Studies in a Dying Culture

Here is a sampling of hard-copy books I’ve been reading all or parts of since my birthday, more or less in reverse chronological order, but several of these simultaneously. This doesn’t include isolated essays, chapters, or online reading. Yovel, Yirmiyahu. Spinoza and Other Heretics: The Adventures of Immanence [v. 2]. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, [...]

I have not published a reading review since June 2007. Instead of beginning with July, I’ll work my way backward. At the moment there is too much non-book material to document readily, so this is an effort at compiling a list of books I’ve read part or all of since the beginning of March. I [...]

Adorno supplied a sizable quantity of first-class quotable aphorisms. This is one famous one-liner, from Minima Moralia, #122, Monograms: True thoughts are those alone which do not understand themselves. On 17 December 1999 I interpreted this quote as follows: I take Adorno’s statement to mean that writers who formulate great truths or profound models of [...]

The debate: Bronner, Stephen Eric. "The Great Divide: The Enlightenment and its Critics," New Politics, vol. 5, no. 3 (new series), whole no. 19, Summer 1995, pp. 65-86. Goldner, Loren. "A Reply to Stephen Eric Bronner: Renaissance or Enlightenment," New Politics, vol. 6, no. 1 (new series), whole no. 21, Summer 1996, pp. 137-145. Bronner, [...]

Stephen Eric Bronner is not content to regurgitate the critical theory of its European originators of an earlier era, and he is not averse to criticizing their lapses. None of his books are to be missed, but for critical theory I suggest Of Critical Theory and Theorists above all. In October 2006 I read the [...]

More Vonnegut When I picked up Kurt Vonnegut’s Timequake (New York: G.P. Putnam’s, 1997) off my table for the first time, I thought this might be a throwaway book. I was wrong; it was hilarious, and there’s much in there. It is a combination memoir and science fiction tale. A whole decade has to be [...]

I have long delayed summarizing the books I read in all or part from February through April 2007, partly in hope of writing extensive reviews of some of them. For now, I will just list the books and some other materials, and I can always return and delve into more detail at a future date. [...]