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Frances Wilson has written biographies of Dorothy Wordsworth, Thomas De Quincey, D.H. Lawrence, and, most recently, Muriel Spark. I thought Electric Spark was excellent. In my review, I wrote: “Wilson has done far more than string the facts together. She has created a strange and vivid portrait of one of the most curious of twentieth century novelists.” In this interview, we covered questions like why Thomas De Quincey is more widely read, why D.H. Lawrence's best books aren't his novels, Frances's conversion to spookiness, what she thinks about a whole range of modern biographers, literature and parasocial relationships, Elizabeth Bowen, George Meredith, and plenty about Muriel Spark.Here are two brief extracts. There is a full transcript below.Henry: De Quincey and Lawrence were the people you wrote about before Muriel Spark, and even though they seem like three very different people, but in their own way, they're all a little bit mad, aren't they?Frances: Yes, that is, I think, something that they have in common. It's something that I'm drawn to. I like writing about difficult people. I don't think I could write about anyone who wasn't difficult. I like difficult people in general. I like the fact that they pose a puzzle and they're hard to crack, and that their difficulty is laid out in their work and as a code. I like tackling really, really stubborn personalities as well. Yes, they were all a bit mad. The madness was what fuelled their journeys without doubt.Henry: This must make it very hard as a biographer. Is there always a code to be cracked, or are you sometimes dealing with someone who is slippery and protean and uncrackable?And.Henry: People listening will be able to tell that Spark is a very spooky person in several different ways. She had what I suppose we would call spiritual beliefs to do with ghosts and other sorts of things. You had a sort of conversion of your own while writing this book, didn't you?Frances: Yes, I did. [laughs] Every time I write a biography, I become very, very, very immersed in who I'm writing about. I learned this from Richard Holmes, who I see as a method biographer. He Footsteps his subjects. He becomes his subjects. I think I recognized when I first read Holmes's Coleridge, when I was a student, that this was how I also wanted to live. I wanted to live inside the minds of the people that I wrote about, because it was very preferable to live inside my own mind. Why not live inside the mind of someone really, really exciting, one with genius?What I felt with Spark wasn't so much that I was immersed by-- I wasn't immersed by her. I felt actually possessed by her. I think this is the Spark effect. I think a lot of her friends felt like this. I think that her lovers possibly felt like this. There is an extraordinary force to her character, which absolutely lives on, even though she's dead, but only recently dead. The conversion I felt, I think, was that I have always been a very enlightenment thinker, very rational, very scientific, very Freudian in my approach to-- I will acknowledge the unconscious but no more.By the time I finished with Spark, I'm pure woo-woo now.TranscriptHenry: Today, I am talking to Frances Wilson. Frances is a biographer. Her latest book, Electric Spark, is a biography of the novelist Muriel Spark, but she has also written about Dorothy Wordsworth, Thomas De Quincey, DH Lawrence and others. Frances, welcome.Frances Wilson: Thank you so much for having me on.Henry: Why don't more people read Thomas De Quincey's work?Frances: [laughs] Oh, God. We're going right into the deep end.[laughter]Frances: I think because there's too much of it. When I chose to write about Thomas De Quincey, I just followed one thread in his writing because Thomas De Quincey was an addict. One of the things he was addicted to was writing. He wrote far, far, far too much. He was a professional hack. He was a transcendental hack, if you like, because all of his writing he did while on opium, which made the sentences too long and too high and very, very hard to read.When I wrote about him, I just followed his interest in murder. He was fascinated by murder as a fine art. The title of one of his best essays is On Murder as One of the Fine Arts. I was also interested in his relationship with Wordsworth. I twinned those together, which meant cutting out about 97% of the rest of his work. I think people do read his Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. I think that's a cult text. It was the memoir, if you want to call it a memoir, that kick-started the whole pharmaceutical memoir business on drugs.It was also the first addict's memoir and the first recovery memoir, and I'd say also the first misery memoir. He's very much at the root of English literary culture. We're all De Quincey-an without knowing it, is my argument.Henry: Oh, no, I fully agree. That's what surprises me, that they don't read him more often.Frances: I know it's a shame, isn't it? Of all the Romantic Circle, he's the one who's the most exciting to read. Also, Lamb is wonderfully exciting to read as well, but Lamb's a tiny little bit more grounded than De Quincey, who was literally not grounded. He's floating in an opium haze above you.[laughter]Henry: What I liked about your book was the way you emphasized the book addiction, not just the opium addiction. It is shocking the way he piled up chests full of books and notebooks, and couldn't get into the room because there were too many books in there. He was [crosstalk].Frances: Yes. He had this in common with Muriel Spark. He was a hoarder, but in a much more chaotic way than Spark, because, as you say, he piled up rooms with papers and books until he couldn't get into the room, and so just rented another room. He was someone who had no money at all. The no money he had went on paying rent for rooms, storing what we would be giving to Oxfam, or putting in the recycling bin. Then he'd forget that he was paying rent on all these rooms filled with his mountains of paper. The man was chaos.Henry: What is D.H. Lawrence's best book?Frances: Oh, my argument about Lawrence is that we've gone very badly wrong in our reading of him, in seeing him primarily as a novelist and only secondarily as an essayist and critic and short story writer, and poet. This is because of F.R. Leavis writing that celebration of him called D.H. Lawrence: Novelist, because novels are not the best of Lawrence. I think the best of his novels is absolutely, without doubt, Sons and Lovers. I think we should put the novels in the margins and put in the centre, the poems, travel writing.Absolutely at the centre of the centre should be his studies in classic American literature. His criticism was- We still haven't come to terms with it. It was so good. We haven't heard all of Lawrence's various voices yet. When Lawrence was writing, contemporaries didn't think of Lawrence as a novelist at all. It was anyone's guess what he was going to come out with next. Sometimes it was a novel [laughs] and it was usually a rant about-- sometimes it was a prophecy. Posterity has not treated Lawrence well in any way, but I think where we've been most savage to him is in marginalizing his best writing.Henry: The short fiction is truly extraordinary.Frances: Isn't it?Henry: I always thought Lawrence was someone I didn't want to read, and then I read the short fiction, and I was just obsessed.Frances: It's because in the short fiction, he doesn't have time to go wrong. I think brevity was his perfect length. Give him too much space, and you know he's going to get on his soapbox and start ranting, start mansplaining. He was a terrible mansplainer. Mansplaining his versions of what had gone wrong in the world. It is like a drunk at the end of a too-long dinner party, and you really want to just bundle him out. Give him only a tiny bit of space, and he comes out with the perfection that is his writing.Henry: De Quincey and Lawrence were the people you wrote about before Muriel Spark, and even though they seem like three very different people, but in their own way, they're all a little bit mad, aren't they?Frances: Yes, that is, I think, something that they have in common. It's something that I'm drawn to. I like writing about difficult people. I don't think I could write about anyone who wasn't difficult. I like difficult people in general. I like the fact that they pose a puzzle and they're hard to crack, and that their difficulty is laid out in their work and as a code. I like tackling really, really stubborn personalities as well. Yes, they were all a bit mad. The madness was what fuelled their journeys without doubt.Henry: This must make it very hard as a biographer. Is there always a code to be cracked, or are you sometimes dealing with someone who is slippery and protean and uncrackable?Frances: I think that the way I approach biography is that there is a code to crack, but I'm not necessarily concerned with whether I crack it or not. I think it's just recognizing that there's a hell of a lot going on in the writing and that, in certain cases and not in every case at all, the best way of exploring the psyche of the writer and the complexity of the life is through the writing, which is a argument for psycho biography, which isn't something I necessarily would argue for, because it can be very, very crude.I think with the writers I choose, there is no option. Muriel Spark argued for this as well. She said in her own work as a biographer, which was really very, very strong. She was a biographer before she became a novelist. She thought hard about biography and absolutely in advance of anyone else who thought about biography, she said, "Of course, the only way we can approach the minds of writers is through their work, and the writer's life is encoded in the concerns of their work."When I was writing about Muriel Spark, I followed, as much as I could, to the letter, her own theories of biography, believing that that was part of the code that she left. She said very, very strong and very definitive things about what biography was about and how to write a biography. I tried to follow those rules.Henry: Can we play a little game where I say the names of some biographers and you tell me what you think of them?Frances: Oh my goodness. Okay.Henry: We're not trying to get you into trouble. We just want some quick opinions. A.N. Wilson.Frances: I think he's wonderful as a biographer. I think he's unzipped and he's enthusiastic and he's unpredictable and he's often off the rails. I think his Goethe biography-- Have you read the Goethe biography?Henry: Yes, I thought that was great.Frances: It's just great, isn't it? It's so exciting. I like the way that when he writes about someone, it's almost as if he's memorized the whole of their work.Henry: Yes.Frances: You don't imagine him sitting at a desk piled with books and having to score through his marginalia. It sits in his head, and he just pours it down on a page. I'm always excited by an A.N. Wilson biography. He is one of the few biographers who I would read regardless of who the subject was.Henry: Yes.Frances: I just want to read him.Henry: He does have good range.Frances: He absolutely does have good range.Henry: Selina Hastings.Frances: I was thinking about Selina Hastings this morning, funnily enough, because I had been talking to people over the weekend about her Sybil Bedford biography and why that hadn't lifted. She wrote a very excitingly good life of Nancy Mitford and then a very unexcitingly not good life of Sybil Bedford. I was interested in why the Sybil Bedford simply hadn't worked. I met people this weekend who were saying the same thing, that she was a very good biographer who had just failed [laughs] to give us anything about Sybil Bedford.I think what went wrong in that biography was that she just could not give us her opinions. It's as if she just withdrew from her subject as if she was writing a Wikipedia entry. There were no opinions at all. What the friends I was talking to said was that she just fell out with her subject during the book. That's what happened. She stopped being interested in her. She fell out with her and therefore couldn't be bothered. That's what went wrong.Henry: Interesting. I think her Evelyn Waugh biography is superb.Frances: Yes, I absolutely agree. She was on fire until this last one.Henry: That's one of the best books on Waugh, I think.Frances: Yes.Henry: Absolutely magical.Frances: I also remember, it's a very rare thing, of reading a review of it by Hilary Mantel saying that she had not read a biography that had been as good, ever, as Selina Hastings' on Evelyn Waugh. My goodness, that's high praise, isn't it?Henry: Yes, it is. It is. I'm always trying to push that book on people. Richard Holmes.Frances: He's my favourite. He's the reason that I'm a biographer at all. I think his Coleridge, especially the first volume of the two-volume Coleridge, is one of the great books. It left me breathless when I read it. It was devastating. I also think that his Johnson and Savage book is one of the great books. I love Footsteps as well, his account of the books he didn't write in Footsteps. I think he has a strange magic. When Muriel Spark talked about certain writers and critics having a sixth literary sense, which meant that they tuned into language and thought in a way that the rest of us don't, I think that Richard Holmes does have that. I think he absolutely has it in relation to Coleridge. I'm longing for his Tennyson to come out.Henry: Oh, I know. I know.Frances: Oh, I just can't wait. I'm holding off on reading Tennyson until I've got Holmes to help me read him. Yes, he is quite extraordinary.Henry: I would have given my finger to write the Johnson and Savage book.Frances: Yes, I know. I agree. How often do you return to it?Henry: Oh, all the time. All the time.Frances: Me too.Henry: Michael Holroyd.Frances: Oh, that's interesting, Michael Holroyd, because I think he's one of the great unreads. I think he's in this strange position of being known as a greatest living biographer, but nobody's read him on Augustus John. [laughs] I haven't read his biographies cover to cover because they're too long and it's not in my subject area, but I do look in them, and they're novelistic in their wit and complexity. His sentences are very, very, very entertaining, and there's a lot of freight in each paragraph. I hope that he keeps selling.I love his essays as well, and also, I think that he has been a wonderful ambassador for biography. He's very, very supportive of younger biographers, which not every biographer is, but I know he's been very supportive of younger biographers and is incredibly approachable.Henry: Let's do a few Muriel Spark questions. Why was the Book of Job so important to Muriel Spark?Frances: I think she liked it because it was rogue, because it was the only book of the Bible that wasn't based on any evidence, it wasn't based on any truth. It was a fictional book, and she liked fiction sitting in the middle of fact. That was one of her main things, as all Spark lovers know. She liked the fact that there was this work of pure imagination and extraordinarily powerful imagination sitting in the middle of the Old Testament, and also, she thought it was an absolutely magnificent poem.She saw herself primarily as a poet, and she responded to it as a poem, which, of course, it is. Also, she liked God in it. She described Him as the Incredible Hulk [laughs] and she liked His boastfulness. She enjoyed, as I do, difficult personalities, and she liked the fact that God had such an incredibly difficult personality. She liked the fact that God boasted and boasted and boasted, "I made this and I made that," to Job, but also I think she liked the fact that you hear God's voice.She was much more interested in voices than she was in faces. The fact that God's voice comes out of the burning bush, I think it was an image for her of early radio, this voice speaking, and she liked the fact that what the voice said was tricksy and touchy and impossibly arrogant. He gives Moses all these instructions to lead the Israelites, and Moses says, "But who shall I say sent me? Who are you?" He says, "I am who I am." [laughs] She thought that was completely wonderful. She quotes that all the time about herself. She says, "I know it's a bit large quoting God, but I am who I am." [laughs]Henry: That disembodied voice is very important to her fiction.Frances: Yes.Henry: It's the telephone in Memento Mori.Frances: Yes.Henry: Also, to some extent, tell me what you think of this, the narrator often acts like that.Frances: Like this disembodied voice?Henry: Yes, like you're supposed to feel like you're not quite sure who's telling you this or where you're being told it from. That's why it