Brandon Taylor joins editor Adam Ross to discuss literary Twitter, Austenian sarcasm, and the cult of toxic positivity. Despite a perpetually online existence, Taylor explains his desire to “decouple [his] own interests” from the incessant feedback loop media platforms tend to reinforce. In turn, his searingly hysterical, whip-smart approach to criticism shapes any discourse into one worthy of consumption, whether it’s a meditation on Wordle or Catholicism.
Brandon Taylor is an editor-at-large for the Sewanee Review, and the author of the short story collection Filthy Animals, which is currently a finalist for the Story Prize and on the longlist for the 2022 Dylan Thomas Prize. His novel, Real Life, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2020, selected as a New York Times Editors’ Choice, and won the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize. His work appears in the New Yorker, Guernica, the New York Times, O: The Oprah Magazine, Gulf Coast, and in his newsletter, sweater weather.
The Sewanee Review Podcast is recorded in the Ralston Listening Room at the University of the South. This episode is produced by Luke Gair and edited by ProPodcast Solutions with music by Annie Bowers. Don’t miss any of our conversations with some of today’s best writers. Subscribe to the Sewanee Review Podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.