Welcome to Book Oblivion - I'm Jessica. I read with wonder and curiosity and write about what I read here. We have a community of readers meeting together several times a month to discuss literature and philosophy. Join our community to read along with us.
“Hail to Thee, Logos, Thou Vast Almighty Title, In Whose name we conjure— Our acts the partial representatives Of Thy whole act.” Kenneth Burke MISUNDERSTANDING TRUTH There is a huge misunderstanding in culture that the idea of relativism has wiped […]
Keywords David Foster Wallace, Solipsism, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Jean-Paul Sartre, Infinite Jest “One of the things that makes Wittgenstein a real artist to me is that he realized that no conclusion could be more horrible that solipsism.” David Foster Wallace The
David Foster Wallace and the Utter Hell of Solipsism Read More »
When we trace language from orality, characterized by the pre-socratics and the passing of tradition from one mouth to the next, to literacy made possible by writing on clay tablets, we see a complex shift in human consciousness.
The Muse Learns to Read: Trace the Process of Intellectual Becoming Read More »
Keywords Hyperreality, Jean Baudrillard, Jorge Luis Borges, Lewis Carroll, Alfred Korzybski, The Matrix “Today abstraction is no longer that of the map, the double, the mirror, or the concept. Simulation is no longer that of a territory, a referential being,
Hyperreality: Tracing the Evolution With Jean Baudrillard Read More »
Keywords Rhetorics of Reading, William Covino, Wonder, Paul de Man “Camerado, this is no book, who touches this, touches a man, (Is it night? Are we here alone?) It is I you hold, and who holds you, I spring from
“My interest is in how meaning is communicated via language, and I believe the shape, positioning, even the color of the language has an effect on meaning.” Mark Z. Danielewski In an interview with Google, Mark Z. Danielewski comments on
“To be creative a person must exist and have a feeling of existing, not in conscious awareness, but as a basic place to operate from. Creativity is then the doing that arises out of being. It indicates that he who
Creativity in the Classroom: Knowing, Doing, and Making Read More »
On January 12, Haruki Murakami turns 70, and we are going to celebrate now because it’s already his birthday in Japan. Murakami’s been writing novels, short stories, and essays for the last 40 years. He’s translated more than 100 novels
“Nothing is really work unless you’d rather be doing something else.” James Barrie When you think of Neverland, you probably think of adventure and fantasy and infinite play, but there is a dark, irredeemable side of Neverland that we rarely
Keywords Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida, Punctum, Unconscious “What the Photograph reproduces to infinity has occurred only once: the Photograph mechanically repeats what could never be repeated existentially.”Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida The French literary theorist, Roland Barthes (1915 – 1980), explores
Roland Barthes on Photographing the Unconscious in Camera Lucida Read More »
“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.” Carl Jung Using Greg Ulmer’s concept of electracy, Jan Holmevik explores
Free Play in the Age of Electracy With Jan Holmevik Read More »
“Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstances, are brought into closer connection with you.” Saint Augustine Americans celebrate Thanksgiving this week, a
Sherry Turkle on the Narrow Path to Human Connection Read More »
Keywords The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus, Imagine Sisyphus Happy “Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present.” Albert Camus The French philosopher, Simone Weil, had a profound influence on the existential thinker, Albert Camus. Both
The Myth of Sisyphus: Albert Camus on Rewriting Failure to Imagine Sisyphus Happy Read More »
“An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself.” ~Albert Camus In a 2009 interview with Reuters Magazine, Kanye West says, “I am a proud non-reader of books. I like to get information from doing stuff like actually talking to people
Make America Read Again: Take the Factory Model Out of Education 📚 Read More »
Greg Ulmer teachers readers to compose a MyStory through pattern recognition across family, career, school, and community.
