Marcopocast: The Frank Marcopolos Podcast, with Frank Marcopolos

Fans of Zadie Smith, Dave Eggers, David Foster Wallace, Jennifer Egan, and J.D. Salinger would enjoy this podcast. This podcast is a live recording of the Austin Writing Workshop held on August 15, 2014. In it, the group explores the issue of themes in literary fiction, using two different stories. One of the stories is by a famous, published writer (Zadie Smith) and the other is by a member of the workshop. One of the stories makes the theme more obvious, and the other buries theme in subtlety. Which works best and why? To make a philosophical theme relevant and worthy of discussion, must it be subtle to the point of mysteriousness? For these questions and more, please lay your ears on #68! (Click play on the Flash-required audio player above.) More details about the topics covered are listed below with approximate timestamps. Enjoy! 0:00 Excerpt from “Big Week” by Zadie Smith 1:39 Frank’s introduction to the podcast 2:41 Group analysis of “Big Week” by Zadie Smith, including comparison to Tao Lin, biography of Zadie Smith, the shady CIA-funded history of The Paris Review magazine, Team Freedom, George Plimpton, Peter Matthiessen, CIA spies, decaff coffee being served to the group, the theme of architecture, plot summary, how neighborhoods shape your destiny and life, reversal of cliches, the main character as a pathetic loose-talker, the failure of institutional structures in society, shifting of perspectives, simply liking the story, writer emphasis, Tom Cruise jumping on a couch and that level of enthusiasm, breaking of group rules regarding reading stories at least twice, caring about story events and characters, the subtlety of Richard Ford and Raymond Carver, “Spring in Fialta” by Vladimir Nabakov as the best story of all time, inability to follow plot, details reflecting on theme, absurdity of character, the absurdity of character behavior, story readability, the problems involved with the author head-hopping so much in 3rd-person narratives, mythological storytelling, comparison to an AWW member’s story, confusing narrative techniques, overdoing thematic elements, socioeconomic focus of the story and the ability of the writer to accurately capture different social classes and neighborhoods (authenticity), difficulty of creating intimacy, comparison to “Where I’m Calling From” by Raymond Carver, parallel between houses falling down and the life of the main character falling down, embellishment of accomplishments, overlooking problems in the beginning of stories, comparison to “For Esme–with Love and Squalor” by J.D. Salinger, buying into a story immediately. 39:50 Group analysis of an AWW member story, including the member’s publishing credentials, comparison to the Zadie Smith story, trying to connect the thematic dots, narrative flow, cleverness of the story, reader subjectivity and how that impacts the reading of the story, astrophysics, star-gazing, 1st person-narrative cheating, emotional and intimate content of the story, lack of action as a narrative technique, “slice of life” stories, simplicity of the narrative style, intense debate over the story’s ending, the dialectic of the story and the lack thereof, theme as mystery, theme transcending technique or trickery, subtlety of theme, “Spring in Fialta,” William Shakespeare, philosophical themes versus didactic themes, references used in lieu of theme, tricks and puzzles, exploring relevant philosophical ideas, Carver and Ford and Ernest Hemingway with regard to dry realism, the function of art, story length, reality of the town of Arco. 1:09:00 Group analysis of the movie “Limitless.” 1:13:47 End of Podcast *** Read “Big Week” by Zadie Smith in The Paris Review

