Notebooks

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The limits of human perfectibility and progress

Warnings against optimistic overreaching run deep in many traditions, but humans nevertheless keep finding excuses to cast caution to the winds. But the true value of progress and ..

Erica Benner November 19, 2021

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Frans Hals had personality

The Dutch Golden Age painter pioneered the rough and loose brushstrokes that brilliantly infuse his subjects with life – but the facts about his life remain sparse even today.

John Phipps November 17, 2021

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What the Romans did for fun

Blame the pandemic; blame social media, but as winter rolls around again it can feel as if we've forgotten how truly to celebrate. But antiquity offers us the key to re-learning ho..

Daisy Dunn November 12, 2021

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Dreaming of Trebizond

The little-known empire of Trebizond was finally swept away by the rise of the Ottomans in the fifteenth century. But up in the monasteries of the Matzouka the dream of Byzantium r..

Edward Thicknesse November 12, 2021

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At the Place du Jeu de Balle

The famous flea market inspired Tintin’s creator, Hergé, and remains a place of glorious disorderliness where economics are boiled down to their simplest form.

Eve Webster November 11, 2021

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China’s neverending pigstory

The pig has long been a cornerstone of Chinese communities, playing a crucial role in the economies and the spiritual life of villages for the past 8,000 years. Recently however, S..

Roel Sterckx November 8, 2021

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Solitude standing

From medieval anchoresses to poets, singers, and writers throughout the ages, seclusion is often seen as a particularly female act. But a closer look reveals a more nuanced history..

Francesca Peacock November 6, 2021

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Baudelaire grappling with God

Baudelaire's poetry, both verse and prose, is at once an attempt to look the Creator in the eye as an equal, and also a means of throwing himself at His feet.

Marie Daouda November 5, 2021

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Silent night: how we used to sleep

Lying awake in the dead of night is anathema to modern sensibilities – and an insomniac’s worst fear. But our pre-industrial ancestors understood (and experienced) night-time in ri..

Eve Webster November 3, 2021