I wanted to thank you with all my heart for your outstanding contributions to literature and philosophy. Your illuminating fiction and poetry has freed me from despair more than once. It is also a great pleasure to discover this platform; I hope that it will become a flourishing garden, a place where it is possible to find flowers of truth in an otherwise false, feverish and confusing brave new cybernetic world. I have been an admirer of your work since I was as a teenager many years ago, choked in the midst of a very anti-intellectual environment, desperately searching for contemporary writers who could shed some light upon the human condition. "Where is Dostoevsky? Where is Tolstoy, or Ibsen?" I cried. I thank God that I was lucky enough to discover your prose and fiction; now I can say with confidence that our time has indeed been blessed with a great writer. I am currently (as a literary theorist) struggling to write an article on the relationship between the Horticultural Spatiality and the Principle of Analogy in your fiction and poetry, using the thought of Agamben, Michael Martin and Pogue Harrison as a starting point for a discussion and interpretation. I think a conversation or an essay on the relationship between politics, poetry and the garden/gardening would be very interesting.
Just signed up. I love your writing, at least when I understand it. You have done the best job I have ever read debunking ontological naturalism. Thank you and look forward to reading more of you on here.
I am looking forward to reading this every week! I credit your book "The Experience of God" with renewing my religious journey (which ended with my official conversion to Christianity several months ago). The debt I owe you and your thought is tremendous, thank you for doing this.
Will Japanese aesthetics be exclusively classical? I'm sure you'd get a kick out of the films of Miyazaki, Hosoda, and Shinkai, if you're not familiar.
Well, rightly so; still, I agree with Addison that you'd like Totoro, and might add in Princess Mononoke, though anime can certainly be an acquired taste.
Yeah, man - Totoro's a delight. I might be a big softy, but I also liked Kiki's Delivery Service for similar reasons. His more plot-heavy ones sometimes strike me as a bit unwieldy, but when he keeps it fairly compact and largely about mood he's got an Ozu-like charm, casual and daydreamy and wonderfully relatable.
Addison--you should really also add in the films of Mamoru Hosoda and Makoto Shinkai. Two of Hosoda's that you'd like would be Wolf Children, about a single mother trying to raise shapeshifters in the Japanese countryside, and The Boy and the Beast, about an orphaned apprentice to an anthropomorphic bear samurai. Shinkai's famous are Your Name and Weathering With You, both of which are about love stories that involve interfering kami.
My favorite thinker, my favorite writer, the resting place after a long journey. (I'll have to refrain from simply pasting this in response to every piece)
No! No! No! AL KALINE was the greatest baseball player, just as Mickey Lolich had the greatest pitching performance in the history of the World Series or, to switch sports-and this painful for a Michigan State Alumnus to say- Bob Stiles was the single greatest player in the history of The Rose Bowl. Magnificent bastard. Speaking of bastards (and again switching sports. Larry Bird. I hate Boston fans -in every sport. Ok, so he stole the &^*%ing ball. Great play. But you have been screaming about it for over fifty years. Can it!
Dr. Hart, I would love to read your thoughts on Helgoland, the new book by the physicist Carlo Rovelli. Rovelli is discussing the relational interpretation of quantum mechanics. He describes this as "the dance for three that weaves the relations of the world." He also rails against naive materialism, which I naturally find compelling. However, he then starts to support his interpretations with discussions of western philosophy, metaphysics, the philosophy of mind, and the ancient Buddhist philosopher Nāgārjuna (who seems to be popular among scientists.) Something seems a bit off about his philosophical musings, but I have no education in these matters.
Very much looking forward to reading your ruminations and compositions!
Dear Professor Hart,
I wanted to thank you with all my heart for your outstanding contributions to literature and philosophy. Your illuminating fiction and poetry has freed me from despair more than once. It is also a great pleasure to discover this platform; I hope that it will become a flourishing garden, a place where it is possible to find flowers of truth in an otherwise false, feverish and confusing brave new cybernetic world. I have been an admirer of your work since I was as a teenager many years ago, choked in the midst of a very anti-intellectual environment, desperately searching for contemporary writers who could shed some light upon the human condition. "Where is Dostoevsky? Where is Tolstoy, or Ibsen?" I cried. I thank God that I was lucky enough to discover your prose and fiction; now I can say with confidence that our time has indeed been blessed with a great writer. I am currently (as a literary theorist) struggling to write an article on the relationship between the Horticultural Spatiality and the Principle of Analogy in your fiction and poetry, using the thought of Agamben, Michael Martin and Pogue Harrison as a starting point for a discussion and interpretation. I think a conversation or an essay on the relationship between politics, poetry and the garden/gardening would be very interesting.
