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Clarissa's Blog

Still Looking

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Clarissa

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I know it’s very annoying that I keep posting about all these fascinating authors and thinkers in other languages. Believe me, I do all I can to uncover interesting stuff in English. I scour new releases. I look and look and look. I read more in English than all other languages combined.

And it’s not all useless. I’ve found two recent worthwhile books in English in the past couple of years, Franzen’s Crossroads and Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead. Yes, this is slim pickings for the entire English-speaking world. But I’m not abandoning hope. There’s a new release by Richard Russo coming up. He’s been kind of blah and PC in recent years but he can come back at any time.

Obviously, if you’ve found some gems among new releases, I’m eager to hear about them.

7 responses to “Still Looking”

  1. overgrownhobbit Avatar
    overgrownhobbit

    Does it need to be new? For example, Zenna Henderson, Cordwainer Smith or G.K. Chesterton’s short stories.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      I love Chesterton. What a great author. But I’m looking for artists or thinkers who are talking about things that are happening today. There’s so much fascinating stuff in other languages, but almost nothing in English b

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  2. cliff arroyo Avatar
    cliff arroyo

    “uncover interesting stuff in English”

    The English speaking world is just not producing interesting stuff with a philosophic bent at the moment… it’s too busy draining words of meaning so that people can untie themselves from any physical reality that’s a burden to them (which is all of them).

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Exactly, it’s sad to watch. I’m still hoping that this is a temporary madness that will be over soon. It’s got to be, right? This can’t last forever.

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  3. el Avatar
    el

    Do you check works in Russian too?

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    1. cliff arroyo Avatar
      cliff arroyo

      “works in Russian too”

      It’s my understanding (from things Clarissa has written before) that the action in that part of the world is mostly in Ukrainian… some of which gets put out also in russian, usually later.

      Maybe you need to learn to read Ukrainian and give up russian which is mostly kind of dying (in terms of ideas and philosophy).

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    2. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      I’m observing the Russian dissident intellectuals who are pro-Ukraine. They are nice people, completely on our side, but they have taken the position of waiting for Ukrainians to provide insight. They are not trying to generate their own insight. They are waiting to be saved.

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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