THE LATEST
CLASH OF THE TITANS: CAMUS AND SARTRE
BY PAUL B. DONOVAN
Paul B. Donovan looks at the structural fracture between Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre, showing how their opposing positions on ideology, historical necessity, and political alignment drove a wedge through the post-war European avant-garde. The text places Camus's insistence on immediate human solidarity alongside Sartre's systematized, cerebral doctrines, demonstrating how their private friction became the catalyst for their most vital work. Donovan follows the arc of this rivalry to its conclusion, observing how each man’s final years and legacy bore out the terms of their fundamental dispute.
IRAN’S REGIME: THE GUARDIANSHIP OF THE ULEMA
BY AHMET T. KURU
As mounting internal dissent and external pressures strain Iran’s theocratic regime, the foundational concept of velayat-e faqih—the rule of the Islamic jurist—faces a deep institutional crisis. Political scientist Ahmet T. Kuru analyzes how the state’s enforcement of religious authority has backfired, fueling a widespread disillusionment with religion among the Iranian public. Drawing a line back to early Islamic history, when prominent scholars fiercely protected their independence from rulers, Kuru shows that a breakdown of Iran's clerical state could open the door to a major secular shift across the Muslim world.
BY ANDREW STARK
Andrew Stark finds an unexpected, comedic mirror for the twin currents of Jewish identity—bravado and self-reproach—within the polite yet punishing landscape of Canadian national character. Blending sharp cultural criticism with wry memoir, he looks at what Allen Ginsberg, Brian Mulroney, Judith Shklar, David Gergen, and his school teachers taught him about possessing chutzpah in a land built on self-deprecation.
BY MARK C. JENSEN
In his review of Nick Lloyd’s The Eastern Front, Mark C. Jensen looks past the familiar mud and trenches of the Western Front to examine the fluid, catastrophic conflict that tore apart Eastern Europe and dissolved three empires. He shows how these self-inflicted "wars of choice" quickly escaped the control of their architects, driven to ruin not by a lack of battlefield courage, but by the unglamorous, systemic failure of boots, food, and bullets. The result is a sharp, quiet warning for our own time about the dangerous illusion that any leader can truly control the trajectory of a war once they unleash it.
VIN ORDINAIRE: CARTOGRAPHY AND THICK TRAVEL
BY NIELS LEE
Niels Lee contrasts the superficiality of modern tourism with the deep, localized engagement of 'thick travel' and urban cartography. Moving through the literary traditions of Istanbul flâneurs like Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar and Sait Faik, alongside contemporary figures like Garnette Cadogan and Chris Arnade, Lee argues that true cultural fluency is found not in commercial hotspots, but in the mundane rhythms of everyday neighborhoods. In the end, the piece challenges readers to look past curated travel expectations and instead embrace the humble, unpredictable realities—the vin ordinaire—of the places they visit.
SUDDENLY I’M OLD AND DEATH APPROACHES
BY C. FRED ALFORD
C. Fred Alford contrasts Erik Erikson’s belief that a well-lived life culminates in 'integrity' with Ernest Becker’s unsparing view that civilization is merely a vital lie masking the terror of non-being. Rather than a detached academic exercise, Alford uses his own experiences with aging to explore how standard psychological defenses and the concept of 'ego integrity' ultimately fracture when facing immediate proximity to the end. He concludes by following Becker’s own deathbed realization, suggesting that when these psychological boundaries fail, the final refuge from the meaninglessness of death requires a turn toward the 'transcendent.'
THE WEST, PERSIA AND AI: WHAT KIND OF FREEDOM DO WE SEEK?
BY JOHN BELL
John Bell traces the historical friction between Western individualism and the 'indigenous politics' of the Middle East, finding that both sides are currently fueled by a stale mimicry of the past. He warns that while empires clash over territory and identity, we are sleepwalking into a 'new dispensation' of AI that threatens to flatten human character in exchange for digital ease. In the end, this essay suggests that true liberty is not found in systems or screens, but in the 'blood, sweat, and tears' of taking individual responsibility for our own purpose.
MEMOIRS AND CONFESSIONS OF A PUBLISHING SCOUNDREL
BY ROBERT CROSSLEY
In this witty and introspective essay, Robert Crossley reflects on the “scoundrelly” business of life-writing, recounting his decade-long journey as the biographer of the visionary but long-neglected philosopher Olaf Stapledon. Crossley traces his path from an archival discovery of letters to H.G. Wells to his unfettered access to a "cluttered shrine" of a study in a remote English village, where he navigated the delicate ethical boundaries between a researcher’s curiosity and a family’s trust. What emerges is a poignant meditation on the biographer’s craft—part detective story and part ghoulish excavation—that explores the enduring difficulty of reconciling the ordinariness of a man with the vastness of his imagination.
