The great railway bizarre: A Trans-Siberian story (plus audio endnotes)

“If there is any revelation to be gleaned from spending several days on a single train, it will come from the bizarre details that lurk beneath the mundanity of the trip itself.” – Rolf Potts In this episode of Deviate, Rolf reads his essay On the Trans-Siberian Express (2:00) and then recounts, with Jonathan Arlan, the story behind the story, discussing his approach to writing about his experiences on the Trans-Siberian railroad (1:17:00). Jonathan Arlan (@JonathanArlan) is the author of the book Mountain Lines: A Journey through the French Alps and a recent Tablet essay titled Off the Rails in Birobidzhan. Notable Links:

Marco Polo Didn’t Go There, by Rolf Potts (book)
Genghis Khan (historical figure)
David Foster Wallace (author)
In Xanadu, by William Dalrymple (book)
Naadam (festival)
Ulan-Ude (Russian city)
Elderhostel, i.e., Road Scholar (non-profit organization)
Hunter S. Thompson (journalist and author)
Douglas Coupland (author and artist)
Fyodor Dostoevsky (author)
William S. Burroughs (writer)

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel's 2017 album Lu mber. Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we're happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at [email protected].

Show Notes

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