A Matter of Emphasis…. The writer of literary fiction chooses which story elements to emphasize in her story very, very deliberately. Do you notice these story elements? Probably not the first time through the story. The first time through, the reading brain is trying to get oriented in the world, get to know its characters, and figure out what’s going on — all the while judging if all of the elements (why am I using “elements” so much?) above are interesting enough to stay engaged with this fictional world. This being the state of things, exactly WHAT should the writer choose to emphasize in her stories to keep the reader engaged and fulfilled–especially upon a second or third reading? The Austin Writing Workshop discusses all of this and more on Saturday Show Podcast #67. More elaborate details, including rough timestamps are included below: 0:00 Excerpt from a story by an Austin Writing Workshop member 1:23 Frank’s introduction to the podcast 2:40 Group discussion about a writer’s choice of emphasis, including choice of literary techniques, what the writer was going for, the emphasis of typical literary stories, postmodernism, fantasy and vampires, dialogue, David Mamet, Lars Von Trier films, everyone dying, art for art’s sake. 8:06 Group discussion about an essay/op-ed by Thomas Pynchon (http://www.nytimes.com/books/97/05/18/reviews/pynchon-sloth.html), including thesis, development, flow, resonance, cleverness, purpose of essays vs. stories, Pynchon’s work overall and common elements, muddled theme, The Crying of Lot 49, intense research, the effectiveness of expecting readers to become detectives, neuroticism, an AWW member’s puzzles in stories, Greek Gods, Pynchon’s attempt to show off and its attractiveness or repulsiveness, obscurity of puzzle references, Umberto Ecco, The Name of the Rose, self-referentiality, A&P intertextuality, Pynchon’s references to history and evidence, Pynchonian themes of what it means to be American and American history, missing the point of the essay, literary themes in general, emphasis on humor to the exclusion of other techniques, Pynchon’s reclusivity, The Simpsons, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford, the hardships of fame, the asociability of writers, Chuck Palahniuk, J.D. Salinger, and “A Perfect Day for Bananafish.” 25:56 Group discussion about an Austin Writing Workshop member’s story, including the date of the story, first-draft issues, strength of the story, connecting the elements of the story, theme of the fact that love doesn’t work, stand-out lines, resonance with The Crying of Lot 49, rewarding of a second reading of the stories, repetition of symbolic elements, character empathy and how plot reflects on character empathy, emphasis on time symbolism, living in the now vs. fleeing from the now and living in the distractions of modern life, “time” words, elements in stark relief, Raymond Carver, Richard Ford, “Rock Springs,” story details, lack of intimacy with the main character, vulnerability, creating intimacy through plot, showing change in the main character, superficial ways of creating empathy with characters, ability of plot elements to draw the reader in, societal-level meanings of stories, John Steinbeck, Charlotte Perkins-Gilman, subconscious or intuitive writing, discursiveness, mawkishness, the theme of Optimism, Richard Ford-like characters, the opposite of the Tao Lin story, stories becoming something out of the control of the writer and facilitaing multiple interpretations. 53:51 Group discussion about the movie “Melancholia,” including the decadence of the first 15 minutes and the question of whether it is earned or not, cliched art, Marie Antoinette, Kirsten Dunst, cinematography, review of the acting in the film, use of foreshadowing,

Fans of Tao Lin, Dave Eggers, David Foster Wallace, Haruki Murakami, Ayn Rand, Immanuel Kant, and Friedrich Nietzsche would enjoy this podcast. It is a live recording of the meetup of the Austin Writing Workshop held on August 1, 2014 in weird and sunny Austin, Texas. Included is an excerpt from the short story, “Sex After Not Seeing Each Other For a Few Days” by Tao Lin. As a new member of the AWW recently stated: “This is a refreshingly warm and intelligent group of people with whom to geek the f* out on literature. Hoo-ray, I say!” Hoo-ray, indeed. Timestamps for the podcast, with details about the far-ranging discussion: 0:00 Excerpt from “Sex After Not Seeing Each Other for a Few Days” by Tao Lin 0:53 Frank’s introduction to the podcast 3:26 Austin Writing Workshop general discussion of literary techniques, including character empathy and/or sympathy, junk writing, character morals, voice, liking characters, clinical definitions of empathy and sympathy, vicarious experiences, porn, Anais Nin as a cross-over, Tao Lin, the subjective interpretation of literary techniques, Tao Lin’s literary success, the momentum of success, judgment of art including inertia and authority (“Ways (Methods) of Knowing” by C.S. Peirce, a.k.a. “The Fixation of Belief”), rational inquiry, Ayn Rand and objective principles, Jenny McCarthy and the vaccination debate in American society, philosophy and literature, Milan Kundera, Immanuel Kant, Freidrich Nietzsche, master and slave mentality as outlined by Nietzsche, subjectivism as a school defined by Kant, science feeding into philosophy, Newtonian physics and modernism, writing by objective rules as opposed to subjective opinions, a priori rules, Ayn Rand’s categorization of types of people and how they function, Frank’s presence at the meeting with 4 women as the uber-mensch [comedic], absurd characters and their storytelling purpose, the core (through-line coherency) of a story and its relation to theme, Story Bibles, hierarchical levels of thematic storytelling, plotless stories as a part of postmodernism, the movies “Inception” and “The Matrix” and how they use postmodern storytelling techniques, Jose Saramaggio, Dean Koontz, James Patterson. 37:18 AWW group analysis of “Sex After Not Seeing Each Other for a Few Days” by Tao Lin, including migraines caused by literature, pointless porn, symbolism, the absence of traditional romantic language in the story, unique descriptions, story likeability, the profane and the divine, lack of personal connection between two remote people, comparison to abstract art, non-sexiness of a sex story (as opposed to the colorful style of Henry Miller), Erica Jong, The Guardian’s description of the duality of Tao Lin as a literary artist, upside-down lawnmowers with poop coming out of them, lack of literary technique, erotica, porn without the porn, Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ,” the impotence of trying to deconstruct this story, Jacques Derrida, the story being a passionate argument against metaphysics, the story as an argument for the power of the present moment, solipsism, bare-bones descriptions as a technique, draining the color out of life, the movie “Side Effects,” Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum, the absence of the soul, the societal meaning of the story, the descriptive sentences as a contrast to the otherwise plain language, Paul Auster, the marketing of Tao Lin, Tao Lin as the Andy Kaufman of the literary world, Milos Foreman and “The Man On The Moon,” Larry Flynt and free speech, Bob Dylan as a fake protestor, Rimbaud, and Balzac. 1:07:10 AWW group analysis of “Plea Deal” by Frank Marcopolos, including investment in the story and empathy for the main character, epistemological themes of knowing who we are with regard to epigen...