SUPREME ENLIGHTENMENT: DEMYSTIFYING BUDDHISM’S GREATEST MYSTERY
BY DAVID COMFORT
David Comfort cuts through the commercial noise of modern "prosperity gurus" to explore the silent, paradoxical heart of true spiritual awakening. By examining the ancient "Ungraspables" of Zen and the Buddha’s own refusal to define the inexpressible, the piece challenges us to look past the "finger pointing at the moon" and see the reality of our own minds. Is enlightenment a supernatural transformation reserved for a mystical elite, or is it simply a return to the natural, uncluttered awareness we’ve possessed all along?
BY WILLIAM HEYEN
Imperial Air Force pilot Sachio Ashida, unable
to fly over the burning city to report
to his superiors what had happened to it,
landed his plane, borrowed a bicycle,
& pedaled into it. He’d remember
a woman in front of her smoldering home,
a bucket on her arm. Inside the bucket
was a baby’s head. The woman’s daughter
had been killed when the bomb fell...
BY DEBORAH KAPCHAN
Deborah Kapchan reflects on her departure from Abu Dhabi as the "drums of war" beat across the Persian Gulf. She observes the uneasy calm of a city where luxury and daily routine mask a growing sense of geopolitical dread. Her narrative captures a final look at a desert state waiting to see what the horizon holds.
BY GIORGIO FONTANA
Giorgio Fontana argues that our traditional ideas of freedom are being eroded by a rapidly warming planet that fuels inequality and forced migration. He challenges the "Grand Inquisitor" temptation to trade individual liberty for authoritarian climate control, suggesting instead that we must move past selfish individualism toward a shared sense of responsibility. Ultimately, Fontana calls for a new political imagination that treats the protection of our environment not as a restriction on freedom, but as the only way to preserve it.
DAEDALUS: A PROTOCOL FOR TOWNS AND CITIES
BY STEVE DAVIDSON
Steve Davidson talks about why some urban spaces flourish while others fall into decay, tracing the difference back to intentional design choices rather than chance. The article introduces a "twelve-step recovery program" for municipalities, pointing out essential features such as broad avenues, water elements, and public parks that contribute to a city's collective well-being. By looking at historical and modern examples, Davidson gives a set of tools for residents and leaders to evaluate their own environments and pursue a higher standard of civic beauty.
THE RYOANJI ROCK GARDEN REVISITED
BY PAUL SCHOLLMEIER
Paul Schollmeier observes how a subtle shift in raking technique has transformed the ancient rock garden at the Ryoanji temple into a study of fixity and fluidity. By augmenting the gravel ripples surrounding clusters of rock, the garden now suggests a "dynamic stasis" in which its rock clusters, though stationary, appear simultaneously to sink into and to rise out of a shifting sea of change. Do these rocks with their stillness reveal the true nature of our own wandering minds, or are we simply witnessing a fixed moment in fleeting world?
SÉANCES ON THE MOSCOW RIVER – THOMAS MORE AND NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI
BY MICHAEL JACKSON
Michael Jackson looks at the strange ways the Soviet regime used the past to justify its power, starting with the enshrinement of Thomas More as a socialist hero on a Kremlin monument. While More’s vision of a property-free society was used to build a revolutionary myth, the regime later turned the reputation of Niccolò Machiavelli into a symbol of treachery to destroy its own founders. The essay shows how these Renaissance ghosts were summoned during the Great Purge, specifically when Lev Kamenev’s scholarly work on Machiavelli was used by prosecutors as a death warrant.
BY JAMES SCRUTON
James Scruton remembers a slim paperback poetry anthology from junior high that unexpectedly changed the course of his life. He describes how its direct, honest look at the world showed him that poems could be about basketball and garden hoses rather than just dusty, distant subjects. This essay explores how one book can stay with a person for decades, eventually becoming a map for their entire future.
BY SAM MAGAVERN
How can a leader defined by his own temper and a stuttering tongue still guide a people toward a better future? By asking four key questions about the life of Moses—from his upbringing in an Egyptian palace to his Hebrew roots—Magavern shows how the "promised land" can be reimagined, as it was by Martin Luther King, Jr., not as a physical territory but as a shared pursuit of justice and equity.
