A roundup of the most engaging recent pieces on the web read by the Pittsburgh Review of Books this week.
“Living without my self” from Aeon
“The idea of human existence as the continuous journey of a singular self is not just typical of European life-writing but a convention of Western literature and culture as such.”
“Why the ‘heterodox’ university failed” from UnHerd
“But what about these new platforms? Audiences on Substack and X aren’t experts; they yearn for anti-woke red meat. In the heterodox community, the surest way to advance is to provide this (and to do so often).”
“Elucidating the Esoteric with Hilma’s Ghost” from Hyperallergic
“Although contentious, the newfound spotlight on af Klint stimulated public interest in the sacred and the supernatural, invoking a new feminist artist collective that both questions and resists the sidelining of alternative histories.”
“What Are the Routines of So-Called Super Readers?” from LitHub
“For super-readers, the value of a book isn’t measured by recall, but by engagement. Once that’s delivered, they’re ready for the next one.”
“Fear and Fragility: The Glass Delusion and Its History” from the Public Domain Review
“The cases had accumulated across the medical literature — noted by one physician, cited by the next, appearing in treatises from Leiden to Paris, Amsterdam to Lyon. The glass man also caught the imagination of writers across Europe; in particular, a novelist from Spain and a philosopher in the Netherlands — each reaching for the same figure, each finding something different inside of it.”
“Double Vision” from The Nation
“And that’s just the first sentence. In a single syntactic unit, Lerner reveals the full catalog of his protagonist’s concerns: the travails of dating, health, death, the uncertain future, and, as ever, the possibility of being embarrassed.”
“An Analog Tether” from The Los Angeles Review of Books
“Galleries and museums are now often accused of using ChatGPT to write their wall texts and press releases, dependably automating a neutral tone for saying less with more words. Against this backdrop, a few recent exhibitions seemed driven by a sense of camaraderie or intimacy, made with an analog physicality and pulsing with sentimentality and texture.”
“Reading Toni Morrison Today” from The Cleveland Review of Books
“By any measure, Toni Morrison is one of the greatest writers of the last century. Perhaps the greatest, which is why those of us in Ohio feel especially proud that she was not only born and raised here, but that she wrote extensively about the state.”
