How We Got Into the Literary Theory Wars

“Clearly, poems and novels and paintings were not produced as objects for future academic study; there is no a priori reason to think that they could be suitable objects of ‘research.’ … But just as clearly, the teaching of literature in universities – especially after the 19th-century research model of Humboldt University of Berlin was widely copied – needed a justification consistent with the aims of that academic setting.”

Montaigne, the Great-Granddaddy of All Bloggers

The inventor of the personal essay “confesses that he is lazy and dilatory, the very opposite of self-disciplined: ‘What I do easily and naturally I can no longer do if I order myself to do it by strict command.’ … And even back in the day, people complained that he shared too much trivial detail, such as his preference for white wine over red.”

US Government Buys Books, Destroys Them (Why This Isn’t Censorship)

“Here’s why this is visionary and not simply stupid. Getting rid of a lot of books may sound uncomfortably like censorship — a kinder, gentler version of that preacher in Florida threatening to burn copies of the Koran. While destroying a holy book is a desecration, buying 10,000 copies of a war memoir is economic stimulus.”

Mark Morris on Dance Cos. That Don’t Use Live Music

“If you don’t have enough money to use gigantic orchestral music with a giant orchestra, don’t choreograph to it. There’s always a pianist who’s eager and maybe you can afford. … A recording of a performance is a recording of a performance. It’s not the performance. … And, you know, I’m not saying, ‘Shame on everybody for not doing that, doing what I do,’ ’cause it’s of course expensive and complicated.”