The Projectionist's Lending Library

Nathanael and Erik continue their brief foray into medieval verse with the late 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the 2021 film adaptation The Green Knight directed by David Lowery and starring Dev Patel and Ralph Ineson. This episode's music comes from the album In a Medieval Garden by the Stanley Buetens Lute Ensemble, available at the internet archive. Nathanael references this youtube video by Novum in their discussion of the film.

A new season begins!Horror has come to Hrothgar’s Hall. Grendel the monster,hated by God, has laid waste his mead-hall, slaughtered his men.Now comes the champion, claiming renown: Beowulf the Brave,bringing his band to battle the monster, slay the beast.Today on The Projectionist's Lending Library, we discuss the epic poem Beowulf, the 1976 novel Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton, and the movie The 13th Warrior.

Kline and Booth are joined by special guest Mark Brenden to discuss Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men. Mark gives insight into the novel and movie as examples of what he calls "The Bush Western"--a Western written during and responding to the early years of the War on Terror.Music Used:The Old Country ChurchA Cowboy Serenade

It's a Christmas episode! Today we look at the short story "The Three Godfathers" and two adaptations--one very loose--of it: John Ford's 1948 3 Godfathers and Satoshi Kon's 2003 Tokyo Godfathers. Explore with us the mystery of grace and humanity in this desperate season of grace and humanity.Resource: Julia Serano

Some seek enlightenment in self-abasement; others, in surrender to the senses; still others, in a contemplation of time and eternity.The protagonist of Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha does all three. Today, on The Projectionist’s Lending Library, we examine Hesse’s 1922 novel, a kind of parallel life of the Buddha, and the 1971 electric Western Zachariah—perhaps the wildest adaptation we have looked at so far. So saddle up, adjust your gunbelt, and let’s ride into the wildest frontier of all—the human soul.Kaz Rowe: The Wild, Wild History of Gay Cowboy Movies

Beneath the surface of ordinary life is another world—the world of the vampire. While you go about your day—shopping, working—the vampire sleeps until the moment when, the sun fallen, he can emerge from his crypt and feast.Down these bloodsucking streets go men who are massive, giants with their own towering emotions. They live hard, drink hard, love hard, because they know that any night might be their last. Such is the price of being a vampire hunter.Tonight, on the Projectionist’s Lending Library, we enter the world of the vampire and the vampire hunter in John Steakley’s VAMPIRE$ and the John Carpenter movie based on it. So lock your doors, hold your loved ones close, and if you hear a noise outside, don’t be afraid. It’s only the children of the night….Chuck Berry song "Everyday We Rock & Roll" used under a Creative Commons license.

The stars of the West are all larger than life: Wyatt Earp, Wild BillHickock, Billy the Kid. Among the brightest of these stars is Jesse James, an outlaw who became a legend in his own lifetime—and, through his death, ascended into the pantheon. But, of course, Jesse James was a man, and not a particularly good one; and his murderer, Robert Ford, was also a man. Their story is much less one of clashing titans and more one of petty squabbles, ambition, and greed. Today, on The Projectionist’s Lending Library, we look into Ron Hansen’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. This novel blends history and fiction to reach something like what that epic—that all-too-human—confrontation must have been like. It’s the story of the American West, the story of the American people—butultimately it’s the story of two men and their tragic confrontation. Jesse James was a legend, of course—but he was a man. And so was his assassin.

In 1872, Polly Bemis came to America. She did not come, as so many have, out of hope of beginning a new life; she was forced here, sold into slavery (as the story goes) to a man named Hong King. One she arrived, however, she set about building a life for herself almost in spite of the men around her: she gained her freedom, she married Charlie Bemis, she settled down. These are details in the life of a single woman who has become famous in her adopted home-state of Idaho. Polly’s life was unique, and yet in some ways it reflected the lives of many other women who made the same journey. Today, on the Projectionist’s Lending Library, we read Thousand Pieces of Gold by Ruthanne Lum McCunn and we learn about this extraordinary woman who became a legend.Ruthanne Lum McCunn's Website

This is part two of a two-part episode on Edna Ferber's GIANT (1952) and the 1956 film adaptation of it starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean. In part two, Erik and Nathanael discuss the film, its historical significance, and its contemporary resonance, as well as its notoriety as James Dean's last film.

