In the Tentacles of the Murmur (The Literature of Crisis)

Fluidity, volatility, chaos, confusion, fragmentation, uncertainty, anxiety, crisis, polarization – these words are often used to describe the modern world. And even though we often find them inadequate, we feel subconsciously that they capture feelings we have that can’t be described in any other way. When I looked for a word that best captures our present era, out of nowhere came the strange expression “murmur”. We can understand it as a sort of animal growl, an unarticulated dissatisfaction, an expression of disagreement or frustration that we can’t force into words. A dissatisfied hum without a form has pushed its way into the light of day and has influenced societies across the world and nobody knows what to do with it.

Literature offers an untraditional antidote to uncertainty, chaos, and confusion. It’s one option for protecting ourselves from the disorder. The act of writing creates a different mode of thought and self-expression: when we write or read, time slows down and we try to give some sort of form to our fluid, disorganized thought – or, together with the author, we observe the movement of their complicated, branching thinking. What does our world look like when viewed through contemporary literature? And how can we break free from the tentacles of the Murmur?

6th episode A Dark New World

Are we living in an era obsessed with the idea of the end of the world, or is our culture merely soaking up a social atmosphere which is justifiably anxious that we are heading towards extinction? The final part in our series of literary podcasts In the Tentacles of the Murmur is devoted to the various forms of the end of the world in contemporary literature.

List of literature in the 6th episode:

Cormac McCarthy – The Road
José Saramago – Blindness (translated by Juan Sager)
Liu Cixin – Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy, The Dark Forest (translated by Joel Martinsen)
Jeff VanderMeer – The Southern Reach Trilogy, Annihilation: A Novel
Kim Stanley Robinson – New York 2140

Author: Jan Bělíček
Translation: Ashley Davies
Voice: Michael Pitthan and Rebecca Rose Riisness
Sound production: Mr. Wombat, Jonáš Richter
Music and sound desing: Ondřej Bělíček
Teaser: Barbora Kleinhamplová