“Her favorite author is Fuk-Yoo. The great French fi-lo-sof, My-Shell Fuk-Yoo.”
The Academy
July 27, 2026
In the Grip of Politics
The irony of the Report is that its attempt to oppose the politicization of academia is more stridently political than the fields it aims to critique
All of us, from academics to fishermen, have now internalized a practice of reading the social world as a field of political or latently political signs. TV watching habits, food choices, clothing, interpretive approaches to 19th-century British literature: Everything becomes an opportunity to take a political stand, and to position yourself in relation to others taking political stands—and in a profession where discourse is everything, such opportunities abound.
Gass’s sentences were the least datable, are the least dated.
The High Style of the Hater
January 8, 2026
John seemed to be living in an eternal present. But he had a history.
The Last Intellectual
July 23, 2025
Lyn excelled at calling bullshit in various registers, and I keep worrying about what she’d say about what I’m writing now.
Gaps, Which Is to Say Openings
When the English department is your world, the world starts to look like an English department.
Crise en Abyme
March 7, 2025
Call it neoliberalism’s apotheosis, a lesser scholasticide, the billionaire’s last banquet, whatever.
Memos of Blood and Fire
Where “critical race theory” was recently the cudgel set to smash any left-liberal gains, now it is Palestine.
Parallel Processes
When I was a graduate student chasing a fantasy, it had not occurred to me that I was seeking freedom inside the hold.
Dancing Inside the Box
Jameson’s work seemed to suggest that criticism might open a door to paradise.
What’s Our Age Again?
October 29, 2024
Outside Thoughts
On François Laruelle
As with any object under scientific investigation, theorizing philosophy scientifically requires locating its borders, which can only be accomplished by recognizing what is beyond and outside it—that is, what is non-philosophy.
Crow Jane delights in the invitation to the table. If you don’t have a seat at the table, she quips, then you’re the lunch.
