The large majority of our fellow-citizens care as much about literature as they care about aeroplanes or the programme of the Legislature. They do not ignore it; they are not quite indifferent to it. But their interest in it is faint and perfunctory; or, if their interest happens to be violent, it is spasmodic. Ask […]
“We must maintain a holistic view of national security. We take the people’s security as our ultimate goal, political security as our fundamental task, and economic security as our foundation.” —Secretary General Xi Jinping, April 2014. Are we ready for what comes next? The news this week is that the United States of America has […]
The opening scene of ‘A Catch of Shadows’ 1998 production of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ (image source) HERMIA: I would my father look’d but with my eyes. THESEUS: Rather your eyes mustwith his judgment look. —A Midsummer’s Night Dream William Buckner has published a small but superb essay over at Quillette under the title “A Girl’s […]
Image Source It is not luxury and pomp that make a king a king. It is when his orders are never disobeyed that he has entered a title such as yours. —Mudrarakshasa 3.99 [c. 300 AD] The always excellent Stella Zhang directed me to a newish paper by political scientists Lee Jones and Zeng Jinhan […]
A snapshot from the reader survey. This is you, folks. TO THE READERS OF THE SCHOLAR’S STAGE— I started The Scholar’s Stage in 2008. n thee pages I have hosted debates on population centric counterinsurgency, ancient Chinese philosophy, antebellum American history, the ideology of the Communist Party of China, modern American culture wars, and just […]
