Perestroika
Towards the end of Mikhail Gorbachev’s The New Russia (2016), Gorbachev recounts an anecdote told in…
Democracy’s discontents
Election nights are rites of reunification. The divisions of a society spew out over weeks, with…
Predicting Donald Trump
This is the post I wrote on 22 July this year: https://theburningarchive.com/2016/07/22/donald-trump-and-americas-wounded-pride/ Just as one should…
Wasting time on conceptual poetry
I borrowed from my local public library Postmodern American Poetry: a Norton anthology (2nd edition), edited…
The Great Confinement
Image Source: photograph, Sarah Lee, Bethlem Museum of the Mind exhibition, The Guardian From Keats, Hyperion: Just…
Myths of power: merchant, soldier, sage…?
David Priestland has written a provocative book, Merchant, soldier, sage: a new history of power. His…
Donne’s sermons and the blogging tradition
Image Source: Oil Painting, John Donne (1573-1631), at the age of 49. Anon. British School, 1622. Victoria…
The Tiger’s Eye closes for the last time
The great Australian historian or writer, Inga Clendinnen has died. Image Source: http://www.smh.com.au/national/people/warrior-of-the-mind-20140810-3dha8.html There is a moving…
Ivan’s Singer
Image Source: Franz Riss Skomorokh in a village, wikipedia Noone knows for sure how Ivan the…
The many cradles of civilizations (list)
Civilizations and natures From time to time, I am tempted to be a prophet of a…