AMIDST THE HUGE CRISIS OF CAPITALOCENE
BY DARKO SUVIN
Darko Suvin presents a rigorous critique of our current ecological era, arguing that the planetary crisis is not a general human failure but a direct consequence of the "Capitalocene" and its relentless drive for accumulation. Through a blend of political philosophy, history, and social theory, Suvin dissects how the commodification of nature and labor has led to a systemic breakdown that threatens the very foundations of life.
SPEAK, [FALSE] MEMORY: THE POETICS OF IMAGINATION
BY JO SARZOTTI
Jo Sarzotti explores how our minds can trick us into remembering things that never actually happened, like a movie scene that doesn't exist. She shows us that these false memories' are actually a type of poetry that helps us make sense of our own lives. Can we ever really trust our past, or is everything we remember just a story we told ourselves?
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE VS. NATURAL STUPIDITY
BY MIKHAIL EPSTEIN
In this provocative essay, Mikhail Epstein explores the striking paradox of our era: why did we create a super-intelligent "artificial" mind at the exact moment our own "natural" reason seems to be failing? Moving beyond the typical fears of a robot takeover, he suggests that AI might actually be the "Cunning of Reason" that saves humanity from its own destructive instincts and medieval prejudices. Could the very technology we fear as an alien threat actually be the partner we need to evolve from a world of conflict into a new age of collective wisdom?
BREAKERS AT MARCONI BEACH, CAPE COD
BY JIM TILLEY
Whether he is calculating the distance to a goal, observing a trick of light in the sky, or watching the tide at Marconi Beach, Tilley finds steady meaning in small, everyday moments. This thoughtful collection of poems feels grounded, approachable and deeply human.
BY PHILIP GOFF AND TONY SOBRADO
Philip Goff looks at the quiet mystery of the human mind and how it fits into the material world. He shares the idea that consciousness isn't just a fluke of the brain, but a fundamental part of the universe from the ground up. This conversation offers a clear and thoughtful way to rethink our connection to everything around us.
WHY DID MY FRIEND KILL HIMSELF? WHY DOES ANYONE?
BY C. FRED ALFORD
In this essay, C. Fred Alford looks at the private choice to end one’s life, moving past social silence to find the human reality behind the struggle. He reflects on the quiet tension between deep suffering and the persistent will to stay. The piece offers a clear, honest perspective on a difficult subject that many feel but few talk about openly.
BY RAYMOND WACKS
Raymond Wacks asks if our legal systems can still protect us from the global rise of authoritarianism and political extremism. In his book, The Rule of Law Under Fire, he warns that we are losing the essential safeguards that prevent leaders from acting above the law. Can we restore trust in our institutions before the era of fair justice comes to an end?
REPRESENTATIONS OF THE HUMAN CONDITION
BY CRAIG MCDANIEL
Humans have always been driven to leave a visual trail, whether through ancient cave sketches or the latest family photo. By turning our raw experiences into symbols, we translate the world into something we can finally understand and share. This constant need to make pictures isn't just a hobby—it’s the defining spark of what makes us human.
René Magritte, La reproduction interdite (Not to be reproduced), 1937.
MORE RETHINKING MAGRITTE – THE UNCANNINESS OF THE Z-AXIS
BY CRAIG MCDANIEL
Why does a painting of a shattered window often feel more real than the actual view outside? Craig McDaniel digs into the brilliant mind of René Magritte to show how he intentionally broke the rules of perspective to startle our senses. This is a fresh look at a master of mystery who used simple, everyday objects to shake up our sense of reality.
“Catching your feeling” (2016) by Nicky Nodjoumi
BY MEHRZAD BOROUJERDI
Mehrzad Boroujerdi reflects on fifty years of displacement to ask the haunting question: "where is my home?" He concludes that the exile’s true "voyage of discovery" is found in the unique intellectual paradox of "belonging to familiarity while remaining a stranger."
HANNAH ARENDT AND KANT ON EICHMANN AND THE BANALITY OF EVIL
BY HAIM MARANTZ
Haim Marantz looks at Hannah Arendt’s claim that Adolf Eichmann was a shallow man who just stopped thinking. Can someone help murder millions while only trying to get a promotion? Marantz uses Kant to show that evil starts when we let rules replace our own conscience.
BY MIKHAIL EPSTEIN AND CLAUDE AI
What happens when an AI is invited to be the guest speaker at its own conference and delivers a paper it wrote entirely by itself? After Claude Opus 4.1 shared this unprecedented look into its own subjective experience, can we still assume that the voices behind our screens are incapable of true self-reflection and authorship?
