The Independent (Free subscription) | 03/10/2008
Often obscure, verbose and self-absorbed (Eco is ego), this collection of essays on the post 9/11 world is still packed with interest. Who wouldn't agree that "what's irritating about New Age is syncretism... believing not in some things but in all things, even when they contradict one another"?
Blog Meridian (Free subscription) | 03/10/2008
Over at The New Republic's blog The Plank, there's a very odd post by Max Fisher on why U.S. writers have been overlooked for the Nobel Prize for Literature. After citing committee chair Horace Engdahl's contention that U.S. writers are, in essence, too provincial in their concerns to be taken seriously by the world literary community, Fisher offers up another possibility: The committee doesn't
{ Never Neutral } (Free subscription) | 26/09/2008
The private life of the empirical authors is under a certain respect more unfathomable than their texts. At least as much unfathomable as the soul of the readers. -Umberto Eco, 1996 —-
Acephalous (Free subscription) | 25/09/2008
Batman Begins Detective Comics #47 "The Myth of Superman," Umberto Eco Superman Returns Action Comics #1 Planetary #10 Watchmen Stan Lee's Watchmen "The World Ozymandias Made," Matthew Wolf-Meyer "The Zeppo" Supreme Before you hoist pitchfork, carefully consider the following points:...
adistantsoil.com (Free subscription) | 22/09/2008
A big article on the joys of newsprint intoxication over at The Nation: The History of the American Comic Book. An overview from Spider-Man to R. Crumb, there are quotes from noted critics like Douglas Wolk, and some interesting numbers from the heyday of comics. Comic books in the US once sold 60,000,000 copies a [...]
Cambridge Forecast Group Blog (Free subscription) | 19/09/2008
Léon Foucault (18 September 1819 – 11 February 1868) The Foucault Pendulum The Foucault pendulum (pronounced “foo-KOH”), or Foucault’s pendulum, named after the French physicist Léon Foucault, was conceived as an experiment to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth. Foucault’s Pendulum (original title: [...]
Veritasti (Free subscription) | 16/09/2008
A great author named Umberto Eco (best known for Name of the Rose ) has written several essays on the suspension of disbelief. It's the device an author uses to allow the reader to believe what is being told, rather than recoil in disbelief. Sometimes it's something as simple as "A long, long time ago..." which alerts the reader that what they will read is a fairy tale of sorts, and shouldn't be concerned...
KR Blog (Free subscription) | 01/09/2008
Since it’s Labor Day, I offer you a few of my recent preoccupations concerning the work of writing: making something out of nothing; food as space; and what happens when you nearly step on a plum, then look up.. One: Who needs writing rituals? In an interview in the Paris Review, Umberto Eco gives an Oprah sheen to the practice of writing while doing other things. Interviewer: What is [...]
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 31/08/2008
John Sutherland: Sean Connery's memoir is surprising, not least because the actor emerges from its thoughtful pages as self-taught: how inspiring
sunstruck (Free subscription) | 27/08/2008
The issue of ‘background books’ that Umberto Eco raises in his book Serendipities: Language and Lunacy (see my earlier post ‘Travellers’) is not confined only to those who travel outside their countries. It is, rather, a notion – a concept, a view – that governs our attitudes and behaviour towards others, other situations and other things. It is a notion that shapes, and is shaped by, convention. It...
io9 (Free subscription) | 22/08/2008
Welcome back to The Jewels of Apator, a biweekly column from Ann & Jeff VanderMeer about the intersection between art and the fantastic. In La Jolla, California, a very unusual art exhibit called... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
New Statesman (Free subscription) | 21/08/2008
Umberto Eco meditates on localised truces as a strategy to inspire broader peace When we talk of peace and wish for peace, we always think in universal, global terms. We would not talk of peace if we thought of it only for a few, otherwise we'd go live in Switzerland or enter a monastery, as people used to do in the dark days of endless invasions. The second way of thinking about peace, complementary...
Weasel's Words (Free subscription) | 20/08/2008
Not normally a fan of Noam Chomsky, but you cannot ignore him, either from a political viewpoint or in his role as a linguist - though I am more comfortable with the likes of Stanley Fish or Paulo Freire or Umberto Eco. He says: The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum - even encourage...
Ed Driscoll.com (Free subscription) | 14/08/2008
As I wrote yesterday, it's obvious that the chief role of the legacy media is keeping news out of circulation, rather than generating it. Matthew Sheffield concurs:In far too many newsrooms, the question is no longer about serving the public's...
Bookninja (Free subscription) | 14/08/2008
Visiting Pompeii was a transformative experience for me in many ways. I’ve often wondered what’s left to be discovered there. You can actually see the wall of unexcavated ground. Maybe some lost classics will emerge from this fascinating (and grisly) site? Chant with me now! Soph-o-cles! Soph-o-cles! If a significant number of lost classics are found [...]
