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Anecdotal Evidence
'A Book That Everybody Can Understand' A partner at the Houston law firm where my youngest son is working as an intern this summer has...
16 hours ago
2

'A Book That Everybody Can Understand'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

16 hours ago
A partner at the Houston law firm where my youngest son is working as an intern this summer has loaned him two nineteenth-century law books. Both were compiled by John G. Wells (1821-80) and were bestsellers in their day, long before the practice of law was fully...
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The Marginalian
How to Be a Happier Creature It must be encoded there, in the childhood memories of our synapses and our cells — how we came out...
yesterday
3

How to Be a Happier Creature

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

yesterday
It must be encoded there, in the childhood memories of our synapses and our cells — how we came out of the ocean 35 trillion yesterdays ago, small and slippery, gills trembling with the shock of air, fins budding feet, limbs growing sinewy and furred, then unfurred, spine...
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Escaping Flatland
A constellation of lookers Fragments, vol. 5
yesterday
6

A constellation of lookers

from Escaping Flatland [alt+shift+b] in literature

yesterday
Fragments, vol. 5
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Only a Facsimile That Is Called Literature' I’ve learned with time that my mind has periods of attentiveness followed by drifts into passive,...
yesterday
3

'Only a Facsimile That Is Called Literature'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

yesterday
I’ve learned with time that my mind has periods of attentiveness followed by drifts into passive, relaxed states of consciousness. I’m awake but almost empty. I might be taking a shower or staring out the window at nothing. That’s when I occasionally find myself in an old song or...
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The Elysian
We could return three continents of land to the wild And create an interspecies future that benefits humans and ecologies alike.
2 days ago
6

We could return three continents of land to the wild

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 days ago
And create an interspecies future that benefits humans and ecologies alike.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Put Out Their Eyes When It Was Dark' “The man who is both happy and an optimist is an imbecile.”  Happiness has always felt like the...
2 days ago
4

'Put Out Their Eyes When It Was Dark'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 days ago
“The man who is both happy and an optimist is an imbecile.”  Happiness has always felt like the byproduct of life properly lived, not a goal unto itself. If I “behave” – live up to my own standards, not exaggerate my importance, pay minute attention to my conscience, respect...
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The American Scholar
Hundreds and Thousands The post Hundreds and Thousands appeared first on The American Scholar.
2 days ago
4

Hundreds and Thousands

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 days ago
The post Hundreds and Thousands appeared first on The American Scholar.
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The Marginalian
The Paradox of Knowing Who You Are and What You Want: Cristina Campo on Fairy Tales, Time, and the... “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales,” Einstein reportedly told one...
3 days ago
4

The Paradox of Knowing Who You Are and What You Want: Cristina Campo on Fairy Tales, Time, and the Meaning of Maturity

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 days ago
“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales,” Einstein reportedly told one mother who wished for her son to become a scientist. “If you want them to be very intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” Given that the deepest measure of intelligence is a...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'He Seemed to Think Lucidity All-sufficing' “[T]here is a very widespread and comfortable belief that we are all of us born writers. Not long...
3 days ago
4

'He Seemed to Think Lucidity All-sufficing'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 days ago
“[T]here is a very widespread and comfortable belief that we are all of us born writers. Not long ago I heard that agile and mellifluous quodlibetarian, Dr. Joad, saying in answer to a questioner who wanted to write good letters, that anybody could write good letters: one had but...
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The American Scholar
“Ornithology” by Lynda Hull Poems read aloud, beautifully The post “Ornithology” by Lynda Hull appeared first on The American...
3 days ago
5

“Ornithology” by Lynda Hull

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 days ago
Poems read aloud, beautifully The post “Ornithology” by Lynda Hull appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Wuthering...
Daniel Kehlmann's G. W. Pabst novel The Director - Keeping it light. Keeping it carefree. Daniel Kehlmann’s previous novel, Tyll (2017), was about a magical clown wandering through the...
3 days ago
6

Daniel Kehlmann's G. W. Pabst novel The Director - Keeping it light. Keeping it carefree.

from Wuthering Expectations [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 days ago
Daniel Kehlmann’s previous novel, Tyll (2017), was about a magical clown wandering through the hellscape of the Thirty Years’ War.  Apparently that was not grim enough for him so his new novel, The Director (2023), although there is some early hopeful Hollywood sunshine, is about...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'This Greedy Appetite for New and Unknown Things' Montaigne’s Travel Journal recounts his wanderings through Germany, Switzerland and Italy between...
4 days ago
5

'This Greedy Appetite for New and Unknown Things'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

4 days ago
Montaigne’s Travel Journal recounts his wanderings through Germany, Switzerland and Italy between June 1580 and November 1581. He sought relief from the pain of kidney stones and visited numerous spas with mineral baths. As always, Montaigne is curious about everything – not just...
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The American Scholar
Dan Lynh Pham Labor of love The post Dan Lynh Pham appeared first on The American Scholar.
4 days ago
6

Dan Lynh Pham

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

4 days ago
Labor of love The post Dan Lynh Pham appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Something Which Longs to Be Filled' An American children’s book published in 1908 reminded me of a metaphysical figment conjured...
5 days ago
6

'Something Which Longs to Be Filled'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

5 days ago
An American children’s book published in 1908 reminded me of a metaphysical figment conjured by Jean-Paul Sartre. The book is The Hole Book, written and illustrated by Peter Newell. A friend who collects vintage children’s books told me about it. The verse is serviceable...
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The Marginalian
Kiss: Ellen Bass’s Stunning Ode to the Courage of Tenderness as an Antidote to Helplessness There is no greater remedy for helplessness than helping someone else, no greater salve for sorrow...
6 days ago
6

Kiss: Ellen Bass’s Stunning Ode to the Courage of Tenderness as an Antidote to Helplessness

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

6 days ago
There is no greater remedy for helplessness than helping someone else, no greater salve for sorrow than according gladness to another. What makes life livable despite the cruelties of chance — the accident, the wildfire, the random intracellular mutation — are these little acts...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Someone, I Think, Heard the Name I Named' It’s not fair to think of our dead as “The Dead,” a demographic category that erases all...
6 days ago
7

'Someone, I Think, Heard the Name I Named'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

6 days ago
It’s not fair to think of our dead as “The Dead,” a demographic category that erases all distinctions but absence. My brother (d. 2024) and Jane Greer, the North Dakota poet who died this week, would have had little in common in life. Ken had no use for poetry and he framed...
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The Marginalian
Hold On Let Go: Urns for Living and the Art of Trusting Time Ceramics came into my life the way the bird divinations had a year earlier — suddenly, mysteriously,...
6 days ago
7

Hold On Let Go: Urns for Living and the Art of Trusting Time

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

6 days ago
Ceramics came into my life the way the bird divinations had a year earlier — suddenly, mysteriously, as a coping mechanism for the confusions and cataclysms of living. I was reeling from a shattering collision with one of life’s most banal and brutal truths — that broken people...
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The American Scholar
The Linguistics of Brain Rot Adam Aleksic on how social media is transforming our words The post The Linguistics of Brain Rot...
a week ago
7

The Linguistics of Brain Rot

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

a week ago
Adam Aleksic on how social media is transforming our words The post The Linguistics of Brain Rot appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'The Actual and the Unexceptional' In its Summer 1965 issue, the editors of The American Scholar asked forty-two writers and...
a week ago
7

'The Actual and the Unexceptional'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

a week ago
In its Summer 1965 issue, the editors of The American Scholar asked forty-two writers and critics the following question: “To what book published in the past ten years do you find yourself going back--or thinking back--most often?” I take the question personally because I turned...
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The Marginalian
A Plasticity of Being: What a Rare Bird of Prey Reveals about the Deepest Meaning of Intelligence “True teachers are called into being by the contradictions generated by civilization,” the poet Gary...
a week ago
12

A Plasticity of Being: What a Rare Bird of Prey Reveals about the Deepest Meaning of Intelligence

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

a week ago
“True teachers are called into being by the contradictions generated by civilization,” the poet Gary Snyder reflected in his reckoning with the real work of life. “We need them.” We have always needed them because we need each other, because we have always been each other’s...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'That's How a Tale Should End' With an old friend I was reminiscing about the remarkably stupid things we did when young. Neither...
a week ago
8

'That's How a Tale Should End'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

a week ago
With an old friend I was reminiscing about the remarkably stupid things we did when young. Neither of us had much money when we were students – this was in the early seventies – and we didn’t own cars. To travel any significant distance, we thought nothing of hitchhiking. I often...
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The American Scholar
No Time at All The post No Time at All appeared first on The American Scholar.
a week ago
8

No Time at All

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

a week ago
The post No Time at All appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'He Would Not Be Bored' “The very catalogue of the authors whom he knew is apt to repel modern readers. We forget that we...
a week ago
10

'He Would Not Be Bored'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

a week ago
“The very catalogue of the authors whom he knew is apt to repel modern readers. We forget that we read countless ephemeral books, magazines, and newspapers, far less worth reading: stuff which bears the same relation to literature as chewing-gum does to food.”  And that was...
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The American Scholar
“Lament” by Thom Gunn Poems read aloud, beautifully The post “Lament” by Thom Gunn appeared first on The American Scholar.
a week ago
12

“Lament” by Thom Gunn

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

a week ago
Poems read aloud, beautifully The post “Lament” by Thom Gunn appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Beware Also of Tellers of Tall Tales' Advice can be dangerous stuff. If taken and the result is unfortunate, disappointment and resentment...
a week ago
10

'Beware Also of Tellers of Tall Tales'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

a week ago
Advice can be dangerous stuff. If taken and the result is unfortunate, disappointment and resentment will likely follow. “Advice is offensive,” Dr. Johnson warns. Often it is motivated not by a wish to be helpful but simply by presumptuous egotism, a desire to impose one’s will....
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The Elysian
An annotated reading of "All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace" The techno-utopian poem by Richard Brautigan.
2 weeks ago
24

An annotated reading of "All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace"

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 weeks ago
The techno-utopian poem by Richard Brautigan.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Some Temperamental Undercurrent' We squabble and seethe about it but our tastes in literature – and other realms, like food and...
2 weeks ago
11

'Some Temperamental Undercurrent'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 weeks ago
We squabble and seethe about it but our tastes in literature – and other realms, like food and music -- ultimately remain mysterious. It has taken me a lifetime to accept this realization. You are not a cretin for enjoying the work of Norman Mailer or Toni Morrison, though I find...
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The American Scholar
Puzzled In the world of jigsaws, there can be a fine line between productivity and pleasure The post Puzzled...
2 weeks ago
11

Puzzled

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 weeks ago
In the world of jigsaws, there can be a fine line between productivity and pleasure The post Puzzled appeared first on The American Scholar.
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The Marginalian
Doris Lessing on How to Read a Book and How to Read the World Born in Iran and raised in Zimbabwe, Doris Lessing (October 22, 1919–November 17, 2013) was fourteen...
2 weeks ago
12

Doris Lessing on How to Read a Book and How to Read the World

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 weeks ago
Born in Iran and raised in Zimbabwe, Doris Lessing (October 22, 1919–November 17, 2013) was fourteen when she dropped out of school and eighty-eight when she won the Nobel Prize for smelting language into keys to “the prisons we choose to live inside.” Having lived in writing for...
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The Elysian
We need a fourth branch of government A discussion with Marjan Ehsassi, executive director of FIDE North America, about citizens'...
2 weeks ago
12

We need a fourth branch of government

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 weeks ago
A discussion with Marjan Ehsassi, executive director of FIDE North America, about citizens' assemblies and how they can be used in politics, business, and academia.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'In My Hands the Morning They Find Me' Who remembers the first book he ever “read”? Qualifying quotes because I don’t mean some wordless...
2 weeks ago
11