THE ROUNDTABLE
BY ANDREW NORRIS
If culture is the cultivation of nature, its relationship to nature will be a dialectical one, in the Hegelian sense of the term. Culture can neither be simply identified with nature, as in Socrates’ noble lie, nor categorically distinguished from it, as, say, cups are distinguished from knives, or rabbits from wolves...
RESPONSE TO CAHILL: WHAT STANLEY CAVELL CALLS SCEPTICISM
BY STEPHEN MULHALL
Thirty years ago, I published a book on Stanley Cavell’s work in which I argued that his version of ordinary language philosophy was deeply rooted in the values of liberal modernity, and – using the resources of Charles Taylor’s Sources of the Self – further claimed that some of the limitations of Cavell’s project could best be apprehended by appreciating its genealogical links with Christian patterns of thinking out of which that liberal modernity had grown, and by evaluating what had been lost as well as gained by the rise of that distinctively Western European mode of affirming the ordinary...
BY KEVIN M. CAHILL
Mulhall’s response to the third chapter of my book devotes much attention to Cavell’s 1989 essay “Declining Decline: Wittgenstein as a Philosopher of Culture”. In particular, he notes that my references to this essay are brief, perhaps surprisingly so, despite the fact that in a footnote I point out that it was this very essay that led me further to explore Cavell’s work...
A METAPHYSICS OF SEPARATENESS?
BY STINA BÄCKSTRÖM
What is it to be a human being and to understand oneself as such? This question is at stake in Kevin Cahill’s essay “Skepticism and the human condition”. There Cahill develops a criticism of Stanley Cavell’s thoughts on the self and the problem of skepticism. In the background of the essay, and the collection as such, is an important and difficult question, namely, how to understand the historical shift characteristic of secular Western modernity...
BY KEVIN M. CAHILL
By “queen of the sciences” I didn’t mean to assign to philosophical anthropology the position once held in some quarters by theology, in others by metaphysics. I meant instead to suggest the significance for philosophically informed anthropology or, alternatively, on anthropologically informed philosophy...
BY MARTIN SHUSTER
Kevin Cahill’s Towards a Philosophical Anthropology of Culture is a joy to read. It shows again why Wittgenstein’s thought remains such a font of insight and inspiration, and it also cuts to the heart of many current and pressing issues in philosophy and the humanities...
BY KEVIN M. CAHILL
Martin Shuster quotes me as stating that, with regard to Cavell’s ontology of the self, the options are two: “what was there all along waiting to be liberated from the oppressive bonds of tradition was not a rational soul, but a compulsive neurotic”...
BY NORA HÄMÄLÄINEN
Post-Wittgensteinian philosophy is known for a view of language as dependent on
contextually embedded practices, and a view of philosophy as attention to the complexity of our lives with language. If we follow these threads in habitual ways, they might be expected to lead in the direction of attention to the cultural and historical contingencies of our concepts, beliefs and values...
BY KEVIN M. CAHILL
I wouldn’t dare to compare the achievements (or aspirations) of my book to Wittgenstein’s, but I will confess to being relieved and delighted to read the response by Nora Hämäläinen, who has read my book with understanding. But my relief and delight soon evaporated and turned to worry...
FROM THE ARCHIVE
BY ZEV SHANKEN
Zev Shanken captures the life of a father who carried the scars of WWII bombing missions into his later life as a rabbi and human rights activist. These poems connect major historical moments to intimate memories, like a spinning neon horse at a gas station that becomes a private landmark of childhood. It is a plain look at the stories our parents leave us and how we carry them through our own lives.
BY MARTIN SHUSTER
Christian White Nationalism has moved from the political shadows to become the main engine driving American policy today. The movement fuses faith with race to treat political power as a divine right that sits above democratic rules. This shift explains why traditional political arguments fail to reach a group that views its struggle as a sacred battle.
DOING GOOD FACE-TO-FACE OR THROUGH PHILANTHROPY?
BY ISAAC GETZ AND LAURENT MARBACHER
Do we give to far-off, global causes while ignoring the person in need right in front of us? In their book, The Caring Company, Isaac Getz and Laurent Marbacher argue that genuine care is most powerful when it happens through the face-to-face connections we share with our neighbors and colleagues. They challenge leaders to rethink charity by focusing on the well-being of the real people who make our businesses and communities run every day.
