From the sketchbook of Villard de Honnecourt. by KARL STEEL Here’s a macaronic, presumably late 15th-century poem from Peniarth MS 356b, which I ran across yesterday in…
by KARL STEEL While looking for a suitable illustration to help teach Geoffrey of Auxerre’s version of the Melusine story (n35 here for more), I…
The IMDb trivia page for La Bête humaine astounds with its perfect triviality. Here’s what you learn, and you’ll be satisfied with what you get if…
We started with the story of the Giraffe recently killed, publicly dissected, and then fed to lions by the Copenhagen Zoo. Apart from the practical angles of…
First we thought about Azra Raza’s outcry against “Mouse Models” on The Edge, and Jeremy England’s Thermodynamic account of the origins of life. The first story complicates…
Day 1 The first class covered the following topics: A recommendation of several books and scholars, including Jane Bennett’s Vibrant Matter, Leslie Kordecki’s book on…
I’m told I’m 31% finished with Graham Harman’s Weird Realism. As a dabbler in speculative realism, and, especially, as an old-time Lovecraft fan forced by critical…
Creation of Adam, quadrupeds looking on. Initial framed by Wildman and Mermaid. Guyart des Moulins, Bible historiale (Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, Ms-5212 réserve, 6v. Before 1403) Medieval…
Remember the Middle Ages covers a LOT of ground. We’re talking about Europe, but not only Europe, from roughly the fall of the Roman Empire…
by KARL STEEL Over the past few months, as a kind of preparation for NCS Iceland, and also just for fun, I’ve read, in translation,…