'In My Hands the Morning They Find Me'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 weeks ago
Who remembers the first book he ever “read”? Qualifying quotes because I don’t mean some wordless board-book given to an infant by optimistic relatives. I mean the real thing, with decryptable signs on the page. I can’t remember this pivotal event, though it would change my life...
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The American Scholar
A Splendor Wild and Terrifying Lost in the woods, a writer confronts the duality of nature The post A Splendor Wild and Terrifying...
2 weeks ago
11

A Splendor Wild and Terrifying

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 weeks ago
Lost in the woods, a writer confronts the duality of nature The post A Splendor Wild and Terrifying appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Escaping Flatland
I went looking for friends, see what I found Of all the ways this blog have changed my life, the most exciting was in December 2021 when I wrote...
2 weeks ago
15

I went looking for friends, see what I found

from Escaping Flatland [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 weeks ago
Of all the ways this blog have changed my life, the most exciting was in December 2021 when I wrote a post about Ivan Illich that ended up, to my utter astonishment, to get read by almost a hundred people.
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The Marginalian
The Canyon and the Meaning of Life Anything you polish with attention will become a mirror. Anything to which you give yourself fully,...
2 weeks ago
12

The Canyon and the Meaning of Life

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 weeks ago
Anything you polish with attention will become a mirror. Anything to which you give yourself fully, vest all your strength and risk all your vulnerability, will return you to your life annealed, magnified, both unselved and more deeply yourself. It can be a garden, or a desert,...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Martyrs of a Future World Religion' A longtime reader and fellow blogger shares with me a taste for aphoristic writing, prose that...
2 weeks ago
166

'Martyrs of a Future World Religion'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 weeks ago
A longtime reader and fellow blogger shares with me a taste for aphoristic writing, prose that is concise, of course, but also dense with meaning and often packing a sting. Aphorisms can be marketed as such but often they appear as a functional part of a larger text. George Eliot...
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The American Scholar
Flummoxed The post Flummoxed appeared first on The American Scholar.
2 weeks ago
14

Flummoxed

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 weeks ago
The post Flummoxed appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'A New Past' Robert Conquest writing thirty-one years ago:  “Literature is the expression of our whole past, of...
2 weeks ago
12

'A New Past'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 weeks ago
Robert Conquest writing thirty-one years ago:  “Literature is the expression of our whole past, of our whole context in life and time – and not only ours. Anatole France said that the word pleurer (to cry, to weep) in French is different from the same sort of word in every other...
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The American Scholar
“Parachutes My Love, Could Carry Us Higher” by Barbara Guest Poems read aloud, beautifully The post “Parachutes My Love, Could Carry Us Higher” by Barbara Guest...
2 weeks ago
12

“Parachutes My Love, Could Carry Us Higher” by Barbara Guest

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 weeks ago
Poems read aloud, beautifully The post “Parachutes My Love, Could Carry Us Higher” by Barbara Guest appeared first on The American Scholar.
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The Elysian
Building an operating system for Earth How we went from an architecture of collapse to a simulation for survival
2 weeks ago
15

Building an operating system for Earth

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 weeks ago
How we went from an architecture of collapse to a simulation for survival
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Essays in Flesh and Bone' One of my friends is reliably cheerful. We should all have friends like him. His emails and...
2 weeks ago
81

'Essays in Flesh and Bone'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 weeks ago
One of my friends is reliably cheerful. We should all have friends like him. His emails and telephone calls are never annoyingly cloying, in the sense that they knock me out of whatever self-centered snit I’m nursing. Without ever saying so, he reminds me that I have it pretty...
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The American Scholar
Jeanne F. Jalandoni Weaving past and present together The post Jeanne F. Jalandoni appeared first on The American...
2 weeks ago
13

Jeanne F. Jalandoni

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 weeks ago
Weaving past and present together The post Jeanne F. Jalandoni appeared first on The American Scholar.
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The Marginalian
Is It Not Wonderful to Be Alive: Edward Lear’s Parrots In the late summer of 1832, England was set aflame with wonder — a glimpse of something wild and...
2 weeks ago
108

Is It Not Wonderful to Be Alive: Edward Lear’s Parrots

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 weeks ago
In the late summer of 1832, England was set aflame with wonder — a glimpse of something wild and flamboyant, shimmering with the lush firstness of a world untrammeled by the boot of civilization. Edward Lear (May 12, 1812–January 29, 1888), barely out of his teens, had been...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'A Minority Pursuit' In comparison to the late D.G. Myers, I’m a quietist, waiting for something to happen rather...
2 weeks ago
13

'A Minority Pursuit'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 weeks ago
In comparison to the late D.G. Myers, I’m a quietist, waiting for something to happen rather than stepping on the accelerator myself. He supplied me with more ideas and inspirations than I was ever able to offer him. A longtime reader reminds me of “The Function of Book Blogging...
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The Marginalian
Why Bats Shouldn’t Exist: The Limits of Knowledge, the Pitfalls of Prediction, and the Triumph of... Prediction is the sharpest tool the human animal has devised — the chisel with which we sculpted...
2 weeks ago
16

Why Bats Shouldn’t Exist: The Limits of Knowledge, the Pitfalls of Prediction, and the Triumph of the Possible Over the Probable

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 weeks ago
Prediction is the sharpest tool the human animal has devised — the chisel with which we sculpted survival out of chance, the fulcrum by which we lifted civilization out of survival. Among the greatest gifts of the imagination, that crowning curio of consciousness, is our ability...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Things That Might Have Been and Were Not' An old friend has grown uncharacteristically introspective and is finding much to regret. It’s a...
3 weeks ago
16

'Things That Might Have Been and Were Not'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 weeks ago
An old friend has grown uncharacteristically introspective and is finding much to regret. It’s a function of age. A widower in retirement from teaching high school, he seems no longer the buoyant social creature I’ve always known. In fact, I envied his gregariousness when we...
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The American Scholar
Michael Douglas Explains It All Jessa Crispin on what the actor’s roles tell us about the crisis of masculinity The post Michael...
3 weeks ago
15

Michael Douglas Explains It All

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 weeks ago
Jessa Crispin on what the actor’s roles tell us about the crisis of masculinity The post Michael Douglas Explains It All appeared first on The American Scholar.
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The Elysian
No, KKR is not “equity washing” Contra Katie Boland on the private equity company’s employee-ownership model.
3 weeks ago
15

No, KKR is not “equity washing”

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 weeks ago
Contra Katie Boland on the private equity company’s employee-ownership model.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'After the Rain, Perhaps, Something Will Show' Most of us are born with a brain but without a user’s manual. This soggy organ weighs on average...
3 weeks ago
16

'After the Rain, Perhaps, Something Will Show'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 weeks ago
Most of us are born with a brain but without a user’s manual. This soggy organ weighs on average about three pounds and contains 86 billion neurons. That’s our birthright, and we did nothing to earn it. We tend to operate our brains passively, ignoring most available perceptions....
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The Elysian
How much of the planet should we harm for our comfort? Becky Chambers’ gentle sci-fi on the right amount of carbon, AC, airplanes, and yachts.
3 weeks ago
24

How much of the planet should we harm for our comfort?

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 weeks ago
Becky Chambers’ gentle sci-fi on the right amount of carbon, AC, airplanes, and yachts.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Without Any Hope of Fame or Money' Friends and relatives, people whose judgment I actually trust, have urged me to move Anecdotal...
3 weeks ago
15

'Without Any Hope of Fame or Money'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 weeks ago
Friends and relatives, people whose judgment I actually trust, have urged me to move Anecdotal Evidence from Blogger to Substack and I don’t understand why. All I need is a place to write, the “platform” is of no importance. I’d do this in a notebook, like in the old days,...
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The American Scholar
Snake in the Grass The post Snake in the Grass appeared first on The American Scholar.
3 weeks ago
15

Snake in the Grass

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 weeks ago
The post Snake in the Grass appeared first on The American Scholar.
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This Space
The way of arrival Two intellectual memoirs dominated my reading over Spring, three if WG Sebald's Silent Catastrophes...
3 weeks ago
18

The way of arrival

from This Space [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 weeks ago
Two intellectual memoirs dominated my reading over Spring, three if WG Sebald's Silent Catastrophes can be included given that its analysis of the careers of various Austrian writers illuminates Sebald's own literary trajectory.1 Peter Brown's Journeys of a Mind: A Life in...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'It Is Always Summer, Always the Golden Hour' I fight the urge to wallow in nostalgia but it seeps back in like moisture in an unfinished...
3 weeks ago
13

'It Is Always Summer, Always the Golden Hour'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 weeks ago
I fight the urge to wallow in nostalgia but it seeps back in like moisture in an unfinished basement. I take that image from my childhood home. The walls and floor were bare concrete. Stacks of newspaper and lumber felt flesh-like with dampness. Down there it was always chilly,...
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The American Scholar
“Daddy” by Sylvia Plath Poems read aloud, beautifully The post “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath appeared first on The American...
3 weeks ago
15

“Daddy” by Sylvia Plath

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 weeks ago
Poems read aloud, beautifully The post “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath appeared first on The American Scholar.
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The Marginalian
Uncoding Creativity in the Age of AI: What Makes a Great Poem, What Makes a Great Storyteller, and... I once asked ChatGPT to write a poem about a total solar eclipse in the style of Walt Whitman. It...
3 weeks ago
16

Uncoding Creativity in the Age of AI: What Makes a Great Poem, What Makes a Great Storyteller, and What Makes Us Human

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 weeks ago
I once asked ChatGPT to write a poem about a total solar eclipse in the style of Walt Whitman. It returned a dozen couplets of cliches that touched nothing, changed nothing in me. The AI had the whole of the English language at its disposal — a lexicon surely manyfold the poet’s...
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The Elysian
Participatory science makes everyone a researcher So we can study the Earth at scale.
3 weeks ago
16

Participatory science makes everyone a researcher

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 weeks ago
So we can study the Earth at scale.
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The American Scholar
Why Go On? The post Why Go On? appeared first on The American Scholar.
3 weeks ago
32

Why Go On?

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 weeks ago
The post Why Go On? appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Escaping Flatland
On agency Or, how to handle being sentenced to freedom, and handle it effectively, and authentically, and...
3 weeks ago
18

On agency

from Escaping Flatland [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 weeks ago
Or, how to handle being sentenced to freedom, and handle it effectively, and authentically, and responsibly
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Anecdotal Evidence
"Some of His Work Was Gold' From a dusty, thoroughly disorganized Houston bookstore I bought a copy of Turnstile One: A...
3 weeks ago
12

"Some of His Work Was Gold'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 weeks ago
From a dusty, thoroughly disorganized Houston bookstore I bought a copy of Turnstile One: A Literary Miscellany (Turnstile Press, 1948), edited by V.S. Pritchett. Much of its literary quality shames today's readers and writers. It collects poems, stories, essays and reviews...
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The Marginalian
A Defense of Joy One of the most important things to have learned in life is that choosing joy in a world rife with...
4 weeks ago
18

A Defense of Joy

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

4 weeks ago
One of the most important things to have learned in life is that choosing joy in a world rife with reasons for despair is a countercultural act of courage and resistance, choosing it not despite the abounding sorrow we barely survive but because of it, because joy — like music,...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'A Great Euthanasia' I can’t think of another poet who wrote so often or so amusingly about death as Thomas Disch. I once...
4 weeks ago
13

'A Great Euthanasia'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

4 weeks ago
I can’t think of another poet who wrote so often or so amusingly about death as Thomas Disch. I once tried tallying his death-themed poems and lost count. Here’s a sample: “How to Behave When Dead,” “Symbols of Love and Death,” “In Defense of Forest Lawn,” “At the Tomb of the...
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The American Scholar
America the Beautiful The poem that became a hymn to the nation came about in troubled, polarizing times The post America...
4 weeks ago
13

America the Beautiful

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

4 weeks ago
The poem that became a hymn to the nation came about in troubled, polarizing times The post America the Beautiful appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Lord, Make Me Not Too Rich. Nor Make Me Poor' “In spite of the Deconstructionists who say that communication is not really possible, we most of us...
4 weeks ago
14

