Today’s podcast is part of a series to accompany my current serialized novel, An Interpreter in Vienna, as we investigate the truth in fiction. You can also listen to the podcast via Apple or Spotify or in the Substack app. Please consider adding a quick star rating on the other players to help my reach.
I appreciate your support as a Matterhorn subscriber and look forward to our discussions. As always, feel free to share any of your work related to the conversation. Thank you!
A full AI-created transcript can be accessed on the desktop version.
Keywords:
* Collective experience and trauma defined
* Emotions and control
* Boston Red Sox
* Vienna post-WWII
* 9/11 novelists and filmmakers
* Effect on everyday culture
* Architectural uncanny
* Considerations for your own work
Considerations for your work:
* Consider how the collective experiences affect your protagonist or different characters.
* Maybe there’s a collective experience within the fiction – how does this impact the characters?
* Also think about things like creating mood from an omniscient narrator point of view.
* What is the news/media narrative in relation to the collective experience? Is this something you want your book to question or reinforce?
Feel free to share your related work or recommendations in the comments.
Texts:
* Collective Experience defined
* BALAEV, MICHELLE. “Trends in Literary Trauma Theory.” Mosaic: An Interdisciplinary Critical Journal 41, no. 2 (2008): 149–66. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44029500.
* Eyerman, Ron. “Social Theory and Trauma.” Acta Sociologica 56, no. 1 (2013): 41–53. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23525660.
* Carrie Louise Sheffield. “Native American Hip-Hop and Historical Trauma: Surviving and Healing Trauma on the ‘Rez.’” Studies in American Indian Literatures 23, no. 3 (2011): 94–110. https://doi.org/10.5250/studamerindilite.23.3.0094.
* Radstone, Susannah. “Trauma Theory: Contexts, Politics, Ethics.” Paragraph 30, no. 1 (2007): 9–29. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43152697.
* https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/austria-plans-tighten-law-banning-use-nazi-symbols-2022-11-14/
* https://www.dw.com/en/should-the-hitler-balcony-in-vienna-be-open-to-the-public/a-56887522
* Immigrant imaginaries in the filmic apartment ellipsis : a study of New York and Hong Kong
* Column McCann: Let the Great World Spin
* Man on Wire 2008 (film)
<Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Male Room with Dr. Jesse Mills
As Director of The Men’s Clinic at UCLA, Dr. Jesse Mills has spent his career helping men understand their bodies, their hormones, and their health. Now he’s bringing that expertise to The Male Room — a podcast where data-driven medicine meets common sense. Each episode separates fact from hype, science from snake oil, and gives men the tools to live longer, stronger, and happier lives. With candor, humor, and real-world experience from the exam room and the operating room, Dr. Mills breaks down the latest health headlines, dissects trends, and explains what actually works — and what doesn’t. Smart, straightforward, and entertaining, The Male Room is the show that helps men take charge of their health without the jargon.