The News
09/11/2025
I think I am over Reeducation. At least very close. I like my name Coldhearted Scientist but wonder whether I should get a new one for this phase. Axé.
Things to read
09/11/2025
The Fantasy Economy. The post-liberal university does more than redefine education as a private, rather than a public good (Newfield). It is a partisan good, beneficial only to some people. On the Reproduction of Capitalism. This is the Althusser book containing the famous essay about ISAs. One could read the whole thing. New Yorker article … More Things to read
New Planctus
03/11/2025
I don’t have time to write the post now but I was thinking earlier about Reeducation. I understood from my mother I should marry for food, and accept abuse in exchange for food. I did not do that but I realized today I can be made to accept that kind of relationship with work, and … More New Planctus
Exceso de vida, instinto de muerte
19/10/2025
I’ve always liked the title of this piece – it’s worthy of Bataille – and I like Sarmiento’s writing, and enjoy his ravings. … More Exceso de vida, instinto de muerte
Orrego: Hacia un humanismo americano
19/10/2025
Mejía Baca published this in 1966. Antenor Orrego died in 1960. I still have my Vallejo project to do. I am not one of those who believes Vallejo was arguing as an Inca or anything like that, but there were all of these americanist projects at the time he was writing and Vallejo is in … More Orrego: Hacia un humanismo americano
Burns on Brazilian Modernism
12/10/2025
These were very old notes too, that I kept. Let’s see what is in them. This Burns I was taking notes on must have been E. Bradford Burns. Brazil became independent because it had become a kingdom. Dom João feared it would ask for independence and told Dom Pedro to declare it. That way, it … More Burns on Brazilian Modernism
Joseba Gabilondo
12/10/2025
España postimperial is available for free in PDF on the author’s website. It is worth reading. Axé.
Said
12/10/2025
There was a New Yorker article from 2021 on Said and Aijaz Ahmad I ripped a page out of, and here it is. It’s page 86. I remember reading the Ahmad critiques of many things and liking it. The New Yorker writer reminds us that Said was not aware of Asian, African, or Latin American … More Said
Juan Fló: Acerca de unos borradores de Vallejo
20/09/2025
An article I photocopied before there were online databases, and now I don’t need the photocopy because it is available in PDF via Project Muse. It’s in Nuevo Texto Crítico VIII:16/17 (Julio 1995-Junio 1996). Axé.
Vanguardia y cosmopolitismo
12/09/2025
I’m taking a chance on this book remaining available. My copy, a Portuguese translation, was bought in São Paulo in 1985, and it is nostalgic for that reason. But it’s so yellowed and dog-eared, it looks like a corpse on my shelf, so it’s something I can shed. I remember Jorge Schwarz’ classes, and everything, … More Vanguardia y cosmopolitismo
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