Arts & Letters Daily » Essays and Opinion

Moscow

thuudung — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 02:00:35 +0000

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

thuudung — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 02:00:44 +0000

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»

What does poetry need?

thuudung — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 02:00:14 +0000

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

thuudung — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 02:00:07 +0000

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

thuudung — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 02:00:28 +0000

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

thuudung — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 02:00:41 +0000

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

egoldstein — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 02:41:33 +0000

The first flâneur. Opium was Thomas De Quincy’s nemesis. It prevented him from writing. Then he made addiction his subject… more»

The case for revenge

thuudung — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 02:00:44 +0000

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?

thuudung — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 02:00:48 +0000

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

thuudung — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 02:00:24 +0000

The mystery of mastery. How an 18th-century automaton teaches us about innate genius, rigorous practice, and sheer artifice… more»