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I have been on a Sollers kick the last few months. His novels are varied, difficult, and a riot. But best of all is the book he and his wife Julia Kristeva co-wrote: Marriage as a Fine Art. On the one hand, it’s one huge flex on all other theory couples, just a relatively incoherent rambling braggart’s song about how great they are. Kristeva outright deems Sarte and Beauvoir “liberarian terrorists.” “To carry out their work of liberatarian terrorism, they turned themselves into a shock commando unit. . . [reliant] on their shared history as two wounded people.” But it is also very sweet. You can find them going around and around on such topics as the nature of passion (PS: “As if passion necessarily [has] to be punished, as if love could only end in disaster. I object to that notion, quite violently. That’s not my idea of love.” JK: “Passion is enthusiasm and the proximity of death. It is joy and it is death. It is annihilation and jubilation.”) As a Sollers fan and a Kristeva agnostic, it has evened out my opinion of the pair. Somehow, the book, dense as it is, tickles the same part of my brain that is satisfied by a 2000s romcom.
May 17, 2022
Related Recs
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If you hate overly contextualised author-focused analysis, and analysis focused on “deep” readings, Deleuze’s readings of literature such as the work of Sacher-Masoch, Proust and Kafka will be a breath of fresh air. His essay on Sacher-Masoch ‘Masochism: Coldness and Cruelty’ changed everything for me, and I really enjoy his book ‘Essays: critical and clinical‘ as well. Sometimes the person who best knows how to read a book is a philosopher lol.
Sep 23, 2024
I love surrealism, and I’ve been heavily into surrealist art and writing lately (see leonara carrington). finding the source and roots of surrealism and being able to do a deep-dive into its history and all the little parts that made it what it is has been really cool. the surrealist revolution is a publication by andré breton ft other surrealist artists (like chirico and man ray) at the time. It is an exploration of surrealism. there are writings about politics, the psyche, death, art, surrealism as a movement.
Jun 7, 2024
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Started this research project after reading about Georgina Weldon. She’s notorious for having a litigation addiction but I’m obsessed with the time Gounod asked for his sheet music back after their divorce and she sent it with her name written across every page. When he attempted to have her committed, she escaped and tried to press charges against him, even though married women couldn't initiate civil suits. When that failed, she shared her story with the papers to get him to sue her for libel. After the Married Woman's Property Act passed, she was simultaneously involved in seventeen legal cases. Highly recommend researching Kiki De Montparnasse, Dora Maar, Jeanne Duval, Camille Claudel, Aicha Goblet and Lizzie Siddal.
Jul 9, 2024
Top Recs from @ariaelise
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Not supposed to blow this one up but idk - since college my friends have been on the camel crush wave; in a way, the surf n turf of cigarettes. No one is asking you to crush it but I dare you not to. Just the end though. RIP thanks to the FDA.
May 17, 2022
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as a music focused tween I thought british accents were hot. I am in London right now. They aren’t. Also people give you too much information about stuff. I get it. that said, it’s warmer here than nyc right now.
Feb 4, 2024
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I’ve been preaching the gospel of Pinterest for years. People think it's for moms and sorority girls, but it’s actually just a fundamentally useful internet tool as long as you ignore its larger ecosystem. The Pinterest Chrome plug-in? Can’t live without it. It is especially useful if you are addicted to buying things you don’t truly need. I add things to my various pinterest boards as an intermediary step between desiring said thing and purchasing it. Often after adding to Pinterest, I just forget about the item entirely. But it is also useful for actually making shopping plans for home goods or an event. I used to say Pinterest was the better Are.na, but I’ve since come to understand are.na’s specific merits for research. It should be noted that it’s very important to keep your boards and channels private on both of these platforms lest you become the target of public humiliation and/or get your steez ripped off by some middlebrow loser.
May 17, 2022