Random House has republished Nothing Grows by Moonlight (1947) by Torborg Nedreaas, with a new introduction by Sheila Heti. A soul-shattering denunciation of abortion laws, misogyny and contempt for working class women. A Norwegian classic. Read it! tinyurl.com/4y964nnw

The novel is a tool for cultivating empathy. Fictional narratives provide a vicarious outlet for emotion, which allows you to be more coldhearted and ruthless in your day to day life

witty!

Jeg skal også holde et foredrag om Beauvoir på Nasjonalbiblioteket klokken 18 torsdag 7. mai. Det er gratis adgang og åpent for alle. Jeg hører at det for tiden er fullt, men jeg tror de kommer til å strømme seansen. nb.no/hva-skjer/toril-moi-om…

Jeg skal være med på fagseminar om Simone de Beauvoir på Nasjonalbiblioteket i Oslo tirsdag 5. mai. Strålende deltakerliste! Jeg skal holde innledningsforedrag om Beauvoirs syn på valg, frihet og ansvar. nb.no/hva-skjer/simone-de-be…

I use the words you taught me. If they don't mean anything any more, teach me others. Or let me be silent. Samuel Beckett, Endgame

witty and true to life

Register for the Jameson conference at Duke April 10-12! "Fredric Jameson and the Future of Critical Theory." Click here for the registration form: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F…

I'll be traveling for the first time in a long time! Looking forward to speaking and listening at the Modes of Reading Symposium at Berkeley on Thursday and Friday this week! townsendcenter.berkeley.edu/…

is verizon down in north carolina?

"Parce que l'idéal de la femme, séduisante mais pas pute, bien mariée mais pas effacée, travaillant mais sans trop réussir, pour ne pas écraser son homme, mince mais pas névrosée par la nourriture, restant indéfiniment jeune sans se faire défigurer par les chirurgiens de l'esthétique, maman épanouie mais pas accaparée par les couches et les devoirs d'école, bonne maîtresse de maison mais pas bonniche traditionnelle, cultivée mais moins qu'un homme, cette femme heureuse qu'on nous brandit tout le temps sous le nez, celle à laquelle on devrait faire l'effort de ressembler, à part qu'elle a l'air de beaucoup s'emmerder pour pas grand-chose, de toutes façons je ne l'ai jamais croisée, nulle part. Je crois bien qu'elle n'existe pas." Virginie Despentes, King Kong théorie

Hail the Oxford comma

Idrees Kahloon @imkahloon informative essay in @TheAtlantic about the new translation of Raspail's horrific vision of monster immigrant hordes invading France, The Camp of the Saints, quotes my colleague Corina Stan, and links to her brilliant chapter on the book's significance.

Call for papers - #jameson Memorial Conference April 2026

This story is about polar bears who have taken over an abandoned research station in the Russian Arctic. Amazing pictures! No need to be able to read Norwegian! vg.no/nyheter/i/73bo3o/inntr…

Robert Redford died this week. He marked my youth! All the tributes are so well deserved. But why do so many of them fail to mention his great political movie, The Candidate (1972), where he plays an idealist running for Senate, who almost unwittingly ends up selling out.

Does anyone know if Fred #Jameson ever met #Sartre? Did he ever write about meeting or not meeting him? (FRJ published his first book, on Sartre, in 1961. Sartre died in 1980.)

I wrote an essay in Norwegian for @Morgenbladet on Hannah Arendt. Encouraging interested readers to begin with books by Lyndsey Stonebridge, @Samantharhill, Richard Bernstein. The more Arendt I read, the more I admire her capacity to grasp the significance of contemporary events

Dag Solstad’s Maoism-influenced novels remain untranslated—leaving a major gap in how we see one of Norway’s greatest writers. I write in @LAReviewofBooks on why these strange, funny, vital works matter, and why it’s past time they reached English readers. lareviewofbooks.org/article/…