Show Notes and Links to Christian Kiefer's Work
On Episode 28, Part I, Pete is thrilled to speak with Christian Kiefer, master author of among other masterpieces, Phantoms, a 2019 tour de force novel. Pete and Christian discuss Christian's childhood in Auburn, CA, his writing background, great writers who were also jerks and sometimes horrible men, the bustling and exciting literary scene of 2020, Christian's research into the disgusting racism and xenophobia that frames Phantoms, and much more.
Dr. Christian Kiefer grew up in the foothills of California (Auburn).
Director of the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing
Christian Kiefer's Author Page
Interview with Four Way Review
Dr. Christian Kiefer's Homepage for Ashland
Twitter and IG: @xiankiefer-Twitter and IG
Christian speaks about growing up in Auburn, CA, and how the area has influenced him as a person and as a writer-at about 3:00
Christian talks about small towns like Auburn and Newcastle and their transformation into “driveby towns”-at about 10:00
Christian talks about the formerly-thriving Chinatown/Japantown in Newcastle and about our society’s collective ineptitude at commemorating and learning from historical failures-at about 11:15
Christian talks about his origins as a reader and a writer, and those writers and familial figures who inspired him as a kid and adolescent-at about 14:00
The importance of William Faulkner’s writing in Christian’s life-at about 15:10
Christian shouts out two formative teachers of his, Michael Madden and Michael Duda-at about 15:50
Christian discusses his view of “Clarity of expression” and its lower end priority for him-at about 16:45
Christian discusses his friend Ben Percy, who writes Wolverine for Marvel Comics, and how he wants the reader to “lean forward” into the reading, while Christian wants the reader to “lean back”-at about 17:25
Christian discusses Thomas Wolfe and how “he brings the entire world” into the text-at about 18:25
Pete talks about Old Man and the Sea and its importance in his life as a “lean back book” that stimulates great memories, and how Christian’s Phantoms is a book that will now occupy that same space-at about 19:00
Christian and Pete discuss some strategies of Christian’s writing-the use of “and,” for example, and Christian’s desire to write compound sentences well, as Hemingway did-at about 20:20
Christian teaches a master class on the strategies of using coordinating and subordinating phrases in writing-at about 20:40
Pete cites an example of Christian’s above explanation on pg. 186 of Phantoms-at around 23:45
Christian discusses the reckoning with racism and misogyny in the “classic” and modern literary worlds-at around 24:45
Christian discusses the modern literary “renaissance,” with its incredible diversity and talent-at around 26:50
Christian discusses his admiration for C. Pam Zhang and her incredible 2020 novel, How Much of These Hills is Gold-at around 27:20
Pete and Christian talk about the great Tobias Wolff, a huge inspiration, the inspiration for the podcast, leading to a discussion of writers as “celebrities,” as seen in Wolff’s Old School-at about 28:50
Christian talks about the brilliant Rebecca Solnit-at around 31:55
Christian and Pete discuss some reprehensible characters, who happened to be great artists/innovators, like John Muir -how do we reckon with the art AND the artist?-at around 33:00
Christian summarizes Phantoms-at around 37:35
Christian discusses the impetus and inspiration for writing the book, including the research needed and the America and Placer County racist policies that led to a huge decrease in Japanese and Asian-Americans in the county-at around 40:00
Christian discusses his need to be precise on linguistic and cultural frameworks for novel and needing to have prospective blurb authors (Luis Alberto Urrea, Jesmyn Ward, Kirstin Chen, Claire Vaye Watkins) give him their green light-at around 43:00
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Episode 207 with Ursula Villarreal-Moura, Master of Flash Fiction, Short, Powerful Stories, and Prose that Explores Intricate Emotions in Clever and Profound Ways
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Episode 201 with Erica J Berry, Thoughtful and Thorough Writer Who Seamlessly Combines Multiple Disciplines and Genres in Her Enthralling Wolfish: Wolf, Self, and the Stories We Tell About Fear
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Episode 197 with Chloe Cooper Jones, Two-Time Pulitzer Prize Nominee, Master of Melding Seemingly-Disparate Ideas and Themes, and Author of the Masterful and Profound Easy Beauty
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Episode 195 with Jessica Cuello, Keen Observer of the Connections Between Classical and the Modern, and Painter of Resonant Imagery in the Poetry Collection Yours, Creature
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