Fans of John Steinbeck, Woody Allen, David Foster Wallace, Dave Eggers, Jonathan Franzen, J.D. Salinger, and Ayn Rand would enjoy this podcast. It is a live recording of the Austin Writing Workshop held on June 25, 2014 in balmy Austin, Texas. Included are excerpts from the short stories “The Chrysanthemums” by Steinbeck and “The Stranger” by J.D. Salinger. As a new member recently stated: “This is a refreshingly warm and intelligent group of people with whom to geek the f* out on literature. Hoo-ray, I say!” 0:00 Excerpt from “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck 1:10 Frank’s introduction to the podcast 2:05 Group analysis of an Austin Writing Workshop member’s story, including copyright infringement issues, Randall Jarrell, mixing genres, author goals, fiction versus non-fiction, David Foster Wallace, “The Greatest Generation,” length of details, the firebombing of Dresden in World War II, author generosity, poetry, smoking to avoid the draft, bringing the funny, copper shot jiggers, hiding the most important details of a story, the lasting effects of war, didactic storytelling tactics, explanation of technical details, reader orientation (grounding), achieving goals, Tim O’Brien, Texas State University, beating a dead horse academically, meta-fiction vs. anti-fiction, lack of literary technique, Raymond Carver, tricking soldiers with psychological manipulation, molding (editing), Ernest Hemingway, disappearing narrators, F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Great Gatsby,” Nick Carraway, literary reportage, lack of intimacy, and clarity of narrative details. 36:33 Group analysis of “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck, including old-school realism, imagistic and symbolic details, aesthetics, Vladimir Nabokov, modernism and realism, experimentation, James Joyce, message vs. theme, feminism as a theme/message, oppression of women (patriarchy), novels as a graduate dissertation, bucolic characters and setting, start of the postmodern era, stories as a vehicle for social change, Charlotte Perkins-Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” subtlety and the fine line between revealing as much as you need without being heavy handed, symbolic intent, capturing a setting properly and authentically, exchanging of value, Deus ex Machina, postmodernism, Christianity, Ayn Rand, lipstick or stiletto feminism, Raymond Carver’s “I Could See the Smallest Things,” visceral reactions, masculinity, Henry David Thoreau, Jacques Derrida, the child-like quality of the story, hookers, dialectics, “American Beauty,” themes of discontent and darkness, lost hope stories, garotting of dogs, subtlety of details, subconscious writing, terrier fingers, impotence, predictable endings, finding ways of surprising people in modern times when it’s almost impossible to surprise readers, Weird Al Yankovitz, Franz Kafka, and parallels in the story to Steinbeck’s writing career. 1:10:19 Group analysis of “Manhattan” by Woody Allen (starring Diane Keaton, Mariel Hemingway, Michael Murphy, and Meryl Streep), including stunning visuals, God complexes, message vs. theme, wide-angle shots, New York City architecture, not interacting with any of the people in Manhattan or New York, neuroticism, lack of cell phones, answering services, statutory rape, state laws about age of consent, New Yorkers living on top of one another, Gershwin, love stories on several levels, plot summary, separation of Woody Allen’s real life antics from the plot of the movie, character likeability, “Annie Hall,” “The Matrix,” “Sideways,” amorality, Donald Sterling and the Los Angeles Clippers/racism, Soon Yi Previn, Mia Farrow, reading critiques off the Internet during the meeting, cue cards, TelePrompTers, failing as a stage actor, despicable artists,

