"The Sears Christmas Wish Book
was, for me, a kind of foundational text — a secular counterpoint to the Bible stories I learned around that time in Sunday School. I paged through the holiday catalog’s 620 glossy pages as if they amounted to an intoxicating graphic novel of desire, rich with abundance and possibility." - Rolf Potts, from "Literature of Desire"
In this episode Rolf reads an audio version of his Christmas-themed essay "
Literature of Desire," and discusses the wonders of the Sears Christmas
Wish Book with novelist
Tod Goldberg (
@todgoldberg). Tod is the
New York Times bestselling author of over a dozen books, including the novel
Gangsterland, which is currently being developed into a television series. He is also the director of the University of California-Riverside
Palm Desert Low-Residency MFA, and the co-host of the
Literary Disco podcast.
Introduction (00:35 - 11:20)
Literature of Desire essay (11:20 - 32:20)
Sears Wish Book memories (32:20 - 50:10)
This episode was sponsored by the Paris Writing Workshop, an intensive one-month course in the artistic heart of Europe.
The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel's 2017 album Lumber.
Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we're happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at
deviate@rolfpotts.com.