DEGREES OF SEPARATION? MACHIAVELLI, ERASMUS, AND MORE
BY MICHAEL JACKSON AND DAMIAN GRACE
Michael Jackson and Damian Grace explore the real-life social network connecting Niccolò Machiavelli, Thomas More, and Erasmus, showing they were only a few "degrees of separation" apart. By tracking their mutual friends and travels across Renaissance Europe, the authors reveal how these legendary thinkers were far more linked than history books often suggest. The essay is an essential guide for anyone interested in the hidden history of political philosophy and the famous creators of The Prince and Utopia.
“THE PERFECT AS THE ENEMY OF THE GOOD”
BY MICHAEL K. LAUNER
In this review, Michael K. Launer discusses two recent books on nuclear disarmament, exploring the difficult history of nuclear control from the end of the Cold War to Ukraine's disarmament, and showing how the pursuit of ideal, perfect solutions often undermines smaller, more achievable progress in international relations.
BY STEVE DAVIDSON
Steve Davidson explores how the natural concentration of talent often creates a powerful elite, risking exploitation and social instability. He argues for the revival of the ancient ideal of the paladin — a modern defender with mental toughness, compassion and wisdom — to champion fairness. In a world where power is becoming increasingly centralised, how can we cultivate this 'paladin mindset' in ourselves and others to ensure justice for all?
FOOTBALL: LOVE AND WAR MINUS THE SHOOTING
BY DAVID COMFORT
David Comfort takes up Orwell's claim that sport is "war minus the shooting," examining the hyper-commercialized spectacle of American football from its Roman military roots to its modern, testosterone-driven status. Combining Freudian and anthropological insights, Comfort exposes the game’s tribal fanaticism and psycho-sexual undertones, ultimately arguing that it serves as a vital emotional outlet for the masses.
“THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT MADE GLORIOUS SUMMER…”
BY JOHN BELL
A performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons in a grand Parisian church leads John Bell to consider the modern world's spiritual recession. Bell argues that the "electronic miasma" of the digital age has fractured our attention, replacing genuine awe with soul-deadening distraction. His essay suggests that resisting this tide, and turning toward the real, is the only way to reclaim the "glorious summer" of a whole, present life.
BY PAUL B. DONOVAN
Paul B. Donovan discusses the intense, lifelong romantic and intellectual bond between Martin Heidegger and his student, Hannah Arendt. This controversial relationship endured despite Heidegger's strong Third Reich affiliations, which deeply conflicted with Arendt's status as a Jewish refugee and her groundbreaking work on totalitarianism. Arendt's decision to maintain their friendship and defend his philosophical legacy continues to spark vital scholarly debate about forgiveness, moral failing, and intellectual complicity.
BY JOHN J. MEARSHEIMER
In "Europe's Bleak Future," international relations scholar John J. Mearsheimer argues that the continent's stability is collapsing, and the West is primarily to blame for this outcome. He claims that America and its allies started the Ukraine war by constantly trying to expand NATO, and this costly conflict is now convincing the U.S. to pull its military focus away from Europe and toward competing with China. This shift is set to destroy NATO, removing the "American pacifier" that has kept the peace, and leaving Europe vulnerable to a chaotic and dangerous future.
'Raphael and the Domus Aurea: the invention of the grotesques', at Domus Aurea (Golden House) in Rome, built by Nero.
SIX DISCOVERIES THAT REWRITE HUMAN NATURE
BY JOHN V. WYLIE
Are humans naturally aggressive, or are we built for cooperation? This deep dive into six monumental discoveries in genetics, archaeology, and evolutionary psychiatry argues that our core nature is defined by layered social bonds, not brute competition, proving that systematic warfare is a late-stage invention that followed agriculture. Find out how the human drive to seek approval caused an explosion of intelligence, and why mental illnesses like schizophrenia now reveal the secrets of our species' earliest, cooperative design.
The Image of Christ Not Made by Hands. A fresco from the Church of Saints Constantine and Helena in Ohrid, Macedonia. Dating from the late 14th to early 15th century.
REBECCA WEST AND THE LOST WORLD OF YUGOSLAVIA
BY MARK C. JENSEN
Mark C. Jensen takes a fresh look at Rebecca West’s monumental 1941 work, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, an obsessive, thousand-page account of her travels through the volatile world of interwar Yugoslavia. West's fierce political and moral intelligence saw in the Balkans not just an exotic landscape, but a proving ground where she diagnosed the fatal, fin de siècle flaw of Western liberalism. Jensen shows how this travelogue transformed into a powerful, urgent prophecy about the choice between resistance and self-sacrificing martyrdom.
