Live from the University of Evansville campus and the Shanklin Theatre, where Rami Malek once trod the boards…

One True Podcast welcomes Alex Vernon for an interview recorded live in front of a captive audience of students, faculty, and community members in Evansville, Indiana, as he discusses his magnificent new biography of Tim O’Brien, Peace Is a Shy Thing: The Life and Art of Tim O’Brien.

Vernon explains his process of how to write a true biography, O’Brien’s life and relationship to the Vietnam War, what distinguishes O’Brien’s style as a writer, the enduring power of some of his greatest work, and much more. It is a generous, penetrating Q&A session with the world’s preeminent O’Brien scholar.

Vernon – who has previously joined One True Podcast for a discussion of Hemingway and War, as well as an episode devoted to “Soldier’s Home” – lends his essential perspective to this essential contemporary writer.

** Special thanks to the UE students for their insightful questions at the end, and to the wizardry of sound designer Jon Robertson for his assistance. **

Episode Bibliography

Tim O’Brien works mentioned:

• Going After Cacciato
• If I Die in a Combat Zone
• In the Lake of the Woods
• The Things They Carried

Other works mentioned:

• Five-volume biography of Hemingway by Michael Reynolds (The Young Hemingway, Hemingway: The Paris Years, Hemingway: The Homecoming, Hemingway: The 1930s, Hemingway: The Final Years)

In our fourth episode celebrating the centenary of The Sun Also Rises, we examine the theme of religion and its role in the novel.

From the title, the epigraphs, the pilgrims on the train, Jake’s self-conscious prayer, the festival of San Fermín, and the idea of fishing as a religious experience, Larry Grimes guides us through this vast topic and shows Hemingway’s religious design in The Sun Also Rises. Grimes also discusses the minor roles of Harris and Montoya and explains why Jake is such a rotten Catholic.

Listening to Larry Grimes talk about such a crucial topic in this great novel is our idea of a divine pleasure. We hope you’ll enjoy it, too!

Also, in these Sun Also Rises episodes, we enjoy the legendary actor William Hurt reading from Jake’s fascinating prayer in chapter 10, courtesy of our friends at Simon & Schuster Audio.

Audio excerpt courtesy of Simon & Schuster Audio from The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, read by William Hurt. Copyright © 1926 by Charles Scribner’s Sons. Used with permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Thank you for supporting One True Podcast, from Mark and Michael (each with a hell of a Biblical name!)

Legendary scholar Jackson Bryer joins us once again, this time to discuss one controversial moment in Hemingway’s career, his vicious “poor Scott Fitzgerald” swipe in the original publication of “The Snows of Kilimanjaro.”

We discuss the publication history of this graceless insult, what it says about Hemingway and what it says about Fitzgerald. We go on to discuss “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” as a story and the ways that wealth emerges as one of Fitzgerald’s central themes. We explore the nature of the Hemingway-Fitzgerald relationship in the 1930s, Fitzgerald’s “The Rich Boy,” and other works where the very rich emerge as important characters.

Join us in our romantic awe of Jackson Bryer as he guides us through this notorious moment in Hemingway’s career!

In the midst of our centenary festivities around The Sun Also Rises, One True Podcast takes an opportunity to celebrate another Hemingway work published in 1926: The Torrents of Spring.

Elena Zolotariov, author of "'Black and Red Laughter': Subverting Whiteness in Hemingway’s The Torrents of Spring" (from the Fall 2023 issue of the Hemingway Review), joins us to offer an exploration and even defense of Hemingway's neglected satire. In this episode, we talk about how and why Hemingway satirizes Sherwood Anderson's Dark Laughter, examine the plot of Hemingway's novella and the characters we meet along the way, and finally discuss its legacy.

At the end of the episode, enjoy Garnet Ungar's rendition of Chopin's Étude Op. 10, No. 4 (Torrent). For even more on The Torrents of Spring and its publication history, also check out our episode with Ross K. Tangedal on Hemingway in 1926.

In our third episode celebrating the centenary of The Sun Also Rises, we examine the novel’s anti-Semitic streak and the central role of its Jewish character, Robert Cohn.

We welcome the scholar Jeremy Kaye of Moorpark College for a discussion about this incendiary theme, the difference between Hemingway’s anti-Semitism and his characters, Cohn’s Jewish masculinity, his function as a scapegoat, the historical inspiration for Cohn, and much more. Even those who count The Sun Also Rises as their favorite novel admit to cringing at the hateful anti-Semitic slurs uttered by the characters. Enjoy Jeremy Kaye’s spirited defense of Robert Cohn and his "main-character energy"!

As always in these Sun Also Rises episodes, we enjoy the legendary actor William Hurt reading a memorable scene featuring Cohn, courtesy of our friends at Simon & Schuster Audio.

Audio excerpt courtesy of Simon & Schuster Audio from The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, read by William Hurt. Copyright © 1926 by Charles Scribner’s Sons. Used with permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

On the happy occasion of the publication of Francesca Wade’s magnificent Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife, we speak with the biographer about Stein’s life, work, and complicated relationships.

Wade describes her access to new Stein archives that afforded her a fresh look on the enigmatic writer, the difference between Stein's legend and her life, the particular value of her various publications, and what she was ultimately trying to capture with her singular writing style. Wade also explores Stein’s “afterlife,” the controversial legacy that her writings and persona have left us.

We also discuss the fraught Hemingway-Stein relationship, that cryptic passage in A Moveable Feast, and what each might have meant to the other.

Join us for a new consideration of one of Hemingway’s oldest friendships and rivalries!

In our second episode devoted to the centenary of The Sun Also Rises, we turn our focus to the beloved Count Mippipopolous.

He’s an epicurean and an entrepreneur; he’s battle-tested, arrow-wounded, champagne-enjoying, no-dancing, business-tripping, generous-tipping... and he’s always in love. We discuss his role in the novel, his relationship with Brett and Jake, Hemingway’s original plan for him in the manuscript, and how he emerges as such a resonant figure.

Make sure to listen for a snippet of Leonard Nimoy as the Count in the polarizing 1984 mini-series, where he says things that he doesn’t say in the novel. As always, we enjoy the legendary actor William Hurt reading a pivotal scene involving the Count, courtesy of our friends at Simon & Schuster Audio.

If you’re quite one of us, you will love this exploration of Hemingway’s great novel and this indelible, magnificently alive secondary character.

Audio excerpt courtesy of Simon & Schuster Audio from The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, read by William Hurt. Copyright © 1926 by Charles Scribner’s Sons. Used with permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

We are thrilled to welcome Susan Shillinglaw, the preeminent John Steinbeck scholar, to discuss one of Hemingway’s contemporaries and fellow Nobel laureates.

Although Hemingway and Steinbeck are not discussed comparatively as frequently as some of his other fellow literary titans, Prof. Shillinglaw talks about Steinbeck’s life, career, and temperament in ways that will inspire us to remap the overlaps between these two men. We explore Steinbeck’s fondness for “The Butterfly and the Tank,” Hemingway and Steinbeck’s different paths during the 1930s, the way The Red Pony’s Jody Tiflin functions as a Nick Adams-like character, and much more.

Make sure to tune in to the very end of the episode! In honor of Steinbeck, our friend Michael Kim Roos treats us to a version of Woody Guthrie’s “Tom Joad.” For more information about Mike’s music, see: https://mikeroos.com.