Episode 172 Notes and Links to Robert Lopez’s Work
On Episode 172 of The Chills at Will Podcast, Pete welcomes Robert Lopez, and the two discuss, among other things, growing up on Long Island, his renewed vigor for, and focus on, reading and writing in his early 20s, his inspirations in writers like Hemingway and Carver, John D’Agata, Eula Biss, ideas of erasure and assimilation that populate the book, his Puerto Rican heritage, his love of tennis as a sport and as metaphor, the idea of "dispatches" and how they inform his book, and his writing style of understatement and braided narrative.
Robert Lopez is the author of three novels, Part of the World, Kamby Bolongo Mean River —named one of 25 important books of the decade by HTML Giant, All Back Full, and two story collections, Asunder and Good People. A new novel-in-stories, A Better Class Of People, was published by Dzanc Books in April, 2022. Dispatches from Puerto Nowhere, his first nonfiction book, was published by Two Dollar Radio on March 14 of this year. His fiction, nonfiction, and poetry has appeared in dozens of publications, including Bomb, The Threepenny Review, Vice Magazine, New England Review, The Sun, and the Norton Anthology of Sudden Fiction – Latino. He teaches at Stony Brook University and has previously taught at Columbia University, The New School, Pratt Institute, and Syracuse University. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Buy Dispatches from Puerto Nowhere
Robert Lopez's Webpage
Sara Lippman Reviews Dispatches from Puerto Nowhere for Chicago Review of Books
At about 7:15, Robert describes the experience of having a book recently out in the world
At about 8:20, Robert discusses his adolescent reading habits
At about 9:50, Robert gives background on how a TV production class senior year of college inspired him to become an ardent reader and writer
At about 11:20, Robert responds to Pete’s questions about Long Island and its cultural norms
At about 14:15, Pete asks Robert about writers and writing that inspired him to become a writer himself; Robert points out a few, especially Raymond Carver and Ernest Hemingway
At about 16:25, The two talk about their shared preference for Hemingway’s stories over his novels
At about 17:00, Pete shouts out Robert’s paean to Hemingway’s “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”
At about 18:05, Robert speaks to the book’s background and seeds for the book in response to Pete’s questions about what it was like to write nonfiction/memoir
At about 21:20, Pete cites a blurb by Eula Biss that trumpets the book’s universality and specificity, leading Robert to define “Puerto Nowhere”
At about 23:20, Pete and Robert connects a quote from the book to Robert’s comment that the book is more in search of questions than answers/conclusions
At about 26:05, Pete posits Sigrid Nunez’s work as an analogue to Dispatches from Puerto Nowhere
At about 27:15, Vivían Gornick, Maggie Nelson, Eula Biss, Ander Monson, John D’Agata are referenced as writers whose work is “in conversation” with Robert’s
At about 28:35, Pete asks about the structure/placing of the dispatches, and Robert describes how the book was put together with some sage advice from Eric Obenauf at Two Dollar Radio
At about 30:50, Pete aska bout Robert’s understanding of “dispatches” and what it was like to write in first-person/personally
At about 32:25, Pete references two important lines from the book-the book’s opening line and its connection to forgetting, and an important quote and its misquote from Milosz, which Robert breaks down
At about 36:00, Pete and Robert highlight and analyze key quotes from the book dealing with Spanish language loss and forced and subtle assimilation and connections to cultural erasure
At about 40:40, Robert discusses the parallel storyline from the book that deals with his grandfather, about whose journey to the States
At about 42:20, Pete wonders if Robert still has designs ongoing to Puerto Rico and doing family research after the pandemic
At about 43:40, Tennis references in the book are highlighted, and Robert talks about how and why he made connections to important topics in the book, like police violence and racism and loss in the family
At about 51:35, Robert describes a good friend referenced in the book who is a great example
At about 52:35, the two discuss second-generation Americans and forward and the realization that often there are many more creature comforts as the generations go in
At about 55:10, Pete compliments the book’s powerful understatement and a resonant image involving Robert’s grandfather eating
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Please tune in for Episode 173 and 174, TWO episodes dropping on March 28, celebrating pub days for Rachel Heng and Allegra Hyde.
