Two Month Review

Latest Episodes:

TMR 18.10: "Looks Like a Lump of Shit to Me" [Ann Quin] Dec 30, 2022

Show notes

The final episode of this season focuses on The Unmapped Country: Stories and Fragments, focusing on the titular story/unfinished novel, along with a few other shorter pieces. The gang looks back at all of Ann Quin's books, speculate on what her career might have been had she lived another couple decades, whether of not she should be taught in a creative writing class, and more.

This week's music is "Web in Front" by Archers of Loaf.

You can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel and stay tuned for information about Season 19 on The Remembered Part by Rodrigo Fresán.

And you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. And visit Kaija's website for info on her translations, photography, and more!

All of Ann Quin's books are available through Bookshop.org, or at better bookstores everywhere. Be sure to order Brian’s book, Joytime Killbox, which is available at better bookstores everywhere thanks to BOA Editions.

TMR 18.9: "Your Name? Your Trauma?" [Ann Quin] Dec 28, 2022

Show notes

Chad, Brian, and Kaija finish up their discussion of Tripticks, which basically devolves into reading out the funniest lines they can find from the this trippy-dippy, wild-ass ending. Some analysis is made of the deconstruction of male narratives, the Beats, the Dashiell Hammett of it all, and more, but come prepared for some fun and laughs.

This week's music is "How Does the Story Go?" by Sprints.

You can watch next week's discussion of Tripticks live on YouTube, Thursday December 29th. (Reading schedule can be found here.) And you can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel.

And you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. And visit Kaija's website for info on her translations, photography, and more!

TMR 18.8: "No. 1 X-Wife" [Ann Quin] Dec 15, 2022

Show notes

NIGHTRIPPPER!!!!!!!!!!

This week's music is "Dirty Boots" by Sonic Youth.

You can watch next week's discussion of Tripticks live on YouTube. (Reading schedule can be found here.) And you can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel.

And you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. And visit Kaija's website for info on her translations, photography, and more!

TMR 18.7: "I Would Like To Exhaust the Limits of the Possible" [Ann Quin] Dec 10, 2022

Show notes

Kaija Straumanis filled in for a domestically distressed Brian, and Chad went all psych0-philosophical on this week's episode, talking about schizoid personality splits, R. D. Laing, reading the various parts of Passages simultaneously, postulating wild hot takes, and saying "fuck off" to a wide swath of bad actors. (Looking at you, Kanye.)

This week's music is "Outlook for the Future" by Inventions.

You can watch next week's discussion of Tripticks live on YouTube. (Reading schedule can be found here.) And you can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel.

And you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. And visit Kaija's website for info on her translations, photography, and more!

TMR 18.6: "Forms Forming Themselves" [Ann Quin] Dec 02, 2022

Show notes

This week, Brian, Chad, and Kaija discuss the first half of Passages, arguable Quin's most poetic book, and definitely most experimental one to date. They talk about the way the two characters try to define themselves and create their identities, flow versus points, geometry and parallax, masks and threesomes, and more. It's a dense—yet fun—episode, much in keeping with the text itself!

This week's music is "Future" by Rich Aucoin.

You can watch next week's discussion of Passage live on YouTube. (Reading schedule can be found here.) And you can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel.

And you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. And visit Kaija's website for info on her translations, photography, and more!

TMR 18.5: "Reads Without Turning a Page" [Ann Quin] Nov 30, 2022

Show notes

Kaija Straumanis joins Chad and Brian this week to talk about orchids, hot takes (did S. sleep with L.?? how exactly did she die?), creepy British dudes, symmetry in Three, Ann Quin's statement on threesomes, the ambiguity of the text, and much more.

This week's music is "What Went Down" by Foals.

You can watch next week's discussion of Passage live on YouTube at 4pm ET on Thursday, December 1. (Reading schedule can be found here.) And you can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel.

And you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests. And visit Kaija's website for info on her translations, photography, and more!

TMR 18.4: "Pursuit to the Point of Indiscretion" [Ann Quin] Nov 18, 2022

Show notes

Chad and Bria dive into Three, discussing the humor of the dialogue, the poetic-cinematic techniques Quin employs, monogamy and marriage, whether or not L was a collaborationist or worse, the importance of the number three, the play-like elements of the books, anti-mimetic writing, and much more. It's a fun episode complete with dog barks, laughs, unanswered questions, and a decent amount of insight into Three for anyone feeling lost.

This week's music is "Lost Heads" by Moon Duo.

You can watch next week's discussion of Three live on YouTube at 4pm ET on Wednesday, November 9th. (Reading schedule can be found here.) And you can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel.

And you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

TMR 18.3: "Why This Eternal Escaping?" [Ann Quin] Nov 11, 2022

Show notes

Dead dummies, drowned tramps, resolving the Oedipal complex, the forever incompleteness of the number "3," sex, the sea, slapstick comedy, irony, competing desires of domesticity versus the desire to escape, the beautiful ending and the reverse coda, and much more is discussed on this episode covering the whole of Ann Quin's Berg.

Now Chad and Brian move on to Quin's second novel, Three, which came out in 1969 and, in a way, begins right where we left off, opening "with the disappearance at sea, possibly suicide, of a young woman, identified only as S." You can get the book via And Other Stories, Bookshop, your local indie, or Amazon. This is the book that got Chad completely hooked on Quin, so read along and tune in!

This week's music is "City of the Dead" by Superchunk.

And you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

TMR 18.2: "BUY BERG'S BEST HAIR TONIC" [Ann Quin] Nov 06, 2022

Show notes

Chad and Brian dive into the first half of Berg this episode, mispronouncing words, talking about the literary scene Quin came out of, whether or not Berg/Greb is an incel, the humor found in the book, and more. (Inevitably there's a dig at Ohio somewhere in this recording.)

This week's music is "When a Woman Is Around" byUnloved.

You can watch next week's discussion of Berg live on YouTube at 4pm ET on Wednesday, November 9th. (Reading schedule can be found here.) And you can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel.

And you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

TMR 18.1: Who Was Ann Quin? Oct 28, 2022

Show notes

The eighteenth season of the Two Month Review is all about Ann Quin's books—all four novels and her collected stories and fragments—and starts off with an overview of who she was, the context of experimental British writing in the 1960s, how/why Quin has been underappreciated, some info on supplementary critical materials, and much more.

This week's music is "HaHaHome" by twen.

You can watch next week's discussion of Berg live on YouTube at 4pm ET on Wednesday, November 2nd. (Reading schedule can be found here.) And you can find all previous seasons of TMR on our YouTube channel.

And you can support us at Patreon and get bonus content before anyone else, along with other rewards, the opportunity to easily communicate with the hosts, etc.

Follow Open Letter, Chad Post, and Brian Wood for random thoughts and information about upcoming guests.

The large image associated with this post comes from The Paris Review with credit to Oswald Jones for this photo from the Larry Goodall Collection.

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