Homage to Catalonia – George Orwell
Though the POUM were socialists, he wrote “as far as my purely personal preferences went I would have liked to join the Anarchists."His vivid descriptions of classless anarchist Barcelona following…
Herman Melville: From obscurity to immortality
When he died at age 72, on September 28, 1891, Herman Melville was so obscure that those who even remembered his literary output presumed that he had passed away many…
The Hero’s Journey and the Monomyth: Crash Course World Mythology #25
Let’s get Heroic with Mike Rugnetta. This week on Crash Course World Mythology, we’re talking about the Hero’s Journey and the Monomyth, as described by Joseph Campbell. Campbell’s theories about…
New York City, Seen Through Its Bodegas
This summer, ten authors will explore their changing neighborhoods for The Bodega Project
Why knights fought snails in medieval art
Medieval Memes Look in the margins of medieval books and you’ll find an unusual theme: knights vs. snails. Follow Phil Edwards and Vox Almanac on Facebook for more: https://www.facebook.com/philedwardsi… Lillian…
Technobabble
UK podcast star Helen Zaltzman of The Allusionist helps me figure out why one set of poorly understood pseudo-scientific terms can sink a scene, while another set can make a…
Women Writers on Reading Literature’s “Midcentury Misogynists”
For many of these women, the reading experience begins from a place of seething rage. Take Sara Marcus’ initial impression of Jack Kerouac: “I remember putting On the Road down…
The Divine Within: Aldous Huxley on Mind-Body Integration and How We Become Who We Are
Aldous Huxley (July 26, 1894–November 22, 1963) endures as one of the most visionary and unusual minds of the twentieth century — a man of strong convictions about drugs, democracy,…
Why Are We So Unwilling to Take Sylvia Plath at Her Word?
New Letters Alleging Abuse are Only Shocking if You Haven't Been Listening {read}
How to Recognize a Dystopia: Watch an Animated Introduction to Dystopian Fiction
Literature and film can open up to the depth and immensity of social truths we find profoundly difficult, if not impossible, to articulate. If our political vocabulary (as Oxford Dictionaries…