Mark Seinfelt – Mark Seinfelt

Today, my father Dr. Frederick William Seinfelt again joins me on Word Patriots. We will be discussing Shakespeare on film and which cinematic versions of the plays speak most to us and why. We talk about the first three American sound films of Shakespeare: the 1929 Pickford Corporation’s “The Taming of the Shrew,” Max Reinhardt’s “A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream” and … Read more about this episode...

Word Patriots often fall under the spell of the written word and find their vocation early in life. Several months ago, I celebrated my fiftieth birthday. Still it doesn’t seem very long ago since I was a high school student enrolled in Kay Hutton’s Nobel Prize authors and AP English classes or since I represented Indiana Area Senior High School … Read more about this episode...

Today’s program is one of our periodic shows devoted to past masters, heroic word patriots who overcame great obstacles, who wrote in new and innovative ways, or who defied convention by visiting formerly taboo topics and thereby opened new fields of exploration for literature. On this episode of Word Patriots we will be discussing the work of Flannery O’Connor. The … Read more about this episode...

Rosaly DeMaios Roffman, Indiana University of Pennsylvania Professor Emerita, still teaches courses in creative writing and myth and started a myth/folklore Studies Center at IUP. She is the co-editor of “Life on the Line,” author of “Going to Bed Whole,” “Tottering Palaces,” “The Approximate Message” and most recently “In the Fall of a Sparrow,” commissioned by the Pennsylvania Governor’s Institute … Read more about this episode...

The late Stanley Elkin was a two-time recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Award. The author of more than a dozen novels and short-story collections, including “A Bad Man,” “George Mills,” “The Rabbi of Lud” and “Mrs. Ted Bliss,” he is recognized for his humorous and satirical fiction and for the stylistic virtuosity of his ornately wrought prose. 1964 … Read more about this episode...

Since the publication of “Huckleberry Finn” in 1885, countless readers, all small-town boys-at-heart, who envied and wanted to trade places with the free-as-a-bird Huck, have drifted down the Mississippi with him and his easy to fool, credulous yet capable and levelheaded companion Jim, whose thoughts constantly turn to his family still in servitude, following them as, fast on their toes, … Read more about this episode...

From the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, Darryl Strawberry was one of the most feted and prolific sluggers in baseball. Fans dubbed him the Black Ted Williams. An eight-time All-Star, a four-time World Series Champion, and a National League Rookie of the Year, he played for the Mets, Dodgers, Giants, and Yankees. His dazzling achievements on the field, however, were … Read more about this episode...

Among the many named and unnamed heroes of World War Two, when the Nazis sought to control the genome of the entire planet and to eliminate a race of people from the face of the earth, were the rescuers who provided a safe haven for those being methodically herded, in Antonina Zabinski’s words, to the entrance of crematoriums and the … Read more about this episode...

Welcome everyone. My guest this week is David Alan Johnson, the author of “Decided on the Battlefield: Grant, Sherman, Lincoln and the Election of 1864,” which was published by Prometheus Books this past January. David is the author of many popular histories, including “Betrayal: The True Story of J. Edgar Hoover and the Nazi Saboteurs,” “Righteous Deception: German Officers against … Read more about this episode...

Welcome everyone. This week’s show is our third devoted to the work of master novelist Paul West and we will be examining his historical novels and his writings of the 1990s and the 2000s. Paul will also be celebrating his 82nd birthday this week, so my guests and I will all be saluting him and sending our highest regards, thanking … Read more about this episode...

This week on Word Patriots my guest is Donald Anderson, author of the contemporary short-story cycle, “Fire Road.” Donald was born in Butte, Montana in 1946 and he is a dedicated practitioner of the short story form. His fiction and essays have appeared in “The North American Review,” “Fiction International,” “Epoch,” “PRISM international,” “Western Humanities Review,” “Columbia,” “Michigan Quarterly Review,” … Read more about this episode...

This week on Word Patriots, we welcome Turk back into the studio, and I comment upon the eerie coincidence that while Turk was in the hospital, I was reading next week’s guest Donald Anderson’ s short story cycle “Fire Road,” in which the protagonist Stephan Mann undergoes the very same surgical procedure that Turk underwent and how Donald himself had … Read more about this episode...

This episode of Word Patriots is devoted to the fiction of the enigmatic prose virtuoso Thomas Pynchon, the author of such seminal works as “The Crying of Lot 49,” which the “New York Times” characterized as a “streamlined doomsday machine,” and which deals with a world-wide conspiracy involving the forging of stamps and ancient books and the placing of post … Read more about this episode...

