Phi Fic means Philosophical Fiction. Each episode, we have a candid dicussion on a heady work of of fiction, full of SPOILERS. Join host Nathan Hanks and readers Cezary Baraniecki, Daniel St. Pierre, Laura Davis, and Mary Claire, plus the occasional guest.
Only then did he discover that Amaranta Úrsula was not his sister but his aunt, and that Sir Francis Drake had attacked Riohacha only so that they could seek each other through the most intricate labyrinths of blood until they would engender the mythological animal that was to bring the line to an end. Macondo was already a fearful whirlwind of dust and rubble being spun about Continue Reading …
Phi Fic #29 (Part 1 of 2) One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
...time was not passing...it was turning in a circle... -One Hundred Years of Solitude In this episode we discuss the classic Latin American novel by Gabriel Garcia Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude. which has been described by the scholar Robery Keily in the New York Times, as a “book [of] history, not of governments or of formal institutions of the sort which keeps Continue Reading …
Phi Fic #28 A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
I see what is right and approve, but I do what is wrong. -A Clockwork Orange In this episode we are discussing “A Clockwork Orange” by Anthony Burgess. As many of us know from the infamous 1962 book and the 1971 Stanley Kubrick film based on it, the story takes place in a dystopian futuristic Britain. It tracks the dark, torturous, amoral acts performed by our hero--or Continue Reading …
Phi Fic #27 Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust
The places that we have known belong now only to the little world of space on which we map them for our own convenience. None of them was ever more than a thin slice, held between the contiguous impressions that composed our life at that time; remembrance of a particular form is but regret for a particular moment; and houses, roads, avenues are as fugitive, alas, as the Continue Reading …
Phi Fic #26 The Machine Stops by E. M. Forster
'Cannot you see, cannot all you lecturers see, that it is we that are dying, and that down here the only thing that really lives is the Machine? We created the Machine, to do our will, but we cannot make it do our will now. It has robbed us of the sense of space and of the sense of touch, it has blurred wevery human relation and narrowed down love to a carnal act, it has Continue Reading …
Phi Fic #23 “To The Lighthouse” by Virginia Woolf
It was a house full of unrelated passions. –To The Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf In the incredible novel To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf takes us to Hebrides on the Isle of Skye off the coast of Scotland, where the Ramsey family retreats during the summer. The novel is not driven by plot but rather through the consciousnesses of many of the characters. Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey Continue Reading …
Phi Fic #21 “Foe” by J.M. Coetzee
The true story of Friday will not be heard till by art we have found a means of giving voice to Friday. We discuss J.M. Coetzee's novel Foe, which presents an origin story of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. Coetzee writes about Susan Barton, a woman castaway at sea who discovers an island inhabited by two men, Robinson Crusoe and Friday. Once rescued, Crusoe dies and Barton Continue Reading …
Phi Fic #18 “The Trouble with Being Born” by E.M. Cioran
It is not worth the bother of killing yourself, since you always kill yourself too late. –The Trouble with Being Born (1973) In this volume of aphorisms, Emil Cioran (1911–1995) strips the human condition down to its nub to defend his proposition that the true disaster in life is not death, but birth. Cioran was considered a brilliant mind, heralded by many as belonging to Continue Reading …
Phi Fic #17 “Invisible Cities” by Italo Calvino
The inferno of the living is not something that will be; if there is one, it is what is already here, the inferno where we live every day, that we form by being together. There are two ways to escape suffering it. The first is easy for many: accept the inferno and become such a part of it that you can no longer see it. The second is risky and demands constant vigilance and Continue Reading …
Phi Fic #14 “The Last Question” by Isaac Asimov
From Ponce de León to Woody Allen (and likely every self-reflective person who has lived), entropy has been at the root of human anxiety. Is there a way to hold off or reverse the inevitable? A testament to this primary apprehension is “The Last Question” by Isaac Asimov, a short story we discussed a few years back (after which the resultant sound files had their very own Continue Reading …
