Saturday Show #95: The Pura Principle by Junot Diaz (+ The Philosophy and Rules of Art)
Summary: Is art completely subjective? Or are there objective rules which need to be observed in order for an artistic project to be successful? This podcast explores. Plus, why Junot Diaz is terrible, considering subjectivity and objectivity as the same thing, and the limits of scientific empirical inquiry. Plus wine and laughs galore!<br> 0:00 Excerpt from the Podcast<br> 0:29 Advert for <a href="http://amzn.to/1PfOzLf" target="_blank">Infinite Ending: Ten Stories by Frank Marcopolos</a><br> 1:05 Group discussion of the short story, “The Pura Principle” by <a href="http://amzn.to/1EO7M5j" target="_blank">Junot Diaz</a>, including keeping the professional stories anonymous for critiquing, 98% story-hating ratio, Frank Marcopolos’s Italian heritage, having free reign to criticize the story, professional writers, the mystery of the anonymity of the author and its implications, being engaged in the story, losing one’s eyeballs, plot summary, elevation of the narrator, literary allusions and references, Horsefaces of the Apocalypse, Dominican characters, doing research in a medium amount, Lemoncello, tolerant readers, generous readers, diversity of opinions, not reading the story (bad!), thinking the main character was a female, being an asshole reviewer, aesthetics of a sentence, The Philosophy of Art, bad details, having no literary merit, clarity and concision of narrative language, variety of characters, plot attractiveness, slice of life nature of the story, Raymond Carver, Richard Ford, biculturalism, realistic literary fiction technique, research versus experience pouring into the writing, not being able to escape the gravity of one’s environment including family and culture, Sam Harris, free will/determinism, taking science to its limit, maximizing Hispanic writing, lionizing themeless writing, pro-culturism, erasing the theme, pseudo-intellectual literary marketing, Rock Springs, the gold mine, the monkey, subjective extreme reactions, guessing game about who the writer is, MFAs, Tim O’Brien, studying Junot Diaz, The New Yorker, Is Frank Marcopolos a better writer than Junot Diaz, New Yorker standards of quality, Hair Jewelry, Stephen King, not trusting Cory, Laura Vandenberg, more plot summary, a writer uprising!, Chuck Pahlaniuk, a horrible passage from 50 Shades of Grey, Charles Bukowski, Joyce Carol Oates, E.L. James, Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, A Casual Vacancy, cultural snowballing, fame as a momentum, The Story of O, and Cory’s love of cults (Cults R Us.)<br> 50:30 Group discussion of the first two chapters of Frank Marcopolos’s new novel, including it being a “real” story, enjoying the story, one of the best things Frank has written, fine-tuning the characters, story being closer to the bone, losing the game, feeling the loss, the moral courage, ending with a mystery, the writing works, the chapters being better, honing of the craft, cleaner narrative, taking notes, revelation of plot, seeming trite, filler dialogue, the balance of art, Enzo being likeable, heavy-handedness, the unimportance of the dialogue, dialogue doing multiple things, character diversity, stories siding with the absurd, Rock Springs (again), Richard Ford (again), Sideways, car thieves, the monkey story (again), rich versus filler dialogue, feeling like Chapter 1, Name of the Rose, mako sharks, Chuck Pahlaniuk, out of place details, dryologue, slickness, Jaws, two different backstories, details doing work, shaking up a story is only as good as the shaking up, long debate about leaving in the detail about a mako shark. <br> 1:20:00 Group discussion of a member-submitted poem, including reading and interpretive dance, babies being thrown out the window, explanation of why a poem was submitted, poetry slams, reading the poem, coffeehouse applause, mawkish performance, acting, and performance pieces being considered art.<br> 1:27:00 Discussion of the Philosophy and Rules of Art,
