Nov 9, 2020
Charlie and Eric Beck Rubin (School Of Velocity) discuss the representation of the Holocaust in literature, using classical music as a literary device, having a main character whose person limits the opportunity for dialogue through his obsession with another, and the reader being a writer.
Please note that the first reading contains sexual content.
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Wikipedia’s article on Imre
Kertész
Wikipedia’s article on Georges
Perec
Wikipedia’s article on Jonathan
Safran Foer’s Everything is Illuminated
Wikipedia’s article on Ford Madox Ford’s
The Good Soldier
The full quote on reading and writing, by the writer Jonathan
Lethem, is: “Reading and writing are the same thing; it’s just
one’s the more active and the other’s the more passive. They flow
into each other.”
Wikipedia’s article on John Irving’s
A Prayer For Owen Meany
Czerny’s School Of Velocity on
YouTube
Eric has written many articles on cultural history – among them
are:
‘Not Again’
‘Georges Perec, Lost and Found in
the Void: The Memoirs of an Indirect Witness’ (requires a JStor
account to access)
‘Avoided: On Georges Perec’
‘Sisyphus in Kertész’s Fatelessness’
(opens in a PDF)
Eric’s literary podcast ‘Burning Books’
Question Index
00:41 Tell us about your PhD on the Holocaust
in literature
03:13 What musical instruments do you play?
04:12 Favourite classical musician?
05:10 I know that reviews say School of Velocity
is like The Great Gatsby – is there anything in this?
06:11 Why The Netherlands for the story?
13:48 It’s a while until anyone but Dirk and Jan
are given any dialogue. Is this something you’d considered doing
throughout?
16:58 How did you go about choosing the classical
music that Jan plays?
19:11 Can you talk about your choice to use
Czerny’s music as the title and in the context of your
characters?
20:44 Do you see Jan and Dirk as having loved each
other?
32:20 Do you think it would’ve been possible for
Dirk to narrate the story from his side?
33:41 How much affect did Dirk’s parents have on
him?
35:38 How important was Lena’s inclusion in the
story?
37:39 Where did the idea of using this ‘musical
tinnitus’, enough to cause sickness, come from?
39:10 What’s next?
Purchase Links
School Of Velocity:
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Amazon Canada
Waterstones
Hive
Barnes & Noble
IndieBound
Indigo Chapters
I am an Amazon Associate and earn a small commission on qualifying purchases. Likewise IndieBound.
Photograph used with the permission of the author.