Month: September 2019

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Good night. The day seems to be breaking. The sky is green.–Friday Love Letters

With my current job I travel more than I ever have. One way I stave off homesickness is by reading books my wife has given me (and rereading poems we’ve written for each other). The one I keep picking up for now is Letters to Véra, Vladimir Nabokov’s letters to Véra Slonim from their first … Continue reading Good night. The day seems to be breaking. The sky is green.–Friday Love Letters

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Verbing Nicias and Other Sundry from Plutarch’s Lives

In the ancient world, being a fierce warrior wasn’t enough. Nicias was known as a strong soldier, but a careful general, which was not smiled upon at the time. In fact, it earned him scorn. Aristophanes, who also famously lampooned Socrates, made him a verb. It’s awkwardly translated sometimes as “shilly-shally-niciasize” and more simply as … Continue reading Verbing Nicias and Other Sundry from Plutarch’s Lives

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From the Eunoia Archives: The Terror Test: Test Prep #6

Originally written for The Terror Test episode grading The Fireman, Baskin, and Southbound. Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas! or Repetition In Heaven and Hell “I think this story is about Hell. A version where you are condemned to do the same thing over and over again. Existentialism, baby, what a concept: paging Albert Camus. There’s an idea … Continue reading From the Eunoia Archives: The Terror Test: Test Prep #6

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The Land of One-Eyed Men: More of Plutarch’s Life of Sertorius

I wrote earlier about Sertorius and his white fawn. Another aspect of Plutarch’s Sertorius that I find striking is the introduction that has correspondences to both Jung’s synchronicity and Freud’s uncanny. With Jung’s notion we get meaningful coincidence and pattern detection which are here in Plutarch’s opening. With Freud’s uncanny, we get doubling and doppelgängers, … Continue reading The Land of One-Eyed Men: More of Plutarch’s Life of Sertorius