The Justin Curfman Podcast

Alfred Kubin spent his life drawing the things most people avoid looking at — death, decay, dreams, psychological collapse and the strange logic that exists just beneath ordinary reality. In Episode 004 of The Justin Curfman Podcast, Justin examines the life and work of the Austrian artist, illustrator and writer whose influence can be traced through Expressionism, horror cinema, surrealism and modern psychological fiction.The episode follows Kubin from a traumatic childhood marked by loss and isolation, through his early years in Munich among the emerging avant-garde, to the creation of his singular 1909 novel The Other Side — a dark and prophetic work that later influenced Franz Kafka and generations of writers exploring the uncanny and the subconscious.Along the way, the episode also explores Kubin’s connection to Georg Trakl, Salzburg and the strange personal circumstances that led Justin from a small-town library in rural Georgia to the Austrian borderlands where both artists once lived and worked.Part biography, part literary analysis and part personal reflection, Episode 004 examines how certain books, images and discoveries can quietly shape the direction of a life long before their meaning is fully understood.If you like what you hear, consider supporting the podcast at: www.justincurfman.netwww.patreon.com/justincurfman1

This episode examines the life and work of Tommaso Landolfi, one of the most unusual and underread writers of twentieth-century Italian literature.Born into a declining aristocratic family and later known for his compulsive gambling, isolation and obsessive relationship with language, Landolfi produced fiction that combined gothic horror, surrealism, black humor, metaphysical unease, and extreme linguistic experimentation. Admired by writers such as Italo Calvino and Susan Sontag, his work has often been compared to Kafka, Borges, Poe and Gogol while remaining distinctly his own.The episode discusses Landolfi’s life, literary style and recurring themes alongside major works including Gogol’s Wife, The Two Spinsters, Racconto d’autunno, Cancroregina, La pietra lunare and La Muta. It also explores his fascination with chance, decay, erotic obsession, artificiality, religion and the instability of meaning itself.Additional discussion includes the tradition of Italian weird literature, Landolfi’s influence on later writers such as Giorgio Manganelli and Michele Mari and Justin’s own discovery of Landolfi after moving to Naples and studying Italian literature and language.For listeners interested in surrealism, weird fiction, gothic literature, philosophical horror and twentieth-century European writing in general, Landolfi remains an essential and singular figure.

In this episode, Justin Curfman takes a deeply personal and wide-ranging journey through childhood memory, underground art and the history of Italian comics (fumetti), weaving together autobiography and cultural history.The core of the episode focuses on the radical underground movement that emerged from the turbulence of 1970s Italy—particularly the countercultural energy of the “Movement of ’77” and the politically charged climate of the “Years of Lead.” Out of this environment emerged two groundbreaking magazines: Cannibale and its successor Frigidaire.Justin explores how these publications became creative laboratories for a new generation of artists, blending comics, journalism, satire, graphic design, and political provocation. Figures such as Andrea Pazienza, Stefano Tamburini, Tanino Liberatore, Filippo Scòzzari, Massimo Mattioli, and editor Vincenzo Sparagna helped redefine what comics could be. Iconic works like RanXerox and Zanardi emerge as symbols of this era—raw, violent, satirical, and deeply reflective of a society in transition.Ultimately, Episode 002 is both a memoir and a cultural excavation: a meditation on how access to art can shape a life, and how underground comics in Italy became one of the most radical and imaginative artistic movements of the late 20th century.Support the show: Patreon: www.patreon.com/JustinCurfman1Substack: www.justincurfman.substack.comSite: www.justincurfman.net

In this episode of my podcast, I explore the ancient coastal site of Cumae in southern Italy—a place where history, mythology, language, and geology overlap in strange and compelling ways.Cumae was one of the earliest Greek colonies in the Western Mediterranean, founded around 750 BCE. Long before Rome rose to prominence, this settlement already carried the weight of myth and cultural transmission between East and West. It is also the legendary home of the Cumaean Sibyl, the prophetic priestess of Apollo who spoke from within volcanic caves carved into the tuff rock of the region.Cumae sits within the Phlegraean Fields, a vast volcanic landscape still geologically active today. The name itself comes from Greek roots meaning “burning fields,” and the terrain reflects that reality—steam vents, sulfuric ground, and a sense that the earth is still alive beneath your feet. In antiquity, this was not just landscape—it was evidence of divine or infernal presence.Throughout the episode, I dig into the origins and meanings of key words tied to this place and its mythology: “Cumae” (likely from the Greek kyme, meaning “wave” or “edge”), “Phlegraean” (meaning “burning”), and “Sibyl” (from the ancient Greek sibylla, meaning prophetess). I’m fascinated by how language preserves early human attempts to interpret the unknown—how words themselves become archaeological artifacts.The Cumaean Sibyl, in particular, stands at the center of this story. She is both a mythological figure and a symbolic threshold: someone who exists between clarity and chaos, human and divine, speech and fragmentation. Her prophecies, written on scattered leaves that the wind refuses to organize, feel especially relevant to the fragility of meaning itself.I also attempt to connect these ancient ideas to my own work as the frontman of Feeding Fingers, and to the song “I Am Erasing Doors” from the album Attend, along with its music video.If you like what you hear, consider supporting the podcast at the following: https://www.patreon.com/justincurfman1https://justincurfman.substack.comhttps://justincurfman.netPick up Feeding Fingers' releases here: https://feedingfingers.bandcamp.com