David Foster Wallace’s Greatest Gift
“Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we resolved to carry this message to other alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.” – The 12th step of Alcoholics Anonymous When David Foster Wallace was promoting Infinite Jest, he was coy about how much his experience of Alcoholics Anonymous…
Andrew Marvell’s Hair
Embodied Emblems of Gendered and Authorial Ambiguity According to the National Portrait Gallery in London, there exist twelve confirmed portraits of Andrew Marvell, with a further four that are still in question. In each of these portraits we see a grave, long-nosed young man dressed in a dark overcoat with an elaborate white collar and…
Beethoven’s Language of Consolation
Antonie Brentano (née Birkenstock) is a controversial figure in Beethoven studies. Born in Vienna and wife to the Frankfurt-based businessman Franz Brentano, she was for a long time considered the leading candidate for the recipient of the mysterious “immortal beloved” (unsterbliche Geliebte) letter of 1812. She has now, after extensive and controversial research, assumed more-or-less…
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Bastiana: A Blog 