Our guest for this podcast episode is David Armand. David’s style as a writer has been compared to that of Cormac McCarthy and Flannery O’Connor. His first novel won the George Garrett Fiction Prize, and he is also a professor at Southeastern Louisiana University and an associate editor for Louisiana Literature Press.
David Armand, publicity photo
David’s book Harlow is one of the best books I have read this year. In our podcast interview, we discuss the book and some of the Southern Gothic and Grit Lit writers who have influenced David. We also talk about what it means to be a writer, the importance of father figures, and other such mysteries.
Listen to the Podcast
Related Things
- David Armand’s site
- David’s essay, “The Roads We Travel”
- Harlow
on Amazon.com (affiliate link)
- The Vanity Fair cover mentioned in my post-interview editorial. Shailene Woodley was in The Spectacular Now, a film with more than a few similarities to Harlow.
If You Liked the Show
- Sign up for The nsavides Newsletter:
- Subscribe or comment:
, stitcher - Say hello on Twitter.
Thank you for visiting!
Just finished reading Harlow. I enjoyed it. Thanks for the thoughtful discussion guys.
Thanks for the positive feedback, Sean. Nice of you to say.
A few thoughts I had: First I found it interesting (**Spoiler?**) that when the boy and finally meet – they’re out walking alone in the woods and run into each other. Also I noticed practically half the book is made up of long elaborate reflections. Some are quite lyrical. That’s not something I often see. They’re almost stand alone stories themselves. And I agree with Nick that it seems the boy is on the path of following in his father’s footsteps as Harlow did his – but at the end, we’re given the idea that perhaps the boy alters this course or cycle. I saw the adaptation of ‘Joe’ (the Larry Brown novel) last night. I haven’t read the book but thought the movie was decent – although tough to watch at times – and found some similarities to ‘Harlow.’