PART ONE OF TWO Please note that we had minor technical issues with recording on these episodes. We have to the best of our ability edited around them. They say everything’s bigger in Texas—the land, the sky, thehair, the ambitions, the hopes, the fears…. GIANT is a novel about that bigness, a novel about the way that immensity can overwhelm a person…. Virginian Leslie Benedict—nee Lynton—follows herrancher husband out West to begin a new life on the range. Once there, she encounters a kind of life she has never experienced among a kind of people she never dreamed existed. She struggles against insularity, bigotry, and sexism. Make no mistake—GIANT is her novel.It’s also a novel of America, and that is partly what we will discuss in the following episodes. For, whatever problems Texas may have at midcentury with race and class and gender, these are problems that can be seen writ large in the nation itself. And so here we are, in the first of a two-part series here on THE PROJECTIONIST’S LENDING LIBRARY, with Edna Ferber’s GIANT.

In 1893, Frederick Jackson Turner concluded his speech on “TheSignificance of the Frontier in American History” with these words:“What the Mediterranean Sea was to the Greeks, breaking the bond of custom, offering new experiences, calling out new institutions and activities, that, and more, the ever retreating frontier has been to the United States directly, and tothe nations of Europe more remotely. And now, four centuries from the discovery of America, at the end of a hundred years of life under the Constitution, the frontier has gone, and with its going has closed the first period of American history.”This season on the Projectionist’s Lending Library we turn our eyes westward and look at a definitively American genre—the Western. For America, the Western is our Iliad, our Odyssey. It’s the founding myth to which we look in order to derive meaning for ourselves. Here all the conflicts central to literature and human existence play out: man versus man, man versus nature, man versus himself. And in it, too, are all the complexities and contradictions of America itself: kindness, bravery, hope—anger, murder, genocide.And how better to begin such a season than by looking at the prototypical director of Westerns, John Ford, working with his recurring star, John Wayne.Today on The Projectionist’s Lending Library, it’s The Searchers.Ford adapts a novel by Alan Le May about two men searching for a girl captured by a band of Comanche in post-Civil War Texas. Their quest is a long one, its outcome ambiguous and unforgiving as the landscape they travel. At the end of both the novel and the movie we are left with a question: who really triumphed, and at what cost? Welcome as we explore these questions and more in the inaugural episode of our new season, all about that most American of myths—the Western.For more about The Searchers, check out Glenn Frankel's The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend.

In 1865—or perhaps it was 1833—Horace Greeley gave the famous advice to “go west, young man, and grow up with the country.” He said it in print—or to a young acquaintance—like most legends of the American West, the details are vague. All the same, over the course of the 19th Century many young men answered his call. One of them was Will Andrews, the protagonist of the novel we will be discussing today. Will is a young man, fresh out of college, with more dollars than sense, looking to discover himself in the great untamed territory of the West. What he finds might be too much for him as he faces thirst, blizzards, torrential rivers. He goes out a boy; if he’s lucky enough to survive, he might just return a man. Today, on The Projectionist’s Lending Library, it’s Butcher’sCrossing.From Booth's recommendations, here's the Pillar of Garbage video on Brick.

Just in time for Pride Month, we are joined by Jennie Lightweis-Goff to talk about Annie Proulx's short story "Brokeback Mountain" and the 2005 movie based on it. Please note that, of all our episodes, this one earns its "explicit" tag with a frank discussion of sex and hate crimes.High in the mountains, anything can happen. Men, separated from society, find themselves seeking comfort in each other. For Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist, one fateful night on Brokeback Mountain transforms into a tragic passion that will dominate the lives of both men until death—and beyond. Today, on The Projectionist’s Lending Library, we look at Annie Proulx’s short story “Brokeback Mountain” and the movie based on it. When all is said and done, is the only thing left to us just this—to endure it? Is there any comfort to be found in even the most tragic of stories? And what, really, is the significance of beans? Happy Pride Month, everyone. Keep on keeping on.Check out Accented Cinema's video on Ang Lee's Eat Drink Man Woman.