gets, like in The Ballad of Peckham Rye or something, very weird.Frances: Yes. I'm waiting for the PhD on Muriel Sparks' narrators. Maybe it's being done as we speak, but she's very, very interested in narrators and the difference between first-person and third-person. She was very keen on not having warm narrators, to put it mildly. She makes a strong argument throughout her work for the absence of the seductive narrative. Her narratives are, as we know, unbelievably seductive, but not because we are being flattered as readers and not because the narrator makes herself or himself pretty. The narrator says what they feel like saying, withholds most of what you would like them to say, plays with us, like in a Spark expression, describing her ideal narrator like a cat with a bird [laughs].Henry: I like that. Could she have been a novelist if she had not become a Catholic?Frances: No, she couldn't. The two things happened at the same time. I wonder, actually, whether she became a Catholic in order to become a novelist. It wasn't that becoming a novelist was an accidental effect of being a Catholic. The conversion was, I think, from being a biographer to a novelist rather than from being an Anglican to a Catholic. What happened is a tremendous interest. I think it's the most interesting moment in any life that I've ever written about is the moment of Sparks' conversion because it did break her life in two.She converted when she was in her mid-30s, and several things happened at once. She converted to Catholicism, she became a Catholic, she became a novelist, but she also had this breakdown. The breakdown was very much part of that conversion package. The breakdown was brought on, she says, by taking Dexys. There was slimming pills, amphetamines. She wanted to lose weight. She put on weight very easily, and her weight went up and down throughout her life.She wanted to take these diet pills, but I think she was also taking the pills because she needed to do all-nighters, because she never, ever, ever stopped working. She was addicted to writing, but also she was impoverished and she had to sell her work, and she worked all night. She was in a rush to get her writing done because she'd wasted so much of her life in her early 20s, in a bad marriage trapped in Africa. She needed to buy herself time. She was on these pills, which have terrible side effects, one of which is hallucinations.I think there were other reasons for her breakdown as well. She was very, very sensitive and I think psychologically fragile. Her mother lived in a state of mental fragility, too. She had a crash when she finished her book. She became depressed. Of course, a breakdown isn't the same as depression, but what happened to her in her breakdown was a paranoid attack rather than a breakdown. She didn't crack into nothing and then have to rebuild herself. She just became very paranoid. That paranoia was always there.Again, it's what's exciting about her writing. She was drawn to paranoia in other writers. She liked Cardinal Newman's paranoia. She liked Charlotte Brontë's paranoia, and she had paranoia. During her paranoid attack, she felt very, very interestingly, because nothing that happened in her life was not interesting, that T.S. Eliot was sending her coded messages. He was encoding these messages in his play, The Confidential Clerk, in the program notes to the play, but also in the blurbs he wrote for Faber and Faber, where he was an editor. These messages were very malign and they were encoded in anagrams.The word lived, for example, became devil. I wonder whether one of the things that happened during her breakdown wasn't that she discovered God, but that she met the devil. I don't think that that's unusual as a conversion experience. In fact, the only conversion experience she ever describes, you'll remember, is in The Girls of Slender Means, when she's describing Nicholas Farrington's conversion. That's the only conversion experience she ever describes. She says that his conversion is when he sees one of the girls leaving the burning building, holding a Schiaparelli dress. Suddenly, he's converted because he's seen a vision of evil.She says, "Conversion can be as a result of a recognition of evil, rather than a recognition of good." I think that what might have happened in this big cocktail of things that happened to her during her breakdown/conversion, is that a writer whom she had idolized, T.S. Eliot, who taught her everything that she needed to know about the impersonality of art. Her narrative coldness comes from Eliot, who thought that emotions had no place in art because they were messy, and art should be clean.I think a writer whom she had idolized, she suddenly felt was her enemy because she was converting from his church, because he was an Anglo-Catholic. He was a high Anglican, and she was leaving Anglo-Catholicism to go through the Rubicon, to cross the Rubicon into Catholicism. She felt very strongly that that is something he would not have approved of.Henry: She's also leaving poetry to become a prose writer.Frances: She was leaving his world of poetry. That's absolutely right.Henry: This is a very curious parallel because the same thing exactly happens to De Quincey with his worship of Wordsworth.Frances: You're right.Henry: They have the same obsessive mania. Then this, as you say, not quite a breakdown, but a kind of explosive mania in the break. De Quincey goes out and destroys that mossy hut or whatever it is in the orchard, doesn't he?Frances: Yes, that disgusting hut in the orchard. Yes, you're completely right. What fascinated me about De Quincey, and this was at the heart of the De Quincey book, was how he had been guided his whole life by Wordsworth. He discovered Wordsworth as a boy when he read We Are Seven, that very creepy poem about a little girl sitting on her sibling's grave, describing the sibling as still alive. For De Quincey, who had lost his very adored sister, he felt that Wordsworth had seen into his soul and that Wordsworth was his mentor and his lodestar.He worshipped Wordsworth as someone who understood him and stalked Wordsworth, pursued and stalked him. When he met him, what he discovered was a man without any redeeming qualities at all. He thought he was a dry monster, but it didn't stop him loving the work. In fact, he loved the work more and more. What threw De Quincey completely was that there was such a difference between Wordsworth, the man who had no genius, and Wordsworth, the poet who had nothing but.Eliot described it, the difference between the man who suffers and the mind which creates. What De Quincey was trying to deal with was the fact that he adulated the work, but was absolutely appalled by the man. Yes, you're right, this same experience happened to spark when she began to feel that T.S. Eliot, whom she had never met, was a malign person, but the work was still not only of immense importance to her, but the work had formed her.Henry: You see the Wasteland all over her own work and the shared Dante obsession.Frances: Yes.Henry: It's remarkably strong. She got to the point of thinking that T.S. Eliot was breaking into her house.Frances: Yes. As I said, she had this paranoid imagination, but also what fired her imagination and what repeated itself again and again in the imaginative scenarios that recur in her fiction and nonfiction is the idea of the intruder. It was the image of someone rifling around in cupboards, drawers, looking at manuscripts. This image, you first find it in a piece she wrote about finding herself completely coincidentally, staying the night during the war in the poet Louis MacNeice's house. She didn't know it was Louis MacNeice's house, but he was a poet who was very, very important to her.Spark's coming back from visiting her parents in Edinburgh in 1944. She gets talking to an au pair on the train. By the time they pull into Houston, there's an air raid, and the au pair says, "Come and spend the night at mine. My employers are away and they live nearby in St. John's Wood." Spark goes to this house and sees it's packed with books and papers, and she's fascinated by the quality of the material she finds there.She looks in all the books. She goes into the attic, and she looks at all the papers, and she asks the au pair whose house it is, and the au pair said, "Oh, he's a professor called Professor Louis MacNeice." Spark had just been reading Whitney. He's one of her favourite poets. She retells this story four times in four different forms, as non-fiction, as fiction, as a broadcast, as reflections, but the image that keeps coming back, what she can't get rid of, is the idea of herself as snooping around in this poet's study.She describes herself, in one of the versions, as trying to draw from his papers his power as a writer. She says she sniffs his pens, she puts her hands over his papers, telling herself, "I must become a writer. I must become a writer." Then she makes this weird anonymous phone call. She loved the phone because it was the most strange form of electrical device. She makes a weird anonymous phone call to an agent, saying, "I'm ringing from Louis MacNeice's house, would you like to see my manuscript?" She doesn't give her name, and the agent says yes.Now I don't believe this phone call took place. I think it's part of Sparks' imagination. This idea of someone snooping around in someone else's room was very, very powerful to her. Then she transposed it in her paranoid attack about T.S. Eliot. She transposed the image that Eliot was now in her house, but not going through her papers, but going through her food cupboards. [laughs] In her food cupboards, all she actually had was baked beans because she was a terrible cook. Part of her unwellness at that point was malnutrition. No, she thought that T.S. Eliot was spying on her. She was obsessed with spies. Spies, snoopers, blackmailers.Henry: T.S. Eliot is Stealing My Baked Beans would have been a very good title for a memoir.Frances: It actually would, wouldn't it?Henry: Yes, it'd be great.[laughter]Henry: People listening will be able to tell that Spark is a very spooky person in several different ways. She had what I suppose we would call spiritual beliefs to do with ghosts and other sorts of things. You had a sort of conversion of your own while writing this book, didn't you?Frances: Yes, I did. [laughs] Every time I write a biography, I become very, very, very immersed in who I'm writing about. I learned this from Richard Holmes, who I see as a method biographer. He Footsteps his subjects. He becomes his subjects. I think I recognized when I first read Holmes's Coleridge, when I was a student, that this was how I also wanted to live. I wanted to live inside the minds of the people that I wrote about, because it was very preferable to live inside my own mind. Why not live inside the mind of someone really, really exciting, one with genius?What I felt with Spark wasn't so much that I was immersed by-- I wasn't immersed by her. I felt actually possessed by her. I think this is the Spark effect. I think a lot of her friends felt like this. I think that her lovers possibly felt like this. There is an extraordinary force to her character, which absolutely lives on, even though she's dead, but only recently dead. The conversion I felt, I think, was that I have always been a very enlightenment thinker, very rational, very scientific, very Freudian in my approach to-- I will acknowledge the unconscious but no more.By the time I finished with Spark, I'm pure woo-woo now. Anything can happen. This is one of the reasons Spark was attracted to Catholicism because anything can happen, because it legitimizes the supernatural. I felt so strongly that the supernatural experiences that Spark had were real, that what Spark was describing as the spookiness of our own life were things that actually happened.One of the things I found very, very unsettling about her was that everything that happened to her, she had written about first. She didn't describe her experiences in retrospect. She described them as in foresight. For example, her first single authored published book, because she wrote for a while in collaboration with her lover, Derek Stanford, but her first single authored book was a biography of Mary Shelley.Henry: Great book.Frances: An absolutely wonderful book, which really should be better than any of the other Mary Shelley biographies. She completely got to Mary Shelley. Everything she described in Mary Shelley's life would then happen to Spark. For example, she described Mary Shelley as having her love letters sold. Her lover sold Mary Shelley's love letters, and Mary Shelley was then blackmailed by the person who bought them. This happened to Spark. She described Mary Shelley's closest friends all becoming incredibly jealous of her literary talent. This happened to Spark. She described trusting people who betrayed her. This happened to Spark.Spark was the first person to write about Frankenstein seriously, to treat Frankenstein as a masterpiece rather than as a one-off weird novel that is actually just the screenplay for a Hammer Horror film. This was 1951, remember. Everything she described in Frankenstein as its power is a hybrid text, described the powerful hybrid text that she would later write about. What fascinated her in Frankenstein was the relationship between the creator and the monster, and which one was the monster. This is exactly the story of her own life. I think where she is. She was really interested in art monsters and in the fact that the only powerful writers out there, the only writers who make a dent, are monsters.If you're not a monster, you're just not competing. I think Spark has always spoken about as having a monster-like quality. She says at the end of one of her short stories, Bang-bang You're Dead, "Am I an intellectual woman, or am I a monster?" It's the question that is frequently asked of Spark. I think she worked so hard to monsterize herself. Again, she learnt this from Elliot. She learnt her coldness from Elliot. She learnt indifference from Elliot. There's a very good letter where she's writing to a friend, Shirley Hazzard, in New York.It's after she discovers that her lover, Derek Stanford, has sold her love letters, 70 love letters, which describe two very, very painfully raw, very tender love letters. She describes to Shirley Hazzard this terrible betrayal. She says, "But, I'm over it. I'm over it now. Now I'm just going to be indifferent." She's telling herself to just be indifferent about this. You watch her tutoring herself into the indifference that she needed in order to become the artist that she knew she was.Henry: Is this why she's attracted to mediocrities, because she can possess them and monsterize them, and they're good feeding for her artistic programme?Frances: Her attraction to mediocrities is completely baffling, and it makes writing her biography, a comedy, because the men she was surrounded by were so speck-like. Saw themselves as so important, but were, in fact, so speck-like that you have to laugh, and it was one after another after another. I'd never come across, in my life, so many men I'd never heard of. This was the literary world that she was surrounded by. It's odd, I don't know whether, at the time, she knew how mediocre these mediocrities were.She certainly recognised it in her novels where they're all put together into one corporate personality called the pisseur de copie in A Far Cry from Kensington, where every single literary mediocrity is in that critic who she describes as pissing and vomiting out copy. With Derek Stanford, who was obviously no one's ever heard of now, because he wrote nothing that was memorable, he was her partner from the end of the 40s until-- They ceased their sexual relationship when she started to be interested in becoming a Catholic in 1953, but she was devoted to him up until 1958. She seemed to be completely incapable of recognising that she had the genius and he had none.Her letters to him deferred to him, all the time, as having literary powers that she hadn't got, as having insights that she hadn't got, he's better read than she was. She was such an amazingly good critic. Why could she not see when she looked at his baggy, bad prose that it wasn't good enough? She rated him so highly. When she was co-authoring books with him, which was how she started her literary career, they would occasionally write alternative sentences. Some of her sentences are always absolutely-- they're sharp, lean, sparkling, and witty, and his are way too long and really baggy and they don't say anything. Obviously, you can see that she's irritated by it.She still doesn't say, "Look, I'm going now." It was only when she became a novelist that she said, "I want my mind to myself." She puts, "I want my mind to myself." She didn't want to be in a double act with him. Doubles were important to her. She didn't want to be in a double act with him anymore. He obviously had bought into her adulation of him and hadn't recognised that she had this terrifying power as a writer. It was now his turn to have the breakdown. Spark had the mental breakdown in 1950, '45. When her first novel came out in 1957, it was Stanford who had the breakdown because he couldn't take on board who she was as a novelist.What he didn't know about her as a novelist was her comic sense, how that would fuel the fiction, but also, he didn't recognize because he reviewed her books badly. He didn't recognise that the woman who had been so tender, vulnerable, and loving with him could be this novelist who had nothing to say about tenderness or love. In his reviews, he says, "Why are her characters so cold?" because he thought that she should be writing from the core of her as a human being rather than the core of her as an intellect.Henry: What are her best novels?Frances: Every one I read, I think this has to be the best.