How to Tame Your Monster with Claire Dederer

The acclaimed and wonderful author of Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma helps us sift through the ugliness of monstrous behavior and the guilty feelings associated with being a fan of the art made by vile people. Is it okay to still watch those movies and listen to those songs? Claire Dederer tells A.J. what to do, plus a lot of great advice on writing memoir, and navigating the world of publishing.

Links:

Claire’s book Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma, and Claire’s essay in the Paris Review.

Listen to Swamp Dogg’s new album "Blackgrass" wherever you get music, or buy a hard copy at Ohboy.com.

Thanks to Robo9418 for your recording of people cheering for a banana.

In this episode:

0:38 Intro

3:49 Origins of the book, feeling conflicted about Polanski

7:17 The gift of distaster and monstrous perspective

9:23 Feeling shameful in early recovery

13:23 AJ's experience with judgment, shame

16:27 How recovery changed Claire's work, Responsibility

22:07 Two things for A.J. that came from the book

25:37 Ubiquity of biography online, public cancellations, notoriety

32:29 No longer identifying with who you were

43:47 What do you tell your kids about your own monstrousness?

54:40 Different types of monsters

57:27 Charles Bukowski, Gena Rowlands, and other forms

1:03:44 Whether you are your work, Derrida

1:07:21 Are writing retreats helpful?

1:09:45 Claire v. A.J.'s therapist

1:13:46 Balancing sober content, Dopey, TSB's philosophy

1:18:57 Where A.J. feels shaky with blurred lines, how he approaches the newsletter

1:23:23 False Ending

1:26:57 The half-life of Monsters, avoiding getting typecast as a subject matter expert

1:35:52 Outro