Reading C.S. Lewis's Academic Books #1: The Discarded Image
A review of C.S. Lewis's The Discarded Image, his last book and a tour de force on medieval literature, psychology, and philosophy of science.
The Halloween Country: October Thoughts Occasioned by Ray Bradbury
Seasonal musings on Ray Bradbury, the Christian roots of Halloween, and the opposition of Orthodox afterlife to contemporary Hell Houses.
Shohei Ohtani and the Individual Talent
Shohei Ohtani's abilities are unprecedented, but what if no one believed in him? The Japanese movie "I Will Buy You" paints a bleak "what if." Plus: another Los Angeles Dodgers playoff loss.
Moby-Dick: Or, The Ambiguities
Moby-Dick is American Shakespeare. Each era finds something new in it, but its critical stance on technology, capitalism, and nature is timely as ever.
Remembering Ronald Numbers (1942-2023), Historian of Science
The late historian Ronald Numbers was a great exemple of intellectual seriousness and deep compassion. We can all learn from him.
The Passion of George Orwell
Orwell's 1984 is an inversion and reply to CS Lewis's That Hideous Strength. But in changing Lewis's ending, he offered no hope for Winston Smith.
Has Science Fiction Ever Been Modern?
How modern is sci-fi, anway? Its Golden Age featured narratives of ascent and decline, the binary of Foundation or A Canticle for Leibowitz. But modernity is more complicated than either progress or regress.
The Fifth Head of Cerberus: Notes on a Neglected Masterpiece
Gene Wolfe's brilliant novel asks courageous questions about progress, space colonization, and humanity.
The Book of the New Sun Is the Dark Souls of Books
Gene Wolfe and Dark Souls are both difficult and engrossing. In demanding rereading and replaying, they resist the passivity of consumer culture.
ChatGPT and the University's Existential Crisis
To grapple with ChatGPT in the classroom is also to grapple with the purpose of education: what are its means and what are its ends?
