My lament is not based on philosophy but on the Washington Review of Books. If one cannot be sure about the answer to the most important questions, then the Washington Review of Books is the best basis for the practical life.
N.B.:
The next WRB x Liberties salon will take place on May 18. If you would like to come discuss the topic “Should you like your friends?” please contact Chris or Celeste Marcus.
Links:
In the Verso blog, Ian Buchanan with an installment of its ongoing series on Fredric Jameson:
Jameson knew that no one much read [Wyndham] Lewis anymore when he set out to write Fables of Aggression (1979). In the prologue, pointedly entitled “On Not Reading Lewis” Jameson more or less says the only reason Lewis isn’t canceled today (i.e., in 1979, when of course the word “canceled” wasn’t yet in use) is because no one actually reads him anymore. He acknowledges that Lewis’ reputation for misogyny and fascist sympathies is well deserved, but also notes in the appendix that his anti-Nazi convictions are “impeccable.” Jameson’s claim as to why he should be read goes to the heart of his method, which, I daresay, is one of the least noticed aspects of his approach to the written word. He is a great admirer and exponent of the sentence. He describes Lewis’ style in terms of the different sentence-producing machines he creates, and it is clearly this aspect of Lewis’ work that he finds energizing and worth theorizing.
In Engelsberg Ideas, Emma Smith on Isabella Whitney, who “has a strong claim to be the first English woman to write secular literature for publication”:
Another poem is titled “The admonition by the Author, to all young gentlewomen,” and has a similar bounce. The speaker is worldly-wise. Men pretend to emotions they do not feel; they fake tears according to Ovid’s seduction instructions. “Always try before ye trust” is her top tip: suggesting that men need thorough road-testing before any thought of marriage. And while the end of the poem suggests the speaker has been hurt herself—“I who was deceived late / by one’s unfaithful tears”—the guidance to women readers emphasizes their freedom to choose. What is so new and refreshing about Whitney’s poetic voice is that it is neither moralistic nor religious; instead, it is witty, uses its learning lightly, and is on the side of its imagined women readers.
[We hear a lot these days about what’s wrong with men’s romantic behavior, and yet, to my knowledge, no writer on the subject has proposed widespread reading of the Ars amatoria as its cause. —Steve]
In Prospect, Josiah Gogarty profiles Max Lawton, translator of many of Vladimir Sorokin’s novels:
As well as being Sorokin’s translator, Lawton was his chaperone during an American book tour in October 2022, during which they “got into all sorts of funny jams.” Sorokin, who has lived in Berlin since being caught there when Russia invaded Ukraine, couldn’t figure out how to get service on his German phone. One day, Lawton was at the dentist in New Jersey, and had to remotely call Sorokin an Uber in New York, getting the driver—“this enormous dude” with jewelry-encrusted teeth—to walk around the block calling out, “Vladiiimir, Vladiiimir”. Vladimir’s own appraisal of the situation? “Pure cinema, Max. American cinematic country.” The pair also went out to dinner with Bret Easton Ellis in LA, where Sorokin—who speaks English “pretty well”, but very slowly—would occasionally pipe up with obscure details from Ellis’s novel Glamorama (1998): “Bret, you remember, by the Time Warner building, three Maseratis, four Aston Martins, and two G-Wagons?” “Ooh, you’re right. Yes I do, Vladimir.”
[Behind the paywall: Steve muses about presidential campaign songs and mentions Canada twice, Julia on an opening line with the vibes of “a young male poet in the ’80s,” Fernando Pessoa, Branson, Kafka, “theory,” Frank O’Hara, hypochondria, Patricia Highsmith, and more links, reviews, news items, and commentary carefully selected for you, just like on Saturdays. If you like what you see, why not sign up for a paid subscription? The WRB is for you, and your support helps keep us going.]
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