I’ll be honest, Antonio Gramsci’s name has been floating around my consciousness for years, but it wasn’t until I stumbled upon his concept of “hegemony” that I felt a genuine spark of interest. Maybe it was the way he described…
Claude Monet’s paintings have been on my mind a lot lately, ever since I spent an entire morning at the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris, staring at his Impression, Sunrise (1872). There was something about the way the light danced…
I’ve always been fascinated by Mary Shelley, but it’s not just her life story that draws me in – although the idea of writing a novel at 18 while traveling with your soon-to-be-ex-fiancé is enough to make anyone feel inadequate.…
Cesare Pavese’s words have a way of getting under my skin. I’ve spent countless hours poring over his essays, translations, and poetry, and yet, every time I revisit them, I feel like I’m uncovering something new – or rather, something…
I keep coming back to Lise Meitner, the Austrian physicist who fled her homeland during WWII only to play a crucial role in discovering nuclear fission. Her name is etched in my mind alongside those of Marie Curie and Rosalind…
I’ll never forget the day I stumbled upon Jorge Luis Borges’ short story “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius.” It was as if I had stepped into a labyrinth and couldn’t find my way out. The more I read, the more questions…
Elizabeth Cady Stanton has been lingering in the back of my mind for weeks now, ever since I stumbled upon her name while browsing through a list of influential women from history. At first, I thought it was just another…
Soren Kierkegaard. His name has been floating around my mind for months now, ever since I stumbled upon his works while searching for inspiration for a creative writing project. At first, it was just the familiar feeling of overwhelm that…
I’ve been thinking about Emily Carr a lot lately, ever since I stumbled upon her paintings in an art history course last semester. At first, I was drawn to the vibrant colors and bold brushstrokes, but as I delved deeper…
W.E.B. Du Bois’s words have been seeping into my consciousness for years, like a slow-moving river that I’ve never quite managed to follow to its source. It started with phrases like “double-consciousness” and “the color line,” which seemed to articulate…
Jane Austen. I’ve spent hours reading her novels, but it’s not the plots or characters that have me stuck – it’s her voice. It’s like she’s speaking directly to me, but from a different time, with a language that’s both…
Samuel Beckett’s words have been lingering in my mind for a while now, like the faint scent of old books that refuses to fade. I’ve been reading his work sporadically over the past few years, drawn back to it whenever…
I’ve been thinking a lot about Annie Ernaux lately, ever since I finished reading her book “A Woman’s Story” for my creative writing class. What struck me was the way she writes about her own life with such unflinching honesty…
I’ve been thinking a lot about Max Planck lately, and I’m not entirely sure why. Maybe it’s because we both graduated from university around the same age – he was 26 when he submitted his habilitation thesis on thermodynamics, while…
Ingeborg Bachmann – the German-Austrian writer who has been haunting me for months now. I stumbled upon her while searching for a new author to devour, and her name kept popping up alongside that of Thomas Bernhard, another Austrian writer…
I find myself drawn to Ralph Waldo Emerson’s words like a magnet, but it’s not just his ideas that resonate with me – it’s the tension within him that I identify with. The sense of restlessness, the feeling of being…
I’ve always been fascinated by Henri Bergson, the French philosopher who won a Nobel Prize in Literature back in 1927. I stumbled upon his name while reading about modernist thinkers, and something about him resonated with me. Maybe it’s because…
I’ve always been drawn to Eudora Welty’s writing, but it wasn’t until I stumbled upon her essay “A Little Life: Some Notes on a Little Novel” that I began to understand why. It was the way she dissected the intricacies…
Simone Weil’s words have been stuck with me for months now, lingering like a gentle but persistent ache in my chest. I stumbled upon her writing while researching existentialism for a paper, and at first, it was just another intellectual…
Colette. I’ve been thinking about her a lot lately, ever since I stumbled upon one of her novels while browsing through a used bookstore. Her writing is like nothing I’ve ever read before – it’s like she’s speaking directly to…
