Quality Lit Game

On a wholesome episode of a new podcast, co-hosts Clementine Ford, Vincenzo Barney, and Christian Lorentzen turn to Vladimir Nabokov’s 1957 novel Pnin . Topics discussed include the theme of the holy fool; how to write about an innocent man when you’ve just written about a monster; etymology; living in a language other than the one you were born into; teaching a language you don’t know how to spea...

On yet another episode of a new podcast given over to the dubious subject of controversial cinematic literary adaptations, co-hosts Clementine Ford, Vincenzo Barney, and Christian Lorentzen review the new film “Wuthering Heights” by Emerald Fennel and the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. Topics discussed include camp; the gothic; the erotic; Catherine Earnshaw and Mr. Heathcliff; Margot Ro...

On the raucous tenth episode of a new podcast,  n+1  film critic A.S. Hamrah joins co-hosts Clementine Ford, Vincenzo Barney, and Christian Lorentzen to talk about his new books  Algorithm of the Night: Film Writing 2018-2024   and  Last Week in End Times Cinema . Topics discussed include the beautifully lit movie screens of New York City; Amy Adams;  Hillbilly Elegy ; MTV girls; Amazon propaganda...

On a woodsy episode of a new podcast, co-hosts Clementine Ford, Vincenzo Barney, and Christian Lorentzen review  Train Dreams , a film by Clint Bentley adapted from the 2011 novella by Denis Johnson. Topics discussed include: modernity; time; fire; murder; subtext; Terrence Malick;  The Big Lebowski ; lumberjacks; logging; timber; the superiority of the theatrical cinematic experience when it come...

On the contentious eighth episode of a new podcast, co-hosts Clementine Ford, Vincenzo Barney, and Christian Lorentzen review Hamnet , the new film by Chloe Zhao, adapted from Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel of the same name. Topics discussed include lead actors Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley; one co-host’s fondness for the movie, especially its first half; the two other co-hosts’ utter loathing of...

On the uncharacteristically consensus-driven seventh episode of a usually contentious new podcast, co-hosts Clementine Ford, Vincenzo Barney, and Christian Lorentzen linger on the bitter virtues and delicious vices of Martin Amis’s third novel Success . Topics discussed include brotherhood; decadence; incest; murder; suicide; the hatred of roommates; time and novelistic structure; the geography of...

On this episode of a new ideologically idiosyncratic podcast,  Maureen Tkacik  of the  American Prospect joins co-hosts Clementine Ford,  Vincenzo Barney , and  Christian Lorentzen  to discuss the life and crimes of the late Richard B. Cheney. Topics discussed include Joan Didion’s 2006  essay  on Cheney and his status as her final and perhaps most sinister muse (beyond even Manson); the fleeting...

On a new episode of an intergenerational podcast, guest Sloane Crosley and co-hosts Clementine Ford, Vincenzo Barney, and Christian Lorentzen discuss the 1970 documentary  ⁠ Norman Mailer vs. Fun City, USA ,⁠ about Mailer’s failed 1969 campaign for the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York City, and tomorrow’s mayoral election. Topics discussed include: the co-hosts’ whereabouts and the orig...

In this episode of a new podcast, Vincenzo Barney, Clementine Ford, and Christian Lorentzen discuss the many films of the late actress Diane Keaton; her range and acting style; the lives of Louise Bryant and Jack Reed; the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, an occasion that prompts one co-host to red-bait another during a discussion of  Reds ;  Annie Hall , missing Keaton; the never married Keaton’s...

On Thomas Pynchon's  Shadow Ticket , recent reviews of the novel, and the challenges of reviewing Pynchon. Plus, talk of Oprah's Book Club, Norman Mailer, Cormac McCarthy and more. Co-hosted by Christian Lorentzen, Clementine Ford, and Vincenzo Barney.

We talk  One Battle After Another , PTA, Pynchon, and Rod Stewart's Daughter.