Podcast Summary:

New Books Network – Brian Evenson, "Further Reports" (The Cupboard Pamphlet, 2024) Interview
Host: Rachel Paif (Interviewer for New Books in Biography)
Guest: Brian Evenson
Release Date: November 2, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode features celebrated author and translator Brian Evenson in conversation with Rachel Paif about his paired books Reports (2018) and Further Reports (2024). These works, described as “interrogations, relationships real and imagined with bygone chairs, vanished kitchen implements, Friends of yore,” blend intimacy with speculation, exploring the nature of self, memory, and the particularities of objects. The conversation delves into autobiographical writing, the relationship between objects and the self, the limits of language, and how memory and embodiment shape personal narrative.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Autobiography and the Texture of Life

• Objects as Windows to the Self

  • Traditional biographies focus on the plot of someone’s life, but Evenson’s Reports use objects—chairs, sneakers, utensils—as conduits for exploring life’s texture rather than just its chronology.
  • “It ends up being like a way of coming at a sense of self slantwise... what does one’s life feel like? What’s the texture of it?” – Evenson, 03:30

• Objects as Resistant Agents

  • Objects aren’t just passive; they actively shape human routines and identities.
  • Evenson describes his willingness to adapt to a stubborn door handle or uncomfortable shoes rather than fix or replace them, which becomes emblematic of how humans adjust to their world.
  • “You modify our behavior rather than kind of dealing with what's there, I think is an interesting thing.” – Evenson, 05:13

2. Abstract vs. Real in Self and Object

• The Philosophy of Chairness
  • The famous passage: “We never sit on the idea of a chair, but on particular chairs that are real and solid. Such particularities... are the things with which we populate our lives.” (Quoted by host, 06:55)
  • Evenson reflects on academic and philosophical training: while ideas (chairness) matter, it’s the irritating quirks and specific materialities that truly impact our everyday experience.
• Embodiment and Annoyance
  • “This chair I’m sitting in right now is totally functional as a chair. But... the thing I notice more about it are all the ways in which it bugs me.” – Evenson, 09:59

3. Memory, Storytelling, and the Fluidity of Self

• Unreliable Narration of the Self

  • The “Report on Lemon Reamers” and its meta-follow-up dissect how memory and storytelling shape truth—factually false claims (number of reamers, using a wooden spoon) nonetheless feel emotionally authentic.
  • “The second one goes through and shows everything that was... manufactured or emphasized. But... even though it's emphasized, it's still more accurate to how the situation felt.” – Evenson, 11:52

• Changing Selves

  • The books account for shifts and schisms within personal history; different stages (Mormon, ex-Mormon; non-drinker, wine-drinker) are not smoothly continuous.
  • “Most of these selves are fractionally different from the person they elbowed out, but sometimes there’s a decided break.” (Host citing Evenson, 16:03)
  • “When I look back at that earlier self... it’s almost more like a friend than it is like me in some ways.” – Evenson, 16:24

• Trapped and Haunting Selves

  • Discussing the “Report on Ghosts” and the Mormon sealing ceremony, Evenson notes how past versions of himself and his ex-wife remain “trapped like insects in amber.” – Evenson, 19:27

4. The Social Archive: How Others Hold Your Identity

• Family, especially parents, but also friends and students, hold onto versions of you based on key moments or long past behaviors.
• Evenson recounts being typecast as “the black sheep” by his family and how former students remember things he’s sure he never said—a reminder that our identities are multiply curated by those around us.
  • “There’s so many people who want to remind you of who they think you are or who they think you were.” – Evenson, 23:06

5. Limits of Language, Translation, and Embodied Cognition

• The Physicality of Languages and Places
  • Reports often touch on language’s limits and the embodied strangeness of living in/with different idioms, such as French vs. American doors or the spatial and cultural feel of using French.
    • “You hold yourself differently. You express things differently, partly because you have a different set of vocabulary to use… There is something about you. You hold yourself differently.” – Evenson, 27:04
  • He describes “a person who speaks French inside of me who’s just waiting there and ready to come out when it’s time.” – Evenson, 28:08
• Objects and spaces are felt differently depending on language and cultural context, creating moments of estrangement even in the familiar.