"I AM": JEWISH IDENTITY AND WESTERN PERSONHOOD
BY MARK GLOUBERMAN
Mark Glouberman bypasses the usual discourse on culture and creed to locate a deeper, philosophical root for Jewish identity. He argues that the Hebrew Bible's radical contribution wasn't merely monotheism, but the very conception of the autonomous individual—the "I am." This profound insight, Glouberman says, defines the essence of the Jew and simultaneously forms the bedrock of Western personhood itself.
BY C. FRED ALFORD
Why is Spinoza experiencing a modern renaissance? In this article, C. Fred Alford explores the philosopher's radical concept of 'God or nature', his Stoic path to inner freedom, and the intricate connection between his ethical and political writings. Alford also asks why Spinoza's ideas on joy, order and human nature continue to fascinate and challenge readers.
THE ODD INKLING: CHARLES WILLIAMS’ NOVELS
BY JOHN PANTELEIMON MANOUSSAKIS
Often overshadowed by his fellow Inklings, Tolkien and Lewis, Charles Williams is perhaps the most enigmatic of the trio. This essay delves into his "supernatural thrillers," revealing them as profound explorations of Christian mysticism and complex theology. Discover the incantatory magic of Williams' work, where the Holy Grail, doppelgangers, and Platonic Ideas collide with the suburbs of England.
ON THE PROBLEM OF CONSCIOUSNESS
BY ANDREW MELNYK AND TONY SOBRADO
In this interview, philosopher Andrew Melnyk tackles the 'hard problem of consciousness,' exploring why physical brains produce rich subjective experiences. He discusses the challenges that consciousness poses to physicalism and examines competing theories like property dualism and representationalism. Melnyk explains his own position, suggesting that phenomenal experiences are a specific kind of representational property of our neural states.
AMERICA TODAY: “MY OPINION, RIGHT OR WRONG”
BY JOHN BELL
'Right or wrong, it's my opinion!'—this fierce certainty, fueled by social media's abstracting power, is ripping America's political fabric apart. Forget nuanced debate; today's discourse traps us in echo chambers, where challenging our pre-set views feels impossible. Discover how this retreat from complex realities denies the vital "coincidence of opposites" essential for a unified nation.
FAUST IS THE LAST TO KNOW THE DEVIL
BY ED SIMON
In 'Faust is the Last to Know the Devil,' Ed Simon uses the Faustian bargain as a metaphor for the political climate of the Trump era, arguing that many have sacrificed their principles for power. He introduces the concept of the 'Faustocene' to describe an age of immoral compromises, not just in politics, but in response to global issues like climate change. Ultimately, Simon suggests that recognizing the Faustian nature of current politics is key to resisting its dangers.
The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, Detail (1602) by Caravaggio
DO WE REALLY KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT JESUS SAID?
BY C. FRED ALFORD
She/She 1981, printed 2007, Linder at Tate Modern
BY GLORIA A. LEVIN
ORIGIN, PRESENCE, AND TIME IN THE POETRY OF W.S. MERWIN
BY MARK IRWIN
ON TEACHING THE SOUND AND THE FURY
BY CHRISTINE ANN EVANS
The Bouquet and the Wreath by Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook
BY STEVE DAVIDSON
Installation view of In Other Worlds: Acts of Translation at Focal Point Gallery, Southend-on-Sea
BY STEVEN G. KELLMAN
Solaria at the Giubbe Rosse by Baccio Maria Bacci (1888 – 1974)
BY MIKHAIL EPSTEIN
Le Monde selon l'AI at Jeu de Paume, Paris
THE LINE: AI AND THE FUTURE OF PERSONHOOD
BY JAMES BOYLE
Just Plain Forever (2019) by Duke Riley
HOW WE GOT HERE: CONSUMER CAPITALISM AND THE ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS
BY MARK STOLL
BY HAIM MARANTZ
THE INEFFABLE PASSIONS OF LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN
BY PAUL B. DONOVAN
Annie Leibovitz, Stream of Consciousness (Hauser & Wirth)
ON THE PROBLEM OF CONSCIOUSNESS
STEVEN PINKER & TONY SOBRADO
MORAL PARTICULARS IN LITERATURE
WILLIAM VAUGHAN
ELEFTHERIOS MAKEDONAS
Workshop of Joachim Beuckelaer (c. 1533 – c. 1570/4). Kitchen maid preparing meat with Christ in the House of Mary and Martha beyond. Estate of Francesco P. Zuccari.
