An acute application of gynaecology to international relations, conjuring up visions of revolutionaries being led gently through birthing procedures is on display–again and again, and quite possibly, again–in Tom Friedman’s latest column in the New York Times. Apparently, the Middle East–especially Syria– is pregnant with possibility, fertile with newly planted seeds of political change. ItContinue reading “Why Not A Syrian Mandelian Midwife, Mr. Friedman?”
Category Archives: Writing
Re-Reading What One Has Read
A few days ago, I wrote a post on reading (and re-reading) what one writes. Today, I want to put down a few thoughts on the business of re-reading what one has read, sometimes willingly, sometimes not. Susan Sontag once said, ‘All great books deserve to be read five times at least.’ When asked ifContinue reading “Re-Reading What One Has Read”
The ‘Narcissism of the True Artist’ and Reading What One Writes
In his seminal Nietzsche: The Man and his Philosophy, RJ Hollingdale, after noting that Nietzsche made note of some forty-six poems composed between 1855 and 1858, goes on to say: The sign that he was a born writer, however, is not to be found in them, but in a remark in Aus Meinem Leben [From My Life],Continue reading “The ‘Narcissism of the True Artist’ and Reading What One Writes”
Colm Tóibín on the ‘Real’ and the ‘Imagined’
Colm Tóibín writes of the intimate relationship between facts and fiction (‘What Is Real Is Imagined’, New York Times, July 14 2012), about how the story-teller’s primary responsibility is to the story, about how the novelist may, in creating fiction, embroider the facts, embellishing and enhancing, for being stuck just with the facts is not aContinue reading “Colm Tóibín on the ‘Real’ and the ‘Imagined’”
Staying Together, Fighting Together, Dying Together
In his one-volume history of the American Civil War, Battle Cry of Freedom (Ballantine Books, New York, 1988), James McPherson notes how the protagonists mobilized for war: In the North as in the South, volunteer regiments retained close ties to their states. Enlisted men elected many of their officers and governors appointed the rest. CompaniesContinue reading “Staying Together, Fighting Together, Dying Together”
David Coady on the Need for an ‘Applied Epistemology’
David Coady‘s new book What To Believe Now: Applying Epistemology To Contemporary Issues (Blackwell, 2012)–by making vividly clear the importance and the significance of epistemology to politics and political life–may well be the most important and interesting book on epistemology in recent years; anyone interested in the control of the flows of information, their influence onContinue reading “David Coady on the Need for an ‘Applied Epistemology’”
The Walking Dead and the Puzzle of Cinematic Adaptations
In my recent post on The Walking Dead—in comparing the comic book series to the AMC television series–I said that I found the comic book more complex, more brutal, truer to the darkness of a post-apocalyptic world ruled by the dead and diseased. In saying this, it seemed to me that the filmmakers would haveContinue reading “The Walking Dead and the Puzzle of Cinematic Adaptations”
The Walking Dead Claim Another Victim
I have finally succumbed to The Walking Dead. As I had noted in a post earlier this week, I am ensconced in a friend’s apartment, house-sitting, with access to–among other things–an impressive collection of graphic novels. Included in them is the first compendium of The Walking Dead comic book series (Compendium One, May 6, 2009,Continue reading “The Walking Dead Claim Another Victim”
Traveling Away from Distraction and Fast Clocks
I am writing from a new location today. I still have book shelves as companions, but their contents are interestingly different. (An impressive collection of graphic novels and lots of medieval history of science for instance.) The computer runs a different browser (Firefox, not Chrome) and the Pandora station is playing bluegrass, which I haveContinue reading “Traveling Away from Distraction and Fast Clocks”
The Second Half Begins
The ‘second half’ of the year has started. Even for one used to the accelerating pace of the days, weeks, months and years, this arrival of the ‘other side,’ this commencement of the downward slide toward December 31st, feels to have come a little too quickly, with an indecent haste, an improper briskness. The ‘summer’–thatContinue reading “The Second Half Begins”
Samir Chopra 