Front Cover
Special Issue on Crisis and Rupture
Crossing Borders, Resisting Rupture
Much “like musical notes that go in several directions in a single raga,” the novel captures the polyphony of dhwani (sound) in the form of the rhythmic intermingling of human and bird sounds, expressions in Hindi, Urdu and English; sounds of mundane routine, the bickering of a multi-generational family—all of which build the milieu of the novel.
Desirable Futures—New Histories
To write as historians of the future is not to predict what will happen; it is to narrate what becomes possible if institutions, communities, and individuals act differently.
Hearing the Howl Beneath the Hardscape
Grasping the ecological aesthetic of rupture requires a different scale of time, pace of movement, and syntax of meaning.
Notes on ALHAMBRA
I found hope and inspiration in Spain’s great Sufi sage Ibn Arabi, the Christian saints Teresa of Avila and Saint John of the Cross, the Jewish Cabala, Moses Maimonides, Gypsy flamenco, Garcia Lorca’s poetry and his thoughts on “duende,” Picasso, Dali, the transcendent architecture of the Real Alcazar of Seville, the Mezquita of Cordoba and of course, the Alhambra.
Slow Catastrophe
In many ways, Chang’s life as an immigrant with no fixed address was defined by her ability to endure one crisis after another.
Video Games and the Cheerful Apocalypse
Cheerful post-apocalyptic games emphasize the beauty and idyllic nature of the unpopulated natural world, rather than its isolating loneliness; as well as the strong, supportive nature of survivors’ communities.
Wilhelm Trübner’s Romantic Ruins
Trübner’s works, especially of the ruins of the Heidelberg castle, hold special significance as a testament to the tragic self-awareness and dramatic experimentation of an artist and nascent nation in crisis.
The Concentric Circles of Memory
The Holocaust functions not merely as a historical event, but as a globally circulating point of reference through which societies negotiate questions of identity, morality, and historical responsibility.
Sciences and Arts
Engineering That Inspires
Now at the end of a long career as an engineering educator and university administrator, I’ve given thought as to why my professional life evolved the way it did. In particular, why engineering, as opposed to some other worthy walk-of-life?
The Curious Case of a Roman God on a U.S. Coin
Roosevelt admired Ancient Greek coins, such as the Athenian Owl Tetradrachm, and wondered why the coins of the United States couldn’t reflect such a great level of artistry.
Know Self
The artifacts tell us that Buddhism is about being human: the human ability to be mindful of our actions and aware of the Buddha’s spiritual message.
Not Just a Neutral Container
We need this show because it has taken this long to understand the truly radical implications of Duchamp’s visual thinking— to grasp the ways that his concern was to transform not only the nature of the artwork, but also the institutions that house artworks, art museums.
Literary Lives
Arthur Schnitzler, Jordan Castro, and The Literature of Masculinity
In the lingua franca of his day, Gustl’s granular fixation isn’t The Novelist’s ethics or Muscle Man’s spirituality, but honor.
A Misfit Success
A Long Game paints its author as the misfit success—a high school oddball who invested in colorful oversized thrift-store apparel and vented into her writing—whose career proves that U-turns on the usual advice will suit many aspiring authors.
Musical Spheres