EP 036
March 8, 2022
Jason Diamond on suburbs, cardigans, Russian literature, the Martini, and more.
Show Notes:
This week on the podcast Angela talks to Jason Diamond, contributor to GQ and author of The Sprawl and Searching For John Hughes. Angie and Jason have a wide-ranging chat about growing up in the suburbs, house cardigans, and his Martini drinking club called The Beardo Crew. Jason also talks about his Polish and Russian heritage, and how that has affected his love of Russian literature.
Jason also writes regularly at his own substack.
Next time: Stephan Lee.
THE SPRAWL
by Jason Diamond
$16.95
BUY NOWFROM GARAGE ROCK TO GRETA GERWIG, JASON DIAMOND ASKS US TO RECONSIDER THE CREATIVE POTENTIAL OF THE AMERICAN SUBURB AS HE LEADS US DOWN THE CUL-DE-SAC AND OUT AGAIN.
For decades the suburbs have been where art happens “despite”: despite the conformity, the emptiness, the sameness. The familiar story is one of gems formed under pressure, creative transcendence fueled by suburban resentment. But what if the suburb has actually been an incubator for distinctly American art, as positively and as surely as in any other cultural hothouse? Mixing personal experience, cultural reportage, and history while rejecting clichés and pieties, these essays stretch across the country in an effort to show that this uniquely American milieu deserves another look.
FROM GARAGE ROCK TO GRETA GERWIG, JASON DIAMOND ASKS US TO RECONSIDER THE CREATIVE POTENTIAL OF THE AMERICAN SUBURB AS HE LEADS US DOWN THE CUL-DE-SAC AND OUT AGAIN.
For decades the suburbs have been where art happens “despite”: despite the conformity, the emptiness, the sameness. The familiar story is one of gems formed under pressure, creative transcendence fueled by suburban resentment. But what if the suburb has actually been an incubator for distinctly American art, as positively and as surely as in any other cultural hothouse? Mixing personal experience, cultural reportage, and history while rejecting clichés and pieties, these essays stretch across the country in an effort to show that this uniquely American milieu deserves another look.