'Lord, Make Me Not Too Rich. Nor Make Me Poor'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

4 weeks ago
“In spite of the Deconstructionists who say that communication is not really possible, we most of us manage to honor stop signs, and we all honor the dollar sign, whether or not we are willing to admit it.”  In 1995, R.L. Barth published The Golden Calf: Poems of Money, edited by...
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The American Scholar
Lessons in the Diplomatic Arts Notes from a musical tour of South Africa The post Lessons in the Diplomatic Arts appeared first on...
4 weeks ago
31

Lessons in the Diplomatic Arts

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

4 weeks ago
Notes from a musical tour of South Africa The post Lessons in the Diplomatic Arts appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Wuthering...
What I Read in June 2025 - A life of agony was all for naught. My summer plan was to read, short, easy books, and I almost succeeded.  I read short, difficult...
4 weeks ago
24

What I Read in June 2025 - A life of agony was all for naught.

from Wuthering Expectations [alt+shift+b] in literature

4 weeks ago
My summer plan was to read, short, easy books, and I almost succeeded.  I read short, difficult books in French, and accidentally read several grim, sad, violent books, alongside some playful nonsense.   FICTION The Field of Life and Death (1935), Xiao Hong – For example.  Ninety...
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The Marginalian
Vision of the Womb and Vision of the Brain: H.D. on the Two Kinds of Seeing and the Key to Over-mind... “One must be a seer, make oneself a seer,” Arthur Rimbaud wrote, “by a long, gigantic and rational...
a month ago
15

Vision of the Womb and Vision of the Brain: H.D. on the Two Kinds of Seeing and the Key to Over-mind Consciousness

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
“One must be a seer, make oneself a seer,” Arthur Rimbaud wrote, “by a long, gigantic and rational derangement of all the senses.” As more and more of our senses are being amputated by the blade of our image-centric culture, reducing the vast and delicate sensorium of human...
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The Elysian
Maybe an exowomb is better than pregnancy The Pod Generation’s near-future satire pits nature against technology. Which is the better curator?
a month ago
13

Maybe an exowomb is better than pregnancy

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
The Pod Generation’s near-future satire pits nature against technology. Which is the better curator?
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Anecdotal Evidence
'One Is Looking in the Right Direction' News of certain public deaths remains rooted in memory to an indelible time and place. Famously,...
a month ago
11

'One Is Looking in the Right Direction'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
News of certain public deaths remains rooted in memory to an indelible time and place. Famously, millions of mundane lives intersected forever with the assassination of President Kennedy, which people recall in vivid detail more than sixty years later their reactions at that...
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The American Scholar
Big Rock, High Plateau The post Big Rock, High Plateau appeared first on The American Scholar.
a month ago
12

Big Rock, High Plateau

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
The post Big Rock, High Plateau appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Superintending What He Cannot Regulate' In my family we can’t get away from the “Y” chromosome. Having children is known as “going to the...
a month ago
13

'Superintending What He Cannot Regulate'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
In my family we can’t get away from the “Y” chromosome. Having children is known as “going to the Y.” I have three sons, no daughters, and my brother, who died last summer, was my sole sibling. My mother had five brothers, no sisters. My father, two brothers, no sisters, etc....
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The American Scholar
“The Fig Tree” by Ruth Stone Poems read aloud, beautifully The post “The Fig Tree” by Ruth Stone appeared first on The American...
a month ago
14

“The Fig Tree” by Ruth Stone

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
Poems read aloud, beautifully The post “The Fig Tree” by Ruth Stone appeared first on The American Scholar.
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The Elysian
How can we rewild the Earth at scale? From global targets to backyard projects
a month ago
18

How can we rewild the Earth at scale?

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
From global targets to backyard projects
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Anecdotal Evidence
'The Fun Which Is Ebullient All Over Yours' A pun is best delivered without announcing itself as a pun. Those ungifted at wordplay tend...
a month ago
12

'The Fun Which Is Ebullient All Over Yours'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
A pun is best delivered without announcing itself as a pun. Those ungifted at wordplay tend to underline, boldface and italicize their every attempt at a pun, most of which are already feeble. Thus, the pun’s bad reputation and the ensuing groans. In contrast I love a good,...
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The American Scholar
Greg Ito The life cycle of a candle The post Greg Ito appeared first on The American Scholar.
a month ago
14

Greg Ito

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
The life cycle of a candle The post Greg Ito appeared first on The American Scholar.
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The Marginalian
Uncaging the Bird in the Mind: William Henry Hudson and the Gift of the Ruin of Your Best Laid Plans “The mind is its own place, and in it self can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n,” wrote...
a month ago
17

Uncaging the Bird in the Mind: William Henry Hudson and the Gift of the Ruin of Your Best Laid Plans

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
“The mind is its own place, and in it self can make a Heav’n of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n,” wrote Milton in Paradise Lost. Because the mind (which may in the end be a full-body phenomenon) is the cup that lifts the world to our lips to be tasted — a taste we call reality — it is...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'The Ledge Itself Invents the Leap' Good hearts try to talk us out of phobias. After all, people are naïve about the powers of...
a month ago
14

'The Ledge Itself Invents the Leap'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
Good hearts try to talk us out of phobias. After all, people are naïve about the powers of rationalism: “Explain it, and it goes away.” As a kid I fell for that, almost literally, when I tried to muscle my way with sheer will power past the Terminal Tower in downtown...
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The Elysian
Democrats Need a Mamdani-Type to Win If you're still talking about his rent freeze and grocery policies, you're missing the point.
a month ago
18

Democrats Need a Mamdani-Type to Win

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
If you're still talking about his rent freeze and grocery policies, you're missing the point.
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The Marginalian
Anima: One Woman’s Search for Meaning in the Footsteps of Bulgarian Mountain Shepherds "All our lives we perform tasks while waiting for something to click into place. For somewhere to...
a month ago
15

Anima: One Woman’s Search for Meaning in the Footsteps of Bulgarian Mountain Shepherds

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
"All our lives we perform tasks while waiting for something to click into place. For somewhere to put our love."
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Susceptible to Education' I grew up fetishizing a university education. I knew no one in my family or in my working-class...
a month ago
19

'Susceptible to Education'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
I grew up fetishizing a university education. I knew no one in my family or in my working-class neighborhood who had “gone to college,” as the common phrase had it. In my experience, that status was confined to doctors and teachers. My father was a high-school dropout....
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The American Scholar
Once in a Lifetime Jonathan Gould on how Talking Heads transformed rock music The post Once in a Lifetime appeared...
a month ago
18

Once in a Lifetime

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
Jonathan Gould on how Talking Heads transformed rock music The post Once in a Lifetime appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'The Neglected By-ways' Thomas Parker is a longtime reader and frequent commenter on this blog. On Monday’s post he recalled...
a month ago
16

'The Neglected By-ways'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
Thomas Parker is a longtime reader and frequent commenter on this blog. On Monday’s post he recalled a passage he thought may have been the work of George Saintsbury. Unable to track it down for attribution, he quoted from uncertain memory: “Nothing pains me more than the...
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The Elysian
The future used to be better How contemporary art reflects our waning belief in progress.
a month ago
16

The future used to be better

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
How contemporary art reflects our waning belief in progress.
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Escaping Flatland
The hare vaguely impressionistic reflections about what I've been up to + links to stuff I've enjoyed...
a month ago
26

The hare

from Escaping Flatland [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
vaguely impressionistic reflections about what I've been up to + links to stuff I've enjoyed recently
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Anecdotal Evidence
'The Kitchen Perpetually Crowded with Savages' Jonathan Swift often stayed at Quilca, the country home of his friend the Rev. Thomas Sheridan...
a month ago
19

'The Kitchen Perpetually Crowded with Savages'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
Jonathan Swift often stayed at Quilca, the country home of his friend the Rev. Thomas Sheridan (1687-1738) in County Cavan, Ireland. There he wrote portions of Gulliver’s Travels. Not surprisingly, Swift was an inspired kvetcher. There’s a long tradition of English writers...
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The American Scholar
Crystal Ball The post Crystal Ball appeared first on The American Scholar.
a month ago
18

Crystal Ball

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
The post Crystal Ball appeared first on The American Scholar.
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The Marginalian
Divinations of the First Light: A Cosmic Poem for the Vera Rubin Observatory At the end of her trailblazing life, having swung open the gate of the possible for women in science...
a month ago
17

Divinations of the First Light: A Cosmic Poem for the Vera Rubin Observatory

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
At the end of her trailblazing life, having swung open the gate of the possible for women in science with her famous comet discovery, astronomer Maria Mitchell confided in one of her Vassar students that she would rather have authored a great poem than discovered a comet. A...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'The Silly, Trivial Things You Did When Young' “Of course, you live life forward and think about it backwards.”  I’ve spent the last month or so...
a month ago
13

'The Silly, Trivial Things You Did When Young'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
“Of course, you live life forward and think about it backwards.”  I’ve spent the last month or so thinking about the summer of 1973, when I visited Europe for the first time. This retrospective was prompted by my youngest son, who graduated in May from Rice University and the...
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The American Scholar
Verse 31 from Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore Poems read aloud, beautifully The post Verse 31 from <em>Gitanjali</em> by Rabindranath Tagore...
a month ago
23

Verse 31 from Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
Poems read aloud, beautifully The post Verse 31 from <em>Gitanjali</em> by Rabindranath Tagore appeared first on The American Scholar.
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The Elysian
A self-governing forest Terra0 thinks nature should become economically independent.
a month ago
16

A self-governing forest

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
Terra0 thinks nature should become economically independent.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Needlessly Limited Accommodation' That certain mediocre books are judged “classics,” at least by teachers and librarians desperate to...
a month ago
13

'Needlessly Limited Accommodation'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
That certain mediocre books are judged “classics,” at least by teachers and librarians desperate to stock their shelves, fill bulletin boards and placate administrators, is well-known and nobody says much about it. I’m uncertain what mysterious collective formulates this canon...
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The Marginalian
How to Be a Stone: Three Poems for Trusting Time If you want to befriend time — which is how you come to befriend life — turn to stone. Climb a...
a month ago
20

How to Be a Stone: Three Poems for Trusting Time

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
If you want to befriend time — which is how you come to befriend life — turn to stone. Climb a mountain and listen to the conversation between eons encoded in each stripe of rock. Walk a beach and comb your fingers through the golden dust that was once a mountain. Pick up a...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Between Virgil and Young People Engrossed in Rock' In a 2009 interview with a publication in Barcelona, Spain, Adam Zagajewski is asked a question...
a month ago
22

'Between Virgil and Young People Engrossed in Rock'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
In a 2009 interview with a publication in Barcelona, Spain, Adam Zagajewski is asked a question about political correctness, euphemisms and other debasements of language. He replies: “There is the harsher side of existence -- disease and death -- and the loftier reasons for...
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The Elysian
An online version of Da Vinci's journal? Marginalia: An experiment sharing notes from the margins of my research.
a month ago
16

An online version of Da Vinci's journal?

