Funds for Bookworm are provided in part by Lannin Foundation.

You are a human animal. You are a very special breed.

Or you are the only animal. Who can think, who can reason, who can read.

From KCRW, Santa Monica, I'm Michael Silverblad, and this is Bookworm.

Today my guest is Tristan Egoldf.

He's the author most recently of Skirt and the Fiddle, a novel which was published by Grove Press.

He's the author as well of Lord of the Barnyard, which has recently appeared in paperback. It has a great subtitle.

I need to get the... Well, you can say it. You must know the sub-trial.

Killing the Fatty Kaff and Army, the aware in the corn belt, which I would,

whereas to do it all over again, I think I would abbreviate it simply to arming the aware

in the corn belt.

Uh-huh.

Now, there's a sense in which these novels, but the more recent one, particularly,

join what I consider to be the great literature of de-evolution.

There are other books in this category, Confederacy of Dunces, a lot of what J.P. Dunn-Levy did.

I think in the southwest of Charles Portis, who has this extraordinary amused attitude

toward the parade of human sufferers who are sort of turning insect-like and more eccentric

as the world devolves.

But I wanted to begin by asking you about chaos,

you know, the chaos that humanity wakes upon itself

in the course of keeping itself awake and amused.

Okay.

...