Friend of the Pod, a new novella from Associate Professor Sam Lipsyte, is out now from Picture Books, an imprint dedicated to publishing fiction by leading authors alongside contributions by celebrated contemporary artists. The series, conceived by Emma Cline ’13, author of Daddy (Random House, 2020) and The Girls (Random House, 2016), pairs each writer with an artist. The artist is then free to create an image of their choosing, inspired by the written work. These works are released in a dual package–the image as a poster, and the book as a limited-edition hardcover designed by Peter Mendelsund, author, designer, and creative director of The Atlantic.
Lipsyte’s novella, paired with original artwork from Los Angeles-based artist Jordan Wolfson, is the third release from Picture Books. The previous titles were Ottessa Moshfegh’s My New Novel (2021), which was matched with an artwork by Issy Wood; and Percival Everett’s Grand Canyon, Inc. (2021), accompanied by a Richard Prince piece. Future authors in the series will include Mary Gaitskill and Elif Batuman.
Cline expressed her inspiration for this one-of-a-kind series, saying, “Opportunities abound for writers to respond to the work of artists—the catalogue essay is a classic example—but I’ve often wished for a reciprocal space where artists might respond to a work of literature. My desire is partly selfish: the great fortune of having your work interpreted by another artist is a way of giving it a second life. But I also think it can be an incredibly valuable exercise for the one doing the interpretation. Like a Rorschach inkblot, another person’s work can serve as a kind of tinder through which your own ideas and viewpoints become manifest. The artist and the writer are both revealed anew through the exchange. And so we started Picture Books, a new imprint that pairs contemporary fiction writers with contemporary artists. There are no limits or conditions or requirements. The artist is given a text and has total freedom to create an image that is, in whatever way, in conversation with the writer’s work.”
Lipsyte’s Friend of the Pod follows Jason, a struggling playwright who, with the help of a friend, takes a job as the producer of a podcast. He soon meets Ted Goldsworthy, the podcast’s aging but boisterous host. Ted insists that Jason make the trek to his home in New Jersey. Once there, Jason quickly finds himself tangled in the web of Roanne, Ted’s narcissistic daughter.
The accompanying artwork, Untitled (2022), is Wolfson’s self-portrait. Stylized as a mirror selfie, Wolfson depicts himself through the lens of a smartphone, an image of a reflection. Picture Books explains, “the image reflects the artist’s ongoing interest in the psychological power of the confrontational and prompts consideration—as does Lipsyte’s fiction—of the ways in which new media further complicates the already myriad challenges of self-expression.”
In a conversation, Wolfson and Lipsyte spoke of their collaboration, with Wolfson explaining, “Sam is doing his writing mode and I’m doing my visual-arts mode. And within those modes, we hope, there’s a space of brutal objectivity that doesn’t exist in our normal lives.”
“I agree with that,” Lipsyte responded. “Form is essential there. We’re looking to contain the swirl of these feelings and these impulses and visions. That’s the whole point."
Friend of the Pod is available for purchase from the online Gagosian Shop, as well as at the physical location on Madison Avenue in New York and at select bookstores.
Emma Cline was the winner of the Plimpton Prize and was named one of Granta’s Best Young American Novelists. The Girls was an international bestseller and was a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award, the First Novel Prize, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.
Sam Lipsyte is the author of Hark (2019), The Ask (New York Times Notable Book for 2010), Home Land (New York Times Notable Book for 2005 and winner of The Believer Book Award), as well as The Subject Steve and Venus Drive. A Guggenheim Fellow, his fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The Quarterly, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Noon, Bookforum, n+1, Harper's, The New York Times and Best American Short Stories among other places. His novel No One Left to Come Looking for You is forthcoming in December of 2022.
