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Phi Fic LogoPhi 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.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts. Refer your friends to us at PhiFicPodcast.com!

Originating from The Partially Examined Life’s Not School and its Philosophical Fiction group. Sign up for a small recurring donation for access to many more discussions!

Phi Fic #21 “Foe” by J.M. Coetzee

March 27, 2018 by Nathan Hanks Leave a Comment

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 #17 “Invisible Cities” by Italo Calvino

September 30, 2017 by Nathan Hanks Leave a Comment

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 #13 “The House of the Dead” by Fyodor Dostoevsky

May 31, 2017 by Nathan Hanks 3 Comments

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 #11 “The Body Artist” by Don DeLillo

March 20, 2017 by Nathan Hanks 4 Comments

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

February 27, 2017 by Nathan Hanks Leave a Comment

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 #5 “Pale Fire” by Vladimir Nabokov

September 1, 2016 by Nathan Hanks 8 Comments

So, you think Lolita was Nabokov’s best? We humbly submit a solid contender. Cezary, in his wisdom, suggested the book for this episode: Pale Fire. Structured as a 999-line poem followed by an extensive afterword and index, Pale Fire has been described by the critic Harold Bloom as “the surest demonstration of [Nabokov’s] genius…” Join us as Cezary kicks it off with an  Continue Reading …

Listen to Philosophical Fiction #16, “The Fall” by Albert Camus

September 21, 2015 by Nathan Hanks 1 Comment

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 …

Philosophical Fiction Reading: Woolf’s To The Lighthouse

March 7, 2015 by Nathan Hanks Leave a Comment

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 …

Fiction Conversation on ‘The Map and the Territory’

January 4, 2015 by Nathan Hanks Leave a Comment

The Map and the Territory by Michel Houellebecq was our novel up for conversation this December, and you can hear Nathan, Dan and Kimberly discuss the story in Philosophical Fiction from PEL’s Not School, on the Free Stuff for Citizens page (under "Not School Discussion Group Audio"). We sum up the plot, quote key passages, and discuss the story of Jed Martin; a man at the “at  Continue Reading …

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