#88 (Bonus) - Homer's Odyssey

Ben Chugg and Vaden Masrani — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 12:00:00 -0700

This week we take a break from our regularly scheduled programming to listen to Ben, Rich, and Cam loutishly pontificate on one of the oldest poems in history. That's right, three fiction noobs take on Homer. Ladies, have you ever wondered what your fella is doing when you're out for the evening? Look no further.

The podcast you're listening to is Do You Even Lit? which you can find on any podcast platform and on youtube. The hosts are Richard Meadows, Cam Peters, and some third guy.

Back to increments in a couple weeks! In the meantime:

find us on twitter at @BennyChugg, @VadenMasrani, and @Incrementspod
come join our discord channel! Send us a message or an email to get a supersecret link
hit those like buttons on youtube to show off your virtuosity

Should we switch out Vaden for Rich and Cam? Tell us at incrementspodcast@gmail.com. Special Guest: Richard Meadows.

#78 - What could Karl Popper have learned from Vladimir Nabokov? (w/ Brian Boyd)

Ben Chugg and Vaden Masrani — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 19:00:00 -0800

Where do you arrive if you follow Vaden's obsessions to their terminus? You arrive at Brian Boyd, the world expert on the two titanic thinkers of the 20th century: Karl Popper and Vladimir Nabokov.

Boyd wrote his PhD thesis on Nabokov's 1969 novel Ada, impressing Nabokov's wife Vera so much that he was invited to catalogue Nabokov's unpublished archives. This led to Boyd's two-volume biography of Nabokov, which Vera kept on her beside table. Boyd also developed an interest in Popper, and began research for his biography in 1996, which was then promptly delayed as he worked on his book, On The Origin of Stories, which we [dedicated episode #50]((https://www.incrementspodcast.com/50) to.

In this episode, we ask Professor Boyd to contrast and compare his two subjects, by addressing the question: What could Karl Popper have learned from Vladimir Nabokov?

We discuss

How Brian discovered Nabokov
Did Nabokov have a philosophy?
Nabokov's life as a scientist
Was Nabokov simply a writer of puzzles?
How much should author intentions matter when interpreting literature?

References

Boyd's book on the evolutionary origins of art and literature: On the Origin of Stories: Evolution, Cognition, and Fiction
Our episode on the above
Stalking Nabokov, by Boyd.
Boyd's book on Pale Fire: Nabokov's Pale Fire: The Magic of Artistic Discovery
AdaOnline, annotated notes on Ada by Boyd.
Art historian and one of Popper's close friends, Ernst Gombrich # Errata
The Burghers of Calais is by Balzac rather than Rodin
The Nabokov family fled Leningrad rather than Petrograd (as Petersburg had become during WWI).

Socials

Follow us on Twitter at @IncrementsPod, @BennyChugg, @VadenMasrani
Come join our discord server! DM us on twitter or send us an email to get a supersecret link
Become a patreon subscriber here. Or give us one-time cash donations to help cover our lack of cash donations here.
Click dem like buttons on youtube

Do you love words, or ideas? Email us one but not the other at incrementspodcast@gmail.com.
Special Guest: Brian Boyd.

Increments - Episodes Tagged with “Literature”

#88 (Bonus) - Homer's Odyssey

#78 - What could Karl Popper have learned from Vladimir Nabokov? (w/ Brian Boyd)