On October 25, 2023, after just three weeks of the bombardment of Gaza, Omar El Akkad put out a tweet: “One day, when it’s safe, when there’s no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it’s too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this.” This tweet has been viewed more than 10 million times. As an immigrant who came to the West, El A…
The great nineteenth-century German thinker's musings on self-deceit, superstition, art and ambition
Dreamlike, poignant verse on passion, torment and resplendent landscapes from one of the first Romantic poets
Pastoral, lyrical verse evoking the rural landscapes and peoples of eight-century China from three of its finest poets
Moving, elegiac verse set in rural landscapes, penned by the grief-stricken Hardy after his wife's death.
Moonlight, spring blossom, a woman's hair - a medieval Japanese monk reflects on idle moments and life's fleeting joy.
Jenny Erpenbeck meditates on the disappearance and impermanence of things. Whether recalling the demolition of familiar places, the loss of a friendship, or a change in social attitudes, Erpenbeck's sharp intelligence, eye for telling detail, and her nuanced perspective on her country's history and her own writing lifeimbue these short pieces with lasting power.
Yiyun Li’s remarkable, defiant work of radical acceptance as she considers the loss of her son James.