[laughter]This is particularly the case in the early novels, where I'm dazzled by The Comforters and think there cannot have been a better first novel of the 20th century or even the 21st century so far. The Comforters. Then read Robinson, her second novel, and think, "Oh God, no, that is her best novel. Then Memento Mori, I think, "Actually, that must be the best novel of the 20th century." [laughs] Then you move on to The Ballad of Peckham Rye, I think, "No, that's even better."The novels landed. It's one of the strange things about her; it took her so long to become a novelist. When she had become one, the novels just landed. Once in one year, two novels landed. In 1959, she had, it was The Bachelors and The Ballad of Peckham Rye, both just completely extraordinary. The novels had been the storing up, and then they just fell on the page. They're different, but samey. They're samey in as much as they're very, very, very clever. They're clever about Catholicism, and they have the same narrative wit. My God, do the plots work in different ways. She was wonderful at plots. She was a great plotter. She liked plots in both senses of the world.She liked the idea of plotting against someone, also laying a plot. She was, at the same time, absolutely horrified by being caught inside someone's plot. That's what The Comforters is about, a young writer called Caroline Rose, who has a breakdown, it's a dramatisation of Sparks' own breakdown, who has a breakdown, and believes that she is caught inside someone else's story. She is a typewriter repeating all of her thoughts. Typewriter and a chorus repeating all of her thoughts.What people say about The Comforters is that Caroline Rose thought she is a heroine of a novel who finds herself trapped in a novel. Actually, if you read what Caroline Rose says in the novel, she doesn't think she's trapped in a novel; she thinks she's trapped in a biography. "There is a typewriter typing the story of our lives," she says to her boyfriend. "Of our lives." Muriel Sparks' first book was about being trapped in a biography, which is, of course, what she brought on herself when she decided to trap herself in a biography. [laughs]Henry: I think I would vote for Loitering with Intent, The Girls of Slender Means as my favourites. I can see that Memento Mori is a good book, but I don't love it, actually.Frances: Really? Interesting. Okay. I completely agree with you about-- I think Loitering with Intent is my overall favourite. Don't you find every time you read it, it's a different book? There are about 12 books I've discovered so far in that book. She loved books inside books, but every time I read it, I think, "Oh my God, it's changed shape again. It's a shape-shifting novel."Henry: We all now need the Frances Wilson essay about the 12 books inside Loitering with Intent.Frances: I know.[laughter]Henry: A few more general questions to close. Did Thomas De Quincey waste his talents?Frances: I wouldn't have said so. I think that's because every single day of his life, he was on opium.Henry: I think the argument is a combination of too much opium and also too much magazine work and not enough "real serious" philosophy, big poems, whatever.Frances: I think the best of his work went into Blackwood's, so the magazine work. When he was taken on by Blackwood's, the razor-sharp Edinburgh magazine, then the best of his work took place. I think that had he only written the murder essays, that would have been enough for me, On Murder as a Fine Art.That was enough. I don't need any more of De Quincey. I think Confessions of an English Opium-Eater is also enough in as much as it's the great memoir of addiction. We don't need any more memoirs of addiction, just read that. It's not just a memoir of being addicted to opium. It's about being addicted to what's what. It's about being a super fan and addicted to writing. He was addicted to everything. If he was in AA now, they'd say, apparently, there are 12 addictions, he had all of them. [laughs]Henry: Yes. People talk a lot about parasocial relationships online, where you read someone online or you follow them, and you have this strange idea in your head that you know them in some way, even though they're just this disembodied online person. You sometimes see people say, "Oh, we should understand this more." I think, "Well, read the history of literature, parasocial relationships everywhere."Frances: That's completely true. I hadn't heard that term before. The history of literature, a parasocial relationship. That's your next book.Henry: There we go. I think what I want from De Quincey is more about Shakespeare, because I think the Macbeth essay is superb.Frances: Absolutely brilliant. On Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth.Henry: Yes, and then you think, "Wait, where's the rest of this book? There should be an essay about every play."Frances: That's an absolutely brilliant example of microhistory, isn't it? Just taking a moment in a play, just the knocking at the gate, the morning after the murders, and blowing that moment up, so it becomes the whole play. Oh, my God, it's good. You're right.Henry: It's so good. What is, I think, "important about it", is that in the 20th century, critics started saying or scholars started saying a lot, "We can't just look at the words on the page. We've got to think about the dramaturgy. We've got to really, really think about how it plays out." De Quincey was an absolute master of that. It's really brilliant.Frances: Yes.Henry: What's your favourite modern novel or novelist?Frances: Oh, Hilary Mantel, without doubt, I think. I think we were lucky enough to live alongside a great, great, great novelist. I think the Wolf Hall trilogy is absolutely the greatest piece of narrative fiction that's come out of the 21st century. I also love her. I love her work as an essayist. I love her. She's spooky like Spark. She was inspired.Henry: Yes, she is. Yes.Frances: She learnt a lot of her cunning from Spark, I think. She's written a very spooky memoir. In fact, the only women novelists who acknowledge Spark as their influencer are Ali Smith and Hilary Mantel, although you can see Spark in William Boyd all the time. I think we're pretty lucky to live alongside William Boyd as well. Looking for real, real greatness, I think there's no one to compare with Mantel. Do you agree?Henry: I don't like the third volume of the trilogy.Frances: Okay. Right.Henry: Yes, in general, I do agree. Yes. I think some people don't like historical fiction for a variety of reasons. It may take some time for her to get it. I think she's acknowledged as being really good. I don't know that she's yet acknowledged at the level that you're saying.Frances: Yes.Henry: I think that will take a little bit longer. Maybe as and when there's a biography that will help with that, which I'm sure there will be a biography.Frances: I think they need to wait. I do think it's important to wait for a reputation to settle before starting the biography. Her biography will be very interesting because she married the same man twice. Her growth as a novelist was so extraordinary. Spark, she spent time in Africa. She had this terrible, terrible illness. She knew something. I think what I love about Mantel is, as with Spark, she knew something. She knew something, and she didn't quite know what it was that she knew. She had to write because of this knowledge. When you read her, you know that she's on a different level of understanding.Henry: You specialise in slightly neglected figures of English literature. Who else among the canonical writers deserves a bit more attention?Frances: Oh, that's interesting. I love minor characters. I think Spark was very witty about describing herself as a minor novelist or a writer of minor novels when she was evidently major. She always saw the comedy in being a minor. All the minor writers interest me. Elizabeth Bowen, Henry Green. No, they have heard Elizabeth Bowen has been treated well by Hermione Lee and Henry Green has been treated well by Jeremy Treglown.Why are they not up there yet? They're so much better than most of their contemporaries. I am mystified and fascinated by why it is that the most powerful writers tend to be kicked into the long grass. It's dazzling. When you read a Henry Green novel, you think, "But this is what it's all about. He's understood everything about what the novel can do. Why has no one heard of him?"Henry: I think Elizabeth Bowen's problem is that she's so concise, dense, and well-structured, and everything really plays its part in the pattern of the whole that it's not breezy reading.Frances: No, it's absolutely not.Henry: I think that probably holds her back in some way, even though when I have pushed it on people, most of the time they've said, "Gosh, she's a genius."Frances: Yes.Henry: It's not an easy genius. Whereas Dickens, the pages sort of fly along, something like that.Frances: Yes. One of the really interesting things about Spark is that she really, really is easy reading. At the same time, there's so much freight in those books. There's so much intellectual weight and so many games being played. There's so many books inside the books. Yet you can just read them for the pleasure. You can just read them for the plot. You can read one in an afternoon and think that you've been lost inside a book for 10 years. You don't get that from Elizabeth Bowen. That's true. The novels, you feel the weight, don't you?Henry: Yes.Frances: She's Jamesian. She's more Jamesian, I think, than Spark is.Henry: Something like A World of Love, it requires quite a lot of you.Frances: Yes, it does. Yes, it's not bedtime reading.Henry: No, exactly.Frances: Sitting up in a library.Henry: Yes. Now, you mentioned James. You're a Henry James expert.Frances: I did my PhD on Henry James.Henry: Yes. Will you ever write about him?Frances: I have, actually. Just a little plug. I've just done a selection of James's short stories, three volumes, which are coming out, I think, later this year for Riverrun with a separate introduction for each volume. I think that's all the writing I'm going to do on James. When I was an academic, I did some academic essays on him for collections and things. No, I've never felt, ever, ready to write on James because he's too complicated. I can only take tiny, tiny bits of James and home in on them.Henry: He's a great one for trying to crack the code.Frances: He really is. In fact, I was struck all the way through writing Electric Spark by James's understanding of the comedy of biography, which is described in the figure in the carpet. Remember that wonderful story where there's a writer called Verica who explains to a young critic that none of the critics have understood what his work's about. Everything that's written about him, it's fine, but it's absolutely missed his main point, his beautiful point. He said that in order to understand what the work's about, you have to look for The Figure in the Carpet. It's The Figure in the CarpetIt's the string on which my pearls are strung. A couple of critics become completely obsessed with looking for this Figure in the Carpet. Of course, Spark loved James's short stories. You feel James's short stories playing inside her own short stories. I think that one of the games she left for her biographers was the idea of The Figure in the Carpet. Go on, find it then. Find it. [laughs] The string on which my pearls are strung.Henry: Why did you leave academia? We should say that you did this before it became the thing that everyone's doing.Frances: Is everyone leaving now?Henry: A lot of people are leaving now.Frances: Oh, I didn't know. I was ahead of the curve. I left 20 years ago because I wasn't able to write the books I wanted to write. I left when I'd written two books as an academic. My first was Literary Seductions, and my second was a biography of a blackmailing courtesan called Harriet Wilson, and the book was called The Courtesan's Revenge. My department was sniffy about the books because they were published by Faber and not by OUP, and suggested that somehow I was lowering the tone of the department.This is what things were like 20 years ago. Then I got a contract to write The Ballad of Dorothy Wordsworth, my third book, again with Faber. I didn't want to write the book with my head of department in the back of my mind saying, "Make this into an academic tome and put footnotes in." I decided then that I would leave, and I left very suddenly. Now, I said I'm leaving sort of now, and I've got books to write, and felt completely liberated. Then for The Ballad of Dorothy Wordsworth, I decided not to have footnotes. It's the only book I've ever written without footnotes, simply as a celebration of no longer being in academia.Then the things I loved about being in academia, I loved teaching, and I loved being immersed in literature, but I really couldn't be around colleagues and couldn't be around the ridiculous rules of what was seen as okay. In fact, the university I left, then asked me to come back on a 0.5 basis when they realised that it was now fashionable to have someone who was a trade author. They asked me to come back, which I did not want to do. I wanted to spend days where I didn't see people rather than days where I had to talk to colleagues all the time. I think that academia is very unhappy. The department I was in was incredibly unhappy.Since then, I took up a job very briefly in another English department where I taught creative writing part-time. That was also incredibly unhappy. I don't know whether other French departments or engineering departments are happier places than English departments, but English departments are the most unhappy places I think I've ever seen.[laughter]Henry: What do you admire about the work of George Meredith?Frances: Oh, I love George Meredith. [laughs] Yes. I think Modern Love, his first novel, Modern Love, in a strange sonnet form, where it's not 14 lines, but 16 lines. By the time you get to the bottom two lines, the novel, the sonnet has become hysterical. Modern Love hasn't been properly recognised. It's an account of the breakdown of his marriage. His wife, who was the daughter of the romantic, minor novelist, Thomas Love Peacock. His wife had an affair with the artist who painted the famous Death of Chatterton. Meredith was the model for Chatterton, the dead poet in his purple silks, with his hand falling on the ground. There's a lot of mythology around Meredith.I think, as with Elizabeth Bowen and Henry Green, he's difficult. He's difficult. The other week, I tried to reread Diana of the Crossways, which was a really important novel, and I still love it. I really recognise that it's not an easy read. He doesn't try, in any way, to seduce his readers. They absolutely have to crawl inside each book to sit inside his mind and see the world as he's seeing it.Henry: Can you tell us what you will do next?Frances: At the moment, I'm testing some ideas out. I feel, at the end of every biography, you need a writer. You need to cleanse your palate. Otherwise, there's a danger of writing the same book again. I need this time, I think, to write about, to move century and move genders. I want to go back, I think, to the 19th century. I want to write about a male writer for a moment, and possibly not a novelist as well, because after being immersed in Muriel Sparks' novels, no other novel is going to seem good enough. I'm testing 19th-century men who didn't write novels, and it will probably be a minor character.Henry: Whatever it is, I look forward to reading it. Frances Wilson, thank you very much.Frances: Thank you so much, Henry. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.commonreader.co.uk/subscribe

