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Entries from January 2013
Things
January 31st, 2013 · 2 Comments
Feel the power
January 31st, 2013 · No Comments
“The power to guess the unseen from the seen, to trace the implication of things, to judge the whole piece by the pattern, the condition of feeling life, in general, so completely that you are well on your way to knowing any particular corner of it–this cluster of gifts may almost be said to constitute […]
Tags: Lit & Crit
Things
January 30th, 2013 · No Comments
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Varieties of knowledge
January 30th, 2013 · No Comments
“One day, as I was riding the line near a farm known as Parson Fox’s, I heard that the family of a Mr. Wilkinson, of New Orleans, was ‘refugeeing’ at a house near by. I rode up, inquired, and found two young girls of that name, who said they were the children of General Wilkinson, […]
Tags: American Civil War · Lit & Crit
Things
January 29th, 2013 · 3 Comments
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The general obligation bond
January 29th, 2013 · No Comments
“The only obligation to which in advance we may hold a novel without incurring the accusation of being arbitrary, is that it be interesting. That general responsibility rests upon it, but it is the only one I can think of. The ways in which it is at liberty to accomplish this result (of interesting us) […]
Tags: Lit & Crit
Things
January 28th, 2013 · No Comments
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The mysterious stranger
January 28th, 2013 · 2 Comments
“‘Art,’ in our Protestant communities, where so many things have got so strangely twisted about, is supposed, in certain circles, to have some vaguely injurious effect upon those who make it an important consideration, who let it weigh in the balance. It is assumed to be opposed in some mysterious manner to morality, to amusement, […]
Tags: Lit & Crit
Things
January 27th, 2013 · No Comments
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How to tend the garden of art
January 27th, 2013 · No Comments
“Art lives upon discussion, upon experiment, upon curiosity, upon variety of attempt, upon the exchange of views and the comparison of standpoints; and there is a presumption that those times when no one has anything particular to say about it, and has no reason to give for practice or preference, though they may be times […]
Tags: Lit & Crit
Places
January 26th, 2013 · No Comments
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Never the twain shall meet?
January 26th, 2013 · No Comments
“There is truth of science and truth of religion; truth of science does not become truth of religion till it is made religious. And I will add: Let us have all the science there is from the men of science; from the men of religion let us have religion.” – Matthew Arnold, “The Function of […]
Tags: Lit & Crit
Places
January 25th, 2013 · No Comments
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Mull it over
January 25th, 2013 · 2 Comments
“Let us think of quietly enlarging our stock of true and fresh ideas, and not, as soon as we get an idea or half an idea, be running out with it into the street, and trying to make it rule there. Our ideas will, in the end, shape the world all the better for maturing […]
Tags: Lit & Crit
Places
January 24th, 2013 · No Comments
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The critical distance
January 24th, 2013 · No Comments
“Criticism must maintain its independence of the practical spirit and its aims. Even with well-meant efforts of the practical spirit it must express dissatisfaction, if in the sphere of the ideal they seem impoverishing and limiting. It must not hurry on to the goal because of its practical importance. It must be patient, and know […]
Tags: Lit & Crit
Then there’s this
January 23rd, 2013 · No Comments
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Tags: Verandah
Places
January 23rd, 2013 · No Comments
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Busy little bees we be
January 23rd, 2013 · No Comments
“The mass of mankind will never have any ardent zeal for seeing things as they are; very inadequate ideas will always satisfy them. On these inadequate ideas reposes, and must repose, the general practice of the world. That is as much as saying that whoever sets himself to see things as they are will find […]
Tags: Lit & Crit
Places
January 22nd, 2013 · No Comments
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Once upon a time, kings ruled by divine right
January 22nd, 2013 · No Comments
“If a great change is to be made in human affairs, the minds of men will be fitted to it; the general opinions and feelings will draw that way. Every fear, every hope will forward it: and then they who persist in opposing this mighty current in human affairs, will appear rather to resist the […]
Tags: Economics · Politics & Law
People
January 21st, 2013 · No Comments
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Give war a chance
January 21st, 2013 · No Comments
“Pre-emption is among the most important philosophical and strategic underpinnings for counterinsurgency (COIN) doctrine, and after years of being honed in Fallujah and Kandahar, COIN has been imported to the West, where it compliments the growing militarization of law enforcement and the transformation of local police forces into hybrid paramilitary-intelligence organizations.” — Jacob Silverman, “City […]
Tags: Politics & Law
Places
January 20th, 2013 · No Comments
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Reckoning on a reckoning
January 20th, 2013 · No Comments
“What history can do is show that people have to take responsibility for what they activate out of their tradition. It’s not just a given thing one slavishly follows. You have to be accountable.” — Karen King, quoted by Ariel Sabar in “The Inside Story of a Controversial New Text About Jesus” Share this… Facebook […]
Tags: Politics & Law
Places
January 19th, 2013 · No Comments
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But what would we read?
January 19th, 2013 · No Comments
“Our species would go a long way toward full maturation if more writers and critics would declare zero tolerance for every book that insults the intellect with bathos and debases language with bromides.” William Giraldi, “Letter to a Young Critic” Share this… Facebook Pinterest Twitter Linkedin Email Print
Tags: Lit & Crit
Places
January 18th, 2013 · 4 Comments
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Truth be told
January 18th, 2013 · 2 Comments
“Language doesn’t lie. A cliché can’t hide itself. Platitudes can’t pretend to be meaningful. Solecisms can’t convince you they are something else. Easy verbs and indolent adjectives will never have potency. An assault of the quotidian will never be intellectually charismatic. You can’t dress up sentimentality as emotional truth. No amount of rouge will ever […]
Tags: Lit & Crit
Places
January 17th, 2013 · No Comments
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