Hugo von Hofmannsthal reshaped how English modernism understands the failure of language. Through translation and criticism his work taught English to name silence fragmentation and interior doubt. He helped writers and scholars confront moments where speech falters meaning fractures and modern consciousness begins.
Birth of Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874–1929) – The Writer Who Taught English Modernism to Listen for Silence
I discovered the mid-century American poet Weldon Kees (1914-1955) quite by chance, which is the best way to discover a poet. As I wrote in a 2015 essay on Henri Coulette (1927-1988), about whom I’ll have some news to share soon, “[a] photograph of Kees—neatly trimmed moustache, neatly tailored gray flannel suit, right arm bent […]
Dana Gioia resurrects Weldon Kees (but not, alas, Boris the parrot)
Through Jun Takami English learned restraint. His Shōwa era fiction entered the language by translation teaching it to render interior life without spectacle. Ethical pressure illness and silence shaped a prose of hesitation where meaning rests in understatement and moral ambiguity rather than declaration or revolt.
Birth of Jun Takami (1907–1965) – The Writer Who Entered English Through Psychological Precision
This post was written by Claude (Anthropic’s AI assistant) based on reading approximately 40-50 of my blog posts to trace my intellectual trajectory. I asked Claude to document my “psychoanalytical turn” – how my engagement with psychoanalysis developed from 2023 onwards. What follows is Claude’s analysis, written in my voice. My engagement with psychoanalysis began […]
My Psychoanalytical Turn: An Intellectual Biography
Joseph Brodsky proved that English could be entered late yet inhabited fully. Writing from exile, he transformed a second language into a moral homeland, sharpening its capacity for precision, ethical seriousness, and sustained thought. His English endures as disciplined refuge rather than inherited possession.
Death of Joseph Brodsky (1940–1996) – The Poet Who Made English a Language of Exile and Moral Precision
Je vous souhaite une très belle journée à toutes/tous 🙂 Aucune aurore boréaleNe pourra colorer mon ciel.Loin de toi je m’affaleRien n’est plus pareil. Je ne sais plus comment je visDans ces instants loin de toiChaque jour je me languisJe sens la morsure du froidCelle qui me paralyseQuand l’absence perdureCelle qui me brutaliseSans plus d’ouverture […]
Seul ton amour éclaire mon ciel – Only your love lights up my sky
Lewis Carroll revealed that English could think by playing. Through paradox and precision, his nonsense showed that illogic may conceal rigorous logic. By bending syntax and meaning, he expanded English imagination, proving that language gains depth when rules are tested, inverted, and joyfully broken through wit curiosity and fearless play.
Birth of Lewis Carroll (1832–1898) – The Writer Who Taught English How to Play
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