Walter Benjamin on Explosive Reading and the Storyteller
Walter Benjamin considers The Storyteller an artistic observer capabale of seeing and communicating beauty in a way that transforms readers and listeners.
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 […]
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 […]
The Muse Learns to Read: Trace the Process of Intellectual Becoming
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 Rhetorics of Reading With Wonder
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 the pages into your arms…” Walt Whitman, So Long! What happens when we read? Do […]
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 […]
Steven Pinker on the Need for Empathy in Enlightenment Now
“A man, to be greatly good, must imagine intensely and comprehensively; he must put himself in the place of another and many others; the pains and pleasures of his species must become his own. The great instrument of moral good is the imagination.” ~Percy Bysshe Shelley, A Defence of Poetry and Other Essays Steven Pinker, the […]
The Best Haruki Murakami Love Quotes
Keywords Haruki Murakami love quotes, empathy, desire “We are most alive when we’re in love.” John Updike Haruki Murakami is not known for writing romance novels, yet something about this list of Haruki Murakami love quotes demonstrates his unique posture toward love. The way he describes the human condition continues to resonate with readers. He […]
Famous Writers on the Love of Reading
Keywords Writers, Reading, Readers, Writers are readers, Famous Writers on the love of reading “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 […]
Kazuo Ishiguro – 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature
The winner of 2017’s Nobel Prize in Literature was announced just two hours ago. This year Kazuo Ishiguro is taking home the prize. What a great choice by the academy, but we’ve all got our opinions, right? He’s no stranger to accolades, but this prize might be the most meaningful. Do you think he deserves […]
Announcing Fall Book Club
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino It is the first day of Fall and I am so excited to start a new book with you this season. Now remember I pick books I think you might enjoy AND that I haven’t read. That means there is always risk involved on my part. I meditate on the […]
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World Study Guide
The Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World Study Guide offers a comprehensive look into the 1985 novel Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami. The study guide includes the following: brief author biography, title breakdown and analysis, major plot points for each chapter, analysis of character development, a list […]
A Solar Eclipse and Homer’s Odyssey
“Nations, like stars, are entitled to eclipse. All is well, provided the light returns and the eclipse does not become endless night. Dawn and resurrection are synonymous. The reappearance of the light is the same as the survival of the soul.” ~Victor Hugo In light (or dark) of the solar eclipse happening today, I wanted […]
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 […]