When Paolo Solari died in 2013, the New York Times dubbed him "the architect of the counterculture." An apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright's, Solari founded Arcosanti, a projected visionary city embodying Solari's philosophy of "archology"--a life affirming melding of architecture and ecology. Ada Louise Huxtable, writing in Time magazine, called Solari's renderings “some of the most spectacularly sensitive and superbly visionary drawings that any century has known.” When Solari visited Louisville in 1976, he was at the height of his countercultural fame.  Our second episode is devoted to a reconsideration of Solari's legacy through a conversation with Jeff Stein, past president of Solari's Cosanti foundation and Sue Kirsch, Arcosanti's archivist.

Episode 2: Sue Kirsch and Jeff Stein

In this episode Conference Director Matthew Biberman talks with Stanley Fish.  First rising to prominence as the Milton scholar who unknowingly inaugurated that branch of literary theory later dubbed "reader-response criticism," Fish then spearheaded a critique of liberalism, transforming him into a key early proponent of CLS (critical legal studies). Fish's analysis of first amendment law and matters of free speech has had a sustained influence on American culture and legal practice, with the rise of "critical race studies" being but one indirect result of these pathbreaking interventions.

Episode 4: Stanley Fish—Part 1

In this episode conference director Matthew Biberman talks with noted feminist scholar Jane Gallop. Currently a Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Gallop burst onto the literary scene with the publication of her 1982 book, The Daughter's Seduction: Feminism and Psychoanalysis.  Biberman and Gallop discuss her 1990 LCLC Keynote which was later incorporated into her book Around 1981: Academic Feminist Literary Theory (1991).  Their conversation extends to her most recent book Sexuality, Disability and Aging: Queer Temporalities of the Phallus (2018).  Other notable topics include queer and crip theory, asexuality studies, scandals and Eve Sedgwick.

Episode 6: Jane Gallop

In this episode conference director Matthew Biberman talked with the noted poet and critic Norman Finkelstein who has been regularly attending LCLC conferences since 1982.  The author of thirteen books of poetry including his New and Selected collection entitled the Ratio of Reason to Magic as well as the forthcoming Thirty-Six/Two Lives coauthored with the poet Tirzah Goldenberg. His critical work includes On Mount Vision: Forms of the Sacred In Contemporary American Poetry (University of Iowa Press, 2010) and Like a Dark Rabbi: Modern Poetry & the Jewish Literary Imagination (Hebrew Union College Press, 2019). He writes and edits the poetry review blog Restless Messengers (www.poetryinreview.com).  This discussion is ideal for fans of contemporary poetry and poetics (especially Nathanial Mackey, W. S. Merwin and the objectivists with a Colson Whitehead cameo) as well as Jewish studies.

Episode 7:  Norman Finkelstein

In this episode conference director Matthew Biberman concludes his conversation with acclaimed war journalist and poet Tom Sleigh. Sleigh reads two poems ("Clearance" and the title piece) from his latest collection The King's Touch (Graywolf 2022). Other topics include surfing and dog sledding, as well as the tradition of the American long poem. While illuminating his own poems "Ending" and "Homage to Basho," Sleigh reminisces about fellow poets Seamus Heaney, Mark Strand, and Frank Bidart.  For fans and practitioners of contemporary American poetry.

Episode 10: Tom Sleigh, Part 2

In this episode conference director Matthew Biberman talks with Alan Nadel.  Currently the William T Bryan Chair of American Literature and Culture at the University of Kentucky, Nadel has published numerous books on post-WW2 American film, drama, fiction, and popular culture generally.  In addition to being a well-noted poet, Alan is also a leading expert on August Wilson and Cold War Studies. Our conversation explored and evaluated the current state of "cultural narrative" studies.  We discussed Foucault and Barthes and other cultural narrative progenitors as well as a range of current hot topics within this broad field (such as Black Lives Matter, Critical Race Studies, and Qanon/Conspiracy Studies).

Episode 11: Alan Nadel

In this episode conference director Matthew Biberman talks with Ryan Engley.  Currently an Assistant Professor of English at Pamona College, Engley researches the intersection of psychoanalytic theory and media studies. Along with Todd McGowan, Engley co-hosts the popular podcast Why Theory, which brings Continental philosophy and psychoanalytic theory together to examine contemporary phenomena.  This LCLC podcast episode is intended for graduate students, advanced undergraduates and anyone interested in sharing their (humanities oriented) work at academic conferences.  Ryan and Matthew review all the nuts and bolts of conferencing including preparing submission documents, presenting, handling Q and A, networking and other related concerns about socializing in such intellectual settings.

