TMR 31.4: "When I Was a Barge" [The Life and Adventures of Trobadora Beatrice]

This week, Kaija, Brian, and Chad talk about the various levels of narration to this book and the interplay between the “books” and the “intermezzos.” They also end up comparing and connecting The Life and Adventures of Trobadora Beatrice to a number of books and authors, including Mulligan Stew, Samuel Beckett, The Golden Notebook, I the Supreme, and Flann O’Brien. Finally, they focus in on the idea of a “montage novel” and how this upends male-dominated patterns of fiction. This week’s music is “Not Today” by Kim Gordon.Next week’s episode will cover up through page 299 (“Fifth Intermezzo” and “Book Ten”). If you want to follow along, the complete schedule can be found here.You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.Follow Open Letter, Two Month Review, Chad W. Post, Kaija Straumanis, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. If you haven’t already, subscribe to the Three Percent substack for information about Open Letter Books and literature in translation writ large.Also consider subscribing to the Mining the Dalkey Archive substack and its respective podcast (Apple, Spotify) for all things Dalkey Archive. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit threepercentproblem.substack.com