Tag Archives: literature

Introduction for Zadie Smith’s talk at Swarthmore, Nov. 7 2012: “Why I Write.”

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Peter Schmidt

It’s an honor to introduce Zadie Smith.  I shouldn’t be nervous, because introductions are easy, right?  Zadie Smith, meet Swarthmore College and Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.  Swarthmore, Zadie Smith.  Yet introductions are really impossible, because more words need to be said but … Continue reading →

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This may be the best short discussion ever written about words as signs (semiotics) vs. words as music, especially in poetry

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Peter Schmidt

A. R. Ammons, “Motion” (c. 1961-65)   The word is not the thing: is a construction of, a tag for, the thing: the word in no way resembles the thing, except as sound resembles, as in whirr, sound: the relation … Continue reading →

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What Should I Do With the Dead Turk in the Bedroom? Class, Sex, and Otherness in Downton Abbey

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Peter Schmidt

Julian Fellowes’ Downton Abbey is fun and fascinating TV for lots of reasons.   It has an excellent script and superb acting, and the detailed development it gives just about all the major and minor characters is smartly set against a … Continue reading →

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