The War Room
Old texts meet a very current sports betting scandal A Literary and Political Diary Revisited the same shelf of nineteenth century literature this week, then read coverage of the Sydney Sweeney Novig advert, which needed no second reading at all to understand, the internet made sure of that within hours. [embedded content] Made extensive notes, … Read more
Old texts meet a very current royal financial story A Literary and Political Diary Returned to the same shelf of nineteenth century literature this week, then read coverage of Harry and Meghans twenty ventures, which needed no second pass at all to understand, the internet made sure of that within hours. [embedded content] Made extensive … Read more
Old texts meet a very current sports betting scandal A Literary and Political Diary Returned to the same shelf of nineteenth century literature this week, finding new details on the second pass, then read coverage of the Sydney Sweeney Novig advert, which needed no second pass at all to understand, the internet made sure of … Read more
Tinsel Vandergraph on continued archival work and a persistent modern news cycle threading through her week Second day running with the same four modern stories dominating conversation around the office, which is genuinely unusual for a corridor normally consumed entirely by disputes over archival dating methods and whose turn it is to file the completed … Read more
Tinsel Vandergraph on continued archival work threaded through with a persistent modern news cycle refusing to loosen its grip Third day now, and the whole office’s collectively decided this week’s four modern stories are simply the background hum to everything we’re discussing, referenced over coffee, argued over during document reviews, and apparently now shaping at … Read more
Dear diary, spent the whole afternoon properly comparing two nineteenth century letters, written by correspondents who clearly knew each other well, and found them genuinely, flatly contradicting each other on a single key point I’d assumed was simply settled historical fact. I documented the whole discovery in a piece on exactly how I found two … Read more
Dear diary, something genuinely rare happened today, properly, a colleague and I finally agreed on a specific interpretive point after literally years of respectfully but persistently disagreeing about the exact same nineteenth century text. I wrote the whole reconciliation up properly in a piece on exactly how a colleague and I finally agreed on something … Read more
Dear diary, properly humbled myself tonight, rereading a nineteenth century text I’d confidently dismissed years ago as minor and unremarkable, only to find it genuinely brilliant on this considerably more careful second reading. I wrote up the whole reassessment in a piece on exactly how I reread a text I’d dismissed years ago and found … Read more
Dear diary, got genuinely stumped today, properly, in front of an entire class, by a student’s sharp question about a specific translation choice I’d apparently never actually examined closely enough to answer with any real confidence. I wrote the whole embarrassing, genuinely productive moment up in a piece on exactly how a student’s genuinely sharp … Read more
Dear diary, properly finished tonight, a manuscript I’ve been revising, on and off, for three considerable years, a project I genuinely wondered at several points whether I’d ever actually bring to completion. I documented the whole finishing moment in a piece on exactly what it actually feels like to finally finish a manuscript after three … Read more