A podcast in which we discuss high-craft works of popular culture.
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#UpperMiddleBrow
To say a work is highbrow or “literary” might suggest it is rarified, difficult, or unrelatable. To call it “lowbrow” might suggest its entertaining, but lurid and lacking craft. At Upper Middlebrow, we believe you shouldn’t have to choose.
In energetic and rambly episodes, Jesse and Chris surf the tidal waters of the upper-middlebrow, choosing pieces of highly entertaining work, with high craft.
Find out what we’re reading/watching next.
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Episode 103: “A Pleasurable Disgust,” or Philip Roth’s Goodbye Columbus
Roth’s 1959 novella begins with an account of the protagonist, Neil Klugman watching the lovely Brenda swim while he holds her glasses. Immediately, we’re transported to the poolside, and into Klugman’s brain. But, is Klugman’s brain worth visiting? Klugman is charming and manipulative, funny and arrogant. We watch him pursue Brenda, begin and relationship and…
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Episode 102: “The Biggest Iceberg in Film,” or Claire Denis’ Beau Travail
Chris and Jesse watch one of Chris’ favorite films: Claire Denis’ 1999 masterpiece Beau Travail, starring Denis Lavant and Colin Gregoire. The film is plot-light but significance-heavy, and the lads agree that it is beautiful and poetic and uncondescending. Can the power of imagery, sound, and implicated action balance a plot that sheds many of…
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Episode 101: ‘What Thrums Below,’ or Herman Melville’s Billy Budd
Herman Melville’s Novella Billy Budd, Sailor was not published until 1924, thirty-three years after his death. The literary world was in the midst of the Melville revival, suggesting that his themes of existential dread, guilt and innocence, right and wrong, and the conflict between what is good verses what is allowed had become salient to…
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The Hosts
Chris and Jesse create and interrogate different kinds of content. They are writers, radio producers, and fair-to-middling surfers.
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