There would not be TTPD without its tongue-in-cheek title track! In today's episode, Laura and Sara unpack the lyrics of “The Tortured Poets Department” and analyze how the song lays the groundwork for listeners to understand the gravity of Taylor's “cyclone” relationship with her fellow tortured poet. Taylor's self-awareness and sense of humor shines in this one! Who else is gonna TROLL you like Taylor?! P.S…. Stay tuned at the end of this episode, because the ladies are sharing a snippet of their newest Patreon episode unpacking the lyrics of “Maroon”! Chapters(00:00) Intro & What's On Our Plates(09:07) Taylor Updates(16:53) TTPD Introduction(22:00) Our Initial Impressions(25:02) The Folklore Of TTPD (34:10) Verse 1: Matty's Old Interviews On Typewriters, Taylor's Sense Of Humor, Familiarity(41:36) Chorus 1: Dylan Thomas & Patti Smith, "Just Kids" References To Youth & Nostalgia(46:48) Verse 2: "Chocolate" & Charlie Puth, Tattooed Golden Retriever, Similar Dread, Cyclone As Chaos, Were Taylor & Matty Coding Each Other Into Their Songs(58:45) Chorus 2: Trolling, Tongue in Cheek Playfulness(01:02:03) The Diabolical Bridge: Unpacking The Role Of Mutual Friends, "Mutual Manic Phase," Wedding Rings & How This Song Lays The Groundwork For The Rest of TTPD(01:13:21) Chorus 3 & Outro, Production Notes & Noting The Lack Of Poetic Lyricism (01:19:21) This Song As A Recipe & Our Ratings(01:23:38) Signing Off & Patreon SnippetSUPPORT US ON PATREON! Show us some love and get monthly bonus episodes and first dibs on upcoming episode ideas. We'd be enchanted to have you join our Swiftie community!Links ReferencedTaylor Swift's Ex Matty Healy Talks His Love of Typewriters in Resurfaced Clip After 'Tortured Poets' ReleaseTaylor Swift's Ex Matty Healy Praised Charlie Puth in Resurfaced Tweet From 2018Lucy Dacus Confirms Taylor Swift's ‘Tortured Poets Department' Lyric Is About Her: ‘She Texted Me and Asked for My Approval'Twix Bar RecipePlease make sure to subscribe and leave a review. If you'd like to reach out to send in a question or comment, please do so via any of these platforms:email blankplatepod@gmail.comleave a voicemail at (717) 382-831Patreon (get bonus episodes and first dibs on episode ideas)YouTubeInstagramTikTokYou can also follow Sara and Laura individually:• Laura: Instagram and Tiktok• Sara: InstagramListen to our previous podcast: Passports & Pizza

