In this edition of Madison Book Beat, host Andrew Thomas speaks with Peter Coviello on his book of essays Is There God After Prince? Dispatches from an Age of Last Things (2023, University of Chicago Press).

Exuberant, effusive, rye, and incisive, this collection of essays analyze a wide range of cultural objects in order to shore up some modicum of consolation against an intractable sense of impending doom. By focusing on beloved novels, films, and songs and the joyful connections they help foster between friends, families, and lovers, Coviello argues that these attachments are small mercies that buoy us up in light of what he terms “endstrickenness.” With verve and agility, Coviello surveys a large swath of contemporary culture in an effort to rethink what literary criticism can do and to assure us that not all of contemporary life is a wasteland of broken images. Joyful reading plain and simple.

Peter Coviello is the author of six books, including Make Yourselves Gods, a finalist for the 2020 John Whitmer Historical Association Best Book Prize; Tomorrow’s Parties, a 2013 finalist for a Lambda Literary Award in LGBT Studies; and Long Players, a memoir selected as one of ARTFORUM’s Ten Best Books of 2018. His newest book, Is There God After Prince?: Dispatches from an Age of Last Things, was selected as a “Most Anticipated” title by both The Millions and the Lambda Literary Review, and appeared in year-end lists for 2023 from the Chicago Tribune, the Seminary Co-op Bookstore, and elsewhere. He taught for many years at Bowdoin College and since 2014 has been at UIC, where he is Professor and Head of English.

You can follow him @pcoviell.

Image courtesy of University of Chicago Press