
Sunday Mar 22, 2026
Perfectionism, Tragedy, and Creative Blocks
We read and discuss the Spanish Folktale “The Carnation Youth,” F. Scott Fitzgerald’s tragedy both in life and in “The Great Gatsby,” and Ian’s struggles with the creative writing process.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:12 Reading of “The Carnation Youth”
10:05 Letting the Perfect be the Enemy of the Good
14:25 Why Does She Burn the Carnation in the Fire?
24:33 The Carnation is the Prince
29:10 The Carnation Girl’s Second Chances
33:10 Creation & the Erotic
39:13 Why Are You So Afraid?
49:01 Trust, Do What You’re Supposed to Do…
51:56 Meeting the Impossible Challenge
55:53 Stoic Gods
59:11 F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tragic Life
1:07:05 The Great Jay Gatsby and Hope
1:18:08 Renewal in Death of Tragedies
1:24:59 Attraction to Tragedy
1:30:28 Stoic Framing and Feeling Out of Joint
1:36:18 My Creative Struggle May be Misapprehended
1:41:46 Talking About the Creative Struggle
Thank you for watching! Please check out:
The full video episode:
The Podcast Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMIlJwXEK2vqfEOVgfclRgZNXO4boyP3T
The Episode Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMIlJwXEK2vq-TnaienDlJJ1ZdTknAqVn
“The Carnation Youth” full text:
https://archive.org/details/talesofenchantme00eell/page/22/mode/2up
For more in this podcast, please go to:
Podbean:
https://benomtad.podbean.com
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-benomtad/id1748320863
YouTube:
https://m.youtube.com/@scissorsandpaper/videos
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/4kJPGlaJjGVyLa9AKhci6t?si=8XXrX9FUT3CU71reCfA5kQ
X:
https://x.com/Benomtad
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/benomtad
I plan to conduct more interviews with various guests, so please check back later for those.
Clip Intro Music “A Baroque Letter” - Aaron Kenny
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