Bridge and Door: Georg Simmel on How Separation Inspires Human Connection
Offering a fresh perspective and a hope for connection amidst the closed doors of social distancing, Georg Simmel is emerging as a thinker for our contemporary cultural moment.
Ralph Ellison and Kenneth Burke on Race, Writing, and Friendship
Ralph Ellison and Kenneth Burke were friends for more than 50 years and Bryan Crable chronicles the complex history of their friendship.
How Time and Space Converge to Evoke Walter Benjamin’s Aura
“The concept of aura which was proposed above with reference to historical objects may usefully be illustrated with reference to the aura of natural ones. We define aura of the latter as the unique phenomenon of a distance, however close it may be. If, while resting on a summer afternoon, you follow with your eyes […]
Walter Ong’s Psychodynamics of Orality and the Reader
Keywords Walter Ong, Psychodynamics, Orality and Literacy “Until writing was invented, men lived in acoustic space: boundless, directionless, horizonless, in the dark of the mind, in the world of emotion, by primordial intuition, by terror. Speech is a social chart of this bog.” Marshall McLuhan When we trace language from orality, characterized by the pre-socratics and […]
Henri Bergson on the Cinematographic Mechanism of Thought
Keywords Henri Bergson, Cinematic Mechanism of Thought, Intuition, Cognition, Creative Mind, Elan Vital “In its entirety, probably, it follows us at every instant; all that we have felt, thought and willed from our earliest infancy is there, leaning over the present which is about to join it, pressing against the portals of consciousness that would […]
William Covino on the Art of Wonder in Philosophy
“The art of rhetoric underlines the ambiguity of language; to practice the art, one remains mindful that all conclusions are provisional, tentative. The art lies not in the completion of a text, but in the transfiguration of one text — one system of possibilities — into another.” William A. Covino, The Art of Wondering REVISING […]
David Foster Wallace and the Utter Hell of Solipsism
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 wildly ambitious American writer, David Foster Wallace (1962-2008), offers a complicated account of what it […]
Hyperreality: Tracing the Evolution With Jean Baudrillard
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, or a substance. It is the generation by models of a real without origin or […]
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 […]
Murakami Reading Group
“In this world, there are things you can do alone, and things you can do with somebody else. It’s important you combine the two in just the right amount.” ~Haruki Murakami Murakami Reading Group The opportunity to read and study Haruki Murakami is here. Reading Beyond Murakami is one of Book Oblivion’s online course series. […]
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 […]
Haruki Murakami & Magical Realism
Book Oblivion Academy’s newest course is here. I’m writing to let you know that the enrollment for Murakami & Magical Realism is officially open. In this fully online course, we unpack the genre of magical realism while exploring three of Haruki Murakami’s strangest novels: Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, The Wind-Up Bird […]
Announcing Summer Book Club
A Gentleman in Moscow – Summer Book Club We have some exciting news for summer book club, but first – Happy Summer! Now I realize a lot of you are all over the world, so it may or may not be your summer. Nonetheless, I hope you will continue to devour good books with us, […]
10 Books I Can’t Wait to Get My Eyes on in 2017
10 Books I Can’t Wait to Get My Eyes on in 2017 “And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been.” ~Rainer Maria Rilke By Jessica S. Manuel As if the new year isn’t exciting enough, we have 10 incredible new reads on the horizon to build anticipation all year […]
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.