6. Embodiment, Illness, and Writing

• Origin of Reports in Illness

  • The first Reports pieces were written during and after Evenson’s recovery from a serious infection and breakup, which sharpened his attention to the small, quotidian things.
  • “It put me in a space that was different and more vulnerable, but [I wanted] to try to find some things to hold on to. And I think a lot of the reports once I started writing them were tied to that.” – Evenson, 33:09

• Pandemic Influence

  • Many pieces for Further Reports were written during the pandemic, where the shift from physical to virtual connections further altered embodiment and relationships.
  • “You go from having a relationship, physical relationship with the people around you to having no physical relationship. And the In. In the pandemic, where you’re isolated from people, where you’re often masking.” – Evenson, 38:25

7. Mis-seeing and Paranoia

• On Misperception
  • Reports frequently entertain the way life is slightly “off” or “skew”—memories misremembered, objects misunderstood.
• Paranoid Threads
  • Some stories exaggerate suspicion for comic effect (e.g., a mysterious snack from a French interviewer and being suspected as a spy at Brown University). These instances show Evenson returning to the playful, darkly humorous paranoia present in his fiction.
  • “Usually I have a lot of paranoia in my work, but usually it’s not funny. So it was kind of a fun game to play.” – Evenson, 42:01

8. What Would a Report on Today Reveal?

• Evenson muses on the possibility of writing a “report” on mundane contemporary experiences (e.g., LA traffic, taking his son to a French school), noting his “attention to place and one’s longing for places that once been and almost continuing to exist... even though you’re out of them.” – Evenson, 47:49–48:45

9. What’s Next for Brian Evenson

• He’s at work on an “absurd, strange and very funny” possession novel, which, he notes, has plenty to do with embodiment. – Evenson, 49:00

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|----------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:30 | Evenson | “It ends up being like a way of coming at a sense of self slantwise as much as anything and figuring out a way to just think about the texture of a life more than the plot of a life.” | | 06:55 | Evenson | “We never sit on the idea of a chair, but on particular chairs that are real and solid. Such particularities, which cannot be abstracted into chairness or othernesses, are the things with which we populate our lives.” | | 11:52 | Evenson | “Even though it’s emphasized, it’s still more accurate to how the situation felt. And that’s where it gets really tricky, I think, with biography in general, especially with autobiography, is… how are you tr. Not only to what factually happened, but also to the… to the feel of a particular situation.” | | 16:24 | Evenson | “When I look back at that earlier self… it’s almost more like a friend than it is like me in some ways.” | | 19:27 | Evenson | “My own ghosts, or rather the ghosts of myself and my ex-wife, still remain trapped like insects in amber.” | | 23:06 | Evenson | “There’s so many people who want to remind you of who they think you are or who they think you were.” | | 27:04 | Evenson | “You hold yourself differently. You express things differently, partly because you have a different set of vocabulary to use… There is something about you. You hold yourself differently.” | | 28:08 | Evenson | “There’s this French person, not really French. It’s like a person who speaks French inside of me who’s just waiting there and ready to come out when it’s time.” | | 33:09 | Evenson | “It put me in a space that was different and more vulnerable, but [I wanted] to try to find some things to hold on to. And I think a lot of the reports once I started writing them were tied to that.” | | 42:01 | Evenson | “Usually I have a lot of paranoia in my work, but usually it’s not funny. So it was kind of a fun game to play.” |

Timestamps for Notable Segments

• 02:54 – Introduction to the autobiographical approach in Reports and focus on objects
• 06:55–09:59 – On philosophy, chairs, and the tension between abstraction and reality
• 11:00–14:18 – Lemon Reamers: truth, fabrication, and the emotional accuracy of stories
• 16:24–23:06 – On multiple selves, ruptures in identity, and family/others’ perceptions
• 25:01–29:40 – Language, translation, space, and embodiment
• 33:09–38:25 – Illness, vulnerability, the origin of the Reports, and pandemic influences
• 39:50–44:37 – On mis-seeing, paranoia, and factual/fictional blending in the reports
• 47:49–49:00 – What a report on today might contain and current writing projects

Tone and Style

The conversation is thoughtful, intimate, and often wryly self-aware, mirroring Evenson’s style in Reports. There is an undercurrent of philosophical curiosity about the ordinary and a playful approach to the instability of the self, memory, and narrative.

Summary prepared for listeners seeking a comprehensive understanding of Brian Evenson’s approach in "Further Reports"—a book, and an author, fascinated by the zigzag between the concrete texture of things and the porous experience of identity.