69 - Ewan Morrison - Utopias and Dystopias
Two for Tea Podcast
English - November 29, 2020 19:19 - 1 hour - 204 MB - ★★★★★ - 52 ratingsNews Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
To follow Ewan’s work:
https://www.ewanmorrison.com/
His 2012 collection, Tales from the Mall, can be found here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tales-Mall-Ewan-Morrison/dp/1908885017
His 2019 novel, Nina X, can be found here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nina-X-Ewan-Morrison/dp/0708899013
His 2013 book Close Your Eyes can be found here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/109/1091019/close-your-eyes/9780099565758.html
His 2005 collection The Last Book You Read can be round here:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Book-You-Read/dp/1845020480
Watch the 2015 film version of Ewan’s novel, Swung, here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmcvLt5BOmU
Ewan on utopian communities:
https://areomagazine.com/2019/04/26/why-we-join-cults/
https://areomagazine.com/2018/03/08/why-utopian-communities-fail/
https://areomagazine.com/2020/08/27/why-we-must-walk-away-from-omelas-the-problem-with-utopias/
Follow Ewan on Twitter: @mrewanmorrison
Some of the Other References
Emma Donoghue, Room (2010)
Will Storr, Selfie: How We Became So Self-Obsessed and What It's Doing to Us (2017)
Thomas More, Utopia (1516); Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Herland (1915);
William Morris, News from Nowhere (1890);
H.G. Wells, A Modern Utopia (1905);
Ursula K. Guin, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (1975);
Leila (2019, Netflix);
Sacred Games (2019, Netflix);
Lois Lowry, The Giver (1993);
The Maze Runner (2014);
Smithereen (2020)
Timestamps
1:57 Ewan reads from Nina X
3:48 Nina X, the novel. How we treat former cult victims, especially children.
11:58 Ewan’s personal experiences of utopian communities, cults and alternative lifestyles.
17:58 Competitive puritanism, taboos on feedback
24:41 Self-improvement and narcissism
26:26 Attitudes towards children in utopian communities
32:31 The distrust of individualism and its emotional impacts
(Patrons only)
40:08 The alienations of modern life
46:25 Tricking ourselves into authenticity and doing versus having done
54:15 Shopping malls
59:25 Ewan’s experiences as a swinger and the novel Swung.
1:09:36 Dystopias and utopias in fiction and politics