From the monthly archives:

November 2009

On Samuel Johnson’s Worth Today

Though an excellent poet and storyteller, aside from his critical power, Johnson now matters most as a wisdom writer. His test for literary criticism was …

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Information Overload, Renaissance Edition

While the extreme availability of information today should presumably have highlighted its relative paucity in earlier periods, historians–most notably Ann Blair–have in fact extended the

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Absurdist Literature Stimulates Our Brains

The befuddled tramps in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot are a poetic personification of paralysis. But new research suggests the act of watching them actually

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What’s the Matter With Cultural Studies?

My hopes aren’t quite as ambitious as they were 20 years ago. I no longer expect cultural studies to transform the disciplines.

via What’s the …

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The Decline of the English Department

English has become less and less coherent as a discipline and, worse, has come near exhaustion as a scholarly pursuit.

via The Decline of the …

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Christopher Hitchens on Irving Kristol

As for the image of a neoconservative as a liberal “mugged by reality”: Once people got over their affected fuss about the possible innuendo in

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Letterman’s Brilliant Crisis Management

Letterman is often best when, dying badly on stage, he turns his parched sarcasm back on himself. This was deadpan candor and ace crisis management.

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The Powers of Dr. Johnson

That is why Johnson is important: he is the patron saint of literary faith. And our love of him can only increase when we see,

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