Barbara Peters in conversation with Meg Waite Clayton and Laura Dave  

This week @adafruit Pedro is back from his special assignment, he's chatting about his secret project using Sparkle Motion Mini. Our Not A Typewriter project gets a video. Prototyping new projects. The Rapid Render segment is back! Plus, a time lapse video for community makes. YouTube Video https://youtu.be/khEFYlZObyA Learn Guide https://learn.adafruit.com/not-a-typewriter Feather RP2040 USB Host https://www.adafruit.com/product/5723 I2C Solenoid Driver https://www.adafruit.com/product/6318 5V Mini Solenoid https://www.adafruit.com/product/2776 NeoPixel LED Netting https://www.adafruit.com/product/6159 Sparkle Motion Mini https://www.adafruit.com/product/6160

This week @adafruit Pedro is back from his special assignment, he's chatting about his secret project using Sparkle Motion Mini. Our Not A Typewriter project gets a video. Prototyping new projects. The Rapid Render segment is back! Plus, a time lapse video for community makes. YouTube Video https://youtu.be/khEFYlZObyA Learn Guide https://learn.adafruit.com/not-a-typewriter Feather RP2040 USB Host https://www.adafruit.com/product/5723 I2C Solenoid Driver https://www.adafruit.com/product/6318 5V Mini Solenoid https://www.adafruit.com/product/2776 NeoPixel LED Netting https://www.adafruit.com/product/6159 Sparkle Motion Mini https://www.adafruit.com/product/6160

