A new novel from Karen Russell is a sprawling story set during the Dust Bowl

NPR's Book of the Day

NPR

Arts, Books

4.2 • 671 Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2025

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Antidote opens on what seems like an ordinary Sunday in a fictional town in 1930s Nebraska. But by 3 p.m., apocalyptic clouds cover the sun and make the afternoon look like midnight. Karen Russell's latest novel is set during the Dust Bowl – a period when poor farming practices and drought led to a wave of severe and damaging dust storms. In this bleak setting, we're introduced to a cast of characters, including a woman who stores other people's memories and a photographer tasked with documenting the crisis. In today's episode, Russell speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about the inspiration behind The Antitode's core characters, including the work of photographer Gordon Parks and an image that came to Russell as she finished her first novel.

To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey, it's M-Kar's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbong. I love hearing artists talk about being
0:07.9	inspired by a medium other than their own. You know, musicians inspired by books,
0:13.5	filmmakers inspired by architecture, that sort of thing. On the pod today, Karen Russell,
0:18.7	the writer of the hit 2011 novel Swamplandia, talks about being inspired by photography.
0:24.8	Her new novel, The Antidote, takes place during the Dust Bowl crisis in America.
0:29.2	And she talks to NPR Scott Simon about how the great photographer Gordon Parks influenced not just one particular character, but the entire worldview of the novel. That's coming up.
0:41.6	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life. Distant wars, murky conflicts,
0:48.6	diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, Sources and Methods. NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of
0:55.4	real people helping you understand why distant events matter here at home. Listen to sources and
1:01.7	methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Karen Russell's sprawling new novel
1:07.9	begins on a day called Black Sunday, set during the dust bowl storms in the
1:13.6	1930s. The story is told by Antonina Rossi. On Black Sunday, before anybody knew to call it Black Sunday,
1:22.9	I woke up in the jailhouse to a sound like a freight train tunneling through me, an ear-splitting howl that
1:28.9	seemed to shake the stone walls. My body trembled like a husk on the cot. My fingers cloded into the
1:35.2	mattress. For those early moments in the dark, I was nothing but the fear of floating off.
1:41.6	What had happened to me while I slept? It felt as if a knife had scraped the marrow
1:46.5	from my bones. Something vital inside me had liquefied and drained away, and in its place was this new
1:54.8	weightlessness. Karen Russell's new novel is called The Antidote and the celebrated novelist
2:00.7	in MacArthur.
2:01.4	Fellow joins us now from Portland, Oregon.
2:03.8	Thank you so much for being with us.
2:05.8	Thanks for having me, Scott.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.