Transcript
A (0:02)
Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. One of the best privileges going to college affords is time. Yeah, sure, time to study and read books and stuff, I guess, but also time to, I don't know, bum around with your friends and talk about whatever. And interestingly enough, that's how you get to some deeper conversations about life and meaning and truth. Matt Green's book, the Definitions centers on some dorm mates who have these conversations, but with a dystopian twist. After the break, he talks to NPR's Lauren Frayer about how language is actually an imperfect way to communicate ideas and how he was inspired by sending his kid to school for the first time.
B (0:43)
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C (1:16)
Every Home Matt Green's new novel, the Definitions, starts with a simple, relatable scene. New dorm mates getting to know each other. It could be any college campus, but there is a dystopian backstory. These students are survivors of a virus that has erased memories. I spoke with Greene and asked what inspired him to write about people trying to navigate the world in this way.
D (1:41)
The sort of rush towards authoritarianism from electorates across the world was definitely a big consideration. The acceleration or hyper acceleration of our sort of disconnect between language and meaning and the industrialization of that post meaning landscape was definitely something that was playing on my mind. But the main thing probably was that my oldest son started school.
C (2:08)
What did you see your son going through that that prompted you to imagine this dystopian world?
D (2:15)
Well, I guess the big influence of the pandemic would be that my son was never in any childcare before school. It's fascinating seeing kids socialize and, and remembering the process of doing that and seeing how quickly these social hierarchies and structures develop.
C (2:33)
So tell me about the world that's inside this book. The characters are at a school that's called the Center. Who are the teachers? Who are the students?
D (2:43)
So the students arrive nameless and they acquire names from the cartridges that they are shown which readers will recognize. I won't give away exactly what they are, but they'll certainly recognize them.