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Category Archives: Essays and Opinion
Moscow
Rich and poor, rectitude and laxity, sacred and profane: Moscow has always abounded in contrasts. Flowing through the city’s dichotomous terrain: vodka… more»
On Athanasius Kircher
Part Jesuit, part scholar, part P.T. Barnum: Athanasius Kircher knew so much about so many things, and much of what he knew was wrong… more»
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What does poetry need?
Prizes, fellowships, and an emphasis on collegiality have tamed the poetic impulse. What does poetry need? More spleen, more satire, more venom… more»
Leon Wieseltier on Big Data
The religion of information. Prophets of big data insist that the human experience can be quantified. But we are ambiguous beings… more»
Tim O’Reilly, the meme hustler
Beware the siren song of Silicon Valley, where meme-engineers spin alluring concepts that cloak more than they clarify. The problem has a name: Tim O’Reilly… more»
Translating the abyss
Abysses are monstrous, terrifying, and, in literature, ubiquitous. Here they are in Baudelaire, there in Nietzsche, everywhere in Kafka… more»
The Addicted Life of Thomas De Quincey
The first flâneur. Opium was Thomas De Quincy’s nemesis. It prevented him from writing. Then he made addiction his subject… more»
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The case for revenge
Refined readers of Arts & Letters Daily, when wronged, seek justice, not revenge, that impulse of the uncivilized. But what’s so bad about getting even?… more»
Is Wagner bad for us?
Fainting, crying, loss of self-control, moral atrophy: All have been described as effects of Wagner’s work. It’s worth asking: Is he bad for us?… more»
Adam Gopnik on chess and AI
The mystery of mastery. How an 18th-century automaton teaches us about innate genius, rigorous practice, and sheer artifice… more»