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The Big Book Project
The Big Book Project is a multi-venue reading experience for bibliophiles fascinated by long or dense works of fiction and interested in discussing them with others, one novel at a time.
The works selected will be capacious novels from the mid-nineteenth century through today that possess an abundant writing style or complexity in structure and themes.
The notion that reading need not be a solitary activity has special resonance with these novels given that there is much to discuss, elaborate upon and question in the authors’ expression of ideas. I like to think of these novels as abundant because I appreciate their richness and volume, characteristics bestow a sort of grace to luxuriate with the text.
The critic and scholar Alexander Nehamas writes that when a work of art beckons, it is because we do not fully understand it but feel the strong desire to do so. And it is this deliberative process, the journey, of trying to understand why a novel is extraordinary that I want to explore with fellow readers at The Big Book Project.
We discuss books like Roberto Bolaño’s 2666
Episodes
32 episodes
Steven Moore on "Last Time Around," William Gaddis & the Future of the Big Novel
https://substack.com/@thebigbookproject(Lori recorded this interview on a different device, and we apologize for the poor quality of her audio.)For five decades Steven Moore has been one of the most thoughtful champions of the...
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The School of Night with Richard Bailey
https://substack.com/@thebigbookprojectWatch the full episode on youtube: As we continue reading The School of Night by Karl Ove Knausgaard, Richard Bailey joins me to talk about Part Two of the novel. Richard is my fellow bo...
News From the Empire with Ron Restrepo
The name Fernando Del Paso was new to me two and a half years ago when author, publisher, and Dalkey Archive Press alum Martin Riker introduced me to Palinuro of Mexico. What a revelation this late Mexican novelist! He...
Reading The School of Night with Chad Post
https://substack.com/@thebigbookprojectChad W. Post, publisher at Open Letter Books and translation studies instructor at the University of Rochester joins Lori Feathers on The Big Bo...
Chaos, Holy Fools & Don Quixote in Dostoevsky’s The Idiot with Prof. Michael Sexton
https://substack.com/@thebigbookprojectDostoevsky’s The Idiot is too much—too many characters, too many plot points, too much chaos—and that’s exactly what makes it extraordinary. In this episode of The Big Book Project, host Lori Feathe...
Reading D.H. Lawrence's The Rainbow with Mark Haber
https://substack.com/@thebigbookprojectD.H. Lawrence’s The Rainbow rewards readers willing to move inward — into the psychological depths of a single family across three generations — rather than outward toward the conventional ...
Reading Faulkner's Go Down, Moses with Dr. Larry Allums | The Big Book Project
William Faulkner’s Go Down, Moses is one of those novels that resists easy summary — and that resistance is precisely what makes it so worth discussing. In this episode of The Big Book Project, host Lori Feathers is joined by Faulkner ...
Translating the Impossible: Ursula Phillips on Ice by Jacek Dukaj
https://substack.com/@thebigbookprojectIn this episode of The Big Book Project, Lori Feathers is joined by translator Ursula Phillips to discuss her extraordinary translation of Ice, the monumental, genre-defying novel by Polish author Jace...
Mark de Silva Discusses "The Logos"
In this episode of The Big Book Project, Lori sits down with novelist and philosopher Mark de Silva to explore his monumental 2022 novel The Logos — a thousand-page meditation on art, perception, capitalism, and the vis...
Absalom, Absalom! Final Thoughts with Dr. Larry Allums
In this final discussion of Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner, Lori is joined once again by Dr. Larry Allums to close out one of the most haunting and inexhaustible novels in American literature.Together, they trace Faulkner’s labyr...
Innocence, Design, and the American Adam: Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! Video #4 Dr. Larry Allums
https://substack.com/@thebigbookprojectIn this episode of The Big Book Project, Lori Feathers and Dr. Larry Allums delve into Chapter 7 of William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom!—one of the novel’s most intricate and revea...
The Southern Labyrinth: Faulkner’s Layers of Storytelling in Chapter 6 of Absalom, Absalom! Video 3 With Larry Allums
In this episode of The Big Book Project, host Lori Feathers and literary scholar Dr. Larry Allums continue their deep exploration of William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom!—turning to the enigmatic and multi-layered Chapter 6.