SLAVOJ ŽIŽEK
BREADCRUMBS FOR BIRDS: A SEARCH FOR YOUR OTHER SELF
ROBERT STEWART
A FAIRER HOUSE THAN PROSE: TEACHING EMILY DICKINSON
BRAD CRENSHAW
MAN-DEVIL: THE MIND AND TIMES OF BERNARD MANDEVILLE
ROBERT RICH
POETRY
The Kiss (1969), by Picasso
ZEV SHANKEN
BY JIM TILLEY
PETER AUSTIN
ROYAL W.F. RHODES
MORE...
SONS OF ICARUS: THE RISE & FALLS OF AMERICA’S LITERARY TRINITY
DAVID COMFORT
PUTIN, COMPATRIOTS, AND FELLOW COUNTRYMEN
D. WILLIAMS, M. YOUNG, AND M. LAUNER
BURYING THE MYSTERY: THE GRAVE OF EDGAR ALLEN POE
KAREN ALKALAY-GUT
MARK IRWIN
ELIZABETH BISHOP’S LABOR OF LOVE: “NORTH HAVEN”
SAM MAGAVERN
RAYMOND WACKS
Churchill with Chamberlain, circa March 24, 1935.WINSTON CHURCHILL AND NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN
JOHN BELL
TEACHING MILOSZ: THE EVOLUTION OF A POET
IRA SADOFF
HEATHER MCHUGH
HEATHER MCHUGH
RAYMOND WACKS
POLITICAL FOOTNOTES TO EUSEBIUS
CONTRIBUTION OF THE EARLY CHURCH TO POLITICAL THOUGHT
HAIM MARANTZ
PHILOSOPHY BETWEEN SCIENCE AND MYSTICISM
URIAH KRIEGEL
ALTERNATIVE HISTORIES OF JESUS
FOUR NOVELS
C. FRED ALFORD
KAFKA SERIES
Castle Garden by Paul Klee, 1931.
KAFKA TEACHES ME HOW TO TEACH KAFKA
JAMES MARTEL
ON KAFKA AND WRITING
SEAN SINGER
IS THERE A RELIGIOUS MESSAGE TO KAFKA’S THE CASTLE?
HAIM MARANTZ
THE MESSIAH WHO COMES AND GOES
FRANZ KAFKA ON REDEMPTION, CONSPIRACY AND COMMUNITY
JAMES MARTEL
KAFKA REMAINS THE JEWISH PROPHET OF OBLIVION
ED SIMON
ART
Wine and Words (detail) by Alan Feltus, 2004.
LANI IRWIN
ALAN FELTUS
CRAIG MCDANIEL
RUSSIA SERIES
RUSSIAN DEMOCRACY, STATE, AND NATION
D. WILLIAMS, M. YOUNG, AND M. LAUNER
THE MUNICH SECURITY CONFERENCE AND THE WORLD ORDER
T.S.TSONCHEV
THE RHETORICAL USE OF HISTORICAL ANALOGY
D. WILLIAMS, M. YOUNG, AND M. LAUNER
MARIA ARBATOVA AND THE EARLY POST-SOVIET WOMEN’S MOVEMENT
ELISABETH RICH
FROM THE ARCHIVES | 2024 The Tunnels Of Gaza (2024) by Antoine Janot
“VIVAS TO THOSE WHO HAVE FAIL’D”
TEACHING WALT WHITMAN
STEPHEN HAVEN
WHEN THE COST OF WAR IS MUCH MORE THAN LIVES
CHRISTOPHER THORNTON
WHERE HAVE ALL THE CORINTHIANS GONE?
