FW Presents: The Mirror Factory #4 — The Student

Coffee break's over and it's time to get to work — The Mirror Factory is back in business! A very special guest joins host Max Romero in this episode: Mrs. Mirror Factory! Max's wife Sandy Salinas joins us to talk about one of her favorite short stories, "The Student," by Anton Chekhov. Together the pair will discuss the author's brief tale of hope, how it can provide inspiration to artists of every stripe, and the warmth that can be found on a chilly Russian evening. Sandy will then share a passage from what Chekhov himself called both his favorite short story, and his "manifesto for optimism."

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Music credits:

  • Intro theme: “My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors,” by Moxy Fruvous
  • “The Rite of Spring” (excerpt), composed by Igor Stravinsky, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra (Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle)
  • Closing music: "It Was Jesus," by Johnny Cash

Want to be a guest on a future episode? E-MAIL – mirrorfactorypodcast.gmail.com

Support us on PATREON — https://www.patreon.com/fwpodcasts

Leave us a comment, and remember — read a book!

8 responses to “FW Presents: The Mirror Factory #4 — The Student

  1. Yay! Mirror Factory is back!

    Sandy was reading Russian literature in middle school? I was happy I got through an entire Spidey SuperStories in one go.

    The only Chekhov I have engaged with at all was a 1990s film version of Uncle Vanya, so I was unawares going into this show, but I still very much enjoyed it. Nice to hear Sandy on the network!

  2. Sandy rocks! Has she kept up her Russian?

    Did she know Chekhov was inspired by Davy Jones of the Monkees? I think I might have that wrong…

    Not to brag, but I read Brothers Karamazov in my 20s, not in my early teens like SOME PEOPLE.

    1. Also, we are superstitious lot, generally speaking, aren’t we? I never got why. So much of the baked in Catholicism runs contrary to that. I never put together the connections with Russia – so please thank Sandy for that. From what I’ve read in Russian Lit, all the characters have multiple nicknames and identities – complete with code-switching and blending in – something the Brown people have done for ages.

  3. Great to have this show back! I have missed it!

    I have limited true Chekov experience. Read Vanya somewhere along the way at my liberal arts college so it was great to hear this. And the discussion was superb!

    Hope to hear more soon!

  4. I appreciate so much for this show to arrive back on the feed. When it was announced that a Patreon subscriber could get mentioned, I only thought of this show and Pod Dylan. Hell, I even wondered if I had to get proactive and invite myself on to do an episode of it meant the show would return! I’ve been asked about podcasting before but probably would have overcome my fear for you. Please don’t be such a strange in between podcasting again. 😀

  5. I’m glad to see that The Mirror Factory is back. I enjoyed your conversation, even though I’m not real familiar with Russian literature. One of my brothers is an avid reader of Russian lit, so I’ll have to refer him to this episode.

  6. It’s great to have the Mirror Factory back! I really enjoyed Sandy’s analysis of this short story. Well done!

    I’ve never read any Chekhov but after listening to this, it makes me want to seek this story out. I do like how this story really resonated with Sandy and how she could associate it with her own experiences. While I do like to read a lot of genre books (so much Star Wars expanded universe….), I do like to challenge myself with some of these classic stories. Sandy, was Chekhov your favourite author when you were taking your Russian classes?

    I know that it was just a trip up turn of phrase but I laughed when Max said, “You’re a Russian minor….. minored in Russian.” as that means two different things to me. Speaking of Russian authors, Nabokov would have been proud!

    I’m looking forward to see what next stories will show up next. Keep up the great work!

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