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
Marginalia: An experiment sharing notes from the margins of my research.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Full of the Little Obscurities' “A man may profess to understand the President of the United States, but he seldom alleges, even...
a month ago
19

'Full of the Little Obscurities'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
“A man may profess to understand the President of the United States, but he seldom alleges, even to himself, that he understands his own wife.”  Anecdotal Evidence attracts an admirably knowledgeable set of readers, mostly proud amateurs like its author. As best I can judge,...
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The Marginalian
Against Death: Nobel Laureate Elias Canetti on Grieving a Parent, Grieving the World, and What Makes... The year is 1937. Elias Canetti (July 25, 1905–August 14, 1994) — Bulgarian, Jewish, living in...
a month ago
18

Against Death: Nobel Laureate Elias Canetti on Grieving a Parent, Grieving the World, and What Makes Life Worth Living

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
The year is 1937. Elias Canetti (July 25, 1905–August 14, 1994) — Bulgarian, Jewish, living in Austria as the Nazis are rising to power — has just lost his mother; his mother, whose bottomless love had nurtured the talent that would win him the Nobel Prize in his seventies; his...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Let Them at Any Rate Be Your Acquaintances' “Nothing makes a man more reverent than a library.”  An interesting gauge of human sensibility, a...
a month ago
15

'Let Them at Any Rate Be Your Acquaintances'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
“Nothing makes a man more reverent than a library.”  An interesting gauge of human sensibility, a sort of litmus test to judge personality and values, might be to place your subject in a large, well-stocked library (or bookstore), wire him for blood pressure, heart rate, skin...
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The American Scholar
No Murder in the Mews The post No Murder in the Mews appeared first on The American Scholar.
a month ago
21

No Murder in the Mews

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
The post No Murder in the Mews appeared first on The American Scholar.
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The Marginalian
The Whole of It Because we are creatures made of time, what we call suffering is at bottom a warping of time, a form...
a month ago
18

The Whole of It

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
Because we are creatures made of time, what we call suffering is at bottom a warping of time, a form of living against it and not with it — the pain of loss, aching for what has been and no longer is; the pain of longing, aching for what could be but is not yet and may never be;...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'It Pulls the Reader In' I grew up observing the Holy Trinity, the literary one: Homer, Dante, Shakespeare. Faith told me...
a month ago
14

'It Pulls the Reader In'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
I grew up observing the Holy Trinity, the literary one: Homer, Dante, Shakespeare. Faith told me these were the foundational figures who would sustain us. Reason and a lifetime of reading have confirmed my faith. I think of them as formulating the cultural oxygen that sustains...
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The American Scholar
“Sakura Park” by Rachel Wetzsteon Poems read aloud, beautifully The post “Sakura Park” by Rachel Wetzsteon appeared first on The...
a month ago
21

“Sakura Park” by Rachel Wetzsteon

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
Poems read aloud, beautifully The post “Sakura Park” by Rachel Wetzsteon appeared first on The American Scholar.
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The Elysian
No, we shouldn't return to the climate of the 18th century Improving the climate is a better goal than trying to fight change.
a month ago
19

No, we shouldn't return to the climate of the 18th century

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
Improving the climate is a better goal than trying to fight change.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Idiot Hopefulness or Fathomless Exasperation' When my oldest son was about seven and already a movie enthusiast, we drove up to the Crandall...
a month ago
20

'Idiot Hopefulness or Fathomless Exasperation'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
When my oldest son was about seven and already a movie enthusiast, we drove up to the Crandall Library in Glens Falls, N.Y. to watch Laurel and Hardy movies. I’d seen a notice in the paper. A film collector brought his own projector and a box of 16mm reels and set up in one of...
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The American Scholar
Stephanie Santana Preserving family history The post Stephanie Santana appeared first on The American Scholar.
a month ago
22

Stephanie Santana

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
Preserving family history The post Stephanie Santana appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'It Brought Us This Far' Self-knowledge is fine but some things are best left unexamined. “Why do you read so many books?” a...
a month ago
17

'It Brought Us This Far'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
Self-knowledge is fine but some things are best left unexamined. “Why do you read so many books?” a reader asks. His assumption, never directly articulated, is that reading is compensation for the absence of something far more important. I suppose people have been facing...
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The Elysian
Democracy should happen online A Guest Lecture with Margo Loor, co-founder of the Estonian participatory democracy platform Citizen...
a month ago
25

Democracy should happen online

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
A Guest Lecture with Margo Loor, co-founder of the Estonian participatory democracy platform Citizen OS.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'At a Quarter a Tome' I owe a significant chunk of my education to the existence of paperback books. By “education” I...
a month ago
28

'At a Quarter a Tome'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
I owe a significant chunk of my education to the existence of paperback books. By “education” I don’t mean what I pretended to do while in the company of professors, though many of them assigned books published in soft covers. I mean self-assigned literature, beginning as a kid...
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The American Scholar
Family Values Augustine Sedgewick on the history of paternity and patriarchy The post Family Values appeared first...
a month ago
20

Family Values

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
Augustine Sedgewick on the history of paternity and patriarchy The post Family Values appeared first on The American Scholar.
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The Marginalian
Silence, Solitude, and the Art of Surrender: Pico Iyer on Finding the World in a Benedictine... "Such a simple revolution: Yesterday I thought myself at the center of the world. Now the world...
a month ago
28

Silence, Solitude, and the Art of Surrender: Pico Iyer on Finding the World in a Benedictine Monastery

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
"Such a simple revolution: Yesterday I thought myself at the center of the world. Now the world seems to sit at the center of me."
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Anecdotal Evidence
'[C]onservatives Should Embrace the Novel' Fifteen years ago, in a blog post titled “Conservative novels,”  my friend the late D.G. Myers...
a month ago
16

'[C]onservatives Should Embrace the Novel'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
Fifteen years ago, in a blog post titled “Conservative novels,”  my friend the late D.G. Myers critiqued a “top-ten” list of that literary species assembled by a writer at The National Review. David called the list “strangely disappointing,” and it’s tough to argue with that...
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The Marginalian
The Arguers: A Charming Illustrated Parable about the Absurdity of Self-righteousness Perhaps the most perilous consequence of uncertain times, times that hurl us into helplessness and...
a month ago
26

The Arguers: A Charming Illustrated Parable about the Absurdity of Self-righteousness

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
Perhaps the most perilous consequence of uncertain times, times that hurl us into helplessness and disorientation, is that they turn human beings into opinion machines. We dope our pain and confusion with false certainties that stifle the willingness to understand (the nuances of...
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The Elysian
We can terraform the Earth—not just Mars If we can revive a dead planet, we can revive our own.
a month ago
17

We can terraform the Earth—not just Mars

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
If we can revive a dead planet, we can revive our own.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'What He Knows Who Looks Into Life and Sees' Most of my preoccupations lie elsewhere but I retain a casual interest in what used to be called...
a month ago
18

'What He Knows Who Looks Into Life and Sees'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
Most of my preoccupations lie elsewhere but I retain a casual interest in what used to be called field biology. That is, the non-molecular, outside-the-laboratory practice of observing plants and animals, even in the middle of Houston. The motives are pleasure, wonder and...
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The American Scholar
A Pair of Elephants The post A Pair of Elephants appeared first on The American Scholar.
a month ago
16

A Pair of Elephants

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
The post A Pair of Elephants appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Wuthering...
A draft Elizabethan Not Shakespeare syllabus In case yesterday’s invitation was a bit abstract, here is my current sense of a twenty-play...
a month ago
18

A draft Elizabethan Not Shakespeare syllabus

from Wuthering Expectations [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
In case yesterday’s invitation was a bit abstract, here is my current sense of a twenty-play Elizabethan Not Shakespeare syllabus that I would like to investigate beginning next fall.  I’ve read twelve of them. Please note that almost every date below should be preceded by “c.” ...
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The American Scholar
Reasons for Living The post Reasons for Living appeared first on The American Scholar.
a month ago
128

Reasons for Living

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
The post Reasons for Living appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'The Most Natural Thing in the World' Why write? Indulge my glibness: Why not? Still in high school, I learned I had little...
a month ago
87

'The Most Natural Thing in the World'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
Why write? Indulge my glibness: Why not? Still in high school, I learned I had little understanding of a given subject until I tried to express it in a precise selection of words, words that corresponded not to my feelings or theories but to what I could perceive. Not gushing – a...
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The American Scholar
“The Last One” by W. S. Merwin Poems read aloud, beautifully The post “The Last One” by W. S. Merwin appeared first on The American...
a month ago
19

“The Last One” by W. S. Merwin

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
Poems read aloud, beautifully The post “The Last One” by W. S. Merwin appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Wuthering...
Not Shakespeare - a preliminary, semi-formed invitation to read plays by Shakespeare's... Here’s something I’ve been wanting to do.  I’ve been wanting to return to the plays of...
a month ago
23

Not Shakespeare - a preliminary, semi-formed invitation to read plays by Shakespeare's contemporaries

from Wuthering Expectations [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
Here’s something I’ve been wanting to do.  I’ve been wanting to return to the plays of Shakespeare’s contemporaries, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson and so on.  The Spanish Tragedy, The Duchess of Malfi, The Knight of the Burning Pestle,  Bartholomew Fair.  It has been a while...
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The Elysian
TERRAFORM: An essay collection about the future of our planet Six writers explore the future of our world for an online series and print pamphlet.
a month ago
18

TERRAFORM: An essay collection about the future of our planet

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
Six writers explore the future of our world for an online series and print pamphlet.
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Escaping Flatland
Caring for others At Kastrup Airport in Copenhagen, I see a passport fall out of the back pocket of a man and...
a month ago
21

Caring for others

from Escaping Flatland [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
At Kastrup Airport in Copenhagen, I see a passport fall out of the back pocket of a man and immediately (at least) three strangers call out.
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This Space
On the Calculation of Volume 1 by Solvej Balle The premise of this multi-volume novel is simple: a modern-day French woman called Tara finds...
a month ago
22

On the Calculation of Volume 1 by Solvej Balle

from This Space [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
The premise of this multi-volume novel is simple: a modern-day French woman called Tara finds herself stuck inside the eighteenth day of a November. The nineteenth never appears. On the 121st iteration of the same day she begins to write by describing the sounds made by her...
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The American Scholar
The Unjolly Green Giant How C. F.  Seabrook became the Lear of the vegetable fields The post The Unjolly Green Giant...
a month ago
118

The Unjolly Green Giant

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
How C. F.  Seabrook became the Lear of the vegetable fields The post The Unjolly Green Giant appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'The Information of a High School Janitor' A former colleague reminded me of the babysitting job I was given by a newspaper editor some...
a month ago
17

'The Information of a High School Janitor'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
A former colleague reminded me of the babysitting job I was given by a newspaper editor some forty years ago. I was the court reporter, covering every level from city police court to the New York Court of Appeals, plus the federal court in the beautiful Art Deco building on...
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The Marginalian
The Grammar of Fantasy and the Fantastic Binomial: Beloved Italian Children’s Book Author Gianny... "The mind forms a whole. Its creativity must be cultivated in all directions."
a month ago
13

The Grammar of Fantasy and the Fantastic Binomial: Beloved Italian Children’s Book Author Gianny Rodari on Creativity and the Key to Great Storytelling

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
"The mind forms a whole. Its creativity must be cultivated in all directions."
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Anecdotal Evidence
'He Thrived on Giving Offense' Why did my teachers devote more class time to John Greenleaf Whittier and James Russell Lowell –...
a month ago
15

'He Thrived on Giving Offense'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
Why did my teachers devote more class time to John Greenleaf Whittier and James Russell Lowell – American exemplars of the Age of Thrice-Named Writers -- than to Lord Byron? After more than half a century, I can only speculate. Literary patriotism? We spent a lot of time reading...
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The Elysian
Newsletter bundles don't work A Guest Lecture with Even Armstrong on why he left Every to go independent.
a month ago
15

Newsletter bundles don't work

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
A Guest Lecture with Even Armstrong on why he left Every to go independent.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'A Peaceabale Morning' Boys of my age grew up fighting Nazis and Japs. We inherited our fathers’ war and were too old to...
a month ago
20

'A Peaceabale Morning'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
Boys of my age grew up fighting Nazis and Japs. We inherited our fathers’ war and were too old to “play Army” – always the phrase – by the time Vietnam heated up. A German refugee, Mrs. Becker, lived next door and we were ordered to kill only Japs if we were playing near her...
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The American Scholar
Ask Already The post Ask Already appeared first on The American Scholar.
a month ago
16

Ask Already

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
The post Ask Already appeared first on The American Scholar.
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The Marginalian
The Majesty of Mountains and the Mountains of the Mind Mountains are some of our best metaphors for the mind and for the spirit, but they are also living...
a month ago
14