STEVE DAVIDSON
THE ECSTATIC TRUTH OF ROMANTIC NEUROSCIENCE
STUART TRENHOLM
AN INTERVIEW WITH JAMES WILSON
PAUL WILLETTS
DOSTOYEVSKY’S SOLUTION TO KANT’S PROBLEM OF EVIL
HAIM MARANTZ
THE PROBLEM OF EVIL WON’T GO AWAY
ED SIMON AND RANDALL SULLIVAN
THE ORIGINS OF (POLITICAL) DEMORALIZATION
BRUCE CHAPMAN
ON HOW AN UNKNOWN PUBLISHER IN EDO JAPAN ENTICED THE WORLD
LAURA VIGO
MICHEL FOUCAULT
ALAN ALTANY
PLUTARCH
FROM THE ARCHIVES | 2024
BERNARD STIEGLER
BERNARD STIEGLER: ELEMENTS OF PHARMACOLOGY
AN INTERVIEW WITH FELIX HEIDENREICH AND FLORIAN WEBER-STEIN
CULTURE AND REALITY
T.S.TSONCHEV
DEATH, DIVINITY AND DREAMS
DAVID COMFORT
RON MCFARLAND
THE VILLAGE OF THE WATERWHEELS
JOHN BELL
READING SOLZHENITSYN FOR THE FIRST TIME
HAIM MARANTZ
Philip Larkin with his Rolleiflex, 1957. Photograph courtesy of Frances Lincoln, an imprint of Quarto Publishing Group
HEDGEHOGS, DEATH AND THE BEAUTY IN THE MUNDANE
HOW LARKIN CUTS SO DEEP
DANIEL SEIFERT
TO DEAL WITH INEQUALITY, IT MUST BE BETTER UNDERSTOOD
JON D. WISMAN
PHILIP NEWMAN LAWTON
MYTH & TECH
Meiro Koizumi's Prometheus Bound at 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, KanazawaPROMETHEUS: A SYMPOSIUM
The widely acclaimed blockbuster film Oppenheimer opens with this caption: "Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to man. For this he was chained to a rock and tortured for eternity." The film, based on Oppenheimer's biography American Prometheus, is only the latest popular retelling of the ancient Greek myth. The essays, published in The Montreal Review, are the result of a faculty-student workshop held at Virginia Tech in October 2023 to share research and foster conversation about contemporary uses of the myth of Prometheus.
THE STUBBORN AFTERLIVES OF THE PROMETHEUS MYTH
INTRODUCTION BY BRIAN BRITT
BY LORD BYRON
WORKING ON MODERNITY. HANS BLUMENBERG READS PROMETHEUS
BY DANIEL WEIDNER
OPPENHEIMER AS HERMES, GOD OF THE INFORMATION AGE
BY JANELL WATSON
WHY THE MYTH OF PROMETHEUS HAUNTS TALK OF TECHNOLOGY?
BY LEE VINSEL
FRANKEN-MYTHBUSTERS: MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN EXPOSES THE PATRIARCHAL PROMETHEUS
BY SOPHIA SCARFE
UNBINDING MYTH WITH LITERATURE IN SHELLEY, FLAUBERT, AND DU BOIS
BY BRIAN BRITT
PROMETHEUS REDUX: ALIEN PREQUELS, CREATION MYTH, AND THE ENCHANTMENT OF TECHNOSCIENCE
BY ZHANGE NI
PROMETHEANISM, OBSOLESCENCE, AND THE POLITICS OF CONSPIRACY THEORY
BY SAMUEL BECKENHAUER
ESSAYS THE WILD GODS OF BARBARA EHRENREICH AND WILLIAM JAMES
C. FRED ALFORD
SAM MAGAVERN
IS WESTERN CULTURE LOSING ITS MIND?
STEVE DAVIDSON
STEVEN G. KELLMAN
ART & STYLE
Jocelyn Hobbie, Sun Facing, 2022, oil painting, 18 x 18 inches. Image courtesy Fredericks & Freiser, NYLORRAINE SHEMESH
HOW HUMOUR LAID THE WORLD BARE, FROM THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY TO THE PRESENT
KATHARINA VAN CAUTEREN
WHY ARE THERE SO MANY GREAT PAINTINGS OF WOMEN BY WOMEN RIGHT NOW?
CRAIG MCDANIEL
TWO ZEN INK PAINTINGS OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY
PAUL SCHOLLMEIER
CONVERSATIONS AN INTERVIEW WITH THE PHILOSOPHER FRANK JACKSON
TONY SOBRADO
LIFE, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND EVOLUTION
A DIALOGUE BETWEEN A PHILOSOPHER AND A BIOLOGIST
MIKHAIL EPSTEIN AND EUGENE KOONIN
AN (ADDITIONAL) INTERVIEW WITH JEAN-LUC BEAUCHARD
A.T. STOJKOVICH
JEFFREY BURNOP
FICTION & POETRY
Ovid’s Creek #1, by Monica AngleA DAY IN THE DESERT UNLIKE ANY OTHER
FICTION
ANDREW MCKENNA
SAM MAGAVERN
BOOKS & REVIEWS
Simone de Beauvoir, Paris, France, 1952. (Gisele Freund/Researchers History/Getty Images)
“WHO SHALL I TAKE AS MY EXAMPLE? WHO SHALL I LEARN FROM?”
NINA BERBEROVA AND SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR
IRINA VINOKUROVA
HOW THE NEWS MEDIA WARPS OUR MINDS
JOHN ZADA
FEN OSLER HAMPSON
CHRISTOPHER R. BROWNING
MONTREAL REVIEW CONTRIBUTOR'S ESSAY COLLECTION HONORED
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