Fans of David Foster Wallace, Dave Eggers, Jonathan Franzen, Kingsley Amis, Haruki Murakami, Alice Munro, Woody Allen, and J.D. Salinger would enjoy this podcast. It is a live recording of the Austin Writing Workshop, held in North Austin on Friday, July 18, 2014. The group discusses postmodern literature and philosophy with details listed in the timestamps below. 0:00 Excerpt from “All That” by self-proclaimed “library weenie” David Foster Wallace 1:13 Frank’s introduction to the podcast 2:05 Group analysis of “All That” by David Foster Wallace, including postmodern themes of reality vs. unreality, the use of symbolic detail, parenthetical asides, the imperfection of language, Lacan, Plato, breaking the fourth wall, likeability of narrator voice, Matthew 4:7, capturing the essence of childhood, stealing from J.D. Salinger’s “Seymour: An Introduction,” happiness conspiracies, intertextuality, unfinished endings, the contract with the reader (first paragraphs), triteness in a story, David Foster Wallace’s famousness as it relates to his ability to publish, The New Yorker magazine, writers as characters in a story as a postmodern technique, the beauty of simple sentences, Vladimir Nabokov’s style, Nelson Mandela, writing as a form of jazz (improvizational), The Fault in Our Stars, and the decadence of postmodernism. 38:50 Group analysis of an AWW group member’s story, including parallels to David Foster Wallace’s story (above), the theme of cascading love, developing symbols that represent theme, starting in the “right” place, the movie “Pinky,” ecstasy, transitions, Johnny Carson, and sentence dramatization. 54:12 Group analysis of “Annie Hall” by Woody Allen, including Coney Island icons, the possibility of the movie being one of the best romantic comedies of all time, comparison to “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” the excellent performance of Diane Keaton, postmodern techniques in the movie, breaking the fourth wall, Diane Keaton’s wardrobe, art imitating life and life imitating art, time capsules, Ronald Reagan, effect the movie had on women’s fashion, Marshall McLuhan, The Denial of Death, “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger, the alternate self or dopelganger, L.A. vs. N.Y., conspiracies, subtitled thoughts, talking straight to camera, heroine and methadone, public school teachers, the teamsters, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, New York as a character, and the final scene of the film. 1:14:08 End of Podcast

