Anecdotal Evidence

A blog about the intersection of books and life.

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...
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...
Friday, May 29, 2026

'We Had Better Re-define Major'

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R.L. Barth has been translating Martial’s epigrams for more than forty years. I think I first encountered his versions in the anthology Epig...
Thursday, May 28, 2026

'This Function Is to Make Me Happy'

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“It is best to open with a simple declaration. I belong to a quaint depleted sect of serious readers who believe that literature exists to m...
2 comments:
Wednesday, May 27, 2026

'To Be the Symbol of a Great Largesse'

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Sometimes I suspect I’m a country man marooned in the city, though I grew up in the suburbs. Years ago I read an anthropologist who theorize...
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Patrick Kurp
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