Leigh Stein and Julius Taranto: Did Wokeness and Trump Kill Literary Satire?

The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie

Satire is a powerful force for political and cultural change. But is it even possible in a world that outstrips our imagination on a daily—or even hourly—basis?

Today's guests are two young novelists who are redefining satire in the 21st century. Leigh Stein is the author of Self Care, which is set at a women's wellness startup where things go very wrong. Her next novel, If You're Seeing This, It's Meant for You, takes place at a social media hype house and comes out in August. Julius Taranto is the author of How I Won a Nobel Prize, which is set at a secretive university funded by a reclusive billionaire and staffed exclusively by faculty who have been canceled elsewhere. His reviews and essays have been published in The Washington Post, The New York Review of Books, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and elsewhere.

Reason's Nick Gillespie talks with them about the widely pronounced post-election vibe shift by which artists feel emboldened once again to slay sacred cows with impunity. And they explore whether contemporary markets for books, movies, plays, music, and other forms of creative expression are actually capable of supporting a new era of satire, parody, and self-examination.

This interview was recorded at The Reason Speakeasy, a live monthly event in New York City that doubles as a live taping of The Reason Interview. Go here for more information on upcoming Reason events.

1:30—What is the purpose of a novel?
4:49—What is the function of satire?
9:03—Philip Roth declared satire impossible in 1961
12:30—How culture has fractured
15:17—Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and figures beyond satire
18:31—Class dimensions of satire
22:52—How Stein's feminist activism inspired Self Care
23:58—Tom Wolfe and satirical realism
31:25—Is the world becoming post-literate?
32:54—Has the novel been feminized?
34:25—Joe Rogan as the successor to Marcel Proust?
35:28—How women dominate the publishing industry
47:43—Stein's cultural criticism and poetry

• Video Editor: Ian Keyser

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