Tag Archives: books

Tree Spirits in The Golden Bough

Posted on March 14, 2020 by Lee

In spring, early summer, or midsummer the villagers would go out into the woods to cut down a tree. They’d bring it back to the village and set it up there (“amid general rejoicings”); or, in other villages, they would … Continue reading →

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See What I’m Saying

Posted on February 18, 2020 by Lee

First sentence of William Burroughs’ The Wild Boys: “The camera is the eye of a cruising vulture flying over an area of scrub, rubble and unfinished buildings on the outskirts of Mexico City.” Burroughs thinks in pictures and his books … Continue reading →

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How to Begin (Notes on the Introduction to Hegel’s Phenomenology)

Posted on January 28, 2020 by Lee

It’s no use starting with the assumption that thought and being are identical. For one thing, no one will know what you’re talking about. Hegel started by looking at the philosophical thinking of his day and showing how it was … Continue reading →

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Hegel’s Democratic Spirit

Posted on January 23, 2020 by Lee

The Preface to the Phenomenology of Spirit is a good place to begin with Hegel. The key question he’s asking in these pages is: What is philosophy? And his answer tells us a lot about what kind of philosopher he … Continue reading →

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Notes on Ursula Le Guin’s “The Dispossessed”

Posted on January 20, 2020 by Lee

Stepping off a train onto a crowded platform. Anxious glances of the passers-by. Shevek wonders at this anxiety: is it a function of the capitalist economy here? The fact that each of these people must make enough money to live? … Continue reading →

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Notes on Nabokov’s “The Seaport”

Posted on January 13, 2020 by Lee

The whole scene is bright, with sunshine everywhere. Colours: the blue of the sea, the green of the woman’s dress. These things stand out. The sunshine gives colour to everything. Each thing seems to have its own distinct colour: no … Continue reading →

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Spengler’s Logic of History

Posted on November 4, 2019 by Lee

Oswald Spengler tells us that he’s trying something new, a kind of historical study that he calls “predetermining history”: he’s going to use an historian’s methods in order to tell us something of what is going to happen. History is … Continue reading →

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Fantasy and Escapism

Posted on September 2, 2019 by Lee

Fantasy books, TV shows, and films all provide entertainment and escapism. I enjoy fantasy but I’m troubled by this notion of escape – of using art to “wind down” and “switch off.” It seems to me that this is potentially … Continue reading →

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Above and Below

Posted on August 12, 2019 by Lee

If Henry Miller’s Nexus begins in a slough of despair, in its final chapters the rays of hope begin to emerge. The day he’ll leave for Europe is approaching, and knowing he will be leaving soon makes his remaining days … Continue reading →

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Arthur Machen’s “Meditations of a Tavern”

Posted on July 29, 2019 by Lee

In Arthur Machen’s The Hill of Dreams, Lucian Taylor is a struggling writer prone to daydreaming. He deliberately seeks out obscure books, to learn the most useless knowledge he can find. He is sick of modern society and its day-to-day … Continue reading →

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