arts
Hosted by Asher Dark + John Semley · arts · EN · 24 episodes
A podcast about big books. Season One is devoted to a reading an analysis of Thomas Pynchon's 1973 novel "Gravity's Rainbow," and other issues directly related to the text.
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Signup to Generate a PitchA podcast about big books. Season One is devoted to a reading an analysis of Thomas Pynchon's 1973 novel "Gravity's Rainbow," and other issues directly related to the text.
Slow Learners is hosted by Asher Dark + John Semley. The show has published 24 episodes to date.
Recent episodes include "VINELAND EP 6/7: Voicemails" (18 December 2025, 95 minutes), "VINELAND EP 6: Vineland The Good?" (6 November 2025, 77 minutes), and "VINELAND EP 5: It's The Libidinal Economy, Stupid! (W/Subliminal Jihad)" (23 October 2025, 145 minutes).
Slow Learners publishes roughly every two weeks, with episodes averaging 72 minutes across 24 episodes.
Booking probability for Slow Learners is 20%, and the host is rated Selective on guests. Slow Learners requires a Pod Score of 80 or higher. Slow Learners's contact route on record: verified email.
The strongest fits for Slow Learners are Artists, Writers & Performers. Slow Learners has an arts audience.
Asher Dark + John Semley hosts Slow Learners, an arts show with 24 episodes published.
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Slow Learners
<p>We clear out the voicemail machine. Included: Proustian Failure, One Battle After Another, Bungled Anarchist Theory, Joyce Comparisons, Dante and His Divine Three-Volume Series, Japanese Cadences; Is Fiction Just...
Episode #6
<p>We are back. Sorry for the delay--we were just uh...savoring the book's ending, and the richness of the text.</p><p>John and Asher ride solo...together. Like DL and Takeshi! In our final Vineland read-through, we...
Episode #5
<p>THIS WEEK: John and Asher reads through Chapters 10-12 of Vineland, which takes them back in their shared semester at the College of the Surf (John was Asher's RA). We also learn about the scintillating backstory of...
Episode #4
<p>This week: John and Asher continue reading through and chatting about Vineland, a journey that takes us from California to Ohio to Japan and back again. We mull the novel's conspicuous "Eastern" influences, deep...
Slow Learners
<p>And we're back! With VINELAND, chapters 6-8.</p><p>John and Asher discuss inter-generational negation, luddites, the computerized future, communitarian happenings, Esalen, transpersonal psychology, holotropic...
Episode #2
<p>We begin our read-through of Thomas Pynchon's Vineland in earnest, covering Chapters 1-5.</p><p>John and Asher discuss the amateurishness of opening a novel with a character waking up, the perils of...
Episode #1
<p>We missed "Pynchon Summer." But just barely! Cut us some slack, eh?</p><p><br /></p><p>In any event, we are back with our read-through of Thomas Pynchon's Vineland (1990). Is it a triumphant return following the...
Episode #18
<p>We open the ol' mailbag, which is really more of google voicemail inbox, to answer some listener Q&As. At long last!</p> <p>We accidentally deleted one and apologize. So if you're the person who called in to ask...
Episode #17
<p>In this extra, bonus "appendix" episode, Asher lays out his theory of Gravity's Rainbow, as a coded biography of its author, Thomas Pynchon.</p> <p>Also: we're joined by author and researcher Albert Rolls to talk...
Episode #16
<p>Covering Part 4: 12...The End. We take an elevator ride to the skies, reflect on "anarcho-sadism," catch up with some of our old pals in Der Platz, smoke out of a kazoo, and take a tour around the L.A. freeways with...
Episode #15
<p>This week: before we head into the final stretch of Gravity's Rainbow, we stop to talk tarot and esotericism with Answers In Tarot, also known as L.A. Lubuschagne. He offers us some insights into the cultural context...
Episode #14
<p>Covering Part 4: Chapters 7-11. We follow the Counterforce to a surprise dinner, reflect on The World, learn of Weissman's new frontier, and finally reach the THRILLING climax between Tchitcherine and his Herero...
Episode #13
<p>Covering Part 4: Chapters 1-6. We enter the fourth--and final!--part of the novel. We discuss the formation of the "Counterforce," Slothrop's dispersal, and a fan-favorite episode about a sentient lightbulb that goes...
Episode #12
<p>Covering Part 3: Chapters 24-32. We exit THE ZONE. Many BIG THINGS are revealed about Slothrop's purpose, his family history, and just what the HELL this book is about. Also: there's some pinball.</p> <p>In this...
Episode #11
<p>We're taking a short break until the New Year. But for all you true sickos, here's a short (?) seasonal reading of a great passage from Gravity's Rainbow. Blast it with your family, in the car to visit your...
Episode #10
<p>Covering Part 3: Chapters 13-23. Slothrop goes on a boat, and maybe has sex with a child. Then he goes on another boat. And then back to the same boat. Gravity's Rainbow? They should call this book Boats! Also...
Episode #9
<p>Covering Part 3: Chapters 6-12. Slothrop is reborn as "Rocketman," steals some hash, and meets Mickey Rooney, The John E. Badass appears, and does battle using a hot new drug named Oneirine Thiophosphate (or is it...
Episode #8
<p>Covering Part 3: Chapters 1-5. Our read-through of Gravity's Rainbow continues as we enter THE ZONE. The War--at least in Europe--is over. But the novel is merely beginning, in some ways. Slothrop meets a witch, a...
Episode #7
<p>Hallo Leute!</p> <p>Interrupting the regular flow with this bonus interview with German writer/director Robert Bramkamp, whose film Prüfstand VII uses Gravity's Rainbow as a way into analyzing the history of the...
Episode #6
<p>Slow Learners continues! This episode covers the entire second section of Gravity's Rainbow, in which Tyrone Slothrop emerges as our clear hero, or the closest thing to it.</p> <p>We speak with filmmaker Alex Ross...
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