Don DeLillo’s new novel doesn’t come out until next week, but we’re discussing it now, because we’re on the cutting edge of literature. Tastemakers! Or, you know, we just emailed a publicist. Turns out it’s pretty easy to get advance review copies of big-release books when you have a semi-popular literary podcast.

Anyway, we promise this episode won’t spoil anything for you “normals” who have to wait until the book’s actual release date to read it. We will, however, talk about our past experiences with DeLillo books, some of the things we tend to love (and not love) about his work, and how this new book stacks up against his formidable back catalog.

In the second half of the show we talk about a recent essay from The Walrus, “I Don’t Care About Your Life: Why Critics Need to Stop Getting Personal In Their Essays.” The piece made the rounds on Twitter, sparking debate about whether too much of what passes for book or cultural criticism is actually self-reflexive and, ultimately, shallow.

As always, you can stream the show right here on our site. You can also find us in the iTunes store, or wherever you normally get your podcasts.

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Download Episode 124 (right-click, save-as)

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