Monthly Archives: June 2016

Obliterating a close friend is so incomprehensible that there has been next to no critical reflection on it: neither philosophy nor art know how to handle it. People use various ways to kill their dearest friends: they hate them, they … Continue reading →

Commenting on the new Greek poetry, a recent book review in the Times Literary Supplement concluded by reiterating a point I have been emphasizing in this blog for two years, that “there is a great melancholy too, as yet another … Continue reading →

I gave an interview to The National Herald, a NY weekly newspaper, ranging from 200 years of Greek life on the Michigan campus to the Greek poetry Generation of the 2000s. Below the clippings is the full version of my … Continue reading →

The Journal of Modern Greek Studies “Occasional Papers,” edited by Neni Panourgia, has published my commissioned paper “Left Melancholy in the Greek Poetry Generation of the 2000s after the Crisis of Revolution and Representation“ as JMGS “Occasional Paper” 10 (June … Continue reading →

While in 1931 Walter Benjamin ridiculed for its “despair,” “fatalism,” and “complacency” a certain “Left Melancholy,” which he detected in the poetry of his time, he cultivated a very special interest in melancholy as a philosophical project on which he … Continue reading →

1. song “Mein lieber Schwan”/Wagner: Lohengrin 2. duet “Au fond du temple saint”/Bizet: The Pearl Fishers 3. trio “Soave sia il vento”/Mozart: Così fan tutte 4. quartet “Bella Figlia Dell’Amore”/Verdi: Rigoletto 5. quintet “Nous avons en tete una affaire”/Bizet: Carmen … Continue reading →

The Faculty Meeting (a poem from William H. Gass’ novel Middle C, 2013) This is the way we smirk and sigh, lurk and spy, favor buy,                             … Continue reading →