunters Of Dune and Sandworms Of Dune and if so, do you recommend them?
I also read Confederacy Of Dunces and absolutely loved it. The comparison to Seinfeld/Larry David rings especially true because when I was approaching the end of the book I thought how much it reminded me of the structure of a season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. You have all of these seemingly random funny moments happening throughout and then they all collide in the last episode. In the right hands, it would make a perfect miniseries for tv. The book has been on my radar for some time but your review piqued my interest and I am thankful for your recommendation.
Thanks. I read the Dune 7 books by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson. They are based on Frank Herbert’s notes. But I didn’t find them that interesting. My feeling is that he would have pruned a lot of material if he’d had the chance to write the book himself.
Unrelated to the books here, I know, but would you ever do a podcast on The Ordeal of Civility by John Cuddihy? I don’t see much mention of it on the website. I’ve heard it described as even better than The Culture of Critique.
That is actually a very good idea. I read it more than 20 years ago. It’d be worth another look.
Glad I could provide a good idea. Cheers. I enjoy your stuff immensely.
Enjoyed the podcast. It gets rivotting around 54′.
Happy Chinese New Year of the 🐍.
Sci-fi was never my thing but I’ve recommended here several times that if anyone is interested in addictive historical fiction circa 1700 in the American colonies, a Bond meets Sherlock Holmes, the Matthew Corbett series by Birmingham’s Robert McCammon is something special.
Since Lovecraft books were mentioned on the podcast; a movie titled H.P. Lovecraft’s the Shadow Over Innsmouth was released in UK Dec 2024.
I want to watch it and see if director stays within the PC guardrails.
“Ziological clock” made me burst out laughing
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