Scott Selisker
@sselisker.bsky.social
literature prof at U of Arizona. books: HUMAN PROGRAMMING (on metaphors for ideology), CHARACTER NETWORKS (on social networks in recent US fiction and history, out October 2026). he, suh-LISK-er, views mine, sporadically present here.
Found this Lepore interview interesting—esp the broad-strokes claim that in US, every new media revolution has upended party coalitions and the demographics of media and creatives (daily paper, radio, tv, cable/web, social media).. but 1/2 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d...
Dr. Jill Lepore on why the AI backlash is vital for the future
Podcast Episode · Decoder with Nilay Patel · July 20 · 1h
podcasts.apple.com
This thread is my favorite read of the film.
EMILY WILSON@emilyrcwilson.bsky.social · 2w agoThere is a lot to say about the Nolan Odyssey movie. But one point that I think has not been emphasized enough is: this is a film about living in LA, as Nolan, my erstwhile British compatriot and age mate, has done for years. I gather it’s a strange place.
Beard's essay opens, "I want to start very near the beginning of the tradition of Western literature, and its first recorded example of a man telling a woman to ‘shut up’; telling her that her voice was not to be heard in public." My essay on the Odyssey, Andrew & Tristan Tate, misogyny then & now:
Listening to Cassandra: Misogyny, Classical and Modern
Last weekend, the film The Odyssey was released and the Tate brothers were arrested in Florida at the behest of the British government, which seeks to extradite them to face a long list of charges. An...
meditationsinanemergency.com
Listened to Lonesome Dove recently (hoping for a Le Carré of the Western: close-ish), and Dead Man’s Walk (by chance perfect for travel gone wrong in DFW). Then agreed with just about every word of this great retrospective: www.bookforum.com/print/3204/i...
Infinite West
The life and legacy of Texan novelist Larry McMurtry – Andy Cush
bookforum.com
As with so many things, it is critical to realize this is not bumbling or ineptitude or not thinking through policy implications. On the contrary: making it impossible for foreign students to do the doctorate here is THE WHOLE POINT. It’s about starving higher ed under the guise of America first.
Ben Allen@evodynamics.bsky.social · 3w agoCongrats we just made it impossible to come here for a PhD www.bostonglobe.com/2026/07/16/m...
A fascinating and funny story, I like Hill’s phrase “passive-income enthusiasts” for describing these sloppers, which seems accurate and plenty generous.
Jessica McKenzie@jessimckenzi.bsky.social · 3w ago"His goal has been to write 10 books per week, which is the maximum Amazon allows."
Check out--and circulate--this awesome CFP for a special issue of Post45 on periodization and the contemporary! submissions.post45.org/journal/CFP/...
Why45? (or Why68?) | Post45 Journal Submissions
submissions.post45.org
Some teaser!! 👄
Brian Glavey@glavey.bsky.social · 3w agoSo I'm starting a podcast about friendship and aesthetic experience called "Some Marvelous Experience." I've posted a brief teaser that explains a little bit about the main idea and will drop the first episode soon. Please subscribe and help me spread the word! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...
I just wrote a book start to finish in well-wrangled .md (with pandoc conversions and zotero reference management, in vs code). Highly recommend! I had to respond to the copyedits in .docx, and did not regret leaving it behind.
Melanie Walsh@mellymeldubs.bsky.social · 3w agoFavorite and least favorite file formats? I'll start. Favorite: TXT Least favorite: HEIC
After trying to use contextualized embeddings for something, I wrote way more than I intended to in an attempt to understand how contextualized embeddings actually work. And then compared them to Cleanth Brooks's description of poetry. cforster.com/2026/07/assa...
Assays of Bias: LLMs and Geometries of Meaning
Trying to understand how LLMs represent meaning by way of a discussion of Cleanth Brooks's account of poetic paradox.
cforster.com
#mustread #sciencefiction #Studies #criticism #speculativefiction A new anthology of essays edited by Anindita Banerjee, Sherryl Vint, David M. Higgins, and @jordanscarroll.bsky.social out by MIT. Excellent #review by John Rieder, especially the last paragraph. lareviewofbooks.org/article/reac...
