The Empyrean Path

Udith Dematagoda read's from Matthias Enard's Zone (Fitzcarraldo, 2014). A feverish masterpiece of contemporary modernist fiction on war, violence and the bloodsoaked history of the Mediterranean.

Australian writer Paul Dalla Rosa joins Udith to talk about his new short story collection 'An Exciting and Vivid Inner Life', technology and alienation, and the philosophy of Byung-Chul Han.

Kyle Dunn reads from 'The Enormous Room' (1922) by E.E Cummings, a novel based on the author's experience of being imprisoned in France during World War I.

Emmalea Russo reads from Jean Baudrillard's 'America', and discusses its realtion to Michangelo Antonioni's film Zabriskie Point, and how they have both influenced her own writing.

Udith Dematagoda is joined by Irish novelist Rob Doyle to discuss the topic of Transcendence, featuring the Tibetan Book of the Dead, esoteric Buddhism, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, personal ideas of hell, his current residency in Singapore, Julius Evola, Emil Cioran, the Kali Yuga and Joe Rogan.

Canadian writer Camilla Grudova joins us to discuss her forthcoming novel 'Children of Paradise', based on her experience of working in a cinema, and two films which she's been thinking about recently; '400 Blows' by Francois Truffaut, and 'Liquorice Pizza' by Paul Thomas Anderson. Also featuring the disappeared charms of her hometown Toronto, The Sopranos, and the possible end of moral obviousness in art and literature.

Udith Dematagoda reads a poisonous letter by the French writer Pierre Drieu La Rochelle to his late friend the Dadaist poet Jacques Rigaut, who had recently killed himself. Rigaut's suicide would serve as the inspiration for Drieu's most famous novel 'Le Feu Follet' (Will O' the Wisp, 1931).

This week we discuss the theme of Transgression with writer and critic Adam Lehrer - taking in the work of George Bataille, Nick Land, Foucault, the films of Gaspar Noé, and the dawning impossibility of a truly transgressive art within contemporary culture.

We discuss the theme of the Forest, its primeval significance in the cultural imaginary, and in relation to two works; the anti-war science fiction novel 'The Word for World is Forest' by Ursula K. Le Guin (1971), and the political essay 'The Forest Passage' (1951) by Ernst Jünger. Featuring a feral woman living in the French countryside, Cathars, Quietism, and tick bites.

Udith Dematagoda revisits and reads from 'The Duel' by Anton Chekov, one of the first works of Russian literature he read, and briefly reflects on its theme.