The Sears Christmas Wish Book was (truly) great American literature

December 19, 2017 • 00:51:13
The Sears Christmas Wish Book was (truly) great American literature
Deviate with Rolf Potts
The Sears Christmas Wish Book was (truly) great American literature

Dec 19 2017 | 00:51:13

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Hosted By

Rolf Potts

Show Notes

"The Sears Christmas Wish Book was, for me, a kind of foundational text — a secular counterpoint to the Bible stories I learned around that time in Sunday School. I paged through the holiday catalog’s 620 glossy pages as if they amounted to an intoxicating graphic novel of desire, rich with abundance and possibility." - Rolf Potts, from "Literature of Desire" In this episode Rolf reads an audio version of his Christmas-themed essay "Literature of Desire," and discusses the wonders of the Sears Christmas Wish Book with novelist Tod Goldberg (@todgoldberg). Tod is the New York Times bestselling author of over a dozen books, including the novel Gangsterland, which is currently being developed into a television series. He is also the director of the University of California-Riverside Palm Desert Low-Residency MFA, and the co-host of the Literary Disco podcast. Introduction (00:35 - 11:20) Literature of Desire essay (11:20 - 32:20) Sears Wish Book memories (32:20 - 50:10) This episode was sponsored by the Paris Writing Workshop, an intensive one-month course in the artistic heart of Europe. The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel's 2017 album Lumber.
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