A roundup of the most engaging recent pieces on the web read by the Pittsburgh Review of Books this week.
“The Influence of Anxiety” from The Point
“Something funny happens when you bring up the name Harold Bloom in an academic setting. I’ve seen it happen many times: the rolled or averted eyes, maybe even a little scoff, a look that says Jesus, him again? “
“What to Check Out in Literary Baltimore While You’re in Town For AWP” from LitHub
“If you need a break from the conference rooms at AWP this week, consider taking a literary tour around Charm City. You might be surprised at the hidden gems you find!”
“Trump Desperately Tries to Control Global Chaos Unleashed by Iran War” from The New Republic
“In essence, Trump helped to start a war in the Middle East, and then offered to sell insurance to anyone afraid their stuff might get destroyed.”
“Jeffrey Epstein’s Academic Fixer” from The Chronicle of Higher Education
“How John Brockman, the most powerful man in science publishing, brokered Epstein’s access to academe.”
“Why AI Doesn’t Need a ‘Mind’ to Matter” from Noema
“On the other side of the screen, we are tempted to ask: Is it like us?”
“This Changes Everything” from The Sydney Review of Books
“At the ceremony that night, as I watched Elizabeth speak, it struck me how rare it was for a translator, when accepting an award, to acknowledge the dire financial conditions imposed on literary translators by ‘the market’.”
“There are no psychopaths” from Aeon
“An alternative answer to this question that has so far received little attention is the possibility that psychopathy may be an instance of what scientists colloquially refer to as a zombie idea: ideas that have the quality of being intuitively appealing, but the idea itself is essentially a fallacious misconception of reality.”
“Anna-Sophie Berger on Religious Garb and Consumer Aesthetics” from Artforum
“Francis’s rejection of worldly possessions really is an outrageous act coming from a young, wealthy man, who makes the claim that we should reject the class relations of the time and give away everything we have—a dangerous proposition in the medieval era, antiquity, or now, for that matter.”
“Updike Redux” from Commonweal Magazine
“I searched the extensive fiction section and discovered that they did not have a single novel or story collection by Updike, who was once a bestselling author.”
