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This was refreshing and inspiring, thank you!

Love this conversation-style interview! You're good at moderating, the transition between topics flowed so naturally. Without having read the book yet, I feel like I learned a lot just by listening!

Borrowing from the poets, going against the grain, great interview

cool and interesting

Hope you had a great trip to NYC - I loved seeing the wintry clips. I've only been to NYC briefly during summer, but I went to The Strand and remember it being like a bookstore dreamland haha. I'd never seen such a large bookstore before, it was amazing! Also, was that your own recording for the music? It was so pretty :') Regarding your short story, you have me hooked with those first and last scenes, so if you choose to make a Substack, I would be very keen to read it! I also totally get what you mean by needing to make a character worse to keep you interested haha. Complex characters like that are more interesting. As for Their Eyes Were Watching God, I loved the idea of those characters going to church for the gossip. And the main girl having all the different expectations on her from white people and her various husbands - it really makes you think about real-life situations like that and what it does to their identity and choice. To be treated almost as an object of sorts, what kind of sense of self do you end up developing? And there are layers to it, too: on one hand, you're being discriminated for your colour, on the other, for being a woman. You spoke about Toni Morrison so eloquently. I love how you described the book and her writing as "so careful and alive" and that it "makes you appreciate what words can make you feel". I've only read Sula, but I agree, every word of hers feels like it's in the right place. I am very keen to read Song of Solomon after watching this! Also for the wacky names haha. Thanks so much for the video! Looking forward to the interview with Ricky. And best of luck for the semester :)

One of my favorite books; I read it a few years back. In my personal analysis, I saw a lot of the characters as actual chess pieces. Luzhin being the King -- which doesn't like to be touched by other characters because of the vulnerable nature of the piece. As well as it being very weak, much like he is especially stated in early childhood. Additionally, Nabakov describes the floor several times to resemble that of a chessboard. And at the end, commits "sui-mate", i.e., knock himself over and end the game. This is very stylistically postmodern, as Nabokov is playing a langauge game with the amount of layers of analysis and his resistance against versimilitude. It becomes a game within the (language) game of his novel. When I read this years back, there was nothing online about it. I'm glad there is now; it's such an underrated novel.

We read Their Eyes Were Watching God in my 11th grade English class. This was the book that got me hooked on reading! We watched the movie as well, a good film but not nearly as good as the book imo.

Almost every book you talk about gets added to my to read list. Love a longer video!

I'm so excited to start reading Toni Morrison, I've found a beautiful copy of the bluest eye in a used bookstore and was in awe of the first pages

I love your longer videos! Don’t worry about how long your video is, I (like a lot of others) personally love longer length videos pertaining to books because it starts broad with the synopsis or overview of the book and gets specific as it shifts to their personal experience and perspective of the book.

Their eyes were watching God has been on my list for the longest time. I happened to postpone all of my american lit for this year. So my tbr list is massive, but hopefully I will manage to read everything. 🙏

Great video as always. I had a professor in college who talked about the diction in Their Eyes Were Watching God and some Toni Morrison novels saying it's a fine line - you want to present speech authentically but also not unnecessarily reinforce stereotypes or portray a character as unintelligent. In what I've read Morrison strikes the best balance, especially in Beloved. But I like how you brought up how it's used in Their Eyes Were Watching God to strong effect. Glad you loved Song of Solomon - Toni Morrison is among my favorites in African American literature. The psychological complexity of her characters is just unmatched. My spine tingled on the last page of that book, and I’ve found a lot of her output is really strong. You will probably really like Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison if you haven’t read it yet…similar subject matter but just extraordinarily nuanced examination of race relations. This quote below has stuck with me for years from Song of Solomon: “Bryn Mawr had done what a four-year dose of liberal education was designed to do: unfit her for eighty percent of the useful work of the world. First, by training her for leisure time, enrichments, and domestic mindfulness. Second, by a clear implication that she was too good for such work.”

What’s your outlining/plotting process like for the novel you’re writing?

lol appreciate the shoutout fellas

no video is ever too long if its discussion abt literature!! I really loved the video and your guest Dyson too, def plan to read Diane Seuss' works

great video, keep bringing more people.

We need more videos like this!

I love listening in on a discussion like this! Thanks for sharing

I bought Invitation to a Beheading because I watched this video a couple of months ago and your quick summary piqued my interest. I just finished the book like 5 mins ago and came back to say that I enjoyed it more than I expected and I did find some parts heartbreaking. It was the first russian lit book I ever read and to your point, it was definitely a fever dream of a read but I found it fun.I'm going to check out some more nabokov!

This was so much fun, I love seeing people being so passionate and enthusiastic about reading, and specially about poetry. Not enough people are reading and raving about poetry, about young poets. I'd love to see you both doing a video together once in a while, and this not being a one time thing. It was so awesome seeing the interaction between you, same with your videos with you and your dad.