Fans of Kingsley Amis, Dave Eggers, Margaret Atwood, and Haruki Murakami will enjoy this podcast. It is a live recording of a meeting of the Austin Writing Workshop held on July 9, 2014. Excerpts from “Happy Endings” by Margaret Atwood and “Opposite Days” by Frank Marcopolos are also included. The main topics of discussion are the literary and philosophical merits of the two stories just mentioned, plus the movie “Intersection” with Richard Gere, Sharon Stone, and Lolita Davidovich. Timestamps with more precise topics of conversation are provided below: 0:00 Excerpt from “Opposite Days” by Frank Marcopolos 1:38 Frank’s Introduction to the Podcast 2:16 Excerpt from “Happy Endings” by Margaret Atwood 3:16 Group analysis of “Happy Endings” by Margaret Atwood, including understanding theme, essay versus short story as a way to transmit a message, the Socratic method of determining truth, Atwood’s target market for the story, Atwood’s intended message, “Hair Jewelry,” flat and dull characters, genre writing, the market of genre writing versus literary fiction, the syllabus for classes taught by David Foster Wallace, Stephen King’s new story in “Esquire Magazine,” comparison to “The Babysitter” by Robert Coover, disjointed narrative styles, and making the reader work hard to understand what is happening in a story. 28:35 Group analysis of “Opposite Days” by Frank Marcopolos, including authenticity of the female voice in the story, minimalism, maximalism (and the contrast of both and the effect of such contrast), philtrums(!!!), the theme of mating rituals (and societal norms) and the consequences of reversing them, comedy in the story, abruptness of the ending and its effect, leaving a story open for discussion, #FAIL, sports celebrities, power struggles among men and women, “Franny and Zooey” by J.D. Salinger, testing of potential mates, reusing the same characters from previous stories (intertextuality), character construction and continuity with dialogue and narration, chiarroscurro, postmodern allowances in storytelling, clarity of setting, “LeBronning” as a joke in a story and the ability of the reader to follow such a specific detail, the “Walmart for your literary needs,” William Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha County stories, character motivations, and different levels of successful themes. 1:08:03 Group analysis of the movie “Intersection,” starring Richard Gere, Lolita Davidovich, and Sharon Stone, written by David Rayfiel and Marshall Brickman, and directed by Mark Rydell. Discussion includes building characters, casting, formulaic plot, evolution over time of a writer’s ability to construct successful elements of plot and other characteristics, character sympathy, and developing a question rather than an answer.

This is a live recording of the Austin Writing Workshop, recorded on June 27, 2014 in North Austin, Texas. The AWW is a fiction-writing workshop focusing primarily on postmodern literary fiction and philosophy. Podcast Timestamps: 0:00 Excerpt from “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” by Hunter S. Thompson 2:51 Frank’s introduction to the podcast 3:31 Excerpt from “Ceil” by Harold Brodkey 4:57 Analysis of “Ceil” by Harold Brodkey begins 5:10 Frank’s Analysis of “Ceil,” including discussion of postmodern literary techniques and purpose, and Brodkey’s history/legacy 9:48 Cory’s Analysis of “Ceil,” including personal resonance with the story, storytelling voice, Brodkey’s history/legacy, his relationship with John Updike, and storytelling techniques – especially postmodern techniques 16:13 Stephen Crane and “Red Badge of Courage” 16:34 Jim’s Analysis of “Ceil,” including in-depth exploration of postmodern storytelling techniques and the fundamental philosophical concept in postmodernism and how that fundamental informs all art within postmodernism, a priori knowledge vs. everything else, Ayn Rand, modernism (“We can conquer truth”), Plato’s philosophy, Kant, Hinduism and Maya, the Scientific Method, “The Matrix,” Baudrillard, the real vs. the unreal, Lacan, Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris,” meta-structure, and Charlie Kaufman. 32:30 Frank’s analysis of Cory’s story, including a comparison to “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” by Hunter S. Thompson, characters with small penises, thoughts on literary memoirs, use of obstacles as a narrative technique, and proportion and balance in the narrative 37:52 Kevin’s analysis of Cory’s story, including the importance of setting, the use of obstacles as a narrative technique, use of character goals, and naming the narrator 43:53 Theresa’s analysis of Cory’s story, including the appreciation of the style of the piece, vivid details, and the “oral” technique 45:36 Jim’s analysis of Cory’s story, including lack of storytelling technique, editing, pacing, comparison to Henry Miller, risks of novel techniques, discursiveness, specific discussion about the story’s first paragraph, importance of plotting, genre, James Frey, Lacan on the subconscious, David Lynch’s “Mulholland Drive,” Naomi Watts, Laura Dern, thinking horizontally, and theme exploring things through dialogue rather than monologue 1:04:35 Group discussion about the movie “Side Effects” by Steven Soderberg, starring Rooney Mara, Jude Law, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Channing Tatum, and other actor-type people. 1:19:17 End of podcast

