Anna Gát: What to Read this Weekend #3
Civility, solitude, Didion, Calvino, flâneurs, sex research, Goethe, Ferrante, dreams - and more to read about this weekend...
The Impotence of Being Clever - When did cleverness become such a nuisance?
The flâneur takes an almost erotic pleasure in his own self-presentation, estrangement, and anonymity, which give him a sense of dominance over the scene. - Hedgehog Review
Is there any identifiable limit beyond which the comprehensive and willful re-engineering of human life upon which we are embarked will not go? Are there shadowy places where we should resolve never to explore? - Mosaic
Ann Goldstein: “Translation is all about attention to detail”
I do think that proofreading, copy-editing, editing, they have to do with an attention to detail, and of course translation is all about attention to detail. It’s attention to particular words, to sentences, and how words work in a sentence. - New Statesman
In well-ordered pluralistic societies, compromise – even somewhat messy compromise – is the official ideal. - Engelsberg Idas
How Loneliness Reshapes the Brain
Loneliness can be difficult to study empirically because it is entirely subjective. - Quanta
Dressed for literary success? - What women poets wore – and whether it matters
At the end of 2022 a pair of tortoiseshell Céline glasses owned by the late Joan Didion sold for $27,000. Back in 2018 Frieda Hughes held an auction of Sylvia Plath’s belongings... - Times Literary Supplement
What appeared new in Calvino’s novels was, in truth, a resurrection of something considerably older: a romantic simplicity nurtured by a devotion to the archetypes of epic and chivalric literature. - The New Yorker, Merve Emre
Germany - University life seen through American eyes - Tupper, 1900-1901
After presentation of credentials and payment of eighteen marks, the entering student now obtains three things. The first is a certificate of matriculation, a portly and florid document, twice as large as a college diploma, attesting in pompous Latinity that, “under the auspices and authority of the very august and potent lord, William II, a most ornate youth has been duly enrolled, etc., etc.” - Irwin Collier
Science should get input from people of all backgrounds – not just those in the guild. Doing so would lead to an increased democratization of knowledge as well as new insights and perspectives that can be critiqued and, when appropriate, adopted. In addition, fostering a culture of inclusion and openness in scientific research would improve public trust in science. - Sam Jordan
Why we can dream in more than one language
It's during sleep that this integration of old and new knowledge happens. During the day, our hippocampus, which specialises in absorbing information quickly, soaks up new words. At night, it passes the new information on to other parts of the brain, where it can be stored and connected to other relevant information. - BBC