49. Watchmen.

The Spouter-Inn; or, A Conversation with Great Books

When news of this being’s phenomenal genesis was first released to the world, a certain phrase was used that has—at varying times—been attributed both to me and to others. On the newsflashes coming over our tvs on that fateful night, one sentence was repeated over and over again: ‘The superman exists and he’s American.’

I never said that. [...] I presume the remark was edited or toned down so as not to offend public sensibilities. [...] What I said was ‘God exists and he’s American.’

Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, is an superhero comic about time, history, power, and the threat of the Cold War. In other words, it’s very 1980s. Chris and Suzanne reflect on their own experiences of the 1980s, and they become particularly fascinated with Dr. Manhattan—a character who experiences all of time at once, but also moves through time linearly. They also consider the book’s reckoning of an apocalypse, its deeply intricate formal construction, and what it means if these characters are kind of unlikeable.

SHOW NOTES.

Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons: Watchmen. [Bookshop.]

In memoriam Lee Maracle.

A recent interview with Lee Maracle.

Our episode on Memory Serves and our bonus episode talking with Lee Maracle about Great Expectations.

Our episodes on Middlemarch and Persepolis.

Jon Osterman (Dr. Manhattan) disintegrating.

The shadows left by the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima.

The Doomsday Clock.

Our episode on Orlando.

An example of the opening pages of Chapter XII (from this interesting page).

Chris’s other podcast.

Our episodes on Frankenstein and Paradise Lost.

Michael Chabon: The Yiddish Policeman’s Union.

Richard McGuire: Here. [Full book version.]

Christine Brooke-Rose: Subscript.

Next: The Hereford Mappa Mundi.

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