Paul Virilio Teaches Us to Fall Upward and Swim in the Ether in Open Sky
“A generation that had gone to school on a horse-drawn streetcar now stood under the open sky in a countryside in which nothing remained unchanged but the clouds, and beneath these clouds, in a field of force of destructive torrents and explosions, was the tiny, fragile human body.” Walter Benjamin, The Storyteller Paul Virilio is […]
On Marshall McLuhan: The Medium Is NOT the Message
“The medium is the message. This is merely to say that the personal and social consequences of any medium – that is, of any extension of ourselves – result from the new scale that is introduced into our affairs by each extension of ourselves, or by any new technology.” Marshall McLuhan When we say truth […]
James Paul Gee Describes the Transforming Power of Perspective in Education
James Paul Gee describes the Transforming Power of Perspective in Education
The Best Books for Studying Magical Realism
In a magical realist story there must be an irreducible element, something that cannot be explained by logic, familiar knowledge, or received belief.” ~David Young and Keith Hollaman Magical realism is a radically complicated literary mode. It’s so complicated that I get uncomfortable every time I hear someone describe a work of literature as a […]
Mark Z. Danielewski on Craving the Familiar
The ear tends to be lazy, craves the familiar and is shocked by the unexpected; the eye, on the other hand, tends to be impatient, craves the novel and is bored by repetition. ~W.H. Auden I just spent two weeks in Northern California – a place that is incredibly familiar and that I am lucky […]
Mark Edmundson on Becoming the Author’s Advocate, His Attorney for Explication and Defense
“The kind of teaching I part company with, the kind that seems to me most destructive to the freedom of self-making, is the kind that simply applies a standing set of terms to every text that comes to hand. These forms of teaching are a little like bad translation. Every work, alas, is rewritten in […]
Truth and Lie With Friedrich Nietzsche
“Here the ways of men part: if you wish to strive for peace of soul and pleasure, then believe; if you wish to be a a devotee of truth, then inquire.” ~Friedrich Nietzsche, Letter to His Sister, 1865 Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), the German philosopher and professor of philology, wrote the essay, “Truth and Lie in […]
Critical Theory & Philosophy Reading Group
Critical Theory & Philosophy Reading Group I am excited to announce the reading list is finalized and our Critical Theory & Philosophy Reading Group is open for enrollment. We will read and discuss over 30 thinkers in 2018 with a special focus on 20th century theoretical and philosophical thought. You can enroll HERE. Our Critical Theory […]
Introducing the Reading Beyond Murakami Course Series
I’m excited to introduce a brand new way to engage with Haruki Murakami’s mind-bending stories. The Reading Beyond Murakami Course Series is a systematic approach to understanding the author in a whole new way. Life-long learners will delight in learning and re-learning what makes literature so profound. The first course launches March 20 and is an in-depth look […]
The Best Books for Studying Literary and Critical Theory
Critical theory is not hard for students to grasp when it is explained well. These are the best books to introduce students to literary theory and criticism.
Women & Madness in Literature & Life
“I believe that reading and writing are the most nourishing forms of meditation anyone has so far found. By reading the writings of the most interesting minds in history, we meditate with our own minds and theirs as well. This to me is a miracle.” ~R.D. Laing Zelda Fitzgerald At book club a few weeks […]
Reading Beyond Murakami
Like many of you, I no longer hold my breath for Murakami to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. For some reason, they don’t see the brilliance or the depth in his work. Every year I hope for it, and every year I am disappointed. I’ve read some pretty depressing articles that try to explain […]
When Nietzsche Wept and the Christian Faith
Time cannot be broken; that is our greatest burden. And our greatest challenge is to live in spite of that burden.” Last night I read past my bedtime to finish a remarkable book. For some reason When Nietzsche Wept: A Novel of Obsession by Irvin D. Yalom was never on my radar before a few months […]
How I Plan My Freshmen Composition Course
“Writers are not just people who sit down and write. They hazard themselves. Every time you compose a book your composition of yourself is at stake.” ~E.L. Doctorow After teaching the same freshmen composition course 25 times over the past four years, I have found my sweet spot in the way I set up my […]
Your Moral Compass Makes You Human
“I said that the world is absurd, but I was too hasty. This world in itself is not reasonable, that is all that can be said. But what is absurd is the confrontation of this irrational and the wild longing for clarity whose call echoes in the human heart.” Albert Camus C.S. Lewis begins his […]