Phi Fic #13 “The House of the Dead” by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Our reading this month is The House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoevsky, a semi-autobiographical novel about life in a Siberian labor camp. Dostoevsky was sent there after being convicted for his connection with the Petrashevsky Circle, where Western philosophy and literature were discussed, which was deemed subversive by Tsar Nicholas I. Told through the eyes of Aleksander Continue Reading …
Phi Fic #12 Stories by James Baldwin
On two short stories by James Baldwin: “This Morning, This Evening, So Soon” and “Sonny’s Blues.” Both are included in the collection Going to meet the Man (1965). Unfortunately, Daniel had to be absent this time, but we did get Mark Linsenmayer to join us! For the first time in my life I felt that no force jeopardized my right, my power, to possess and to protect a Continue Reading …
Phi Fic #11 “The Body Artist” by Don DeLillo
Grief. Is it mourning loss or is it mourning change? Our book this time is The Body Artist by Don Delillo, an absorbing look at Lauren, a performance artist, and her experience of overwhelming loss when her husband commits suicide. We reflect on her travels through the murky struggle, accompanied by a strange young man ("Mr. Tuttle," whom she names after discovers him hiding Continue Reading …
Phi Fic #10 “The Fall” by Albert Camus
We discuss the novel about what you do when you're "called" and how you live afterward. You can listen along while Cezary, Daniel, Laura, Mary, and Nathan discuss The Fall by Albert Camus, which Sartre claimed was "perhaps the most beautiful and the least understood" of Camus's books. We get to know Jean-Baptiste Clamence, a renowned and successful Parisian attorney, as he Continue Reading …
Phi Fic #9 “The Grand Inquisitor” by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Within The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky penned a passage, considered one of the best known in modern literature: "The Grand Inquisitor." The character Ivan uses this tale to question the existence of God to his younger brother Alyosha, a monk. In the older brother's story, Christ returns to earth during the Inquisition, is arrested and sentenced to death by burning, Continue Reading …
Defer Your Dreams
On an episode of Inside Amy Schumer last year there was a sketch called “Listen Alert.” The gist was that Listen Alert was an emergency service for people who feel the need to vent and aren’t receiving proper attention from their friends or significant others. Press the button on the Listen Alert necklace and vent away. But toward the end of the sketch one woman starts to Continue Reading …
Phi Fic #8 “Erewhon” by Samuel Butler
"Utopia means Nowhere." Welcome to Erehwon by Samuel Butler, wisely chosen by Daniel for this month's read. We all agreed that we enjoyed our conversation about it even more than the actual reading experience. Is there not a molecular action to thinking, a dynamical theory of the passions…should we not ask what levers a man is made of rather than what is his Continue Reading …
Listen to Philosophical Fiction #16, “The Fall” by Albert Camus
Our Philosophical Fiction group talked about The Fall by Albert Camus in the Partially Examined Life's Not School. Anyone can listen to the highlight below, and Citizens can get the full conversation with all the bonus discussions at PEL's Podcast Episodes Ad Free. Nathan Hanks, Daniel Cole, Cezary Baraniecki, Laura Davis, and Mary Ricci read the novel for a discussion on Continue Reading …
Come Join Not School in June
Several of our Not School groups wrapped up in May, so June is the perfect time to join up and start a new group. Getting more involved is simple: just draft a quick proposal detailing what you'd like to read, watch or listen to, and post it in the Citizens' Forum. When at least two other members express interest, you're ready to start a group. For a good idea of why the groups Continue Reading …
Philosophical Fiction Reading: Woolf’s To The Lighthouse
We are going to read To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf for our conversation this March in Philosophical Fiction. A few regulars and I chose a book from our List of Suggestions to read before our conversation where we'll go over the plot, discuss the characters, recall apt passages, and try to get at what everything is all about anyway. To The Lighthouse will be my first Continue Reading …