Free STLs, Instructions and code on https://learn.adafruit.com/not-a-typewriter Build a "Not A Typewriter" with I2C Solenoid Driver and Adafruit Feather RP2040 running CircuitPython code. This device is designed to give your modern computer keyboard the essence of a vintage typewriter. The 3D printed case is designed to look like a classic typewriter and features a real service bell. It has two mini solenoids, one to emulate the loud clack of the typebars, and the other to triumphantly announce the ding of the carriage return. Learn Guide https://learn.adafruit.com/not-a-typewriter Feather RP2040 USB Host https://www.adafruit.com/product/5723 I2C Solenoid Driver https://www.adafruit.com/product/6318 5V Mini Solenoid https://www.adafruit.com/product/2776 Visit the Adafruit shop online - http://www.adafruit.com ----------------------------------------- LIVE CHAT IS HERE! http://adafru.it/discord Subscribe to Adafruit on YouTube: http://adafru.it/subscribe New tutorials on the Adafruit Learning System: http://learn.adafruit.com/ -----------------------------------------

Free STLs, Instructions and code on https://learn.adafruit.com/not-a-typewriter Build a "Not A Typewriter" with I2C Solenoid Driver and Adafruit Feather RP2040 running CircuitPython code. This device is designed to give your modern computer keyboard the essence of a vintage typewriter. The 3D printed case is designed to look like a classic typewriter and features a real service bell. It has two mini solenoids, one to emulate the loud clack of the typebars, and the other to triumphantly announce the ding of the carriage return. Learn Guide https://learn.adafruit.com/not-a-typewriter Feather RP2040 USB Host https://www.adafruit.com/product/5723 I2C Solenoid Driver https://www.adafruit.com/product/6318 5V Mini Solenoid https://www.adafruit.com/product/2776 Visit the Adafruit shop online - http://www.adafruit.com ----------------------------------------- LIVE CHAT IS HERE! http://adafru.it/discord Subscribe to Adafruit on YouTube: http://adafru.it/subscribe New tutorials on the Adafruit Learning System: http://learn.adafruit.com/ -----------------------------------------

National Pink flamingo day.  Entertainment from 1994.  Lorena Bobbitt cut off her husbands penis, Coldest temp ever recorded, Birth control pill went on sale.  Todays birthdays - June Carter Cash, Bryan Brown, Glenn Danzig, Frances McDormand, Selma Blair, Milissa Rauch.  Jonus Salk died.Intro - God did good - Dianna Corcoran    https://www.diannacorcoran.com/Pink flamingos - Tracy ByrdI swear - All 4 OneWink - Neal McCoyBirthdays - In da club - 50 Cent    http://50cent.com/Jackson - June carter Cash and Johnny CashMother - DanzigThe Big Bang Theory TV themeExit - Summer Fall - Lee Sims    https://www.leesims.com/countryundergroundradio.comHistory & Factoids webpage

This week @adafruit special guest host Liz Clark joins Noe. We're chatting about our Not A Typewriter project. Discussion on all of our past solenoid projects. Liz showcases her MIDI roundabout project. Learn Guide https://learn.adafruit.com/not-a-typewriter Feather RP2040 USB Host https://www.adafruit.com/product/5723 I2C Solenoid Driver https://www.adafruit.com/product/6318 5V Mini Solenoid https://www.adafruit.com/product/2776 BlitzCityDIY YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbAUKL7V6OOGumQEeDMYQvQ

This week @adafruit special guest host Liz Clark joins Noe. We're chatting about our Not A Typewriter project. Discussion on all of our past solenoid projects. Liz showcases her MIDI roundabout project. Learn Guide https://learn.adafruit.com/not-a-typewriter Feather RP2040 USB Host https://www.adafruit.com/product/5723 I2C Solenoid Driver https://www.adafruit.com/product/6318 5V Mini Solenoid https://www.adafruit.com/product/2776 BlitzCityDIY YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbAUKL7V6OOGumQEeDMYQvQ

This week @adafruit we're taking a look at the learn guide for our LED matrix alarm clock. For Prototyping we have a working fake typewriter using our new solenoid driver and Feather RP2040 with USB host. Our Time-lapse this week features a jellyfish designed by JIMGA on MakerWorld. YouTube Video https://youtu.be/L7PR6Om2iRk Learn Guide https://learn.adafruit.com/led-matrix-alarm-clock IS31FL3741 LED Matrix https://www.adafruit.com/product/5201 QT Py S3 https://www.adafruit.com/product/5700 I2S Audio BFF https://www.adafruit.com/product/5770 Rotary Encoder STEMMA QT https://www.adafruit.com/product/5880 Timelapse Tuesday Flexy Jellyfish By JIMGA https://makerworld.com/en/models/1484999-jellyfish-articulated-keychain https://youtu.be/OJyLPQkuWIo

This week @adafruit we're taking a look at the learn guide for our LED matrix alarm clock. For Prototyping we have a working fake typewriter using our new solenoid driver and Feather RP2040 with USB host. Our Time-lapse this week features a jellyfish designed by JIMGA on MakerWorld. YouTube Video https://youtu.be/L7PR6Om2iRk Learn Guide https://learn.adafruit.com/led-matrix-alarm-clock IS31FL3741 LED Matrix https://www.adafruit.com/product/5201 QT Py S3 https://www.adafruit.com/product/5700 I2S Audio BFF https://www.adafruit.com/product/5770 Rotary Encoder STEMMA QT https://www.adafruit.com/product/5880 Timelapse Tuesday Flexy Jellyfish By JIMGA https://makerworld.com/en/models/1484999-jellyfish-articulated-keychain https://youtu.be/OJyLPQkuWIo

This week @adafruit we're taking a look at a new alarm clocking using QTPy ESP32 and LED matrices. Prototyping a fake typewriter using the new solenoid driver. Rapid render segment highlights TRIPO. Time-lapse this week features a print-in-place iris fidget designed by LouisDesigns on MakerWorld. USB Keyset Video https://youtu.be/A8RW3y0CIgw USB Keyset Learn Guide: https://learn.adafruit.com/usb-keyset/ IS31FL3741 LED Matrix https://www.adafruit.com/product/5201 QT Py ESP32 S3 https://www.adafruit.com/product/5426 Timelapse Tuesday Iris Fidget By louisdesigns https://makerworld.com/en/models/1472499-iris-fidget-print-in-place-3d-fidget https://youtu.be/OyIp-zugD54

This week @adafruit we're taking a look at a new alarm clocking using QTPy ESP32 and LED matrices. Prototyping a fake typewriter using the new solenoid driver. Rapid render segment highlights TRIPO. Time-lapse this week features a print-in-place iris fidget designed by LouisDesigns on MakerWorld. USB Keyset Video https://youtu.be/A8RW3y0CIgw USB Keyset Learn Guide: https://learn.adafruit.com/usb-keyset/ IS31FL3741 LED Matrix https://www.adafruit.com/product/5201 QT Py ESP32 S3 https://www.adafruit.com/product/5426 Timelapse Tuesday Iris Fidget By louisdesigns https://makerworld.com/en/models/1472499-iris-fidget-print-in-place-3d-fidget https://youtu.be/OyIp-zugD54

Today's featured short by Tale Teller Clubhttps://www.taletellerclub.com

Everett and David sat down with Kirk Jackson of Nashville (December 2023) to talk typewriters and opening a new typewriter shop when so many long-time shops are closing.

In 1967, witnesses in Nova Scotia, Canada, saw something appear to crash into the waters off of Shag Harbour, then watched it travel out to sea. The case is notable for involving a UFO that appeared to travel underwater, and for prompting a secretive investigation - and subsequent coverup - from the US and Canadian militaries. Support us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/user?u=3375417 Donate on Paypal: https://ThinkAnomalous.com/support.html Website: https://ThinkAnomalous.com Full transcript & sources: https://ThinkAnomalous.com/Shag-Harbour-UFO.html Facebook: https://facebook.com/ThinkAnomalous Twitter: https://twitter.com/Think_Anomalous Instagram: https://instagram.com/Think.Anomalous Correction: At 17:30 the narration mistakenly states “1998” when it should be 1988. Think Anomalous is created by Jason Charbonneau. Illustration by V.R. Laurence (https://vrlaurence.com). Research and draft script by Clark Murphy. Music by Josh Chamberland. Animation by Brendan Barr. Sound design by Will Mountain and Josh Chamberland. Selected Sources: “Canada's Roswell Mystery at Shag Harbour.” UFO Files. Season 3, Episode 5. 44 minutes. https://imdb.com/title/tt0761646, https://youtube.com/watch?v=-YcAfHN6zdQ. Condon, Edward. Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects. New York: Colorado University Press, 1969. https://archive.org/details/scientificstudyo0000cond. Ledger, Don and Chris Styles. Dark Object: The World's Only Government-Documented UFO Crash. Dell Publishing, New York, NY, USA: 2001. MacDonald, Michael, director. The Shag Harbour UFO Incident. 2000. Ocean Entertainment Limited. 48 min. https://imdb.com/title/tt0386022. Styles, Chris and Graham Simms. Impact to Contact: The Shag Harbour Incident. Arcadia House Publishing, Halifax, NS, Canada: 2013. This podcast uses sound effects downloaded from stockmusic.com. UFO Case Review contains sound design with elements downloaded from Freesound.org. Typewriter_2rows.wav, Uploaded by Fatson under the Attribution License.