The Majesty of Mountains and the Mountains of the Mind

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
Mountains are some of our best metaphors for the mind and for the spirit, but they are also living entities, sovereign and staggering. I remember the first time I saw a mountain from an airplane — forests miniaturized to moss, rivers to capillaries, the Earth crumpled like a...
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The Elysian
Creating a global safety net without nation-states A Guest Lecture featuring Sondre Rasch, co-founder and CEO of SafetyWing.
a month ago
20

Creating a global safety net without nation-states

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
A Guest Lecture featuring Sondre Rasch, co-founder and CEO of SafetyWing.
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The Marginalian
Mushrooms and Our Search for Meaning This essay was originally published as the cover story in the Summer 2025 issue of Orion Magazine....
a month ago
23

Mushrooms and Our Search for Meaning

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
This essay was originally published as the cover story in the Summer 2025 issue of Orion Magazine. “Who are you?” the caterpillar barks at Alice from atop the giant mushroom, and Alice, never quite having considered the question, mutters a child’s version of Emily Dickinson’s...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'To Illustrate With Marginal Notes' I no longer write in books, a decision I made decades ago that I occasionally regret. It came...
a month ago
16

'To Illustrate With Marginal Notes'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
I no longer write in books, a decision I made decades ago that I occasionally regret. It came to feel like defacement. But it’s interesting to see what attracted, delighted or puzzled my younger self. Here are the three books on my shelves most heavily underlined and...
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The American Scholar
“In the Summer” by Nizar Qabbani Poems read aloud, beautifully The post “In the Summer” by Nizar Qabbani appeared first on The...
a month ago
24

“In the Summer” by Nizar Qabbani

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

a month ago
Poems read aloud, beautifully The post “In the Summer” by Nizar Qabbani appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Commonly Lost Because It Never Was Deserved' Often, I hardly recognize my younger self. I did foolish things I would never contemplate today....
2 months ago
16

'Commonly Lost Because It Never Was Deserved'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
Often, I hardly recognize my younger self. I did foolish things I would never contemplate today. My self-centeredness was appalling, my taste frequently shameful, even in books. I read critics uncritically and was cowed by their fame and influence. Taste doesn’t arrive...
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The American Scholar
Jeremy Spoke in Class Today On guns, MTV, Stephen King, and the nightmare from which we cannot awake The post Jeremy Spoke in...
2 months ago
12

Jeremy Spoke in Class Today

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
On guns, MTV, Stephen King, and the nightmare from which we cannot awake The post Jeremy Spoke in Class Today appeared first on The American Scholar.
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The Marginalian
The One Hundred Milliseconds Between the World and You: Oliver Sacks on Perception “If the doors of perception were cleansed,” William Blake wrote, “everything would appear to man as...
2 months ago
15

The One Hundred Milliseconds Between the World and You: Oliver Sacks on Perception

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
“If the doors of perception were cleansed,” William Blake wrote, “everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.” But we are finite creatures, in time and in space, and there is a limit to how much reality we can bear — evolution gave us consciousness so that we may sieve the...
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The American Scholar
On (Middle-Class) Frugality Does cutting costs mean robbing oneself of life’s small delights? The post On (Middle-Class)...
2 months ago
20

On (Middle-Class) Frugality

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
Does cutting costs mean robbing oneself of life’s small delights? The post On (Middle-Class) Frugality appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Wuthering...
What I Read in May 2025 – “There’s the store that’s shaped like a duck,” Franca said. First, my poor email subscribers missed some of the installments of my newsletter about Anthony...
2 months ago
20

What I Read in May 2025 – “There’s the store that’s shaped like a duck,” Franca said.

from Wuthering Expectations [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
First, my poor email subscribers missed some of the installments of my newsletter about Anthony Powell.  If this keeps happening I will have to think of something or even do something.  Here they are: A skippable piece of throat-clearing about the roman fleuve. What I think...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'The Things Which Make a Life of Ease' R.L. Barth, our finest living epigrammist (admittedly, not a vast job description), has sent me his...
2 months ago
22

'The Things Which Make a Life of Ease'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
R.L. Barth, our finest living epigrammist (admittedly, not a vast job description), has sent me his translation of a well-known epigram by Martial, the Roman master of the pithy form. Bob found it among his papers and doesn’t remember making it. “[T]ranslating something [Ben]...
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The Marginalian
Imagine Water Otherwise: Robert Macfarlane on the Personhood of Rivers and the Meaning of Aliveness “Time is a river which sweeps me along, but I am the river,” Borges wrote in his timeless...
2 months ago
25

Imagine Water Otherwise: Robert Macfarlane on the Personhood of Rivers and the Meaning of Aliveness

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
“Time is a river which sweeps me along, but I am the river,” Borges wrote in his timeless “refutation” of time. “No one can build you the bridge on which you, and only you, must cross the river of life,” Nietzsche wrote a century earlier in his directive on how to find yourself....
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Anecdotal Evidence
'When the Heart is Full . . .' “You say truly, that death is only terrible to us as it separates us from those we love, but I...
2 months ago
15

'When the Heart is Full . . .'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
“You say truly, that death is only terrible to us as it separates us from those we love, but I really think those have the worst of it who are left by us, if we are true friends. I have felt more (I fancy) in the loss of Mr. Gay, than I shall suffer in the thought of going away...
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The American Scholar
The Birthmark The post The Birthmark appeared first on The American Scholar.
2 months ago
17

The Birthmark

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
The post The Birthmark appeared first on The American Scholar.
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The Elysian
Our community round has opened—let's fund this book! + Join our call tonight!
2 months ago
16

Our community round has opened—let's fund this book!

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
+ Join our call tonight!
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Anecdotal Evidence
Compatible Observations of Great Men Andrew Taylor on Charles Montagu Doughty, author of Travels in Arabia Deserta (1888): “He appealed...
2 months ago
25

Compatible Observations of Great Men

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
Andrew Taylor on Charles Montagu Doughty, author of Travels in Arabia Deserta (1888): “He appealed instinctively to the past, against what he saw as the corruption of language, manners and morality of his own time, but Travels in Arabia Deserta is not backward-looking for its own...
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The Marginalian
The Wanting Monster: An Almost Unbearably Tender Illustrated Spell Against the Curse of Not Enough Wanting is the menacing margin of error between desire and need. It is the blade that vivisects your...
2 months ago
24

The Wanting Monster: An Almost Unbearably Tender Illustrated Spell Against the Curse of Not Enough

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
Wanting is the menacing margin of error between desire and need. It is the blade that vivisects your serenity, the hammer that shatters your wholeness — to want anything is to deem your life incomplete without it. It is a perpetual motion machine that keeps you restlessly...
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The Elysian
How Silicon Valley got rich And how everyone else can get rich too.
2 months ago
30

How Silicon Valley got rich

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
And how everyone else can get rich too.
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Escaping Flatland
On the pleasure of reading private notebooks One reason I like this genre is that people censor themselves less when they are writing in private.
2 months ago
25

On the pleasure of reading private notebooks

from Escaping Flatland [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
One reason I like this genre is that people censor themselves less when they are writing in private.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'All of Time is Cut in Two—Before and After' Rhina Espaillat writes the sonnet “How Like a Winter . . .” (And After All: Poems, 2018) in...
2 months ago
17

'All of Time is Cut in Two—Before and After'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
Rhina Espaillat writes the sonnet “How Like a Winter . . .” (And After All: Poems, 2018) in response to Shakespeare’s Sonnet 17:  “So Shakespeare describes absence. Yes—but no, since every winter ends, gentling to spring’s tentative yellows, then the green and blue and bolder...
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The Marginalian
Raising Hare: The Moving Story of How a Helpless Creature Helped a Workaholic Wake Up from the... Narrow the aperture of your attention enough to take in any one thing fully, and it becomes a portal...
2 months ago
19

Raising Hare: The Moving Story of How a Helpless Creature Helped a Workaholic Wake Up from the Trance of Near-living and Rewild Her Soul

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
Narrow the aperture of your attention enough to take in any one thing fully, and it becomes a portal to everything. Anneal that attention enough so that you see whatever and whoever is before you free from expectation, unfiltered through your fantasies or needs, and it becomes...
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The American Scholar
Apagón The post Apagón appeared first on The American Scholar.
2 months ago
18

Apagón

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
The post Apagón appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Alone in a Room with the English Language' “One of the offices of poetry: to use shapely speech to express the radicals of existence in all...
2 months ago
16

'Alone in a Room with the English Language'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
“One of the offices of poetry: to use shapely speech to express the radicals of existence in all their ambiguity.”  “Shapely speech” is nicely put. Guys I knew, when being polite, might describe a girl as “shapely.” You know what that means. It means pleasing. What about “the...
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The American Scholar
“A Blessing” by James Wright Poems read aloud, beautifully The post “A Blessing” by James Wright appeared first on The American...
2 months ago
18

“A Blessing” by James Wright

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
Poems read aloud, beautifully The post “A Blessing” by James Wright appeared first on The American Scholar.
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This Space
A mighty contagious absence, part two On submission and resistance to AI-generated literature   To great writers, finished works weigh...
2 months ago
26

A mighty contagious absence, part two

from This Space [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
On submission and resistance to AI-generated literature   To great writers, finished works weigh lighter than those fragments on which they work throughout their lives. For only the more feeble and distracted take an inimitable pleasure in conclusions, feeling themselves...
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Anecdotal Evidence
''T is But the Graves That Stay' “Above the town of Frankfort, on the top of the steep bluff of the Kentucky River, is a burial-place...
2 months ago
17

''T is But the Graves That Stay'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
“Above the town of Frankfort, on the top of the steep bluff of the Kentucky River, is a burial-place where lie the bones of many heroes, sons the Commonwealth has lovingly gathered in one fold. It is a beautiful site for this simple Valhalla, with its wide outlook over the noble...
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The American Scholar
Tessa G. O’Brien Expansiveness and wonder The post Tessa G. O’Brien appeared first on The American Scholar.
2 months ago
19

Tessa G. O’Brien

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
Expansiveness and wonder The post Tessa G. O’Brien appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'The Conception of Life As an Enchanted State' On summer mornings in the mid-nineteen-sixties, I would follow the path behind our house through a...
2 months ago
19

'The Conception of Life As an Enchanted State'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
On summer mornings in the mid-nineteen-sixties, I would follow the path behind our house through a growth of poplars and sassafras to the place where the white oaks and tulip trees took over. The path ended at the top of the hill where we went sledding in winter. Most mornings...
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The Marginalian
Owl Lake: A Vintage Treasure from Japanese Artist Keizaburo Tejima That we will never know what it is like to be another — another person, another creature — is one of...
2 months ago
25

Owl Lake: A Vintage Treasure from Japanese Artist Keizaburo Tejima

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
That we will never know what it is like to be another — another person, another creature — is one of the most exasperating things in life, but also one of the most humbling, the most catalytic to our creative energies: the great calibrator of our certainties, the ultimate...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'He’s Not the Only One' My newly graduated youngest son is visiting Thailand with friends from his alma mater, Rice...
2 months ago
19

'He’s Not the Only One'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
My newly graduated youngest son is visiting Thailand with friends from his alma mater, Rice University. Most of the photos he has sent document meals eaten and temples visited, but among them is this one, my favorite image:  The smiling head of the Buddha sunk among the...
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The American Scholar
Lingua Obscura Laura Spinney on the spread of Proto-Indo-European The post Lingua Obscura appeared first on The...
2 months ago
18

Lingua Obscura

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
Laura Spinney on the spread of Proto-Indo-European The post Lingua Obscura appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Escaping Flatland
When writing, look at what you are trying to describe more than at your words 9 reflections
2 months ago
25

When writing, look at what you are trying to describe more than at your words

from Escaping Flatland [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
9 reflections
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Anecdotal Evidence
'For I Have Renounced Happiness' “Happiness is the search for happiness.”  I’m not so sure. My understanding is that there are no...
2 months ago
17