All the best,
Eirik Moland Fevang
Um...gosh. (There's my legendary eloquence for you...)
I don't deserve the kind words, but it gives me something to try to live up to,
I would love to see that article when it comes out!
Definitely
So glad you have decided to do this! Looking forward to what comes.
Many thanks. Be careful what you wish for, though.
“Things without all remedy should be without regard: what's done is done.”
Something tells me I won’t regret it!
Thank you David. I've subscribed. I'm glad to see that you have recovered from your ill health last year.
Just signed up. I love your writing, at least when I understand it. You have done the best job I have ever read debunking ontological naturalism. Thank you and look forward to reading more of you on here.
Kind of you to say so.
Aha! Found you! The subscription is a birthday present for myself. Let's see how I will feel when a year older.
Vindicated in your choices.
From your lips to God's ears.
The end of your -redacted- magazine column was a great loss for educated Christian culture in the Anglosphere. Good to see you back at it!
I am looking forward to reading this every week! I credit your book "The Experience of God" with renewing my religious journey (which ended with my official conversion to Christianity several months ago). The debt I owe you and your thought is tremendous, thank you for doing this.
Will Japanese aesthetics be exclusively classical? I'm sure you'd get a kick out of the films of Miyazaki, Hosoda, and Shinkai, if you're not familiar.
Well, Mizoguchi, Kurosawa, Ozu, Kobayashi, Inagaki, Teshigahara--you know, classic Japanese cinema--is more my speed.
I know that deep down inside you’d like My Neighbor Totoro
Well, rightly so; still, I agree with Addison that you'd like Totoro, and might add in Princess Mononoke, though anime can certainly be an acquired taste.
Yeah, man - Totoro's a delight. I might be a big softy, but I also liked Kiki's Delivery Service for similar reasons. His more plot-heavy ones sometimes strike me as a bit unwieldy, but when he keeps it fairly compact and largely about mood he's got an Ozu-like charm, casual and daydreamy and wonderfully relatable.
You’ve convinced me. I shall give them a try.
Addison--you should really also add in the films of Mamoru Hosoda and Makoto Shinkai. Two of Hosoda's that you'd like would be Wolf Children, about a single mother trying to raise shapeshifters in the Japanese countryside, and The Boy and the Beast, about an orphaned apprentice to an anthropomorphic bear samurai. Shinkai's famous are Your Name and Weathering With You, both of which are about love stories that involve interfering kami.
These fragments I have shored against my ruin.
Curiously, my very thought.
My favorite thinker, my favorite writer, the resting place after a long journey. (I'll have to refrain from simply pasting this in response to every piece)
I think you should. I wouldn't get tired of reading it.
I'm happy to have discovered Leaves in the Wind. Looking forward to reading more.
No! No! No! AL KALINE was the greatest baseball player, just as Mickey Lolich had the greatest pitching performance in the history of the World Series or, to switch sports-and this painful for a Michigan State Alumnus to say- Bob Stiles was the single greatest player in the history of The Rose Bowl. Magnificent bastard. Speaking of bastards (and again switching sports. Larry Bird. I hate Boston fans -in every sport. Ok, so he stole the &^*%ing ball. Great play. But you have been screaming about it for over fifty years. Can it!
Well, Kaline was from Baltimore, like the Babe, so both are admissible. But no cursing on this site. Not even in ciphers.
Not even to express exasperation with Boston Celtics fans and that loudmouth, Johnny Most?
Not even then, Joe. It’s been a hard few years for all of us. A new era of decorousness is worth attempting.
A short piece on Crab Cakes - by all means. As one who spent his childhood summers crabbing down on the Shore in Maryland, I miss Old Bay Seasoning.
Dr. Hart, I would love to read your thoughts on Helgoland, the new book by the physicist Carlo Rovelli. Rovelli is discussing the relational interpretation of quantum mechanics. He describes this as "the dance for three that weaves the relations of the world." He also rails against naive materialism, which I naturally find compelling. However, he then starts to support his interpretations with discussions of western philosophy, metaphysics, the philosophy of mind, and the ancient Buddhist philosopher Nāgārjuna (who seems to be popular among scientists.) Something seems a bit off about his philosophical musings, but I have no education in these matters.
Frank Robinson was indeed probably the greatest Oriole ever
sorry Cal