Key West Literary Seminar: January 2008 Archives

Pulitzer finalist James Gleick and theoretical physicist-cum-novelist Janna Levin discuss the tensions between science and art evidenced by her novel, "A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines." Why stray from the "facts," Gleick wonders, in telling a story of Alan Turing and Kurt Gödel, two of the 20th century's greatest abstract thinkers? Because, answers Levin, "there is something about the process of thinking on the absolute periphery of what's connected to ordinary human life that you can't describe just by stating the facts." Levin takes Gleick's incisive, nuanced, fraught questions and responds with a grace and power akin, commented Junot Diaz, to "Babe Ruth bombing home runs out the park." Levin fans will also enjoy her archived Colbert Report interview here. (41:30)
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Recordings of the Key West Literary Seminar began in 1988, when Meg O'Brien recorded and produced our annual event for WLRN's Radio Reading Service. Two decades later, we continue Meg's work. Our goal is to create a complete digital archive of Seminar recordings, and to release the best of these recordings here. You can listen right here on our site, download the .mp3 files, and/or subscribe to a series of podcasts. Recordings are released on a casual schedule, as soon as they are ready. Contact Arlo Haskell, our media director, with any questions: arlohaskell [at] gmail [dot] com.
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