
Episode 287 with Hannah Pittard, Author of If You Love It, Let It Kill You, and Master Craftswoman of Memorable, Witty, Zany, Profound Dialogue, Characters, and Storylines
Notes and Links to Hannah Pittard’s Work
Hannah Pittard is the author of six books, including the memoir WE ARE TOO MANY and the novel out as of today, IF YOU LOVE IT, LET IT KILL YOU. She is a winner of the Amanda Davis Highwire Fiction Award, a MacDowell fellow, and a professor of English at the University of Kentucky. She lives with her boyfriend and stepdaughter in Lexington. Much of her family lives nearby.
Buy If You Love It, Let It Kill You
“Two Writers Fell in Love, Married, Then Divorced. Who Gets the Story?” from The New York Times
At about 1:50, Hannah describes the evolution of her last name’s pronunciation
At about 3:00, Hannah talks about the cover for If You Love It, Let it Kill You and describes her mindset in the leadup to her book’s publication
At about 4:50, Pete shouts out Rachel Yoder’s Nightbitch, both the book and movie, and asks Hannah to cast a possible future movie for If You Love It, Let it Kill You
At about 7:20, Pete compliments the “snappy dialogue” of the book in asking Hannah about her family background and early intellectual life
At about 8:45, Hannah discusses the book as “100% fiction” while talking about her sister and family as “muses”
At about 9:55, Public urination is discussed, both within the book, and without
At about 10:50, Hannah traces her early reading life and how she “fell in love with books” and shouts out Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, and Tim O’Brien (In the Lake of Woods)
At about 14:30, Pete brings up James Frey in discussing the fine line between fiction and nonfiction, as discussed by Hannah with regard to In the Lake of the Woods’ brilliance
At about 15:30, Ann Beattie, Grace Paley, Alice Munro, are referenced as big influences on Hannah’s writing and reading in college and right after, as she traces her semi-accidental foray into MFA
At about 17:20, Hannah talks about updating her contemporary reading as she entered MFA, including her early reading of Infinite Jest!
At about 19:15, Alice Munro’s “upsetting” story is discussed as is Claire Deder’s Monsters, in the larger discussion about problematic and damaging authors
At about 22:50, Hannah discusses her current reading, including Honor Jones’ Sleep, and Lynn Stever Strong’s , and the series Storybook ND
At about 25:40, Hannah shouts out the book’s publisher and places to buy the book, including Good Neighbor Books in upstate NY and Exile in Bookville in Chicago
At about 27:40, the two discuss Margaret Atwood’s “cameo” in the book and Atwood’s epigraph
At about 28:55, Pete takes another opportunity to shout out Jess Walter, Beautiful Ruins, and Edoardo Ballerini
At about 33:00, Hannah shouts out “Dog Heaven” by Stephanie Vaughn in a beautiful audio form read by Tobias Wolff, and the two fanboy/girl about Wolff’s “Bullet in the Brain”
At about 34:40, Pete lays out the book’s opening and Hannah replies to Pete’s question about her original and full chapter titles
At about 36:35, The two discuss the book’s exposition and plotline and how “Today I am restless” sets the scene for the book’s ethos
At about 40:00, Hannah shares some funny real-life stories from which she took pieces for her book’s characters
At about 41:55, Pete playfully laments the incredible veracity of Hannah’s writing
At about 44:40, The two lay out a sort of “existential crisis” and an anxiety about contentment at the book’s beginning; Hannah notes the protagonist’s “place of privilege”
At about 47:10, Pete remarks on the book’s subtlety and Hannah on the protagonist’s “distanc[ing]” based on a past trauma
At about 49:35, Hannah responds to Pete’s asking about the vagaries of memory and its connections to the protagonist’s actions and busy thoughts
At about 52:05, The two discuss the protagonist’s ennui
At about 53:15, Hannah responds to Pete’s questions about the book’s choral/allegorical nature
At about 58:55, Hannah talks about the dynamic between the protagonist and her students, and Hannah’s own evolution in teaching more flexibly
At about 1:02:05, Hannah responds to Pete’s wonderings and musings of “The Irishman” and the character’s implications
At about 1:07:00, Hannah reflects on various iterations of scenes involving a threatening student
At about 1:09:10, Pete cites Jess Walter’s ending for Beautiful Ruins, in raving about Hannah’s wonderful last line and skill in bringing the storyline full circle
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Pete is very excited to have one or two podcast episodes per month featured on the website of Chicago Review of Books. The audio will be posted, along with a written interview culled from the audio. His conversation with Hannah will be up in the next week or two at Chicago Review.
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Please tune in for Episode 287 with Jordan Harper, whose 2017 novel She Rides Shotgun is being adapted and released through Lionsgate Studios on August 1, which is also when the episode airs.
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