I will be traveling a bit over the next few months. I have decided to set up a few public meet-ups on these travels; anybody who reads the Scholar’s Stage is invited. These are the dates and locations: Taipei, Taiwan — 9 November (Saturday), 6:00 PM-9:00 PM(ish)San Fransisco, California —18 December (Wednesday), 5:30 PM-10:00 PM(ish)Salt […]
Harold Bloom is dead. His death has prompted one final, staggered brawl between the exhausted ranks who have spent away their strength with three decades of culture warring. My personal assessment of Bloom is that he was an excellent salesman and a stupendous reader, but an uninspired critic. With the concept of a ‘canon’ or […]
Over at Foreign Policy I have a new column out reviewing Jonathan Ward’s China’s Vision of Victory. The column is not actually new; it has been on the news-stands for several weeks now in Foreign Policy‘s print edition. But it only went online two days ago. I use the review as a chance to open […]
A man who added phrases to the language George Orwell was a fantastic essayist. One of my favorite of his small essays is his response to an essay by T.S. Eliot that assessed the life and work of Rudyard Kipling. I am not sure what it was about Rudyard Kipling that brought out the best […]
Hannah Arendt(image source) Yesterday Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin asked the following question on twitter: Name your top three public figures you wish were still alive right now to comment on what’s happening in our country. I’ll go first (in no particular order): John McCain, Christopher Hitchens, Hunter S. Thompson. [1] A lot of people were […]
image Source Today is a grand anniversary for the Communist Party of China. You will read many things about its meaning and significance. In the eyes of Party members themselves, I suspect one particular fact will stand out: this is the year the Communist Party of China outlasts the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. […]
