Going through my library this weekend, I came across an old copy of Harold Bloom’s classic, The Western Canon. When it was published, Bloom’s book was (and remains today) controversial among educators and academics for its unshrinking advocacy of intellectual elitism and its defense of …
Narcissus And Scholarship Revisited
Yesterday, I received a postcard from a friend studying in Rome that had the Italian Renaissance painter Caravaggio’s famous depiction of Narcissus staring at his own reflection in the water. …
Critics In Love
This blog isn’t wont to dole out dating advice. Thinking upon my own predicament trying to find romance, however, I realized that there’s something unique and highly peculiar about trying to date a critic. …
The Military and the Meaning of Science
The other day, I read an article in the New York Times regarding the American military’s turn to renewable energy. I question whether this is forward-looking or whether it’s the military getting up to speed with reality. …
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The Poetic Voice of Generation Me
Poets from around the world—from Vietnam and the Netherlands and Brazil and Canada, quite different from one another, coming from quite distinct literary traditions—were part of the same conversation. They were trying to invent in language, trying to say what life was like for them, to bear witness …