Ping-Heng Chen

― 7:45 on this beautiful, almost balmy 22nd of September in Schenectady and it’s the first day of fall. So in honor of that fact, we have Elke Putzkammer, professor of literature at Union College, to talk about autumn in poetry and literature.
― Good morning, professor.
― Hi, Alex.
― So, what about it? Why do so many people write about the fall?
― Well, I think it’s seen as the beginning of the end, really. If the year is a life, then September, the beginning of fall, is when the bloom is off the rose and things start to die. It’s a melancholy month and maybe because of that, quite beautiful.
― Is there something you might read to us?
― Oh, I’d love to.

Synecdoche, New York (2008)