It's spooky season! In their October episode, Nathanael and Erik discuss the figurative and literal body horror seen in Kafka's absurdist novella THE METAMORPHOSIS and Cronenberg's visceral cult classic THE FLY.

Will Murray joins Erik and Nathanael to discuss John Ball's novel In the Heat of the Night and the 1967 movie based on it. Join us as we discuss the idea of the American South as branding and as scapegoat, interrogate the limits of generic forms, and answer the question of whether In the Heat of the Night is a feel-good movie.[Production note: there are some issues with sound here and there in the episode; we don't think this detracts from the overall flow of the discussion]

In the second episode of their Western season, Nathanael and Erik discuss Sherman Alexie's short story collection The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven as well as Alexie's adaptation of his own work in Smoke Signals. As the second installment of the season, they consider how a contemporary collection centered around the Spokane Indian Reservation responds to the American Western mythos. Topics include the bildungsroman and Alexie's adoption of it to Native American boyhood, oral storytelling in traditional and modern settings, and community-as-character.Show notes:⁠Sherman Alexie's Substack.

Hi, everyone.Over the coming days and weeks you may see old episodes unexpectedly reappearing in your feed. This is because we have been asked to re-edit them to remove some copyrighted material. Though we are not at this point monetized and believe that all we do is in good faith, we do wish to respect the TOS of Spotify and the rights of creators, and so we have taken the opportunity to slightly re-edit these podcasts (and tinker with the sound) in order to make them available again to you. So you're not going back in time. We are.

Hi, all. No, you're not going back in time. We're slightly re-editing and re-uploading some episodes to comply with Spotify's ToS.

For our season finale, we delve into the world of dreams by looking at Ursula K. Le Guin's The Lathe of Heaven and the 1980 PBS movie based on it. What if your dreams could change the world--not in a metaphorical sense, but in a concrete way? What responsibility would you have? In this wide-ranging discussion we talk about Taoism, overpopulation discourse (again!) and the importance of public funding for the arts. Join us for our last trip into the worlds of science fiction (for now)! Ursula K. Le Guin interview with Bill Moyers Closing Music: "Get Along Little Doggies" by Harry McClintock

Nathanael and Erik are rejoined by guest Carl Watts in this episode covering the celebrated novel, iconic film, and its more contemporary sequel. Our conversation today touches on ideas of belief and fraudulence and, in the spirit of PKD, questions of reality and ontology. In addition, as this is our annual holiday episode, we discuss why BLADE RUNNER 2049 is, in fact, a Christmas movie. Show notes: "The hidden meaning of Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049" Osmanthus

Erik and Nathanael are joined by special guest Elizabeth Allen to discuss 2001: A Space Odyssey, a somewhat unique collaboration between two giants in their respective fields. We discuss midcentury fears of overpopulation, the destiny of humanity, and the possibilities (and dangers) of transcendence. Links: Scout Tafoya and Tucker Johnson on Kubrick, Spielberg, and A.I.: Artificial Intelligence Farya Faraji: Desert-Level Music vs. Actual Middle-Eastern Music Standard Ebooks

Happy Halloween! Come in out of the cold and cozy up to the blazing outpost as Erik and Nathanael discuss John W. Campbell's "Who Goes There" and the movie(s) based on it. Golden Age S.F., the limits of science and language, and very butch men battle it out in a struggle for dominance in the frozen wastes.

Welcome to the Erik Kline show! Today we look at William S. Burroughs, David Cronenberg, and Naked Lunch. We talk biography, we talk drugs, we talk obscenity. Everything is on the table and nothing is forbidden, so strap in for a bumpy journey into the Interzone. Burroughs lecture on the paranormal. Here's the YouTube video Booth mentions.

