A Chat with Richard Powers about Bewilderment
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- Опубліковано 7 сер 2024
- Bewilderment is one of the most beautiful and powerful novels I've read this year so it was an absolute delight to interview Richard Powers about this story, the environment, astrobiology, science fiction and the Booker Prize. Click ‘Show More’ for info & links.
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My review video of Bewilderment:
• Bewilderment by Richar...
Books Richard Powers discusses & purchase links:
Bewilderment by Richard Powers
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The Overstory by Richard Powers
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Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino
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Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman
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Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon
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Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
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Underland by Robert Macfarlane
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Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
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Thank you so much for this interview. I read the end of the book last night and I was knocked sideways, much like how you described feeling about the ending. I needed to hear Richard’s insight into the book and the ending in particular, and this interview really helped me. I’m feeling tender and emotional, as a mom myself who has mostly disengaged with climate change news stories and studies because it’s just too much for me to carry while trying to raise a child into this world. This book has helped me to find my way back to engaging with climate change and our relationship to each other and other beings - we must continue the conversation and not be afraid to really witness what’s happening in our world. Thank you.
I’m so glad you found the book so moving and this interview helpful. Yes, I wanted to ask about the ending in particular and I’m so glad I did. A sobering reminder of us all to be more conscious of climate change.
Wow, congrats on getting this interview! I'm so excited to give this a listen.
Thanks! I felt honoured to speak with him.
It was great to see Richard in person in a venue near Cambridge. I feel certain that _Bewilderment_ will become an instant classic.
_So might we ourselves look down into some rock-pool where lowly creatures repeat with naive zest dramas learned by their ancestors æons ago._
Couldn't resist throwing in the words of Olaf Stapledon :)
He's so down to earth. I love how thoughtful his answers are. Thanks for posting this interview!
Yes!
Fantastic interview with Richard Powers. He is so very smart but also so down-to-earth as well. I loved hearing his thoughts on his inspirations and motivations for writing this beautiful novel.
Thank you!
So many things to say about this! First of all- thank you for sharing this with us all. Great questions and I’m astounded by his generosity of time and energy in how he answered your questions. So much depth, so much thoughtfulness. And he was jet lagged? You couldn’t tell. I’m also delighted that he mentioned Braiding Sweetgrass as I started it this morning as part of Nonfiction November and Indigathon reading.
I was so moved by this book. Leo and I just read it and couldn’t put it down. I can’t wait to talk about it this week and I will, of course, share this video.
Eric this was just wonderful. You always give your interviewee’s space to talk and Richard Powers is always so thoughtful and intelligent in his answers and seems such a lovely person. I especially liked what he said about divergence being different for every child, for his obvious delight in learning and exploring so many aspects of the world and his relaxed attitude where prizes and negative reviews are concerned. I’d intended to read this book when I first heard about it but have been saving it as a treat- I’m very much looking forward to getting to it.
Thank you! Yes, his thoughts on these subjects are so clear-minded. I'm sure you'll greatly enjoy and appreciate the novel when you get time to read it.
You continue to amaze me!
😊
Oh Thank you for this interview with Richard Powers. I became aware of Bewilderment when you did a review of the book. I loved the book very much. He has such emotion discussing his book. His writing is beautiful. One of a kind.
Yes, I'm so glad you connected with the book as much as I did.
Thank you for an absolutely brilliant discussion. This conversation brought a glimmer of hope for me again, as did The Overstory and Bewilderment. Just knowing there are individuals focused on what is occurring, allowing us to enter the issues through layer upon layer of insight, imagination, reality, purpose (I could go on and on) is magnificent. Powers’ incredible ability to grant voice to those who face what can only be seen as catastrophic, is so incredibly powerful and ultimately brings us to the place of empathy and care from which we have been so lost. Lost from the “more than human.” Thank you!! 🙏
That's so beautifully put! I'm glad you find his writing and answers so powerful. 📚💕
I'm here as I finish "The Over Story". Looking forward to "Bewilderment". Now, I am curious about astrobiology. Thank you for this wonderful interview.
In my opinion, Bewilderment is ever better than The Overstory so I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for watching!
My favorite book of my 2022 reading year and one of my favorites of all .
This is incredible!!!!!! I gasped when I saw it!
I thought I'd keep it as a big surprise! It was such a thrill for me to speak to him and he's such a kind, thoughtful person. 💕
A really fascinating and in-depth conversation! I’ve just finished the book and loved it - a bolted on Booker win for me 😊
I'm so glad you feel that way. Such a brilliant novel.
What a gift this interview is. Thank you.
Thanks for watching!
I love this so much. I’m a year tardy but right on time for me. Thank youuu both for a beautiful interview 💚💚💚💚💚
I’m so glad you enjoyed our talk and his great novel.