Due to the hospitalization of my producer Donnie “Turk” Schnars this week, we are re-broadcasting my July interview with the noted poet and naturalist Diane Ackerman. Diane is the author of over two-dozen books. Many know her as the author of the best-selling “A Natural History of the Senses.” She hosted a five-hour PBS television series inspired by that work. … Read more about this episode...

A.J. Ali is the creator, executive producer and star of “Good Fellas of Baltimore,” which debuted on Fox 45 TV in the Baltimore market in the spring of 2011 and was responsible for raising more than a quarter million dollars worth of support for charity in the Baltimore area in one year. He is currently producing and hosting a national … Read more about this episode...

This week we will be paying tribute to authors around the world who died in 2011 with special recognition to one of our own, the late Theo Matthews. In this special episode, we mourn the passing and celebrate the lifework of such diverse word patriots as Vaclav Havel, Christa Wolf, Ernesto Sabato, Jorge Semprún, Allen Mandelbaum, and Langford Wilson, among … Read more about this episode...

The 1980s was a particularly fertile period for author Paul West. He began and closed the decade with two of his finest historical novels, “The Very Rich Hours of Count von Stauffenberg” in 1980 and “Lord Byron’s Doctor” in 1989. He published the first volume of his Sheer Fiction series, a collection of essays drawn from twenty years of reviewing … Read more about this episode...

Poetry had its beginnings as an oral art form. The sung lyric and the chanted narrative were, perhaps, one of the first forms of public entertainment. Gathered around a communal fire or chieftain’s hearth, audiences found their evening’s recreation in listening to a poet’s verse narrative. The Iliad, it has been estimated, would have taken about 24 hours to recite … Read more about this episode...

Charles Dickens’ name had become so associated with Christmas that in 1870 a little costermonger’s girl in London, having been informed that Dickens had died, asked, “Mr. Dickens dead? Then will Father Christmas die too?” David Purdue writes: “It was the Christmas stories of Dickens, particularly his 1843 masterpiece ‘A Christmas Carol,’ that rekindled the joy of Christmas in Britain … Read more about this episode...

For many word patriots, their role in the literary world is clearly defined, often by a particular strength, such as a writer’s creativity, an editor’s attention to detail or a publisher’s business acumen. Not so for my guest this week, Ronda Winchell Sharp, whose roles have included writer, publisher, editor, graphic designer, consultant, critic and agent. A child of the … Read more about this episode...

This week my father Frederick Seinfelt returns to Word Patriots. We will briefly discuss the archetypal Bildungsroman “Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship” and several other early German specimens or representatives of the genre and then examine three prominent 20th Century educational or coming of age novels —William Somerset Maugham’s “Of Human Bondage,” Thomas Mann’s “The Magic Mountain” and George Santayana’s “The Last … Read more about this episode...

Some writers are known primarily for a single work. Others for the totality of their oeuvre. British-American author Paul West has produced as prolific a canon as any living writer: twenty-five novels, three volumes of poetry, and eighteen works of nonfiction. He is a writer of great distinction and originality and a veritable sorcerer of language. One of the most … Read more about this episode...

In the first quarter of the last century the great men and women of literature were both numerous and grand and they routinely carried out radical and groundbreaking experiments in fictional form. Linguistic virtuosity was the order of the day. Today, we live in a more sedate age, the so-called postmodern era which rejects the notion of high art and … Read more about this episode...

My guest this week on Word Patriots is Laura Bordas, President of Holt Memorial Library in my hometown of Philipsburg, Pennsylvania. Everyday, all across this nation, in small towns and big cities, a wide assortment of individuals battle ceaselessly and untiringly for the cause of the word. These frontline soldiers include teachers, librarians, library staff and board members, as well … Read more about this episode...

Devouring lions, ravenous bears, and deadly snakes — these and other animal predators in search of human flesh are a staple of ancient mythology, along with their mythic counterparts — dragons, griffins, gorgons and more. The message is clear: for millennia our ancient human ancestors lived in very real fear of very real predatory animals. Our ancestors reflected the dangerous … Read more about this episode...

Today on Word Patriots we explore the full measure of what this show’s title stands for: the patriotism of those who have come before us, and whose creative acts, and acts of sacrifice and service, have vouchsafed us the promise which is our legacy; and the words which we, the living, use to create an ever-renewing vision of our nation … Read more about this episode...

