November 5, 2025

Reading Sanskrit Anew

Buddhism and the Language of the Gods

Luke Gibson

Luke Gibson highlights Buddhism’s deep connections with other religious and literary traditions, such as Sanskrit, a vehicle of literary artistry and dialogue.

October 13, 2025

Pauline Yu on Chinese Songs in a French Key

In this Q&A Pauline Yu offers an inside look at Judith Gautier’s story and how she became a cultural bridge between France and China.

October 7, 2025

David Obst in Conversation with Renee Bales About Saving Ourselves from Big Car

David Obst describes the Big Car industry and lifestyle and its negative impact on society, and offers advice on how consumers can fight back.

October 2, 2025

Textual Life, Institutional Death

On Gaza Solidarity, Columbia University, and the Crisis of the Humanities

Wendell Marsh

Wendell Marsh reflects on how his book Textual Life emerged from critical academic spaces now under siege, defending humanities scholarship.

September 30, 2025

Santiago Zabala on Signs from the Future

Santiago Zabala answers questions about Signs from the Future and discusses the philosophy of warnings and why we seldom listen.

September 25, 2025

Mistresses of Deception

Female Swindlers in Ming Dynasty China

Bruce Rusk and Christopher Rea

Translators Bruce Rusk and Christopher Rea explore how women perpetrated, subverted, and sometimes fell victim to the elaborate cons that flourished in Zhang’s criminal underworld.

September 23, 2025

Jie-Hyun Lim on Victimhood Nationalism

Jie-Hyun Lim argues that nations weaponize their ancestral suffering to claim moral superiority, fueling today’s conflicts through “memory wars.”

September 18, 2025

Ambassador John Maresca and Ida Manton on the War in Ukraine

John Maresca and Ida Manton argue Putin must be defeated militarily before diplomacy, urging sustained Western support for Ukraine’s independence.

September 16, 2025

Breaking the Hinge

How I Learned to Own My Role in Translation

Liz Evans Weber

Liz Evans Weber reflects on her translation journey, evolving from rigid academic brackets to confident literary translator.

September 11, 2025

Stephan Kieninger on Securing Peace in Europe

Stephan Kieninger explains how his book, Securing Peace in Europe, contradicts Putin’s claims that the West excluded Russia after the Cold War.

September 9, 2025

Darryl Sterk on Translating Syaman Rapongan’s Eyes of the Ocean

Translator Darryl Sterk reflects on the linguistic and cultural challenges of translating Syaman Rapongan’s Eyes of the Ocean into English.

September 4, 2025

Johnny Lorenz on Translating Edimilson de Almeida Pereira’s The Front

Translator Johnny Lorenz explores Brazilian novel The Front—where language becomes weapon & resistance through an unnamed narrator.