Live recording of the Austin Writing Workshop held on June 6, 2014. Topics debated include “Fireworks” by Richard Ford, Raymond Carver stories, postmodern literary fiction, impotent narrators, “The Sportswriter,” the Fourth of July as a paradoxical holiday, the BBC series “Sherlock,” and a draft of a Frank Marcopolos short story tentatively entitled “Storytime.” We apologize for the air conditioning in the background. And the dogs. * Here are the exact (kinda) timestamps for this episode: 0:00 Frank’s Introduction 1:48 Beginning Analysis of Richard Ford’s “Fireworks” 3:50 Female #1 – Analysis of “Fireworks” – Well Crafted 5:00 Female #2 – Analysis – Confusing and Fizzled 9:40 Comparison to “The Sportswriter” 10:30 Discussion of Thematic Structure – Modern – Postmodern Story 11:03 Comparison to “Rock Springs” 13:40 Frank’s Opinion of the Story and How It Changed 15:00 Story Length 15:35 Michael’s Comments – Compares to “Rock Springs” & “The Sportswriter” 16:55 Effect the Story Had At the Time It Was Released 17:33 Discussion of Literary Value And Technique Versus Entertainment 21:35 Comparison of “Fireworks” with the tension in “Rock Springs” 23:47 Discuss of Resonance & Existentialism 32:13 Frank Marcopolos’s story, “Storytime” – First Analysis- “Social Object” concept discussed 35:33 Shift – Same Person? 30:30 Second Analysis of “Storytime” – Michael 40:32 Element Descriptors 41:55 Wikipedia – Too Much Space Used? 42:15 Lists Use Other Lists in Frank’s Previous Work 43:40 Give Specifics for Creditability of Character 44:23 Other Heavy Hitters – Vague 46:10 Post-Modern Misspelling Names Effective? 47:30 Difficult Plot 49:42 Use of All Caps instead of Italics 54:45 Storyline In Reverse (What, Where, and When) 51:12 Jim’s Analysis 52:14 Vernacularizing, Capitalizing 53:10 Pacing (read “Balance”) Seems Off 53:50 Risky Nature of Using Too Many Postmodern Techniques in 1 Story 56:36 Strongest Parts of “Storytime,” Its Potential, and the Challenges of How to Make it Better 57:38 Discussion About BBC’s “Sherlock” & Why It Was Picked for Discussion 1:00:16 Detail of Writing 9 Episodes – Linear Design 1:01:24 Blogs & Websites 1:01:44 Origination Of Stories 1:03:00 Casting 1:04:41 Ending of Episode Six and the Worldwide Hysteria it Caused 1:06:45 Believable Explanation In Seven, Eight, & Nine

Live recording of the Austin Writing Workshop on May 30, 2014. Topics: the erotica-ish short story “Little Birds” by Anais Nin, the movie, “The Name of the Rose” starring Sean Connery and Christian Slater, and, as always, postmodern literary fiction and philosophy. I apologize for the volume of the air conditioning. And the dogs. Enjoy!

Live recording of the Austin Writing Workshop held on 5/23/14. The workshop analyzes "For Esme--With Love and Squalor" by J.D. Salinger, the movie "The Fourth Kind," and postmodern literary fiction. Purchase NINE STORIES by J.D. Salinger here Purchase THE FOURTH KIND here

Live recording of The Austin Writing Workshop at “The Compound” in Austin, Texas on May 16, 2014. Topics discussed include: Raymond Carver’s “So Much Water So Close to Home,” the Jodie Foster/Matthew McConaughey movie “Contact,” a member-submitted story, and postmodern literature in general, including its practical and theoretical antecedents both in literature and philosophy. Cookies and coffee are also consumed during this podcast. Buy the Collected Short Stories of Raymond Carver here Buy CONTACT here Buy The Dawn of the Day by Friedrich Nietzsche here

Buy “The Necklace” and other short stories by Guy de Maupassant HERE.

A performance of the short story, “The Use of Force” by William Carlos Williams.

A performance of “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The Yellow Wallpaper

Analyzing the novella “Seize the Day” by Saul Bellow and the philosophical nature of post-modern literary fiction. Seize the Day by Saul Bellow Almost Home by Frank Marcopolos Real Writers’ Workshop Meetup On the Genealogy of Morals by Friedrich Nietzsche