The Common Reader

Anybody else facing Swedish death cleaning? (AUDIO 6m)

The Painful Exhilaration of Downsizing - Common Reader Not only can you not take it with you, you cannot keep it till you go.

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David Hockney’s works never had the reputation in contemporary art of conveying intellectual dilemmas, much less casual profundity. They were much too fun for that.

David Hockney, by Surprise - Common Reader Stumbling upon “Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Percy” by surprise was like waking up to Christmas morning, but reborn as an adult. The size, vibrancy, and overwhelming stillness of this painting are so impressive that it works almost as a trance, or incantation, of natural light.

In a classroom some years ago, during an introductory course in comparative literature, I encountered a conversation that has since refused to leave me. The discussion was framed as an effort to map the contours of what is often called world literature, to understand how texts move across languages, borders, and traditions. When the question of Africa emerged, it did so in a manner that was at once generous and quietly constraining.....

Modern African Literature Confronts the Constraints of the Global Politics of Reading - Common Reader Contemporary writers do not inherit Chinua Achebe’s legacy as a neutral resource. They inherit it as a canon that has already been institutionalized, already been absorbed into systems of evaluation and circulation that reward familiarity. To write within this tradition is to encounter a set of fo...

As I was being vetted, administrators asked what I would do if my Ukrainian partner wanted to talk about hardships and loss. I said I could listen. What else could I do?

Reaching Out to Connect with a Gallant Voice from a War-Ravaged Land - Common Reader As I was being vetted, administrators asked what I would do if my Ukrainian partner wanted to talk about hardships and loss. I said I could listen. What else could I do?

The old ways are best

The Friends of Vintage Flight Visit St. Louis - Common Reader Friends of Vintage Flight must make strategic decisions when they choose a project, based on the group’s capabilities, the condition of available aircraft, and their historical significance. The Curtiss Robin has a fascinating history as one of the most commercially successful aircraft of the peri...

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'Nuremberg': Holocaust as Melodrama - Common Reader In the end, the only thing to be done with a movie like this is to throw it to the wolves of Reddit.