As Always, Julia: the letters of Julia Child & Avis Devoto | Episode 59

The Matterhorn with Dr. Kathleen Waller

In what ways do letters help advance a friendship, even when one hasn’t met in person?

How do you know if you can trust the receiver of a letter? Should you worry about it falling into the wrong hands?

In the art of letter writing, how should one structure one’s composition? How should one flow from topic to topic?

Happy New Year! I’ve just arrived back in London after a wonderful trip to see my family in Boston. I wish all of you the best for the new year.

Today’s podcast is part of a series on the conceptual topic of letter writing. You can also listen to the podcast via Apple or Spotify or in the Substack app. A full AI-generated transcript can be accessed on the desktop version.

For these eight weeks, I’ll bring you texts related to this topic. This series is an experiment for a new podcast season that I recorded to sync up with the holiday letter season and the epistolary form of my latest novel. Stay tuned for more fiction, word sketches, and cultural essays in 2025.

I’d love to hear what you think in the comments. Feel free to ask questions or share text ideas, even your own writing. Thank you!

Keywords:

* friendship

* McCarthyism

* publishing world: editors, collaborators, etc.

* art of cooking / language of cooking

* the form of letters

Texts:

* Mastering the Art of French Cooking

* As Always, Julia: the letters of Julia Child & Avis Devoto

* Julie and Julia

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