Excellent interview Eric!! I loved Bewilderment so much - such a profound and important book. I just became a member/supporter of your channel - I found you a few months ago and am so happy.
Thank you, Stephanie. That's so kind. And I'm glad you connected with the book so strongly. It's a masterful piece of fiction. 📚
It’s a beautiful book Mr Powers. I very much enjoyed it. Thank you 🙏
Eric, what a tremendous, informative and entertaining interview! Richard was so erudite and engaging and, as usual, your questions were so insightful and interesting - absolutely brilliant. I pre-ordered the novel after your recommendation and wasn't disappointed when I read it. I completely loved the story and the father/son relationship is so beautifully realised. I didn't expect to burst into tears during the last part - I was uncontrollably sobbing! Such is the power of great storytelling. Without a doubt, it is not only one of the best books of the year but one of the best books ever. Thanks for the interview.
Thank you! Yes, such a powerful and emotional ending!
Oh wow!
Yes! It was such a thrill to get to talk with him!
So cool to listen to him talk about such amazing book. Also, I love that he seems to love braiding sweetgrass as much as I do 😍
Absolutely amazing interview. Your questions were spot on and you could tell he was loving it. Congrats to you!
Thank you! It’s an experience I’ll really treasure.
This is a fascinating and extremely moving and candid interview. How wonderful that you were able to do this. I loved the book as well, and this interview really enhanced my sense of the story.
I'm so glad to hear that. 💕
What an absolute joy and honour as you say Eric. That was a truly magnificent interview for both Richard Powers and yourself. Two gems of our world.
Thank you! 💕
@@EricKarlAnderson I'm back to watch a second time tonight - I've spent the afternoon re-reading. It really is a magnificent book, all the more after seeing his passion! I really have to get to Orfeo and the Overstory too - have been on my TBR forever. Thank you once again for surprising us with this interview :)
Great interview. Thank you. It helped me to understand it. I’m glad that I read it and I had a good book club discussion about it a week or so ago. This book really sticks in your brain for days and weeks after reading it. So thanks again.
I'm glad you found it helpful. Your book club must have had an interesting discussion about it as there's a lot to consider.
So awesome love this 👏❤❤
Thank you!
Oh WOW!!!!!
😇😅 I was so nervous but he's such a lovely person.
@@EricKarlAnderson awww :)
I just finished listening to the Poured Over podcast with Richard Powers and he was so interesting and down to earth. I remembered you had interviewed him and that I hadn’t yet watched it. So I’m here correcting that now:)
Oh good! He’s wonderfully enlightening and it was a privilege to speak with him.
I got the book as a gift for Christmas and gave it as a gift, too. Normally, I wouldn’t gift a book I hadn’t read yet myself, but based on your recommendation and others I felt it was a pretty safe bet:)
Very interesting, thanks so much for this!
Glad you enjoyed it!
@@EricKarlAnderson Pity there wasn't time to ask about Flowers for Algernon - I went straight back to re read that after I had finished Bewilderment.
Great interview. I adore this book!
Thank you!
This is great 👍
Thank you
Fascinating interview. Thank you Ironically I had ordered his “Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance” and it arrives tomorrow
Great, I've not read that one yet
Wonderful interview Eric. I now need to reread the novel.
Thank you! I'm so glad you feel that way. I still need to read many of his early novels so I'm looking forward to doing so because he's such an intelligent, wonderful individual.
@@EricKarlAnderson I want to reread it with the insight he shared. I am now confused as to who I want to win the Booker Prize.
Interesting interview; thanks. I have a comment and a question. When the discussion between Theo and Robin about Flowers for Algernon was introduced I felt, 'This is going to end badly'. Richard Powers does not refer to that when asked about whether he knew how the story was going to end. Very interesting.The question I have refers to the fact that at one point in the novel Theo states, almost in passing, that both his and Alyssa's ancestors came from Africa; is the a reference to the latest theory that all life began in Africa, or was the intention to situate them as African Americans? I am interested because am African born and I live in South Africa, in the city of Cape Town which, by the way, is situated in the Cape Floral Kingdom, one of the most biodiverse areas of the world.
Spoiler spoiler !!! Kinda
Can’t remember the last time I literally BAWLED at a book. Finished it in December & And I still periodically cry when I think about it.
Great interview, I really enjoyed, thank you so much. Do you know by any chance any work of British men's writing dealing with similar issues (the relationship between men and the environment/nature)? I'm working on my PhD and this would be very useful! Thank you!!
Thank you. I’d definitely recommend the novels of Benjamin Myers who writes so movingly about his characters relationship to the environment.
@@EricKarlAnderson thank you so much!!