'For I Have Renounced Happiness'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
“Happiness is the search for happiness.”  I’m not so sure. My understanding is that there are no happy lives, only happy moments. Those moments seem to be the byproduct of right living. A life dedicated fulltime to achieving happiness is likely to be filled with respites of...
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The American Scholar
An Enigma at the Center The story of the American West in one photograph The post An Enigma at the Center appeared first on...
2 months ago
20

An Enigma at the Center

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
The story of the American West in one photograph The post An Enigma at the Center appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Wuthering...
Anthony Powell's style and sensibility - Life is full of internal dramas, instantaneous and... Nicholas Jenkins – I did not register his name at all for the entire first novel, but I know it now...
2 months ago
29

Anthony Powell's style and sensibility - Life is full of internal dramas, instantaneous and sensational, played to an audience of one

from Wuthering Expectations [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
Nicholas Jenkins – I did not register his name at all for the entire first novel, but I know it now – goes to school, gets a job in publishing, writes a novel, gets a girlfriend, gets a job as a script writer, splits with the girlfriend, and writes another novel or two, none of...
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The Marginalian
Is Peace Possible Is Peace Possible?, originally published in 1957, is the second title in Marginalian Editions. Below...
2 months ago
26

Is Peace Possible

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
Is Peace Possible?, originally published in 1957, is the second title in Marginalian Editions. Below is my foreword to the new edition as it appears in on its pages. How ungenerous our culture has been in portraying science as cold, unfeeling, and aloof from the human sphere. No...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Books Which Can Be Read Again and Again' “The great bulk of the world’s prose fiction, contemporary and past, does not wear well. Almost all...
2 months ago
24

'Books Which Can Be Read Again and Again'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
“The great bulk of the world’s prose fiction, contemporary and past, does not wear well. Almost all of it is soon forgotten and of those books which survive the wear of time, only a few withstand the effects of time on the reader himself. Out of all the novels ever written there...
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The American Scholar
Engulfed The post Engulfed appeared first on The American Scholar.
2 months ago
35

Engulfed

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
The post Engulfed appeared first on The American Scholar.
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The Elysian
Who should control AI? Nonprofits aren't our only option.
2 months ago
21

Who should control AI?

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
Nonprofits aren't our only option.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'He Wanted Only Time' My brother’s yahrzeit – the first anniversary of his death last summer – is approaching. His death...
2 months ago
19

'He Wanted Only Time'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
My brother’s yahrzeit – the first anniversary of his death last summer – is approaching. His death was the most intimate I have experienced. I spent most of the last two weeks of his life with him, in hospital and hospice, and observed the moment of his death.  Ken could be...
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The American Scholar
“Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden Poems read aloud, beautifully The post “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden appeared first on The...
2 months ago
26

“Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
Poems read aloud, beautifully The post “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Wuthering...
How A Dance to the Music of Time works, so far - I always enjoy hearing the details of other... My writing here is often about what surprised me or did not.  So let’s have that about the first...
2 months ago
24

How A Dance to the Music of Time works, so far - I always enjoy hearing the details of other people’s lives, whether imaginary or not

from Wuthering Expectations [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
My writing here is often about what surprised me or did not.  So let’s have that about the first four novels of Anthony Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time, the twelve volume sequence published from 1951 to 1975 and covering a refracted version of Powell’s life from his later...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'There Is Only Man' “You either fell under his spell and loved the wild ride of his prose, or you shunned or ignored...
2 months ago
25

'There Is Only Man'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
“You either fell under his spell and loved the wild ride of his prose, or you shunned or ignored it.”   Infatuation of the literary sort is likely possible only among the young. That’s my experience. I have discovered good writers in recent decades – Yvor Winters, C.H. Sisson –...
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The American Scholar
“The Jester’s Magma” The post “The Jester’s Magma” appeared first on The American Scholar.
2 months ago
24

“The Jester’s Magma”

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
The post “The Jester’s Magma” appeared first on The American Scholar.
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The Marginalian
The Pain and the God Within You: Carl Jung on the Relationship Between Psychological Suffering and... When AI first began colonizing language — which is still our best instrument for bridging the abyss...
2 months ago
31

The Pain and the God Within You: Carl Jung on the Relationship Between Psychological Suffering and Creativity

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
When AI first began colonizing language — which is still our best instrument for bridging the abyss between us, a container for thought and feeling that shapes the contents — I asked chatGPT to compose a poem about a solar eclipse in the style of Walt Whitman. It returned a...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Poetry That Nobody Nowadays Reads' Once I patronized a library book sale where volumes were sold not by age, condition, whether...
2 months ago
21

'Poetry That Nobody Nowadays Reads'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
Once I patronized a library book sale where volumes were sold not by age, condition, whether paperback or hard cover, and certainly not by literary worth but by weight. On the table by the exit was a scale, the flat-topped sort associated with butcher shops. The arrangement was a...
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The Marginalian
How Should You Live Your Life: Marie Howe’s Spare, Stunning Poem “The Maples” “Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of...
2 months ago
39

How Should You Live Your Life: Marie Howe’s Spare, Stunning Poem “The Maples”

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
“Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy,” Albert Camus wrote in one of the most sobering opening pages in literature. So here you are, having answered affirmatively, consciously or not, now facing the second...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Read Well, Read Little' A reader asks what novels by William Makepeace Thackeray I would suggest he read. My answer is brief...
2 months ago
24

'Read Well, Read Little'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
A reader asks what novels by William Makepeace Thackeray I would suggest he read. My answer is brief and not terribly helpful: Vanity Fair. It’s the only book by Thackery I have read, and that was a long time ago. I saw Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Barry Lyndon in 1975....
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Wuthering...
Preface to notes on the first four novels of Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time In France, at the Lyon public library, I was surprised to bump into so many romans fleuves, whatever...
2 months ago
29

Preface to notes on the first four novels of Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time

from Wuthering Expectations [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
In France, at the Lyon public library, I was surprised to bump into so many romans fleuves, whatever those are.  They were notable on the shelf because these long series of novels are now published in monumental, highly visible, omnibus editions.  The library assumes that...
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The Marginalian
Annie Dillard on Unselfconsciousness Walking through the white-walled gallery at the graduation show of one of New York’s most esteemed...
2 months ago
27

Annie Dillard on Unselfconsciousness

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
Walking through the white-walled gallery at the graduation show of one of New York’s most esteemed art schools, between beautiful young people with Instagram faces, I was struck to see project after project take up as its subject the least durable, most illusory aspect of human...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'The War with What He Does Not Understand' “. . . I am closer to the ‘life of the spirit’ than you are. You are talking about the right of one...
2 months ago
25

'The War with What He Does Not Understand'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
“. . . I am closer to the ‘life of the spirit’ than you are. You are talking about the right of one or another type of knowledge to exist, whereas I’m talking about peace, not rights. I want people not to see war where there isn’t any. Different branches of knowledge have always...
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The Elysian
CITY STATE: A discussion about autonomous governance Here's the recording from our literary salon discussion.
2 months ago
22

CITY STATE: A discussion about autonomous governance

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
Here's the recording from our literary salon discussion.
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The Marginalian
Isotopes, Vikings, Mars We are perishable matter yearning for meaning, and time is both the matter and the meaning of our...
2 months ago
21

Isotopes, Vikings, Mars

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
We are perishable matter yearning for meaning, and time is both the matter and the meaning of our lives. “Time is a river that sweeps me along but I am the river,” Borges wrote in 1940. “Time is the substance I am made of.” Around the same time, the chemist Willard Libby had a...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Books Which Can Be Read Again and Again' “The great bulk of the world’s prose fiction, contemporary and past, does not wear well. Almost all...
2 months ago
11

'Books Which Can Be Read Again and Again'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
“The great bulk of the world’s prose fiction, contemporary and past, does not wear well. Almost all of it is soon forgotten and of those books which survive the wear of time, only a few withstand the effects of time on the reader himself. Out of all the novels ever written there...
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The American Scholar
White Easter The post White Easter appeared first on The American Scholar.
2 months ago
21

White Easter

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
The post White Easter appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Anecdotal Evidence
On a Phrase by Jane Greer “. . . I pounce on quiet when I find it.”  Do you hear that sound? A low vibrato in the distance?...
2 months ago
20

On a Phrase by Jane Greer

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
“. . . I pounce on quiet when I find it.”  Do you hear that sound? A low vibrato in the distance? Sometimes it swells and the windows seem to rattle. It’s a pedal point reminiscent of hornets in a jar, but less reassuring. It’s the collective drone of chatter, of casually...
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The American Scholar
“That Day” by Nikki Giovanni Poems read aloud, beautifully The post “That Day” by Nikki Giovanni appeared first on The American...
2 months ago
25

“That Day” by Nikki Giovanni

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
Poems read aloud, beautifully The post “That Day” by Nikki Giovanni appeared first on The American Scholar.
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The Elysian
120 million employee-owners in one generation We have a moonshot opportunity to make the bottom half way richer. Here’s how we take it.
2 months ago
34

120 million employee-owners in one generation

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
We have a moonshot opportunity to make the bottom half way richer. Here’s how we take it.
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Escaping Flatland
What problem should you be working on now? How to filter problems worth solving from problems worth quitting?
2 months ago
31

What problem should you be working on now?

from Escaping Flatland [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
How to filter problems worth solving from problems worth quitting?
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Fanaticisms and Factiousnesses Too' “History is not some past from which we are cut off. We are merely at its forward edge as it...
2 months ago
29

'Fanaticisms and Factiousnesses Too'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
“History is not some past from which we are cut off. We are merely at its forward edge as it unrolls. And only if one is without historical feeling at all can one think of the intellectual fads and fashions of one’s own time as a ‘habitation everlasting.’ We may feel that at...
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The Marginalian
Václav Havel on How to Live with Your Greatest Failure Few things in life are more devastating than to give something your all and still fail. Not the...
2 months ago
23

Václav Havel on How to Live with Your Greatest Failure

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
Few things in life are more devastating than to give something your all and still fail. Not the “fail better” of startup culture, not the “fail forward” of self-help, not the failure that is childhood’s fulcrum of learning, not the inspired mistakes that propel creative risk, but...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'The Following Pages Are Frankly Bookish' If you're familiar with Andrew Lang (1844-1912) at all, it’s likely as a collector of folk and fairy...
2 months ago
22

'The Following Pages Are Frankly Bookish'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
If you're familiar with Andrew Lang (1844-1912) at all, it’s likely as a collector of folk and fairy tales. I remember as a kid reading some of his twelve “Coloured” Fairy Books. He was also a prolific poet and critic, though that work is largely forgotten. He remains best known...
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Astral Codex Ten
The Twins Join The Linguistic-Symbolic Order ...
2 months ago
34

The Twins Join The Linguistic-Symbolic Order

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2 months ago
...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'The Bolt of Inspiration Strikes Invariably' “Inspiration is perhaps merely the joy of writing: it does not precede writing.” A student and...
2 months ago
29

'The Bolt of Inspiration Strikes Invariably'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
“Inspiration is perhaps merely the joy of writing: it does not precede writing.” A student and aspiring fiction writer wonders why I seldom refer to “inspiration.” What is it? Do I deny its existence? Have certain writers successfully relied on it? Can he? My answer is yes and...
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The American Scholar
The Shipping News Ian Kumekawa tells the story of the global economy in one barge The post The Shipping News appeared...
2 months ago
26

The Shipping News

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
Ian Kumekawa tells the story of the global economy in one barge The post The Shipping News appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Wuthering...
What I Read in April 2025 – Have we cherished expectations? I should make that the new official slogan of the blog.  It is from p. 614 of Finnegans Wake, one of...
2 months ago
28

What I Read in April 2025 – Have we cherished expectations?