Rachel Heng is author of the novels The Great Reclamation-her new one-and Suicide Club, which has been translated into ten languages worldwide and won the Gladstone Library Writer-In-Residence Award. Her short fiction has been recognized by anthologies including Best American Short Stories, The Pushcart Prize, Best Small Fictions and Best New Singaporean Short Stories.
Allegra Hyde is a recipient of three Pushcart Prizes and author of ELEUTHERIA, named a "Best Book of 2022" by The New Yorker. She’s also the author of the story collection, OF THIS NEW WORLD, which won the John Simmons Short Fiction Award, and her second story collection, THE LAST CATASTROPHE, is her new one.
The episodes air March 28.
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Episode 113 with Nicole Santa Cruz, Multitalented Journalist, Former Chronicler of The Los Angeles Times Homicide Report, and Reporter Covering Issues of Inequality for ProPublica
Episode 112 with James Tate Hill, Editor at Monkeybicycle , Columnist for LitHub, and Reflective and Acclaimed Writer of Blind Man’s Bluff: A Memoir
Episode 111 with Taylor Byas, Master Tactician of Profound and Affecting Words, PhD Student, Editor at The Rumpus, and Powerful Poet of the Critically- and Reader-Acclaimed Bloodwarm
Episode 110 with Bryce Hedstrom, El Padrino of Comprehensible Input in the Foreign Language Classroom, Master Teacher and Teacher Trainer, Author of Multiple Books, and Bold Advocate for Reading
Episode 109 with Ben Guest, Educator, Builder of Great Relationships through Education and Basketball, and Author of Zen and the Art of Coaching Basketball: Memoir of a Namibian Odyssey
Episode 108 with Navdeep Dhillon Singh, Writer of Stirring, Profound, and Clever Work and Author of the Standout and Unforgettable Sunny G’s Series of Rash Decisions
Episode 107 with Dr. Benjamin Gilmer, Tireless and Compassionate Advocate for Carceral and Mental Health Reform and Author of The Other Dr. Gilmer: Two Men, a Murder, and an Unlikely Fight for Justice
Episode 106 with Daniel Olivas, Lawyer, Wordsmith, Playwright, Aesthete, and Author of 2022’s Unique and Riveting How to Date a Flying Mexican Story Collection
Episode 105 with Nikesha Elise Williams, host of Black and Published Podcast, prolific and versatile writer of Beyond Bourbon Street and More, and Master Storyteller in Different Media.
Episode 104 with Matt Bell, Author of The New York Times Notable Book, Appleseed, and Uber-Talented Craftsman, Worldbuilder, Chronicler of Society’s Mores, and Writing Teacher
Episode 103 with Tracey Thompson, Short-Story Reader Extraordinaire, Shirley Jackson Fan, and Publisher of the ”California Reading” Project
Episode 102 with Tice Cin, Interdisciplinary Artist, Aesthete, Wordsmith, and Author of Keeping the House-Called” a cult classic in the making” by The Guardian
Episode 101 with Mia St. John, 5-time World Boxing Champion, Founder of El Saber Es Poder Foundation, Advocate for Mental Health Awareness, and Author of the Memoir, Fighting for My Life
Episode 100 with Susan Muaddi Darraj: Versatile Writer of Moving and Well-Researched Works for All Ages and ”Portraits of Flawed, Ordinary Humans with Whom the reader Can Feel Joy, Pain and Empathy”
Episode 99 with Sara Borjas, Profound Thinker, Script-Flipper, Proud Pochx, and Author of the Breathtaking Heart Like a Window, Mouth Like a Cliff
Episode 98 with Greg Bishop, Disciplined and Voracious Reader, Profound and Thoughtful Writer, and Storyteller with Sports Illustrated, Showtime All-Access, and More
Episode 97 with Kyle Beachy, Profound Wordsmith, Masterful Observer of the World Through Skateboarding, and Author of the Critically-Acclaimed The Most Fun: Dispatches from a Skateboard Life
Episode 96 with Dr. Frank A. Guridy, Historian, Deep-Thinker, and Connector of Sports and Societal Issues Through The Sports Revolution: How Texas Changed the Culture of American Athletics
Episode 95 with Diana Lopez, Imaginative Author of Books for All Ages, Including Coco, Sing with Me: The Story of Selena Quintanilla, and Lucky Luna
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