Hosted By
“The Sears Christmas Wish Book was, for me, a kind of foundational text — a secular counterpoint to the Bible stories I learned around that time in Sunday School. I paged through the holiday catalog’s 620 glossy pages as if they amounted to an intoxicating graphic novel of desire, rich with abundance and possibility.” – Rolf Potts, from “Literature of Desire”
In this episode Rolf reads an audio version of his Christmas-themed essay “Literature of Desire,” and discusses the wonders of the Sears Christmas Wish Book with novelist Tod Goldberg (@todgoldberg). Tod is the New York Times bestselling author of over a dozen books, including the novel Gangsterland, which is currently being developed into a television series. He is also the director of the University of California-Riverside Palm Desert Low-Residency MFA, and the co-host of the Literary Disco podcast.
Introduction (00:35 – 11:20)
Literature of Desire essay (11:20 – 32:20)
Sears Wish Book memories (32:20 – 50:10)
This episode was sponsored by the Paris Writing Workshops, which offer intensive one-week travel-writing courses in the artistic heart of Europe.
The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.
“Influencers are forever reinforcing the same images. They’re spending no time in the actual place, other than the requisite time to take the photo....
“You have to understand your own particular journey — and what you need as a writer, and who you are, and what you want...
“The Lamalerans hunt in a way that is almost exactly the same as the way people hunted during Moby Dick’s time. Going on one...
![Holiday Special: Celebrating the Sears Christmas Wish Book [encore]](https://episodes.castos.com/deviate/images/836028/c1a-ldpx-nj934g3nu966-wjfacx.png)