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The Best of The Erstwhile Philistine in 2012
As we head into the new year, I thought it would be good, for myself if no one else, to take a look back at the year that has passed on this site. Though we haven’t quite hit the one year anniversary...
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Book Review: Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union
In a (futile) effort to be as cool as fellow Philistine Peter Holcombe, and also as a way to check the pulse of current literature as I labor away at my first attempt at a novel, I have decided to...
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Who Should Our Public Intellectuals Be?
This is a continuation of a post I made last week titled, Should Scientists Be Public Intellectuals? I got a fair amount of feedback on that post, and I’m afraid I may have ruffled a few feathers,...
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Is George R.R. Martin’s Moral Vision Really More Complex Than Tolkien’s?
I went on a tiny Twitter rant the other day. It was prompted by this article on The A.V. Club. Otherwise a decent article, it is marred by a passing reference by one of the writers to a common...
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Some Reasons to Read Middlemarch
As I prepare to enter a PhD program in the fall, at which point presumably I won’t have much leisure time for reading what I want when I want it, I’ve decided to dedicate my summer to checking off some...
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Babette’s Feast and the Uselessness of Grace: A Eulogy for The Dissolve
Last night provided me with the rare opportunity (in an age where repertory screenings have dwindled, especially outside major markets) to see a film I love in an actual theater. Columbia’s excellent...
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