from Wuthering Expectations [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
I should make that the new official slogan of the blog.  It is from p. 614 of Finnegans Wake, one of the books I recently read. FICTION The Sword in the Stone (1938), T. H. White – I for some reason did not read this as a youth.  It is wonderful, full of anachronism and parody...
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Naz Hamid
Barbara “Nuggie” Schuetz-Hamid Rest in peace little one. I never would have guessed that a 4-lb Chihuahua would come into our...
2 months ago
31

Barbara “Nuggie” Schuetz-Hamid

from Naz Hamid [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
Rest in peace little one. I never would have guessed that a 4-lb Chihuahua would come into our lives, let alone be the animal to steal my heart before Jen’s. Our previous animals — two cats and a Boxer dog — are a stark contrast to a tiny dog that we would carry around in a sling...
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The Elysian
Let's read Moral Ambition together Rutger Bregman's new book is the subject of our next literary salon.
2 months ago
31

Let's read Moral Ambition together

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
Rutger Bregman's new book is the subject of our next literary salon.
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Astral Codex Ten
Highlights From The Comments On AI Geoguessr ...
2 months ago
31

Highlights From The Comments On AI Geoguessr

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2 months ago
...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Among Those Who Read There is Great Variety' Writing is famously the most narcissistic of professions, even worse than acting or being a...
2 months ago
21

'Among Those Who Read There is Great Variety'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
Writing is famously the most narcissistic of professions, even worse than acting or being a politician. We’re forever carrying on about ourselves and our precious insights, like the kid in class who raises his hand and goes “Ooh! Ooh!” each time the teacher asks a question....
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Astral Codex Ten
Hidden Open Thread 380.5 ...
2 months ago
27

Hidden Open Thread 380.5

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2 months ago
...
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The Marginalian
Ocean Vuong on Anger “To be an artist is a guarantee to your fellow humans that the wear and tear of living will not let...
2 months ago
35

Ocean Vuong on Anger

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
“To be an artist is a guarantee to your fellow humans that the wear and tear of living will not let you become a murderer,” Louise Bourgeois wrote in her diary as a young artist. “The poets (by which I mean all artists),” James Baldwin wrote in his late thirties, “are finally the...
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Astral Codex Ten
Moldbug Sold Out "At long last, I've created the populist strongman from my classic 11,000 blog post series 'Don't...
2 months ago
30

Moldbug Sold Out

from Astral Codex Ten [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
"At long last, I've created the populist strongman from my classic 11,000 blog post series 'Don't Create The Populist Strongman'"
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Anecdotal Evidence
'He Lies Until the Trauma Trots Away' At age fourteen, our dog, if human, would be eligible for Social Security. Luke sleeps more than he...
2 months ago
20

'He Lies Until the Trauma Trots Away'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
At age fourteen, our dog, if human, would be eligible for Social Security. Luke sleeps more than he did when a pup. His rear end aches and he takes nearly as many meds each day as I do. He throws up more often and has trouble jumping on the bed. We indulge him as we would a sick...
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The American Scholar
Star Trek: Discovery The post <em>Star Trek: Discovery</em> appeared first on The American Scholar.
2 months ago
22

Star Trek: Discovery

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
The post <em>Star Trek: Discovery</em> appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'But No One Style, I Think, is Recommended' A reader tells me of her disgust with most insects and reptiles, the small creatures, almost...
2 months ago
19

'But No One Style, I Think, is Recommended'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
A reader tells me of her disgust with most insects and reptiles, the small creatures, almost domestic, that surround us. She resents the “nature sentimentality” such “vermin” rouse in some people. They “make [her] skin crawl,” she writes – an idiom I’ve always found amusing....
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The American Scholar
“Piano Fire” by Claudia Emerson Poems read aloud, beautifully The post “Piano Fire” by Claudia Emerson appeared first on The...
2 months ago
27

“Piano Fire” by Claudia Emerson

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
Poems read aloud, beautifully The post “Piano Fire” by Claudia Emerson appeared first on The American Scholar.
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The Elysian
We’ve raised $50,000—now I’m writing a book! My vision for the future of capitalism has been greenlit. Now let’s make it a reality.
2 months ago
25

We’ve raised $50,000—now I’m writing a book!

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
My vision for the future of capitalism has been greenlit. Now let’s make it a reality.
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Astral Codex Ten
Open Thread 380 ...
2 months ago
27

Open Thread 380

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2 months ago
...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'This Is My Time and Theme' “I delight sensually in Time, in its stuff and spread, in the fall of its folds, in the...
2 months ago
24

'This Is My Time and Theme'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
“I delight sensually in Time, in its stuff and spread, in the fall of its folds, in the very impalpability of its grayish gauze, in the coolness of its continuum.”  You may recognize the almost overripe prose. Ingesting so rich a diet too early in life can spoil one for plainer...
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The American Scholar
Lorena Diosdado Multifaceted Latinx identities The post Lorena Diosdado appeared first on The American Scholar.
2 months ago
20

Lorena Diosdado

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
Multifaceted Latinx identities The post Lorena Diosdado appeared first on The American Scholar.
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The Marginalian
Hope Is the Thing with Feathers, and with Fangs: The Alchemy of Unrequited Love and the Story Behind... This essay is adapted from the nineteenth chapter of my book Figuring. In the first autumn of her...
2 months ago
26

Hope Is the Thing with Feathers, and with Fangs: The Alchemy of Unrequited Love and the Story Behind Emily Dickinson’s Most Famous Poem

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
This essay is adapted from the nineteenth chapter of my book Figuring. In the first autumn of her thirties, Emily Dickinson wrote to her confidante and eventual editor Thomas Wentworth Higginson: I had a terror — since September — I could tell to none, and so I sing, as the Boy...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Death, Indeed, Continually Hovers About Us' A high-school friend writes to ask what I remember of May 4, 1970. We would graduate in a month and...
2 months ago
13

'Death, Indeed, Continually Hovers About Us'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

2 months ago
A high-school friend writes to ask what I remember of May 4, 1970. We would graduate in a month and go to university in the fall. The fear and excitement of that symbolic step toward adulthood was blunted by the killing of four students by Ohio National Guardsmen at Kent State...
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The Marginalian
Stalactite & Stalagmite: A Brief Illustrated History of Earth and One Great Truth about Love We are always either drawing closer or drifting apart — there is no stasis in relationships. The...
3 months ago
34

Stalactite & Stalagmite: A Brief Illustrated History of Earth and One Great Truth about Love

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
We are always either drawing closer or drifting apart — there is no stasis in relationships. The direction of movement may change over the course of a relationship, but there is no stasis. Despite our culture’s bias for the drama of cataclysm — the violent heartbreaks, the very...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'It Was a Good Moment of Remembrance' Out of the aether after twenty-six years came an email from Mikhail Iossel: “Greetings -- and...
3 months ago
11

'It Was a Good Moment of Remembrance'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
Out of the aether after twenty-six years came an email from Mikhail Iossel: “Greetings -- and apologies for writing out of that metaphoric nowhere.” In May 1999, Mikhail was a writer-in-residence at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., and I was a reporter for that city’s...
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The Marginalian
States of Possession: Erich Neumann on Creativity, the Unconscious, and the Psychology of... There are things in life that come over you sudden as a flash flood, total as an eclipse — the great...
3 months ago
26

States of Possession: Erich Neumann on Creativity, the Unconscious, and the Psychology of Transformation

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
There are things in life that come over you sudden as a flash flood, total as an eclipse — the great loves, the great creative passions, the great urges to conquer a mountain or a theorem. They can feel like an alien invasion, like the immense hand of some imperative has seized...
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Astral Codex Ten
Testing AI's GeoGuessr Genius Seeing a world in a grain of sand
3 months ago
15

Testing AI's GeoGuessr Genius

from Astral Codex Ten [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
Seeing a world in a grain of sand
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Anecdotal Evidence
'A Glass Filled With a Supersaturate Solution' “[S]he is one of the few truly compelling stylists now at work. Her voice is authoritative,...
3 months ago
12

'A Glass Filled With a Supersaturate Solution'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
“[S]he is one of the few truly compelling stylists now at work. Her voice is authoritative, confident, unfussy, exacting. She is never overtly confessional, which sets her apart from many poets writing since the Romantics. She makes rare company.”  And isn’t that what we look for...
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Wuthering...
Languages and literature - Finnegans Wake becomes unbeurrable from age More keys.  As Anna Livia Plurabelle says or thinks or dreams at the very end of Finnegans...
3 months ago
19

Languages and literature - Finnegans Wake becomes unbeurrable from age

from Wuthering Expectations [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
More keys.  As Anna Livia Plurabelle says or thinks or dreams at the very end of Finnegans Wake, “The keys to.”  She is falling asleep so she unfortunately does not finish the sentence.  Some keys to the Wake: languages, literature, and themes. Languages In “Pierre Menard, Author...
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Naz Hamid
The Abstraction Gap Bridging the design-development gap as AI rises. There’s a frustrating gap in how development...
3 months ago
18

The Abstraction Gap

from Naz Hamid [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
Bridging the design-development gap as AI rises. There’s a frustrating gap in how development projects present themselves. What looks straightforward on GitHub — ‘just run this command!’ — quickly spirals into an odyssey of sudo permissions, package managers, and missing...
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Astral Codex Ten
You Can Keep Having An Opinion Even When The Government Also Has It ...
3 months ago
20

You Can Keep Having An Opinion Even When The Government Also Has It

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3 months ago
...
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Escaping Flatland
Drift Right now it is April 18 and I am walking along the steep coast at the peninsula on the Northeastern...
3 months ago
18

Drift

from Escaping Flatland [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
Right now it is April 18 and I am walking along the steep coast at the peninsula on the Northeastern corner of our island.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Poor Naked Wretches, Whereso’er You Are' Aleksander Wat (1900-67) was a Polish poet and one-time Communist hounded and imprisoned by Nazis...
3 months ago
13

'Poor Naked Wretches, Whereso’er You Are'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
Aleksander Wat (1900-67) was a Polish poet and one-time Communist hounded and imprisoned by Nazis and Soviets alike. In 1964 while visiting California, he recorded lengthy conversations with fellow poet and Pole Czesław Miłosz. The transcripts were translated by Richard Lourie...
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Wuthering...
Some of the difficulties of Finnegans Wake - Two dreamyums in one dromium? Yes and no error. I am too tired to write about Finnegans Wake which is a good state for writing about this dream...
3 months ago
21

Some of the difficulties of Finnegans Wake - Two dreamyums in one dromium? Yes and no error.

from Wuthering Expectations [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
I am too tired to write about Finnegans Wake which is a good state for writing about this dream novel where characters keep falling asleep.  “Dream” is conventional wisdom but I will note that no part of the book resembles any dream I have ever experienced or read about, although...
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Astral Codex Ten
Hidden Open Thread 379.5 ...
3 months ago
12

Hidden Open Thread 379.5

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3 months ago
...
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Josh Thompson
Related to Grief & Sadness & Supremacy Introduction this post is very drafty, but has been sitting around getting longer for a few weeks...
3 months ago
20

Related to Grief & Sadness & Supremacy

from Josh Thompson [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
Introduction this post is very drafty, but has been sitting around getting longer for a few weeks now, so I’m simply posting now and will do some more rounds of cleanup, probably. I’d started writing some of this in a letter to a friend, then noticed that, with a little...
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Astral Codex Ten
The Populist Right Must Own Tariffs ...
3 months ago
17

The Populist Right Must Own Tariffs

from Astral Codex Ten [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Frivolous Subjects?' “Frivolous subjects? Well, and thank God for it, not everybody can be writing about big,...
3 months ago
20

'Frivolous Subjects?'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
“Frivolous subjects? Well, and thank God for it, not everybody can be writing about big, so-called important issues: population, genes, semantics, sex, death. Surely there is value in anything that makes us laugh, that makes us understand ourselves more.”  These wise words are...
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The American Scholar
Another You The post Another You appeared first on The American Scholar.
3 months ago
14