Booth and Kline are joined by returning guest Matthew Wells to discuss Slaughterhouse-Five, war, and time. Heavy topics, but done with a light touch since, after all, you can't spell "slaughter" without "laughter." Music: "Cheerio," performed by the Manhattan Beach Coast Guard Band

Erik and Nathanael venture into the uncanny world of Area X, where words lose meaning and form loses consistency. Along the way they discuss Lovecraft, Nature's revenge, and the nature of grief. Stock audio for the intro and conclusion can be found here, here, and here.

How do you celebrate the most epic s.f. franchise of all time? With the most epic podcast of all time! In this episode, Erik and Nathanael explore Pierre Boulle's 1963 novel Planet of the Apes as well as all of the movies based on it. Hear Booth's thoughts on James Franciscus! Hear Kline's digressions on James Franco! Hear both of them nearly come to blows over how close the 1968 movie is to the novel! It's all here in a blockbuster length, so grab a banana and tune in.

Kline and Booth take on Zack Snyder's Watchmen and the HBO sequel to the book. We also digress, extensively, on superhero movies in general. Additional material: Alan Moore talks - 02 - Watchmen by Comics Brittania HBO's Watchmen: A Thermodynamic Disaster by Macabre Storytelling (video referenced by Booth in the episode)

Kline and Booth return for a season full of science fictional weirdness. In this, the first of two episodes on Watchmen, the two take an extended look at Allan Moore and Dave Gibbons' classic de/reconstruction of superhero mythology. This is the first of two episodes. Next month will feature a discussion of the Zach Snyder movie adaptation of Watchmen and the HBO miniseries sequel. At one point in the episode, Booth refers to a certain YouTube video. This is that video. He will discuss it more in the next episode.

Erik and Nathanael are joined by special guest Will Murray to discuss Chester Himes' novel Cotton Comes to Harlem. Discussion includes the nature of reclamation and revolution and historical shifts in discussing racial issues. Please note that there are substantial audio issues with this episode. We do think that the conversation is well worth listening to.

In this special holiday episode, Kline and Booth discuss James Joyce's short story "The Dead" from his 1914 collection DUBLINERS, as well as the 1987 adaptation, John Huston's last film, and starring Anjelica Huston and Donal McGann. As they parse out the complexities of Joyce's style and what makes the story so quintessentially modernist, they also examine how it fits into the holiday literary tradition in its framings of home, family, love, and human connection. Listen to Joyce himself read from his final novel FINNEGANS WAKE here.

Booth and Kline tackle Ellery Queen's Ten Commandments themed novel Ten Days' Wonder and the 1971 adaptation of it by Claude Chabrol. What do you do with a God who makes impossible demands and enacts disproportionate judgement? How should humans press forward in a world shattered by war? And how old, after all, is Ellery Queen? These questions and more are addressed in this episode. If you are interested in this conversation, check out Booth's book God and the Great Detective: Ellery Queen's Struggle with the Divine, 1945-1965, now out from McFarland.

Part 2 of 2. Booth and Kline discuss the movie adaptation(s) of In Cold Blood and the biopics covering its writing: Capote and Infamous. Topics covered include the ethics of adaptation, the use of source materials, and the way Capote's structure informs all subsequent adaptations. Join us for our most controversial episode yet! Will Kline and Booth agree on the relative merits of Capote and Infamous? There is, after all, only one way to find out....

Kline and Booth discuss Jorge Luis Borges' "Death and the Compass" and the 1992 film adaptation. But the discussion is itself a labyrinth, covering (among other topics) metaphysical detective fiction, Edgar Allan Poe, Alan Moore, and Batman.

Erik and Nathanael are once again joined by Dr. Matthew Wells, who last appeared in "The Swimmer" episode of season one. This time, the three discuss Dorothy B. Hughes's 1947 thriller novel, IN A LONELY PLACE, and the 1950 film adaptation starring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame.

