Anecdotal Evidence

A blog about the intersection of books and life.

Friday, June 05, 2026

'A Mission to the University Extension Scheme'

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I have a typically human taste for taxonomy, classifying things, sorting them into categories. There’s comfort in order. A friend in Los Ang...
1 comment:
Thursday, June 04, 2026

'All Sit in Sullen Silence and Await'

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My middle son has a friend, a fellow Marine, who had questions about Russian literature. He asked about Andrei Platonov and Leonid Andreyev....
2 comments:
Wednesday, June 03, 2026

'An Appreciation of Words Is So Rare'

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Most forgotten writers are deservedly forgotten, of course. Writing talent is unfairly distributed among literary aspirants. Sincerity and h...
2 comments:
Tuesday, June 02, 2026

'An Emotion I Must Have Been Inventing'

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“I am a nostalgist. More susceptible to the pull of the past than many of those around me, I am also aware of my condition, even somewhat as...
1 comment:
Monday, June 01, 2026

'To Mold Clay, Fashion Men From It'

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Certain writers lay claim to a piece of geography. Think of Cavafy’s Alexandria and William Kennedy’s Albany . Outsiders may visit but the d...
Sunday, May 31, 2026

'An After-Hope to Please'

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Several readers have quibbled with the late Oscar Mandel’s assertion that “literature exists to make men happy.” Oscar celebrates the “pleas...
2 comments:
Saturday, May 30, 2026

'A Way of Reading the World'

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“Poetry gives us a way of reading the world. Through its cadences, through its different ways of simultaneously conveying reason and feeling...
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Patrick Kurp
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