Talking Lightly About Serious Things: Henri Rochefort and the Origins of French Populism

A man who “believed in nothing, not even himself”, Henri Rochefort is now a minor footnote in the annals of modern journalism. However, at the height of his notoriety, in the late 1860s and early 1870s, his writings, political activities, imprisonments, and escapes were the stuff of newspaper gossip around the world. How did a self-described “errant journalist and literary poacher” rise to power on the wings of sarcasm and ridicule to reshape France’s political landscape? Vlad Solomon explores the life and times of this populist forerunner. more

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[*Door creaks open. Footsteps*]: Fredric Jameson’s Seminar on *Aesthetic Theory*

[Door creaks open. Footsteps]: Fredric Jameson’s Seminar on Aesthetic Theory

By meticulously translating his recordings of Jameson’s seminars into the theatrical idiom of the stage script, ​​Octavian Esanu asks, playfully and tenderly, if we can see pedagogy as performance? Teaching and learning, about art — as a work of art? more

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