Episode

That Kind of Meta: The Double Life of Benson Yu - An Interview with Kevin Chong

Podcast
Getting Lit with Linda - The Canadian Literature Podcast
Published
Jun 15, 2025
Duration seconds
2690
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not_requested
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https://shows.acast.com/getting-lit-with-linda-the-canadian-literature-podcast/episodes/not-that-kind-of-meta-the-double-life-of-benson-yu-an-interv
Audio
https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6086d520cfb9e813fa7a63a9/e/684e17a74ed3341b0fb4f65e/media.mp3
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Markdown
/podcast/getting-lit-with-linda-the-canadian-literature-podcast-381592/that-kind-of-meta-the-double-life-of-benson-yu-an-interview-with-kevin-chong.md

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Summary

In this episode, Linda chats with Kevin Chong about his novel The Double Life of Benson Yu ( Simon & Schuster ) shortlisted for the 2023 Giller Prize . It's a "meta" novel, in some ways - a concept that Linda explains in this episode - but it also had Linda thinking about the social media platform, Meta (formerly, Facebook). Whatever insights you might glean from this association and from this interview, what is clear is the real and urgent need to re-examine various forms of masculinity. The timing of this episode’s release - Father’s Day - underscores this importance. In this novel, the main character, Benson Yu, is writing a graphic novel based on his own life, and he tells us as readers what he can't or won't talk about because of his traumatic past and injured masculinity. It's a compelling read that makes us consider character and genre in ways that are quite provocative. Linda Morra (writer/producer), Maia Harris (associate producer), Rafael Krux (music), Aki Barabadi (marketing) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.