Paradox, irony, the seemingly contradictory are the very stuff of art. Beauty often finds its genesis in the very opposite of beauty. Often the new spark of hope ignites only after an artist has plummeted and touched bottom, been made aware of his own mortality and experienced the dark night of the soul. My study of literary suicides, “Final Drafts” … Read more about this episode...

Word patriots often wear different hats and serve the word in multiple ways. This week’s guest Eugene O’Connor is a perfect example of such a comprehensive and versatile word patriot. A poet and translator, Eugene is also the managing editor and acquiring editor in classics at The Ohio State University Press. His research interests include Greek and Roman elegy and … Read more about this episode...

Halloween is just around the corner and today’s show marks the halfway point of our inaugural year at Web Talk Radio, a milestone of sorts for my producer Donnie “Turk” Schnars and me. We are going to use the occasion to look both forwards and backwards. In the past six months we have spoken to a wide assortment of word … Read more about this episode...

Welcome fellow word patriots. This week we have a real treat. Novelist Tawni O’Dell will be stopping in to discuss her latest book, 2010’s “Fragile Beasts.” Everyone has heard of Tawni. With the exceptions, perhaps, of the actor Jimmy Stewart and the opera singer Renee Fleming, Tawni O’Dell stands as the most famous artistic figure to emerge from my own … Read more about this episode...

This week on Word Patriots, Jason Charnesky returns for one of our periodic shows devoted to past masters, heroic word patriots who overcame great obstacles, who wrote in new and innovative ways, or who defied convention by visiting formerly taboo topics and thereby opened new fields of exploration for literature. A poet and instructor of English, Jason Charnesky has written … Read more about this episode...

My guest this week on Word Patriots is Wayne Fields. For more than four decades, Wayne has been a professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis. His scholarly focus includes rhetoric, American literature, non-fiction prose, and American political discourse. He has worn many hats at the university, serving as English department chair, dean of University College, and director … Read more about this episode...

My guest this week on Word Patriots is James Morrow. Morrow is a wry and trenchant satirist in the tradition of Swift, Voltaire, Heller and Vonnegut. The Denver Post has hailed him as Christianity’s Salman Rushdie, only funnier and more sacrilegious. He has won Nebula and World Fantasy Awards and been nominated for both the Hugo and Locus Fantasy Awards. … Read more about this episode...

My guest this week on Word Patriots is “Dwight Riverbottum.” Dwight Riverbottum is the pen name of an author from Pittsburgh, currently living in NYC. The above sentence, Mr. Riverbottum has written me, “has always reflected the extent of the information I divulge.” He further states, “I can only imagine that this is the manner in which any and all … Read more about this episode...

Throughout history, the perpetrators of holocaust and genocide have offered endless reasons and justifications for their crimes. This week on Word Patriots@Webtalkradio, my guest is Jonathan Maxwell, author of “Murderous Intellectuals: German Elites and the Nazi SS” which explores why so many well-educated professionals willingly joined the Nazi Party as well as the broader topic of genocide in human history. … Read more about this episode...

This week on Word Patriots@Webtalkradio, my guest is Ray Goss, the author of the memoir “Misadventures in Broadcasting: Zany stories from 50 plus years of sports play-by-play.” My preference is, of course, literary fiction. But I’m not a monomaniac. I love all kinds of books. In the sweltering heat of summer, I’m less inclined to tackle James, Kant or Pynchon. … Read more about this episode...

New Englander, WW 2 Navy veteran, footballer, wrestling coach, and pick-up baseball player, Edgar H. Knapp, 89, is exuberance personified, a remarkable and wonderful teacher, a man who has had a life-long love of poetry. He attended Lawrence Academy and Wesleyan University and later taught at Groton and Penn State. In 1965, he edited a small volume of poems for … Read more about this episode...

This week on Word Patriots@Webtalkradio, my guest is Theo Matthews, AKA Teddy Kistler, the author of the novel “The Chronicler’s Tale: A Story of the Stories.” Matthews describes himself as “an optimistic hominid and experimental writer who enjoys twisting words until they bruise and turning phrases to their breaking points.” He writes in a sub-genre of Fantasy/ Magical Realism and … Read more about this episode...

This week on Word Patriots@Webtalkradio, my guest is Barbara Michel, the author of seventeen books. She is a graduate of the British American School of Writing. Several of her novels have won first-place awards at writers’ workshops and conferences. Her “Colorado Blaze” entry won a national award in “The Writers’ Digest” 2006 contest. While director of the Christian Writers’ Guild, … Read more about this episode...

