Strange Journeys: Chloe Aridjis's "Sea Monsters"

Chloe Aridjis talks about her novel "Sea Monsters," the journey of a young girl who takes chase after both a budding romantic infatuation and a band of Ukrainian dwarfs.

By LARB Radio HourMarch 8, 2019

Inspired in part by the author's childhood in Mexico City, Sea Monsters charts the journey of a young girl who takes chase after both a budding romantic infatuation and in interest in, of all things, a band of Ukrainian dwarfs alleged to have defected from the USSR while on tour in Mexico. In a wide-ranging conversation, Aridjis talks with co-hosts Eric Newman, Kate Wolf, and Medaya Ocher about running away from home, the anxiety of inheritance coming from a family of noted writers and artists, goth aesthetics, and teenage romance.

Also, Johanna Fateman, co-editor of Last Days at Hot Slit: the Radical Feminism of Andrea Dworkin, returns to recommend Re/Search Magazine's 1991 collection Angry Women, featuring interviews with and essays by the likes of bell hooks, Andrea Juno, Kathy Acker, Susie Bright, Wanda Coleman, and many others.