Episode 12: Ryan Engley

In this episode, conference director Matthew Biberman talks with the celebrated feminist poet Brenda Hillman, who read at the LCLC in February 2022 as the creative keynote for its 49th annual conference. Brenda Hillman teaches at Saint Mary College of California. She is the Poetry Director of Community of Writers as well as Chancellor emerita of The Academy of American Poets and has authored 11 books of poetry (all from Wesleyan University Press).  She has edited or translated (either alone or as part of a team) over 20 books.  Her next collection of poetry is titled IN A FEW MINUTES BEFORE LATER.  This episode will be of special interest to fans of contemporary poetry and poetics (with extended discussion of C. D. Wright, Joni Mitchell, Tom Sleigh and William Shakespeare's Tempest).

Episode 13: Brenda Hillman

In this episode conference director Matthew Biberman talks with Michael Anania who headlined the LCLC After Dark Reading this past February 2022 during the LCLC's 49th conference.  Michael Anania is a poet, essayist, and fiction writer. His published work includes twelve collections of poetry, among them Selected Poems (1994), In Natural Light (1999) and his most recent, Night Songs and Clamors (2018). His work is widely anthologized and has been translated into Italian, German, French, Spanish and Czech. He has also published a novel, The Red Menace, and a collection of essays, In Plain Sight.  While at the LCLC, Anania had the pleasure of attending a panel on his work featuring contributors to the recent festschrift From the Word to the Place edited by Lea Graham and published by Mad Hat Press.  This episode of the LCLC podcast includes two snippets from Anania's Brown Hotel reading. The first is the sonorous conclusion of "On The Conditions of Place,” the poem Michael selected to start his reading and the second features what for me was a real highlight of the night,  the poem "Tin Tin Deo.” This episode will be of special interest to fans of contemporary poetry and poetics (with extended discussion of Frank O'Hara, T. S. Eliot, Yvor Winters).

Episode 14: Michael Anania

In this episode Conference Director Matthew Biberman talks with noted Charles Olson scholar, Josh Hoeynck about the Olson Society and their slate of panels at the upcoming 50th LCLC conference to be held in February 2023. This episode is for fans of Olson as well as aficionados of contemporary American poetry and the black mountain school of poetry.

Season 2, Episode 1: Joshua Hoeynck

In this episode, Conference Director Matthew Biberman talks with Mark Alan Mattes about American Afterlives, a sequence of three panels he organized for the upcoming 50th LCLC conference to be held this February 2023. This episode is for scholars of American culture as well as enthusiasts of American multi-ethnic literature, including beloved writers such as Phillis Wheatley Peters, Leslie Marmon Silko, Tiana Clark, as well as Hawthorne, Melville and Whitman.

Season 2, Episode 2: Mark Mattes

In this episode, Conference Director Matthew Biberman talks with Aldon Lynn Nielsen, the George and Barbara Kelly Professor of American Literature at Penn State, about the African American Literature and Culture Society, its history and mission, as well as the two panels the group has organized for the 50th LCLC conference.  In addition, Biberman and Nielsen discuss the Society of Umbra with a focus on its legacy, and in particular the women active in that organization.  This episode is for scholars and enthusiasts of African American literature and culture.

Season 2, Episode 3: Aldon Nielsen

In this episode, Matthew Biberman talks with YouTube video essay creator Olivia Sun.  With a subscriber base nearing one million, Olivia Sun has emerged as one of the first truly influential practitioners of the new art form of the social media-made video essay.  Matthew and Olivia discuss her creative process and the potential for this new mode for thought. Of interest to media theorists and individuals seeking to make socially relevant web-based creative content with broad appeal.

Season 2, Episode 4: Olivia Sun

IIn this episode, conference director Matthew Biberman talks with Ryan Engley about current topics and trends in media studies. Currently an Assistant Professor of English at Pomona College, Engley researches the intersection of psychoanalytic theory and media studies. Engley co-hosts the popular podcast Why Theory, along with Todd McGowan, which brings Continental philosophy and psychoanalytic theory together to examine contemporary phenomena. This LCLC podcast episode is intended for graduate students, advanced undergraduates, and anyone interested in sharing their (humanities-oriented) work at academic conferences. Ryan and Matthew review topics and approaches at the forefront of media studies today to aid those looking to enter the field.

Season 2, Episode 5: Ryan Engley

Season 1 of the LCLC Podcast is a set of oral histories that explores the Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture (LCLC) since its inception in 1973 to today as we near our half-centennial. Listen to intimate and scholarly reflections from participants about a storied conference that has had a shaping influence on contemporary arts and letters.

An LCLC Oral History

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