This is off-topic, but I enjoy the labels of the little video sections/chapters, especially when the videos are long and you have to come up with what to call so many of them haha. What a fun video! I love Dyson's passion and energy for poetry. I almost wish that these were the types of conversations we could have had in school, just chatting with peers and bouncing off one another. I am a big advocate for making literature, poetry, etc more accessible, so I really appreciate at the end when he talks about there being no right way to read poetry. I am definitely someone who has been more comfortable with prose, but all forms of writing have so much to offer, and personally, I really enjoy breaking down pieces of writing and analysing them, whatever form. With Diane Seuss, I thought it was interesting when you guys mentioned her having life experience before writing poetry because that's something that has always frustrated me with my own writing. Sometimes I feel a bit limited because I feel as if I can only write something well if I've experienced it, and you know, I'm only mid-twenties and haven't seen much of the world or experienced as much as some others. I don't think these things should be limitations, but yeah, it's tricky to break out of. Also loved that she had what was deemed a "cobbled education" and that she only won the Pulitzer prize in her 60s. It goes to show that we often have these expectations or ideas of linearity in our lives that don't necessarily have to be followed to be "good" or "successful". Lastly, that line that you read out, "what do you want from me, what did you ever want from me?" was one of those punched-in-the-chest moments. I really felt it. You guys really grabbed me with the Denis Johnson, goodness. Again, love a character that's an awful person and is meant to kind of infuriate you. I don't know why, but if they're written well, it's great. Although, yes, definitely to take with a grain of salt haha. And such a good question that Dyson mentioned: "how do we love people when it's hard to love them? What is loveable in people?" Sometimes it makes your videos feel like a therapy session haha. But yeah, if we think about it, that's a question that probably comes up at some point in every relationship. We're all human, we all have tough times. And especially when it comes to family, which are relationships we haven't chosen. Anyway, I'm getting carried away. Thanks to Dyson for reading out his poem - that imagery was gorgeous! I always enjoy when a piece is brought full circle (like the reversing of the car), yet the two scenes have different meaning. And, of course, twisting the mind with an unreliable narrator. Thanks for the video, Alex! Thoroughly enjoyed it :) well done if you made it to the end of this insanely long comment haha.

This was such a fun watch! Whether or not this was the goal, the way you two talked about poetry-casually, in your room, with a friend, joking around-really made it feel more accessible. I usually read fiction and have always found poetry a bit obscure, like Dyson mentioned, but his passion for Diane Seuss actually made me want to check her out. Dyson's poem was very lucid and beautiful. Thanks for sharing this video!

love, love Dyson Smith. Smart, articulate, organized, good voice, and really cute

I can't say anything about their choice of reading material; I'm just happy to see these young guys being enthusiastic about poetry. If there are more of them maybe the genre won't disappear after all.

excited for the interviews!

I haven’t read Jesus’s Son for 10 years or so. It was gifted to me by a poet friend who was getting his MFA at the time, so perhaps there’s something where Johnson’s prose resonates with poets. Thank you for the excuse to go back to it though - I paused the video halfway through and reread Dirty Wedding. I don’t blame you for framing it this way but I guess I rarely consider the morality or immorality of a character and instead see what makes them human, or how I can relate to them. Perhaps the capacity for destruction (of self and others) is an instinct I understand, so there’s less distance between myself and the character. He’s a drifter and a loner and someone who clearly needs help, and you’re right to point out his hypocrisy in criticizing crowded low income housing when he himself navigates those circles. Almost reminds me of the film Taxi Driver. I always found Johnson’s ability to capture what’s often thought but rarely uttered or acted upon, like following someone off a train out of curiosity or watching a family through a window like in the final story Beverly Home. It’s too perverse an instinct to say aloud and yet I can’t say I’ve never had the thought. Beverly Home is still my favorite in the collection, because perhaps we find some redemption for the first time, a reprieve from the emotional and physical destruction in a community or a “place for people like us.” Again, great video. Really insightful, and thanks for giving me a reason to pick up my dusty copy of Jesus’s Son.

I love seeing the work of Dyson! He's very authentycal! Very good! Thank you, Akex and Dyson! ❤❤

next time we'll just do shapero and shoot for sub 30 minutes <3

I loved this video. Dyson is super insightful and thoughtful. I’m going to pick up modern poetry now! Alex obviously the videos with just you are great too but I’m really enjoying these guests and dynamic conversations

i guess this is the new Dead Poets Society and once again I just wanna be a part of it

Love this! keep it up with poetry videos, i would love to hear more about your views on other poets as well

These types of videos Are really good Keep up the good work alex

Honestly a perfect video to wake up to, glad it’s long video🥳

Ooh a long video to have my breakfast with! As someone who can't for the life me understand poetry, I hope I pick up some things from this video hahaha 😅

I love how passionate Dyson is about Diane Seuss. Now I gotta read her poems.

