A collection of 43 posts
Nineteen-Eighty Four, whose first publication took place 70 years ago today, is itself a sort of anti-novel, one that undermines its own dramatic tension in a way that might now be described as postmodern.
The real-life Tolkien, who loathed trite allegory, would have cringed.
The Atlantic may think that the anti-Shakespeare campaigners offer an entertaining diversion. Its editors certainly failed to pick up the failings of Winkler’s research, yet I believe the issue is a lot more serious than that.
Concept inflation is a lot like lying. Immanuel Kant observed that lying couldn’t be effective in a world where everybody lied, since no one would be believed.
My small classes faced a large photograph of Barack Obama displayed proudly in front of the classroom over the title “Notre Président.”
Views on the news, delivered so smooth.