Booth and Kline are joined by special guest Steph Parker to discuss John Berendt's 1994 book and the 1997 Clint Eastwood movie based on it. Note that Booth misidentifies a podcast he listened to featuring John Berendt. The podcast is Queer We Are and can be listened to here.

Nathanael and Erik dive into William Lindsay Gresham's Nightmare Alley and Guillermo del Toro's 2021 adaptation. Topics include: freakishness, tarot, whether authors get any say on what their symbolism does. For further information see: Abbot, Megan. "Megan Abbot on the Difference between Hardboiled and Noir." Adams, Rachel. Sideshow U.S.A. Freaks and the American Cultural Imagination. Pollack, Rachel. Rachel Pollack's Tarot Wisdom. Discussion of Nightmare Alley & Use of Tarot [YouTube Video]

Erik and Nathanael are joined by Jennie Lightweis-Goff to discuss James Dickey's 1970 novel Deliverance and the film based on it. Topics include: masculinity, nature, and freakishness. Please be aware that due to the graphic nature of the content of this episode, listener discretion is advised.

In this episode we take a trip to midcentury California and into the lives of the bored and desperate. It's Play it as it Lays by Joan Didion. This movie is not easy to find, but it is on YouTube. Youtube Videos: The American Experience as told by Joan Didion (2003) (Source of our first intersegment bumper) Joan Didion, 1971. Katarzyna Nowak McNeice - "Joan Didion’s California and the Melancholic American Identity" Further Reading Daugherty, Tracy. The Last Love Song: A Biography of Joan Didion. St. Martin's, 2015. Nowak-McNeice, Katarzyna. California and the Melancholic American Identity in Joan Didion's Novels. Routledge, 2019. Vandenberg, Kathleen M. Joan Didion: Substance and Style. SUNY 2021.

A guest joins Nathanael and Erik to untangle midcentury malaise. Tune in for suburban flotation.

Caitlan Sumner joins us to discuss Carson McCullers' Reflections in a Golden Eye (1941) and the 1967 John Huston movie based on it. Further Reading:  Carr, Virginia Spencer. The Lonely Hunter: A Biography of Carson McCullers. U of Georgia P, 2003. Gleeson-White, Sarah. "Revisiting the Southern Grotesque: Mikhail Bakhtin and the Case of Carson McCullers." The Southern Literary Journal, Volume 33, Number 2, Spring 2001, pp. 108-123 Hoang Tan Nguyen. A View from the Bottom: Asian American Masculinity and Sexual Representation. Duke UP, 2014. [Booth apologizes for butchering Hoang's name multiple times during this podcast. It's a good book and worth checking out]

Guest Carl Watts joins us to discuss Gore Vidal's troubling novel Myra Breckinridge. Check out Carl's book I Just Wrote This Five Minutes Ago, newly out from Gordon Hill Press  In light of the ongoing attacks on trans communities throughout the US and the world, we would like to direct listeners to the GLAAD transgender resource page: https://www.glaad.org/transgender/resources Further Reading: Blanchard, Sessi Kuwabara. "In Defense of the Trans Villainess."  Booth, Nathanael Thomas. "The Queer Utopianism of Myra Breckinridge." Utopian Studies, vol. 32 no. 2, 2021, p. 167-185. Diffrient, David Scott. ""Hard to Handle": Camp Criticism, Trash-Film Reception, and the Transgressive Pleasures of Myra Breckinridge." Cinema Journal, vol. 52 no. 2, 2013, p. 46-70. Hoare, Liam. "Was Gore Vidal the Real Crypto-Nazi?"  YouTube Links: Raquel Welch discusses Myra Breckinridge:  Blatant: a stage production inspired by Myra Breckinridge Christine Jorgensen at UCLA Mae West at UCLA

In part II of our inaugural episode, we discuss I am a Camera and Cabaret and the changes they rang on Christopher Isherwood's The Berlin Stories

Welcome to the Projectionist's Lending Library. In this episode, we discuss The Berlin Stories, which were later adapted as I am a Camera and Cabaret.