PolyArchive

Excerpt from Red Fortress: History and Illusion in the Kremlin “[The area of modern-day Russia and Ukraine] seemed to be a dangerous, exotic place, where fortunes waited for adventurers. Human slaves were one source of profit, for while Muslims and Christians were forbidden to enslave each other, the pagan Slavs were fair game. The appetite […]

MrPorter.com: The Tribute: 10 Black Style Icons Who Changed British Menswear Words by Fedora Abu For as long as Black people have immigrated to the UK from its former colonies, Black culture has woven itself into the nation’s fabric. … British fashion is no different, although whether those contributions have been rightfully acknowledged is another […]

Top 9 Posts of 2024 Readers came here for many different posts during the year, but these were the most popular: The Poems of Our Climate | Wallace Stevens Dorothy Parker on New York: Autumn is the Springtime of big cities Introduction to Collected Poems (1938), E.E. Cummings You Want a Social Life, with Friends […]

Introduction to Wallace Stevens: A Poet of Imagination and Abstraction Wallace Stevens (1879-1955) occupies a revered place in American poetry, celebrated for his intricate use of language and his philosophical exploration of art, imagination, and reality. A master of modernist verse, Stevens seamlessly blended intellectual depth with musicality, crafting poems that challenge and reward readers […]

The Hilarious World of Depression John Moe St. Martin’s Press Description One of Today’s Ten Best Inspirational Books, 2020 By the creator and host of the acclaimed mental health podcast Depresh Mode with John Moe “[A] path to deeper understanding and openness, by way of laughter in the dark” ―The New York Times Book Review […]

Love Unknown: The Life and Worlds of Elizabeth Bishop Thomas Travisano From the Publisher: Description An illuminating new biography of one of the greatest American poets of the twentieth century, Elizabeth Bishop “Love Unknown points movingly to the many relationships that moored Bishop, keeping her together even as life—and her own self-destructive tendencies—threatened to split her […]

Links of the Week, vol. 13: Link Cadillac, Crushed Velvet Seats Jonas Fredwall Karlsson’s Portraits of Rock Climbers and Adventurer Click through to see Karlsson’s portraits of the extreme climbers, bikers, hikers, adventurers, and explorers, from the pages of Vanity Fair. https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/photos/2015/03/jonas-fredwall-karlsson-extreme-sports-photography —– The Enduring Mystery of the Amber Room, Coveted by Tsars, Nazis, and […]

Review: A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life George Saunders Random House ISBN 9781984856029 PRICE $28.00 (USD) PAGES 432 George Saunders, the celebrated author of Lincoln in the Bardo and Tenth of December, invites readers on an intellectual journey with his […]

“Toasted bacon wrapped in tin trays, sonic dishwashers and fridges that appear from under the kitchen floor – this was how life was supposed to be 40 years ago. These pictures are from a 1962 book called 1975: And the Changes to Come by Arnold B. Barach. They predict what the world of the future […]

Over at Jane Austen’s World, Rachel Dodge has been comparing how Austen’s novels use what have now become standard romance tropes. The end of the series is the Sense and Sensibility’s (double) love triangle. Jane Austen’s World | Jane Austen and Rom Coms: Sense and Sensibility (“Love Triangles”) — We often forget that Thomas Alva […]

About 18 months ago (in the summer of 1996) I went to see Four Weddings and a Funeral at a North London cineplex. Very soon I was filled with a yearning to be doing something else (for example, standing at a bus stop in the rain); and under normal circumstances I would have walked out […]

Yes, volume 8 was posted before volume 7. Want your money back? The girl who grew up in Pasadena, took the bus, loved her mom, and wrote herself into the world. Vulture | The Spectacular Life of Octavia Butler — With its sweet and loving disposition, combined with silky fur and elegantly droopy ears, the Cavalier […]

Why did I write it down? In order to remember, of course, but exactly what was it I wanted to remember? How much of it actually happened? Did any of it? Why do I keep a notebook at all? It is easy to deceive oneself on all those scores. The impulse to write things down […]

She was hired by Emily Carr University in an effort to recruit Indigenous faculty. Then questions arose about her identity. The Curious Case of Gina Adams: A “Pretendian” investigation.   How did a simple offer, over a single painting, lead to such a spectacular destruction of someone’s life and career? The answer involves the shifting […]