Virtual Memories Show 658:
Lance Richardson
“‘Who was Peter Matthiessen?’ is one of those fractals; the closer you look, the more complicated the question becomes.”
Writer Lance Richardson rejoins the show to celebrate his magnificent new biography, TRUE NATURE: The Pilgrimage of Peter Matthiessen (Pantheon). We talk about his youthful introduction to Peter Matthiessen via The Snow Leopard, how this project grew beyond his (& his publisher’s) original concept, the health risks of following PM’s trek through Nepal to the Crystal Monastery and the fleetingness of his time there, and which of PM’s many hyphens he focuses on (novelist-naturalist-Zen roshi). We get into Matthiessen’s journey into American Zen, the problematic nature of race and gender in PM’s life and work, PM’s fixation on Bigfoot and how that shifted to the notional, the Paris Review/CIA connection that everyone asks about, and how Matthiessen’s widow came to trust Lance with the project. We also discuss his fave of Matthiessen’s novels, the financial challenges of long-term writing projects (this one took eight years), getting over self-doubt and learning from his previous biography of Tommy Nutter, enjoying the research-hunt of biography more than the writing, what his literary upbringing in Australia was like, whether he came to like or despite Matthiessen, and more! Plus, I monologue-ramble about my 20,000th day on earth and the pod-retirement of Marc Maron! Give it a listen! And go read TRUE NATURE!
“If you go with the expectation of enlightenment, then it’s not going to happen. You can’t force it.”
“Books about ‘Great Men Of Literature’ often sideline the women, or write about them in a certain way that’s belittling or diminishing. I absolutely wanted to push against that by writing a book that centered and gave room for those women to have a voice.”
“The challenge that worried me the most, and that I had sleepless nights over, was how to deal with the fact that Matthiessen was really into cryptozoology. He really was invested in the idea of a Yeti or a Bigfoot.”
“There were never points at which I hated him, but there were points where I was frustrated with him. And it was usually something to do with his treatment of women.”
Enjoy the conversation! Then check out the archives for more great episodes!
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About our Guest
Lance Richardson‘s first book, House of Nutter: The Rebel Tailor of Savile Row, was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and named one of the notable titles of 2018 by The Sunday Times, The Mail on Sunday, Esquire, and the American Library Association. He has been awarded numerous fellowships, including a year-long residency at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, at the New York Public Library. He teaches in the MFA in Writing program at Bennington College, Vermont. His new book is True Nature: The Pilgrimage of Peter Matthiessen.
Follow Lance on Bluesky and Instagram and listen to our 2018 conversation.
Credits: This episode’s music is Fella by Hal Mayforth, used with permission from the artist. The conversation was recorded at an undisclosed location on a pair of Blue enCORE 200 microphones feeding into a Zoom PodTrak P4 digital recorder & interface. I recorded the intro and outro on a Heil PR-40 Dynamic Studio Recording Microphone feeding into a Zoom PodTrak P4. All processing and editing done in Adobe Audition CC. Photo of Lance by James Appleton; double-selfie of us by me. It’s on my instagram.