This week on Word Patriots@Webtalkradio, I will be discussing the importance of reading the classics and the poetical works of John Milton with John W. Moore, Jr. John is an Associate Professor Emeritus of English and Comparative Literature at Penn State. A zealous word patriot, he earned his B.A. and M.A. at Boston College and his Ph.D. from Stanford University. … Read more about this episode...

This week on Word Patriots@Webtalkradio, my guest is the noted poet and naturalist Diane Ackerman, the author of over two-dozen books of poetry and non-fiction. Many know her as the author of the best-selling A Natural History of the Senses. She hosted a five-hour PBS television series inspired by that work. Her poetry, which has enthralled me since … Read more about this episode...

This week on Word Patriots@Webtalkradio, Ed Desautels returns for one of our periodic shows devoted to past masters, heroic word patriots who overcame great obstacles, who wrote in new and innovative ways, or who defied convention by visiting formerly taboo topics and thereby opened new fields of exploration for literature. This week he and I will be discussing the compositional … Read more about this episode...

This week on Word Patriots@Webtalkradio.net, my recording technician Donnie “Turk” Schnars continues to discuss my work with previous guests—this time my two most recently published works of fiction “Symphonie Fantastique” (2009) and “Baldr and Beatrice” (2011). First we hear Dave Kress on “Symphonie Fantastique.” Dave is a professor of fiction writing, contemporary literature, and literary theory at the University of … Read more about this episode...

This week on Word Patriots@Webtalkradio.net, my recording technician Donnie “Turk” Schnars ousts me from my interviewer’s chair to discuss my first two books “Final Drafts: suicides of world-famous authors” and “Henry Boulanger of Mushannon Town: A Novel of the American Revolution” with two of my previous guests, novelist and memoirist Elisabeth Lanser Rose, author of “Body Sharers” and “For the … Read more about this episode...

This week’s guest Robert C.S. Downs has published six novels, one collection of short stories, and written one television film. His novel “Going Gently,” published by Bobbs-Merrill in this country and Faber and Faber in Great Britain, was produced for television by the BBC. It starred Norman Wisdom and Judi Dench. The production won five British Academy Awards and was … Read more about this episode...

This week’s guest Christina Milletti is the author of the 2006 short story collection “The Religious & Other Fictions” published by Carnegie Mellon University Press. Her stories have appeared in the Chicago Review, Harcourt’s Best New American Voices, Pennsylvania English, and the Alaska Quarterly Review. There are many Christina Millettis. She is an author, mother, wife, and an Associate Professor … Read more about this episode...

This week’s guest Dimitri Anastasopoulos is the author of the 2001 novel “A Larger Sense of Harvey” published by Mammoth Books, which concerns a team of linguistic scholars, their friendships and hatreds, and the tensions which sabotaged their “langoo-adj” research project, a groundbreaking attempt to break down Indo European language barriers. He is currently at work on two novels-in-progress, the … Read more about this episode...

Bruce Trinkley is the composer of incidental music, songs and choruses for over twenty theatre and dance productions. He has also written extensively for choral ensembles. A poet and instructor of English, Jason Charnesky has written the lyrics and librettos for many works by Trinkley, including a trilogy of one-act comic operas: EVE’S ODDS, GOLDEN APPLE, and CLEO. A full-length … Read more about this episode...

This week we have a real change of pace episode. On April 30, my recording technician Turk and I attended the second annual “Meet the Authors of Indiana County, Pennsylvania, and Beyond” book expo at Windgate Vineyards and Winery in Smicksburg, Pa. This unique event was hosted by the award-winning winery’s owners Cay and Dan Enerson. Twenty local authors–none of … Read more about this episode...

In the second part of my interview with my father Dr. Frederick William Seinfelt, the author of the 1975 book George Moore: Ireland’s Unconventional Realist and two companion essays: Wagnerian Elements in the Writings of George Moore and Thomas Mann and some American and British Writers, we continue our discussion on Richard Wagner and his influence on world literature, … Read more about this episode...

Today’s show—part one of a two-part interview—will be the first of a series of periodic shows devoted to past masters, heroic word patriots who overcame great obstacles, who wrote in new and innovative ways, or who defied convention by visiting formerly taboo topics and thereby opened new fields of exploration for literature. I am very happy and honored to have … Read more about this episode...