Gamepads, Mice, Keyboards, Arcade Sticks, Typewriters, whatever... LFG! Covering: #NERDSoul #GGST #Switch2 . Starring: Blerdish: https://linktr.ee/blerd.ish Open Mynd: https://bsky.app/profile/openmynd.bsky.social TJ Storm: PSN - TJStorm . For: http://patreon.com/ThatNERDSoul | CashApp: $nerdsoul From: https://nerdsoul.myspreadshop.com From: https://nerdsoul.podbean.com

Gamepads, Mice, Keyboards, Arcade Sticks, Typewriters, whatever... LFG! Covering: #NERDSoul #GGST #Switch2 . Starring: Blerdish: https://linktr.ee/blerd.ish Open Mynd: https://bsky.app/profile/openmynd.bsky.social TJ Storm: PSN - TJStorm . For: http://patreon.com/ThatNERDSoul | CashApp: $nerdsoul From: https://nerdsoul.myspreadshop.com From: https://nerdsoul.podbean.com

Sermon Summary by Dr. Bryan Hudson Title: Resurrection Power: Jesus Changed Everything Text: Philippians 3:9-11; Ephesians 1:19-20; Romans 8:11

Texas Extras are special and extended content put together just for our podcast listeners! Texas Standard recently revealed our Top 10 list from April: the Top 10 Typewriter Rodeo poems from the past decade. Each poem is pretty short, usually just about a minute long, but we still didn't have time to play them in […] The post Texas Extra: Our favorite Typewriter Rodeo poems appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.

Gamepads, Mice, Keyboards, Arcade Sticks, Typewriters, whatever... LFG! Covering: #NERDSoul #GGST #Switch2 . Starring: Blerdish: https://linktr.ee/blerd.ish Open Mynd: https://bsky.app/profile/openmynd.bsky.social TJ Storm: PSN - TJStorm

This month's guests:Stephanie Vermillion, Travel Journalist and Author.Traci Cardinal, President of Dark Sky Ohio.Shane Ludtke, host of the Actual Astronomy Podcast.Bill's News Picks:World Becomes Brighter as Trump Reverses Biden's Incandescent Light Bulb Ban, Leslie Eastman, Legal Insurrection.E Ink's color ePaper tech gets supersized for outdoor displays, Paul Ridden, New Atlas.Portsmouth Neighborhood Wins Light Pollution Battle with Tiverton Boatyard, Michael Rock, Fun107.It Pays to Sit Tight: Stable Night-Time Incubation Increases Hatching Success in Urban and Forest Great Tits, Parus major, Zoological Science.How You Can Still Stargaze Under Light Pollution, Tony Phillips, HowToGeek.Subscribe:Apple PodcastSpotifyYoutubeTag Us and Share with a Friend:InstagramLinkedInTikTokFacebookConnect:Bill@LightPollutionNews.comJoin our Mailing ListSend Feedback Text to the Show!Support the showA hearty thank you to all of our paid supporters out there. You make this show possible. For only the cost of one coffee each month you can help us to continue to grow. That's $3 a month. If you like what we're doing, if you think this adds value in any way, why not say thank you by becoming a supporter! Why Support Light Pollution News? Receive quarterly invite to join as live audience member for recordings with special Q&A session post recording with guests. Receive all of the news for that month via a special Supporter monthly mailer. Satisfaction that your support helps further critical discourse on this topic. About Light Pollution News: The path to sustainable starry night solutions begin with being a more informed you. Light Pollution, once thought to be solely detrimental to astronomers, has proven to be an impactful issue across many disciplines of society including ecology, crime, technology, health, and much more! But not all is lost! There are simple solutions that provide for big impacts. Each month, Bill McGeeney, is joined by upwards of three guests to help you grow your awareness and understanding of both the challenges and the road to recovering our disappearing nighttime ecosystem.

Laptop? Typewriter? On your phone? The correct method is the one that speaks most to the author.#writing #podcast #author

The typewriter was patented by four inventors in Milwaukee in 1868, and today, the machine is having something of an unexpected revival, with the city even hosting a convention for typewriter enthusiasts called Qwertyfest.Lisa Floading is one such enthusiast and collector, and joins Seán to discuss.

Gamepads, Mice, Keyboards, Arcade Sticks, Typewriters, whatever... LFG! Covering: #NERDSoul #SoR4 #StreetsofRage4 . Starring: Blerdish: https://linktr.ee/blerd.ish Open Mynd: https://bsky.app/profile/openmynd.bsky.social TJ Storm: PSN - TJStorm .

Gamepads, Mice, Keyboards, Arcade Sticks, Typewriters, whatever... LFG! . Starring: Blerdish: https://linktr.ee/blerd.ish Open Mynd: https://bsky.app/profile/openmynd.bsky.social TJ Storm: PSN - TJStorm .

Welcome back to another episode of the Online Warriors Podcast! This week we have a very special episode! The gang discusses the latest in TV and Gaming! - Apple TV Losing Billions (6:35) - March Nintendo Direct (20:01)  - Metroid Prime 4 Beyond (20:40)  - Pokémon Legends ZA (25:51)  - Virtual Game Cards (28:27)  - Nintendo Today (31:25)  - Witchbrook (35:26)  - Shadow Labyrinth (38:24)  - Disney Villains Cursed Cafe (39:42)  - Monument Valley 1, 2, and 3 (42:17)  - Rhythm Heaven Groove (43:13)  - Marvel Cosmic Invasion (43:55)  - Tomodachi Life Living the Dream (44:54) Then we talk about what the gang has been up to: - Techtic plays Long Shots and Mario Party Jamboree and works on an E-ink Typewriter (49:22) - Illeagle plays God of War, finishes the Murderbot Diaries, and listens to Laufey (51:15) - Nerdbomber watches The Life List and Side Quest (52:48)   Special shoutout to our Patreon Producers: Steven Keller and Loyd Weldy!   We'd like to thank each and every one of you for listening in every week. If you'd like to support the show, you can drop us a review on your favorite podcast platform or, if you're feeling extra generous, drop us a subscribe over at Patreon.com/OnlineWarriorsPodcast. We have three tiers of subscriptions, each of which gives you some awesome bonus content! As always, we appreciate you tuning in, and look forward to seeing you next week! Stay safe and healthy everyone! Find us all over the web: Online Warriors Website: https://www.onlinewarriorspodcast.com Online Warriors Twitter: https://twitter.com/onlinewarriors1 Illeagle's Twitter: https://twitter.com/OWIlleagle86 Nerdbomber's Twitter: https://twitter.com/OWNerdbomber Techtic's Twitter: https://twitter.com/OWTechtic Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onlinewarriorspodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onlinewarriorspodcast/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwOwzY6aBcTFucWEeFEtwIg Merch Store: https://onlinewarriorspodcast-shop.fourthwall.com/

After 45 years, owner Tom Furrier is retiring. To celebrate his decades in business, he held a final "type-in" for more than 100 typewriter lovers.

Kicking off the episode, Rob and the crew delve into the pressing question: "Is James Harden enough to get the Clippers to the Western Conference Finals?" Rob’s candid response shows skepticism, especially in light of key player Kawhi Leonard's uncertain status. This discussion highlights not just Robert's analytical prowess but also his penchant for direct conversations about team dynamics and playoff potential. And as we dive into March Madness, Rob dissects the intimidating reputation UConn holds among competitors, prompting discussions about current players like Juju Watkins at USC and the ongoing competitions that shape the basketball landscape.   The discussion takes an entertaining turn when Brian Scalabrini's recent showdown at New York's legendary West 4th Street Courts is brought into the spotlight. Known for his undying competitive spirit, Scalabrini, at 47, takes on a streetballer who claims New York supremacy and embarrasses the hell out of him. And as a newest member of the Grizzlies, Yuki Kawamura faces a unique challenge—language. Currently picking up English under the mentorship of Ja Morant, Kawamura amusingly and perhaps unfortunately, has learned only colorful phrases so far. This leads to a broader conversation on languages everyone wishes to learn, highlighting the entertaining linguistic misadventures and cultural exchanges that come with cross-border collaborations.   Capping off the episode is a nostalgic journey through sporting greatness. Robert and the guys reminisce about witnessing athletic legends live; from Serena Williams' grace on the tennis court to Michael Jordan dropping 50 points at a Bulls game. These reflections not only speak to the indescribable excitement that legendary performances invoke but also celebrate the remarkable careers that continue to inspire. The crew discusses players they wish they'd seen live—Dr. J, Gale Sayers, and more. These wishes illustrate a deep respect for the game’s evolution and history, emphasizing the impact sports heroes have beyond the court or field.   00:00 Introduction and Welcome 00:39 Fan Questions: James Harden and the Clippers 01:56 Discussion on UConn and Women's Basketball 05:49 Brian Scalabrini's Streetball Challenge 11:50 Yuki Kawamura and Learning English 13:18 The Easiest Class Ever 13:46 Struggles with Learning Dutch 14:41 Attempting to Learn Spanish 16:04 Interest in Sign Language 16:27 Funny Sign Language Story 18:09 Clemson's Locker Room Mishap 19:03 Elevator Incident at LSU 20:02 Bill Belichick's Yoga Adventure 24:28 Best Athletes Seen Live

