Monthly Archives: July 2008
Nose-talgia
In the L.A. Times, Salman Rushdie reminisces about a certain novel that he wrote more than a quarter of a century ago. There were minor catastrophes: Midnight’s Children took an unusually long time to be published because of a series … Continue reading
Filed under Language
Development
At the Chronicle of Higher Ed, Britt Peterson revives Jonathan Gottschall’s Boston Globe essay “Measure for Measure,” which created a minor brouhaha a couple of months back. Gottschall’s essay argues that literary scholars ought to try out techniques that are … Continue reading
Jones’ Diary
When I started this blog a few months back, I decided to stick to short essays on language, writing, rhetoric and arguments, in the spirit of George Orwell’s old hypothesis that there is a meaningful correlation between writing, thinking and … Continue reading
Filed under Handwriting
“It Didn’t Look Like a House of Death When I Saw It”
Roger Ebert day-dreams of a life on the balcony, as things come to an end. “One of these days I shall tackle the rest of Baudelaire,” wrote Walter Benjamin to his friend Max Horkheimer, in a last letter from Paris. … Continue reading
Filed under Language
Ignorance, Part III
This is the final post in my series on Roger Scruton’s essay for Axess, “The Return of Religion.” In the essay, Scruton targets seasonal quarry: atheists who profess that religion persists as a way of explaining the world due to … Continue reading
Ignorance, Part II
This is the second post in my series on Roger Scruton’s The Return of Religion, in which the philosopher goes after “evangelical atheists” such as Richard Dawkins and Chrisopher Hitchens. In my first post, I argued that Scruton set up … Continue reading
Ignorance, Part I
Conservative philosopher Roger Scruton attacks “evangelical” atheists, arguing that writers such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens are fools to claim that ignorance alone has prevented the triumph of scientific explanations over religious ones. This debate flares up in one … Continue reading
Filed under Language
Epicanthic Lids
At the London Review of Books, Thomas Jones makes fun of a help-wanted ad from Britain’s MI6, which explains ‘We can’t overstate the importance of a sense of personal integrity.’ Jones juxtaposes this apparent high standard with Devil May Care, … Continue reading
Two Hobos
The DaD series on handwriting continues with a big brassy love letter from anarchist firebrand Emma Goldman to her longtime lover, the physician Ben Reitman, the “Hobo Doctor” known for treating venereal diseases among the poor in the early decades … Continue reading
Filed under Handwriting
Framed
At The New Republic, Josh Patashnik criticizes the way that Senator Ben Cardin talks about public transit to the environmental website Grist. Here’s the quote from Cardin: I’m a big, big supporter of dramatic change in public transportation. It includes … Continue reading
Filed under Found Phrases, Language, Politics
Well Over The Air
I’ve been wondering about a post by blogger Nigel Beale, who wonders whether there’s anything to a problem that Somerset Maugham wondered about many years ago. Maugham: I wonder that people who are concerned for the survival of democracy are … Continue reading
Filed under Found Phrases, Language, Politics
