Tag Archives: essays

Henry Fairlie on the Iffy Desirability of Being an American Consumer

Back in the 1980s, Henry Fairlie wrote in the New Republic something that I think speaks to our own era as we go through a recession and Americans seem to be tightening their belts and trying to pay down (rather … Continue reading

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Was George Orwell a Clear-Headed Critic of Literature, or Was He Hopelessly Confused About It?

Perhaps something in between. At the New Statesman website, New Yorker staff writer, Keith Gessen, discusses the tensions and contradictions in George Orwell’s writings on literature and the arts. One of the examples that he offers is Orwell’s evaluation of … Continue reading

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Link to Poe’s “Anastatic Printing” Essay (the One Where He Supposedly “Anticipates” Blogging and the Internet)

The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore posts Poe’s 1845 essay, “Anastatic Printing”, in full here. My observations here.

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Women, Gays, and “the desert religions”: Richard Rodriguez Tells Salon.com That He’s Working on a Book about Western Monotheism

Money quote: Well, I’m working right now in the Middle East on monotheistic religions because I’m very worried about the direction of religion. Ever since Sept. 11, when I heard that prayer being spoken at the moment the planes hit … Continue reading

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