May 2014

The Weird Sisters, Henry Fuseli, 1783 From The Threepenny Review: The haggard sisters’ brew in Macbeth would have remained a ghastly soup had they not chanted over it, and made “the charm firm and good” with their tripping rhyming curses. Spells can be cast by various means, foul and...

Many years ago, in an interview he did with Bill Moyers, Chinua Achebe was asked, “What would you want the West to do?” Achebe replied, “Listen, just listen.” I would like to add...

The notion of an art world devoid of dark subjects is dangerous: it would construct a dishonestly escapist field. To attempt isolating sinister themes would be disastrous, because art needs them to continue being a catalyst for meaningful discourse. The tediousness of depression is perhaps inherent in the creative...

In this final apology, the figure of the wife is removed from the frame entirely. With Abedin absent and therefore invisible, Congressman Weiner takes on a sort of ventriloquism, speaking on the behalf of his partner. Here, Weiner assumes the role of both husband and wife, performing his own...

The Fight For The Standard, Richard Ansdell, 1847 by Bertrand Russell I. The principle that it is always wrong to employ force against another human being has been held in its extreme form by Quakersand by Tolstoï, but has been rejected by the great majority of mankind as inconsistent...

Tonight, Marcos “El Chino” Maidana (35-3) will fight Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. (45-0) to unify the WBC and WBA Welterweight titles. The event promises drama given Maidana’s December 2013 victory over Mayweather’s protégé Adrian Broner (27-1). Dedicated boxing fans are right to consider Mayweather’s redemption for “little brother” Broner...

No one can love anymore because of an overabundance of reaction formation. No one wants to owe anything to their desire(s); to other people’s desires. Hence why Žižek (who I normally can’t stand) warned, “Don’t be afraid to really want what you desire” at an Occupy Wall Street rally...

How could a man born on a Greek island in 1850 be a household name in Japan today? The answer lies in the story of Lafcadio Hearn, whose life was global, bi-racial, and multicultural a century before these concepts became fashionable. Without knowing it, Hearn turned himself into a...