I'm very much looking forward to the interviews with both Dyson and Ricky. When you spoke about Ricky's support and how he remembers details of your stories I almost got a little emotional because those are the types of people who can really have an impact on your life and propel you forward. We all deserve someone like that, so I'm really glad you've had him :) and will definitely check out his short stories in the meantime! I hope everything works out with the research project - that sounds so interesting! If you ever get time to share bits about what you learn or how it's going, I'd be keen to hear about it. I've got my first Baldwin (Another Country) waiting on my shelf for this year, so I'm looking forward to reading that. Enjoy New York! And a belated happy new year! I hope it's a wonderful one for you. Thank you, as always, for these videos and for this channel. It's definitely kept me motivated when it comes to reading and writing, so I appreciate that. And I think it's just kept me thinking, as well. I am much more motivated to analyse a piece of work when someone else is also sharing their thoughts, so it's brought back the joy for me of digging deeper into literature, and then having a place to spill all of my (unqualified) thoughts.

I haven't read either Barth or Wallace, but again, I love hearing your thoughts to give me idea of their work. Wallace definitely sounds like he has a good sense of humour - I really enjoyed those quotes you read out! And goodness, to write long sentences like that you really have to have your wits about you to make them make sense (and as you said, to read them aloud is a breath workout). Also very interesting to think about the "secret sadness" in educated Americans (or Americans in general). Definitely food for thought there. It often makes me think of when people talk about how certain countries might be first-world and function efficiently, but then have an imbalance with drinking problems or depression. And then you get some poverty-stricken cultures who seem to have deep-rooted peace or joy in the little things. Obviously that's a generalisation, but it's interesting to think about in terms of what seems to be a better life or society versus our inherent needs for contentment and such. Sorry if that is a bit jumbled, my thoughts are running. Anyway, thanks for the video! :)

Fun times ahead!

I love these videos with your dad. They’re gentle but insightful. I got martyr for Christmas so I hope you do that soon! Love the mix of classic and modern literature you cover on your channel

good luck with everything!

Good luck brother ❤

I just finished Giovanni’s Room which is excellent. I want to get more into Baldwin’s other stuff.

New York! I assume you're planning a budget-busting visit to the Strand?

I am reading Pale Fire now, and it is one of the books that I really want to read slow.

great writing, would love to see more from you

Welcome back to your dad! I love that he came in with all his notes this time haha. Goodness, what a book! Definitely one that is worthy of discussion - I love how you guys bounce ideas off each other and share different takeaways. I might sound like a stuck record, but that's one of the beauties of literature to me: realising that everyone is taking a slightly different view on it. Or even just imagining a description differently. The concept of the bird, the bear, and the fish sent me for a spin because at first I was like "wow, what a great concept", but then as the video progressed I realised how messy it got with which character was representing which egg. I was about to ask you which one you and your dad identify as, but when I was thinking about myself, I came to the conclusion that we're probably a little bit of each depending on the circumstances. I could be wrong, though. Let me know your thoughts if you view it otherwise. Also don't get me started on the bizarreness of a character living in a leaf haha. Whatever floats your boat, I guess. You guys really made me chuckle when you said "She's inside a leaf with her father" and your dad was like "Sorry, could you say that slower?" Yes, I completely agree about the absurdity of trying to colonise Mars when we could be cleaning up the Earth! That's honestly something I think about quite a lot because there's so much money that goes into Mars and the likes which could be going towards climate change mitigation and everything else. But when you related it to the effort it takes to write a second draft, then I had a little moment of "okay, fine, you got me" because I am terrible at going back and editing. But it's definitely food for thought - maybe it's worth putting in that effort to make things better (whether it's writing, the earth, or other things) than simply starting anew. There's probably more satisfaction and depth that comes in a Second Draft of something. Because you actually have to face the mistakes and understand them, and then you have a proper chance of improvement. Anyway, I'm rambling. Wonderful video! Thank you. So thought-provoking. I'll have to check out the book at some point.

aw yay! so happy to see a fellow english major focusing on russian lit (I minored in russian lit/lang several years back). it's truly a lifelong treasure trove! also some of those poetry recs are wonderful, hope you enjoyed. you've got yourself a follower on goodreads!

Wow I could listen to you talk all day, Alex. Congrats on the amazing channel

this is great BUT jimmy butler wants out of miamiiii

Would love to hear more about your writing progress as you continue! I'm also working on a first draft right now that has only about 10k words. Love hearing about where you get your inspiration from