Absalom, Absalom! Chapters 4–5: Rosa Coldfield’s Humiliation and Sutpen’s Obsession | The Big Book Project (Video 2 with Dr. Larry Allums)
Welcome back to The Big Book Project, hosted by Lori Feathers. In Video 2, Lori continues her discussion of William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! with returning guest Dr. Larry Allums. Together, they unpack t...
Understanding Absalom, Absalom!: Faulkner’s Biblical Roots, Mythic Imagination, and the Southern Psyche
In this episode of The Big Book Project, Lori Feathers is joined by Dr. Larry Allums to launch our collective read of William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! — one of the most complex and unforgettable novels in Ame...
A Fortunate Man: Henrik Pontoppidan’s Masterwork with Nick During (NYRB)
This week on The Big Book Project I’m joined by Nick During, publicist at New York Review Books, for a deep dive into Henrik Pontoppidan’s monumental novel A Fortunate Man translated by Paul Larkin.Pontopp...
Exploring Antonio Lobo Antunes: Memory, Trauma, and Portuguese Literature with Chad W. Post
Join host Lori Feathers and guest Chad W. Post (Dalkey Archive Press & Open Letter Books) as they dive into the world of Portuguese writer António Lobo Antunes, one of the most significant literary voices of the last 50 years.They d...
The Kindly Ones: That Ending!
In this final conversation on The Kindly Ones, I’m joined again by Tom Flynn to explore the last chaotic stretch of Jonathan Littell’s massive and deeply unsettling novel.We talk about the feverish pacing, the bizarre turns, and...
What Makes Big Books Work? Abundance, Complexity, and the Joy of Long Novels with James Elkins
Why do some readers gravitate toward sprawling, ambitious novels that take weeks—or even months—to read? What is it about long books that makes them so immersive, so risky, and so rewarding?In this episode of The Big Book Project
Confronting Atrocity: The Kindly Ones, Moral Complicity, and the Ethics of Reading Difficult Books (with Brad Costa)
https://substack.com/@thebigbookprojectIn this episode of The Big Book Project, Lori sits down with Brad Costa, sales representative for W.W. Norton and an extraordinary reader, to discuss Jonathan Littell’s The Kindly Ones.Brad...
The Kindly Ones: Holocaust Literature, Bureaucratic Evil, and the Banality of Horror
In this episode of The Big Book Project, Lori Feathers is joined by Professor Dorian Stuber for a deep dive into Jonathan Littell’s The Kindly Ones. They explore the book’s place within Holocaust literature, its historical acc...
Five Strange Languages: James Elkins on Long Novels, Memory, and the Art of Digression
In this episode of The Big Book Project, Lori Feathers sits down with art historian, theorist, and novelist James Elkins to discuss his new book A Short Introduction to Anneliese published by Unnamed Press—the second no...
The Kindly Ones: Stalingrad, The Harpies, and the Horror of History (with Tom Flynn)
Tom Flynn returns to The Big Book Project to continue our group read of Jonathan Littell’s The Kindly Ones—this time tackling pages 333–427, a harrowing descent into the frozen siege of Stalingrad.Lori and Tom unpack the disturb...
Memory, War, and Translation: David McKay on The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje
https://substack.com/@thebigbookprojectIn this episode of The Big Book Project, host Lori Feathers is joined by acclaimed translator David McKay to explore The Remembered Soldier, the haunting and deeply psychological novel by Anjet Daanje,...
Legacy, Silence, and Symbolism in Agaat: What the Maps and Diaries Really Mean
https://substack.com/@thebigbookprojectIn this solo episode of The Big Book Project, host Lori Feathers returns to reflect on the latest section of Agaat by Marlene ...
The Power of Agaat: Publishing, Politics, and Literary Brilliance with Tin House’s Nanci McCloskey
In this special episode of The Big Book Project, host Lori Feathers is joined by Nanci McCloskey—Associate Publisher and Director of Sales & Marketing at Tin House Books—to kick off our next group read: Agaat by Marlene va...