Category Archives: Writing

Books break the shackles of time.

The video below is an excerpt from the 11th episode of Carl Sagan’s iconic 1980s Cosmos series, titled “The Persistence of Memory.” What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts … Continue reading

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“Now a narrative is a story, not logic, nor ethics, nor philosophy.”

“Now a narrative is a story, not logic, nor ethics, nor philosophy. It is a dream you keep having, whether you realize it or not. Just as surely as you breathe, you go on ceaselessly dreaming your story. And in … Continue reading

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Odd doesn’t begin to cover these titles

The shortlist has been unveiled for the 2024 Bookseller‘s Diagram Prize for the Oddest Book Title of the Year. The annual prize was conceived in 1978 by Trevor Bounford and Bruce Robertson, co-founders of publishing solutions firm the Diagram Group, as … Continue reading

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Meanwhile, back in soulless America

YOU WOULD HAVE THOUGHT John Ashbery Meanwhile, back in soulless America, people are having fun as usual. A bird visits a birdbath. A young girl takes a refresher course in polyhistory. My mega-units are straining at the leash of spring. … Continue reading

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Once upon a time, suddenly

“A Sudden Story” by Robert Coover Once upon a time, suddenly, while it still could, the story began. For the hero, setting forth, there was of course nothing sudden about it, neither about the setting forth, which he’d spent his … Continue reading

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Encounters with French culture

Last week, the American Library in Paris announced the winner of their 2024 Book Award, which recognizes titles originally published in English “that best realizes new and intellectually significant ideas about France, the French people, or encounters with French culture.” … Continue reading

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The more things change, etc. etc.

In 1951, British philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote an article titled “The Best Answer to Fanaticism—Liberalism” in The New York Times Magazine. Sadly, the piece could have easily been written this week. Russell wasn’t advocating for any particular political party or economic … Continue reading

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Things Fall Apart

  Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is … Continue reading

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The Unfortunate Narrator

 

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Forget Dystopia

Thinking about all of the dystopian speculative fiction that I’ve been binging on in recent years, I am reminded of the great Ray Bradbury’s imagining of a more positive future for humanity. The 1984 short story The Toynbee Convector tells the … Continue reading

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