Another You

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
The post Another You appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Wuthering...
The key to Finnegans Wake - there is a limit to all things so this will never do Over the last month I read Finnegans Wake (1939).  I first read some bits of it in college, in a...
3 months ago
19

The key to Finnegans Wake - there is a limit to all things so this will never do

from Wuthering Expectations [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
Over the last month I read Finnegans Wake (1939).  I first read some bits of it in college, in a Norton Anthology of British Literature, and other, although mostly the same, bits occasionally, mostly to remind myself what they looked like.  Anyone interested in literature should...
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The Marginalian
Chance, Choice, and How to Claim Your Life Only a fool or an egomaniac would deny that chance shapes the vast majority of life. The time,...
3 months ago
19

Chance, Choice, and How to Claim Your Life

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
Only a fool or an egomaniac would deny that chance shapes the vast majority of life. The time, place, culture, family, body, brain, and biochemistry we are born into, the people who cross our path, the accidents that befall us — these dwarf in consequence the sum total of our...
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The Elysian
How we’re profit sharing on Metalabel A financial analysis of our first cooperative media project + where we could go from here.
3 months ago
18

How we’re profit sharing on Metalabel

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
A financial analysis of our first cooperative media project + where we could go from here.
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Every Word Is a World' When someone had eaten his fill and couldn’t take another bite, my maternal grandmother, born the...
3 months ago
12

'Every Word Is a World'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
When someone had eaten his fill and couldn’t take another bite, my maternal grandmother, born the same year as T.S. Eliot, would say, “His sufficiency is suffonsified.” I’ve never heard another person utter those words. For most of my life I assumed the fourth word in that...
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The American Scholar
“Pin Pricks of Loneliness” by Etheridge Knight Poems read aloud, beautifully The post “Pin Pricks of Loneliness” by Etheridge Knight appeared first...
3 months ago
16

“Pin Pricks of Loneliness” by Etheridge Knight

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
Poems read aloud, beautifully The post “Pin Pricks of Loneliness” by Etheridge Knight appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Wuthering...
Two novels titled Attila - Maximal words striving to breach an angel I will write about two newly published translations of Spanish novels that comprise an amusing stunt...
3 months ago
18

Two novels titled Attila - Maximal words striving to breach an angel

from Wuthering Expectations [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
I will write about two newly published translations of Spanish novels that comprise an amusing stunt by Open Letter Books.  They are Attila by Aliocha Coll (1991) and Attila by Javier Serena (2014), both translated by Katie Whittemore.  Coll’s Attila is a Finnegans...
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Astral Codex Ten
Open Thread 379 ...
3 months ago
11

Open Thread 379

from Astral Codex Ten [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Opsimath That I Am in So Many Matters' I was a lazy student who worked hard when the task interested me and coasted the rest of the time....
3 months ago
12

'Opsimath That I Am in So Many Matters'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
I was a lazy student who worked hard when the task interested me and coasted the rest of the time. I dropped out of Latin prematurely because I couldn’t be bothered to master the ablative absolute, among other things. Formal education was an evasive game played with teachers....
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Astral Codex Ten
AMA With AI Futures Project Team ...
3 months ago
16

AMA With AI Futures Project Team

from Astral Codex Ten [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
...
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The Marginalian
The Art of Befriending Time and Change: Debbie Millman’s Illustrated Love Letter to Gardening as a... You may or may not find the meaning of life while pacing a flower bed, but each time you plunge your...
3 months ago
12

The Art of Befriending Time and Change: Debbie Millman’s Illustrated Love Letter to Gardening as a Portal to Self-discovery

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
You may or may not find the meaning of life while pacing a flower bed, but each time you plunge your bare hands into the hummus of the Earth and run your fingers through the roots of something that hungers for the sun, you are resisting the dying of the light and saying “yes” to...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'A Soliloquy for Two' The ideally named English neurologist Russell Brain died in 1966 but his textbook, Brain’s Diseases...
3 months ago
13

'A Soliloquy for Two'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
The ideally named English neurologist Russell Brain died in 1966 but his textbook, Brain’s Diseases of the Nervous System (1933), remains in print. The Royal College of Physicians has called it “the standard British textbook on his subject.” Brain was also a poet and...
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The American Scholar
Coming Home Craig Thompson digs up memories of farm labor and the history of ginseng The post Coming Home...
3 months ago
14

Coming Home

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
Craig Thompson digs up memories of farm labor and the history of ginseng The post Coming Home appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Naz Hamid
SXSW ’11 Memories are an interesting beast. I have certain core memories that are embedded deep in my mind....
3 months ago
17

SXSW ’11

from Naz Hamid [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
Memories are an interesting beast. I have certain core memories that are embedded deep in my mind. The years I attended SXSW from 2007-2012 encompass some of those. In 2011, I shared a house with longtime partner-in-crime Scott Robbin, Jeff Skinner, and Sam Felder. We were off...
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The Marginalian
Introducing Marginalian Editions: Extraordinary Forgotten Books Brought Back to Life I have become a person on the pages and in the margins of books. In nearly two decades of reckoning...
3 months ago
11

Introducing Marginalian Editions: Extraordinary Forgotten Books Brought Back to Life

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
I have become a person on the pages and in the margins of books. In nearly two decades of reckoning with my reading in writing, it has been my ongoing lamentation to see works of enduring beauty and substance perish out of print — because the ideas they conduct are not the...
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The Elysian
You can collect CITY STATE now The digital and print editions are now available.
3 months ago
15

You can collect CITY STATE now

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
The digital and print editions are now available.
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Astral Codex Ten
AI Futures: Blogging And AMA ...
3 months ago
39

AI Futures: Blogging And AMA

from Astral Codex Ten [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Refreshed His Senses, Heart, and Head' If I had been in the house all day reading during a long Ohio winter, invariably my mother would...
3 months ago
36

'Refreshed His Senses, Heart, and Head'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
If I had been in the house all day reading during a long Ohio winter, invariably my mother would say, “Go outside and blow the stink off.” My parents took a kid reading as a reproach, something unnatural and probably unhealthy – one more reason for me to be secretive. When I was...
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The American Scholar
After the Fallout On jellyfish babies, my father’s pain, and the legacy of nuclear testing in the Pacific The post...
3 months ago
36

After the Fallout

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
On jellyfish babies, my father’s pain, and the legacy of nuclear testing in the Pacific The post After the Fallout appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Astral Codex Ten
Hidden Open Thread 378.5 ...
3 months ago
46

Hidden Open Thread 378.5

from Astral Codex Ten [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
...
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Escaping Flatland
Sometimes the reason you can’t find people you resonate with is because you misread the ones you... Sometimes two people will stand next to each other for fifteen years, both feeling out of place and...
3 months ago
48

Sometimes the reason you can’t find people you resonate with is because you misread the ones you meet

from Escaping Flatland [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
Sometimes two people will stand next to each other for fifteen years, both feeling out of place and alone, like no one gets them, and then one day, they look up at each other and say, “Oh, there you are.”
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Astral Codex Ten
With This Character's Death, The Thread Of Prophecy Is Severed RIP Pope Francis and a particularly interesting apocalyptic prophecy
3 months ago
41

With This Character's Death, The Thread Of Prophecy Is Severed

from Astral Codex Ten [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
RIP Pope Francis and a particularly interesting apocalyptic prophecy
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This Space
An anniversary appeal On this day last year I began posting every day for 39 days to commemorate 39 years since I began...
3 months ago
41

An anniversary appeal

from This Space [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
On this day last year I began posting every day for 39 days to commemorate 39 years since I began reading books. I dug out a folder of book lists I'd kept since 1986, chose one book from each year that I'd not written about before and wrote what ever the book suggested to me....
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Anecdotal Evidence
'It Was Written By a Madman' Can we be privately embarrassed in the solitude of our skulls, without an audience?...
3 months ago
29

'It Was Written By a Madman'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
Can we be privately embarrassed in the solitude of our skulls, without an audience? Embarrassment seems like a response to a social setting. In that sense, it resembles involuntary amusement. To laugh helplessly, out loud when alone, is rare among the sane. I think embarrassment...
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The American Scholar
A Stronger Spine The post A Stronger Spine appeared first on The American Scholar.
3 months ago
28

A Stronger Spine

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
The post A Stronger Spine appeared first on The American Scholar.
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The Elysian
“I sold my company to my employees” An interview with Tim Rettig, founder of Intrust IT, on how he sold his company to employees and...
3 months ago
28

“I sold my company to my employees”

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
An interview with Tim Rettig, founder of Intrust IT, on how he sold his company to employees and became an employee ownership advocate.
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Astral Codex Ten
Links For April 2025 ...
3 months ago
34

Links For April 2025

from Astral Codex Ten [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'The Absence of Her Voice From that Concord' “There are three points of view from which a writer can be considered: he may be considered as...
3 months ago
32

'The Absence of Her Voice From that Concord'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
“There are three points of view from which a writer can be considered: he may be considered as a storyteller, as a teacher, and as an enchanter. A major writer combines these three – storyteller, teacher, enchanter – but it is the enchanter in him that predominates and makes him...
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The American Scholar
“Little Sleep’s-Head Sprouting Hair in the Moonlight” by Galway Kinnell Poems read aloud, beautifully The post “Little Sleep’s-Head Sprouting Hair in the Moonlight” by...
3 months ago
44

“Little Sleep’s-Head Sprouting Hair in the Moonlight” by Galway Kinnell

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
Poems read aloud, beautifully The post “Little Sleep’s-Head Sprouting Hair in the Moonlight” by Galway Kinnell appeared first on The American Scholar.
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Naz Hamid
Kin The third culture difference. One of the hardest aspects of being a third culture kid and eventually...
3 months ago
135

Kin

from Naz Hamid [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
The third culture difference. One of the hardest aspects of being a third culture kid and eventually adult is the difficulty in the journey of your identity. When you're young, the movement and culture- and context-switching are par for the course — it comes with the literal...
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The Elysian
How we achieve the borderless future of Terra Ignota On Ada Palmer’s utopian sci-fi series and an exploration of how we might bring it to life.
3 months ago
33

How we achieve the borderless future of Terra Ignota

from The Elysian [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
On Ada Palmer’s utopian sci-fi series and an exploration of how we might bring it to life.
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Astral Codex Ten
Open Thread 378 ...
3 months ago
31

Open Thread 378

from Astral Codex Ten [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Shaping Tombs in Words' Catharine Savage Brosman describes her late husband, Patric Savage, like this:  “I am bereft   “of...
3 months ago
31

'Shaping Tombs in Words'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
Catharine Savage Brosman describes her late husband, Patric Savage, like this:  “I am bereft   “of curator, you see, of one who cared tremendously— for books, for me—but would have sacrificed the whole collection for my sake.”   The poem is “Pat Curating His Library” (Arm in Arm,...
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The American Scholar
Diana Antohe Threads of memory and home The post Diana Antohe appeared first on The American Scholar.
3 months ago
32

Diana Antohe

from The American Scholar [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
Threads of memory and home The post Diana Antohe appeared first on The American Scholar.
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The Marginalian
The Kiln and the Quantum of Relationships Anything you give your time to and polish with attention will become a lens on your search for...
3 months ago
33

The Kiln and the Quantum of Relationships

from The Marginalian [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
Anything you give your time to and polish with attention will become a lens on your search for meaning, will lavish you with metaphors that become backdoors into the locked room of your most urgent reckonings. In my nascent adventures in pottery, I have observed with great...
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Anecdotal Evidence
'Our World Has Passed Away' Dinant is a small city in the Walloon region of Belgium, on the Meuse River. It is one of those...
3 months ago
36

'Our World Has Passed Away'

from Anecdotal Evidence [alt+shift+b] in literature

3 months ago
Dinant is a small city in the Walloon region of Belgium, on the Meuse River. It is one of those otherwise obscure places (Fort Pillow, Lidice, My Lai) that has lent its name to an atrocity. On August 23, 1914, in the early weeks of World War I, German troops slaughtered almost...
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