Altermodern times
Commonwealth by Michael Hardt My rating: 3 of 5 stars Stimulating because of the questions it raises, not because of the answers for which we shall have to continue to grope. Or perhaps there are no answers to what is becoming of this world, where nation, state, class have become so diffuse that they seem … read more »
What really happened? Editing our memories
“Memory actually works more like a Wikipedia page,” says [forensic psychologist Elizabeth] Loftus. “You can go into your page and change things. But so can other people.” I’ve known or suspected this since I was very young and became aware that I couldn’t really trust my own memory, and had to be equally suspicious of … read more »
Attack on New York
On this 14th anniversary, I’ve reposted my 5-day journal on the “Attack on New York” — witnessed from close by. You can read the five entries here: Attack on New York, from Unsolicited Comments, 2001.
A useless crime and collapsing illusions
I just finished reading Leonardo Padura’s tremendously disturbing novel, El hombre que amaba a los perros (click on link for my review), which is three stories in one: Leon (Lyev Davidovich) Trotsky’s final years, from his exile from the USSR in 1929 to his murder in Mexico in 1940; how an idealistic young Communist from … read more »
The sociological imagination — in fiction
I was startled recently by the recommendation that authors “brand” ourselves to sell our work, which I first saw in a symposium in the Spring/Summer 2015 issue of the Authors Guild Bulletin. It has also become commonplace in blogs I found quickly by a Google search (author + brand). It sounds crass, as though we … read more »