Culture Gabfest

The Culture Gabfest “Darkness on the Edge of Reason” Edition

Slate’s Culture Gabfest on Westworld, Bruce Springsteen’s memoir, and the unmasking of Elena Ferrante, revisited.

Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 420 with Stephen Metcalf, Julia Turner, and Dana Stevens with the audio player below.

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This week on Slate Plus, the critics discuss Stephanie McCrummen’s fascinating Washington Post profile about a Donald Trump supporter who has struggled with mental illness. The critics dispute the ethics behind McCrummen’s execution of the piece.

On this week’s Slate Culture Gabfest, Willa Paskin joins the critics to discuss Westworld, HBO’s new show based on the 1973 Michael Crichton movie of the same name. HBO has come under pressure to fill the void left behind once Game of Thrones ends its TV reign, but can Westworld meet those lofty expectations? Next, Carl Wilson joins to discuss Bruce Springsteen’s memoir, Born to Run, and its companion album, Chapter and Verse. Does the Boss’ lyrical genius translate into good literature? Last, Julia and Steve go head-to-head to deliberate Claudio Gatti’s investigation into pseudonymous author Elena Ferrante’s true identity. Was the piece published in the New York Review of Books an invasion of privacy, or has Ferrante’s real identity always been fair game?

Links to some of the things we discussed this week:

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Endorsements

Dana: Milo Murphy’s Law on Disney XD

Julia: Stephanie McCrummen’s profile of Creigh Deeds in the Washington Post

Stephen: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

Outro: “Darkness on the Edge of Town” by Bruce Springsteen

You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.

This podcast was produced by Zack Dinerstein. Our intern is Lizzie Fison.

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