The Eyes Have It
For the “new intellectual,” ultimately, the way forward has to be paved with nuance and understanding.
David Cohen
· 10 min read
literature
A collection of 49 posts
Cancelling the Beat Generation
Almost from its inception, the Beat Generation seemed to be doomed to failure. In and around Columbia University, a ragtag group of bohemians coalesced based upon an odd array of mutual interests. Two of them were homosexuals, one bisexual, and all were interested in drugs and subversive literature. William S.
David S. Wills
· 9 min read
Mrs. Dalloway: Secularism and Its Enchantments
Woolf’s depiction of these inner rhythms would be refined in the novels that followed—To the Lighthouse and The Waves—but Dalloway was the true birth of this form.
Jared Marcel Pollen
· 13 min read
There's (a Lot) More to George Orwell than Nineteen Eighty-Four
Orwell represents one of those strange cases where a writer’s reputation predominantly rests, if not on his worst, then certainly his least typical book.
Herman Goodden
· 10 min read
Twilight of the Satyrs
I. On April 18th of this year, Blake Bailey, 58, the author of Philip Roth: The Biography, was abruptly dropped by his literary agency, the Story Company. His book had been published on April 6th, and climbed to the top of the bestseller lists. But then allegations emerged that while
Charlotte Allen
· 28 min read
The Prophet of Dystopia at Rest: Margaret Atwood in Cuba
Canada has never supported the US embargo, and the countries’ good relations are for many Canadians a symbol of our independence.
Yvon Grenier
· 13 min read
The Purpose of Imaginative Fiction
“What’s it about?” is usually the first question we ask when someone recommends a new book, and it’s the wrong question.
Elena Shalneva
· 9 min read
Against Literalism—'The Satanic Verses' Fatwa at 30
The intermingling of elements—culture, language, religion—is celebrated, while the concept of purity in identity and culture is repudiated as too constricting.
Daniel James Sharp
· 9 min read
Tolkien—A Review
The real-life Tolkien, who loathed trite allegory, would have cringed.
Charlotte Allen
· 7 min read
The Case for Nabokov
An even moderately careful reading of Lolita should make it quite clear that it’s anything but a “celebration” of child rape.
Cathy Young
· 13 min read
The Narcissistic Fracturing of LGBT Literature
The world of the left generally, and of LGBT identity politics specifically, wasn’t always focused on infinite fragmentation within sects.
Nick Comilla
· 10 min read
Why Do People Tell Me I’m Not Allowed to Write?
The issue was that when a white playwright’s work was produced, casting directors were assuming that they should cast white actors. We were all aghast.
Libby Emmons
· 10 min read
Are the Classics Complicit in White Supremacy?
No reason to believe that classics as a field has had any particular tendency towards white supremacism either in the present or in the past.
James Kierstead
· 9 min read
Is Western Civilization Uniquely Bad?
If we are looking for a civilization that never engaged in mass violence or destruction, we’re unlikely to find one.
James Kierstead
· 8 min read
Enlightenment Wars: Some Reflections on 'Enlightenment Now,' One Year Later
As Thomas Paine wrote, “To argue with someone who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.”
Steven Pinker
· 52 min read