Red-Pilling Speculation | Los Angeles Review of Books
From Ayn Rand to QAnon, a new anthology explores how reactionary world-building becomes reactionary world-making.
lareviewofbooks.org
Reflection pool discourse—if there are now living organisms spanning this thing that is taller than skyscrapers I like imagining it’s a King Kong-scale Swamp Thing type scenario cooking up…
Big news today as Ishiguro's next novel, his ninth, is announced: www.theguardian.com/books/2026/j...
Kazuo Ishiguro announces 1930s spy caper to be published next year
Miss Lambert Steps Aboard Danger is the first novel from the Nobel laureate since 2021’s Klara and the Sun and draws on the author’s love of music, art and Golden Age cinema
theguardian.com
Snagging a last-second seat for this felt like winning a Coffee for Closers
Screaming in my heart at the extraordinary civic beauty of the Aarhus Dokk1 library and culture center. The baby gong sounded as I first approached it!
My new essay, on "The Institution(s) of High School English," and the chasm that exists between high school and university English departments, is out now in Post45! Such a pleasure to be thinking alongside this fabulous collection of teachers and scholars! post45.org/2026/06/inst...
The Institution(s) of High School English – Post45
When it comes to the history of American education, Clifton Hillegass has not gotten his due. In his decades-long career, Hillegass’s name graced the cover of hundreds of books, works that have sold t...
post45.org
Contemporaries at Post45@atpost45.bsky.social · 2mo ago📚New cluster!! Ed. Robert LeBlanc "The Specter of High School English" initiates a conversation across institutional boundaries that discusses literacy, censorship, technology, writing instruction, and so much more! Check it out: post45.org/sections/con...
En route to Aarhus and London. Speaking at Narrative (on Passing and character networks) Friday, and at KCL (on new book and networked agency) Monday. Please be in touch if you’ll be in either place!
Cutting costs, cashing in on brand equity… that analysis tracks 💯 with my experience in AZ…
Tressie McMillan Cottom@tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 2mo agoA lot of my friends are impacted. This is what it means to run college like a business when the prevailing business strategy is modeled on private equity, leveraged buy-outs and contemptible short-sightedness.
Early summer reading: Speak, Memory: worth it for the chess bit alone Mme Bovary: a reread in progress, appreciate the artistry more but having zero more fun a second time thru Dopamine Kids: recommendable parenting pop sci, on wrangling the screens-feeds-junk food death drive
Honored to have an essay included in the @modernlanguage.bsky.social Democracy Project style.mla.org/the-mla-demo...
The MLA Democracy Project: Essays on Teaching Democracy and Literature | MLA Style Center
A functional democracy depends on its participants being able to understand the operations of their government. The knowledge and skills that come from MLA disciplines–language, literature, writing, a...
style.mla.org
University President: Good afternoon Class of 2026! Please put your hands together for this year’s graduation speaker, MOLOCH!!
Metropolis Silent Film: Moloch Scene
Alt: Metropolis Silent Film: Moloch Scene
static.klipy.com
Register here! Very much looking forward to this conversation…
DLC+@dlcplus.org · 3mo agoWe are excited to share the program for our mini-conference on May 14th! Our panels on SLOP and NOSTALGIA feature papers from established and emerging scholars alike across four different time zones. Read below or check out the full schedule here: dlcplus.org/spring-2026-...
Amazing lineup from a great org. Looking forward to getting all the hot tips on slop and nostalgia from @sselisker.bsky.social @ryancordell.org @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social @tegan.online Tess McNulty + more tomorrow starting 10:30AM Eastern
DLC+@dlcplus.org · 3mo agoWe are excited to share the program for our mini-conference on May 14th! Our panels on SLOP and NOSTALGIA feature papers from established and emerging scholars alike across four different time zones. Read below or check out the full schedule here: dlcplus.org/spring-2026-...
Dreams do come true. I reviewed Annie McClanahan's Beneath the Wage in Spectre. My thanks to editors @grundrza.bsky.social and Camila Valle.
Service with a Scowl – Spectre Journal
Sarah Brouillette reviews Annie McClanahan's Beneath the Wage.
spectrejournal.com
excellent (neo-)institutionalist explanation of university management herd-following from moocs to llms: Actually look at who the bozos are signaling to and why https://www.aaup.org/issue/spring-2026/what-does-ai-do
