This quotation from C.S. Lewis has been doing the rounds of both the writers’ and fountain pen communities. I quite like it – even if I find some of Lewis’s other output a bit too unbearably pompous for modern tastes. It appears on the back dust jacket of a recent collection edited by David C. …
I’m endlessly interested by the surprising enthusiasms people engage in and the lengths they will go to pursue them. This book on cactus collectors looks like a fascinating read. I’ve added it to my to read list. Jared D. Margulies, The Cactus Hunters. Desire and Extinction in the Illicit Succulent Trade, Minnesota University Press, 2023 …
This post is a reminder to myself to get hold of and read Grafton Tanner’s new book. I don’t know if he refers to Foucault, but I can’t help but think of Foucault’s notions of heterotopia when I read the book description. …the idea of accumulating everything, of establishing a sort of general archive, the …
I’ve been interested for a while in challenging notions of human exceptionalism and the nature/human civilization divide. A definitional paper I’ve come across. Carlos Roberto Bernardes de Souza Júnior, “More-than-human cultural geographies towards co-dwelling on earth.” Mercator – Revista de Geografia da UFC 20, no. (2021):1-10. Redalyc, https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=273665153007 Abstract: Established as a counterpoint to culture-nature …
In recent years, I, like many others, have noticed that criticism and critical intellectuals have been steadily pathologised as unduly negative and hence in need of therapy and psychological intervention. It’s a very effective way of silencing the critique of institutions and social conditions. It remains to be seen how this trend will play out …
I’ve just had the good fortune to be able to spend three months on long service and holiday leave and have taken the opportunity to undertake research and work on organising systems. It has been a process that has been worth its weight in gold. My goal has been to set systems in place that …
This looks like a really interesting work… Federico Italiano (ed.), The Dark Side of Translation – Routledge, 2020 We tend to consider translation as something good, virtuous and bright, but it can also function as an instrument of concealment, silencing and misdirection—as something that darkens and obscures. Propaganda, misinformation, narratives of trauma and imagery of …
No apologies for cross-posting this notice of the new book from Foucault News! Foucault at the Movies Michel Foucault, Patrice Maniglier, Dork Zabunyan. Translated and edited by Clare O’Farrell, Columbia University Press, 2018 Michel Foucault’s work on film, although not extensive, compellingly illustrates the power of bringing his unique vision to bear on the subject …
Svend Brinkmann, Stand Firm. Resisting the Self-Improvement Craze, Trans. Tam McTurk, Cambridge: Polity, 2017 Another book I will be reading through on this blog. This short and entertaining anti self-help book is an absolute gem. I will admit I am a bit of a self-help junkie, but prefer works that offer practical (and not too …
This fantastic book is now available in English at a prohibitive price unfortunately. This deserved cheap paperback status so that many could buy it. See the review I translated back in 2013. Publication blurb and details below. Pascal Chabot, Global Burnout, Bloomsbury Academic, 2018 Available for the first time in English and freshly adapted as …
Refracted Input 