Bestselling author Sharon Sala joins us for a heartwarming conversation about her latest holiday romance, SNOWY MOUNTAIN CHRISTMAS. Sharon shares the inspiration behind this emotional and uplifting story, the unique challenges of writing a Christmas novel, and how she weaves suspense and deep character connections into her books. We also dive into her incredible career—spanning over 145 books—and how she keeps storytelling fresh across genres. Plus, she gives us a behind-the-scenes look at her writing process, the importance of finding a creative community, and what's next on her horizon! If you love festive romances with heart, healing, and a touch of drama, this is an episode you won't want to miss! LINKS: Sharon Sala: https://freshfiction.com/author.php?id=4913 SNOWY MOUNTAIN CHRISTMAS: https://freshfiction.com/book.php?id=132628

Gamepads, Mice, Keyboards, Arcade Sticks, Typewriters, whatever... LFG! Covering: #NERDSoul #SoR4 #StreetsofRage4 . Starring: Blerdish: https://linktr.ee/blerd.ish Open Mynd: https://bsky.app/profile/openmynd.bsky.social TJ Storm: PSN - TJStorm .

Gamepads, Mice, Keyboards, Arcade Sticks, Typewriters, whatever... LFG! Covering: #NERDSoul #FatalFuryCoTW #FGC . Starring: Blerdish: https://linktr.ee/blerd.ish Open Mynd: https://bsky.app/profile/openmynd.bsky.social TJ Storm: PSN - TJStorm .

In honor of the SNL 50th anniversary we are re-upping this episode! Amy joins Rachel to talk about their showbiz beginnings together in Chicago and then moves on to the world of woo woo. While Amy is a self-proclaimed skeptic about ghosts, it turns out she is way into the enneagram, manifesting, and…crystals? Hey! Maybe she's more woo woo than she first thought! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lindsey Fidler's quest to find her biological father started with jazz and an American Air Force Base. It ended with a trip to the U.S. through a disastrous free flights promotion run by the British division of Hoover Vacuums.Sociologist Lindsey Fidler's parents met and married in the 1960s in East Anglia, United Kingdom.They would go to jazz clubs and socialise with the men from the American Air Force base nearby.Lindsey's father was known as The Typewriter King because he could fix any typewriter in the area.He had contracts to repair machines on the nearby base, and even in London, where he was responsible for some of the Royal typewriters.This was the world Lindsey knew — the one she was born into. However, she was always separated from it somehow.Adults behaved strangely around her, and she felt she didn't fit in.She was 22 when her parents sat her down and told her why.This episode of Conversations touches on biological fathers, family secrets, secrets we keep, epic life stories, belonging, identity, race, infidelity, siblings, affairs, being mixed race, blended families, biological parents, step parents, sociology, finding dad, personal stories, origin stories, typewriters, jazz, U.S. military, motherhood and self.

In this episode, Jennifer chats with Allie Millington about the profound impact of literature, particularly middle grade books, on identity and connection. They discuss the themes of loneliness and bravery in Millington's book Olivetti,'and the importance of fostering authentic connections in a hyper-connected world. Millington shares her experiences with young readers during school visits, the significance of endorsements from figures like Tom Hanks, and her upcoming projects, including a new middle grade novel and a picture book. Show notes, including episode transcripts and information about connecting with this episode's guest, can be found here.  Chapters Books became an escape and a safe place for me. I want to write books that touch young people's lives. Middle schoolers are my favorite age group. The antidote to loneliness is connection. Olivetti is a story about bravery. Middle grade is not just for 9 to 12 year olds. Empathy and acceptance are important in storytelling. I want to encourage conversations about loneliness. Tom Hanks' endorsement changed everything for me. Typewriters connect different generations.

Welcome to my in-depth keyboard collection tour featuring soft-spoken ASMR. I'll walk through each unique keyboard, describing their key features and characteristics and also demonstrate the sounds with dedicated keyboard typing. The keyboard sounds range from standard mechanical, to typewriter, to thocky or creamy. I hope you find this in depth overview and keyboard typing relaxing. Enjoy. ✨https://youtu.be/bsXzWT1x3WASubscribe to my ASMR Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/PetiteStacy

Gamepads, Mice, Keyboards, Arcade Sticks, Typewriters, whatever... LFG! Covering: #NERDSoul #FatalFuryCoTW #FGC . Starring: Blerdish: https://linktr.ee/blerd.ish Open Mynd: https://bsky.app/profile/openmynd.bsky.social TJ Storm: PSN - TJStorm .

Text written with a typewriter is not the same as text written by hand, composed on a computer, sent in a text message, or generated by artificial intelligence. Like all media, the typewriter does not just transmit what a person wants to write. It is its own particular medium. In the 20th century, it changed the way writers write and the way people read—profoundly altering warfare, commerce, literature, and, perhaps most dramatically, gender relations. Media Objects is produced in collaboration with Media Studies at Cornell University. With support from the college of Arts and Sciences and the Society for the Humanities. Editing and academic counsel from Erik Born, Jeremy Braddock, and Paul Fleming.

Gamepads, Mice, Keyboards, Arcade Sticks, Typewriters, whatever... LFG! . Covering: #NERDSoul #Coreupt #FGC . Blerd-ish: https://bsky.app/profile/blerd-ish.bsky.social Open Mynd: https://bsky.app/profile/openmynd.bsky.social .

On The News Quiz this week, Andy Zaltzman is joined by Ayesha Hazarika, Susie McCabe, Geoff Norcott and Pierre Novellie to discuss Britain's attempts to court the US and the EU, Trump's tariff turmoil, new report cards from Ofsted, and Starmer's uncovered voice coaching.Written by Andy Zaltzman.With additional material by: Jade Gebbie, Alex Kealy, Christina Riggs and Stuart McPherson. Producer: Rajiv Karia Executive Producer: Richard Morris Production Coordinator: Jodie Charman Sound Editor: Marc WillcoxA BBC Studios Audio Production for Radio 4 An Eco-Audio certified Production.

There are only a handful of people in the U.S. who can fix manual typewriters, and one of them lives right here in Phoenix. We'll meet the man who loves his work, even though it might kill him. Plus, the measures that some resorts are taking to monitor pool chair usage.

Gamepads, Mice, Keyboards, Arcade Sticks, Typewriters, whatever... LFG! . Covering: #NERDSoul #Coreupt #FGC . Blerd-ish: https://bsky.app/profile/blerd-ish.bsky.social Open Mynd: https://bsky.app/profile/openmynd.bsky.social .

Gamepads, Mice, Keyboards, Arcade Sticks, Typewriters, whatever... LFG! Covering: #NERDSoul #Coreupt #FGC . Blerd-ish: https://bsky.app/profile/blerd-ish.bsky.social Open Mynd: https://bsky.app/profile/openmynd.bsky.social .

Gamepads, Mice, Keyboards, Arcade Sticks, Typewriters, whatever... LFG! . Covering: #NERDSoul #Gaming #FGC . Open Mynd: https://bsky.app/profile/openmynd.bsky.social .

Shrimp Fraud… Asteroid may hit Earth?... Recalls / Cal Yee Farm Chocolates / Chicken Broth… Justin Tucker Accused… Black History Month begins tomorrow… Grammys on Sunday… Chilis happy with sales… Drones in the sky… Email: Chewingthefat@theblaze.com Who Died Today: 32 year old in Uganda man with Sudan Strain Ebola… Emily Willis - brain damage - cardiac arrest -Ketamine addiction treatment… Marrianne Faithful 78…www.shopblazemedia.com Subscribe to Blaze TV www.blazetv.com/jeffy Typewriter company closing down... What's The Lie? Headlines with Wesley… Joke of The Day from Jason… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Lamorning After is live from Dynasty Typewriter in LA! We're excited to welcome back Jake Johnson, Damon Wayans Jr and Alesha Renee for our first live show! Thank you to everyone who came out or bought the live stream.Buy tickets for The Lamorning After at SF Sketchfest January 26th.MERCH AVAILABLE: https://www.thelamorningafter.com/FIND US ON SOCIALS AT linktr.ee/thelamorningafterCALL OUR HOTLINE AT 323-238-9395This is a Headgum podcast. Follow Headgum on Twitter, Instagram, and Tiktok. Advertise on The Lamorning After via Gumball.fm.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

With the next flagship show set to drop on January 8, 2025, we thought we'd tide you over with this conversation on the art and craft and writing, originally recorded for Listener's Tier patrons on the Weird Studies Patreon. To join our Patreon community, please visit www.patreon.com/weirdstudies. To purchase tickets to Phil and JF's winter solstice celebration, happening on Weirdosphere on Thursday, December 19, at 8 pm Eastern, please visit www.weirdosphere.org. We wish you a happy and safe holiday season! The journey continues in 2025.