The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Reads tagged with “culture”

91-Year-Old Lebanese-American Poet, Philosopher, and Painter Etel Adnan on Memory, the Self, and the Universe
91-Year-Old Lebanese-American Poet, Philosopher, and Painter Etel Adnan on Memory, the Self, and the Universe

“The universe is itself the glue that keeps it going, therefore it is memory in action and in essence, in becoming and in being. Because it remembers itself, it exists. Because it exists, it remembers.”

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An Illustrated Fictional Day in the Real Lives of Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein
An Illustrated Fictional Day in the Real Lives of Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein

Parisian misadventures in multitasking drawn from one of history’s great loves.

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Sam Shepard in Love, on Love
Sam Shepard in Love, on Love

“There can be a real meeting between two people at the point where they always felt marooned. Right at the edge.”

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Into the Chute of Time: Annie Dillard on the Stunning Otherworldliness of a Total Solar Eclipse
Into the Chute of Time: Annie Dillard on the Stunning Otherworldliness of a Total Solar Eclipse

“What you see in a total eclipse is entirely different from what you know.”

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How Bach Will Save Your Soul: German Philosopher Josef Pieper on the Hidden Source of Music’s Supreme Power
How Bach Will Save Your Soul: German Philosopher Josef Pieper on the Hidden Source of Music’s Supreme Power

“Music opens a path into the realm of silence.”

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What to Look for During a Total Solar Eclipse: Mabel Loomis Todd’s Poetic 19th-Century Guide to Totality, with Help from Emily Dickinson
What to Look for During a Total Solar Eclipse: Mabel Loomis Todd’s Poetic 19th-Century Guide to Totality, with Help from Emily Dickinson

“A vast, palpable presence seems overwhelming the world. The blue sky changes to gray or dull purple, speedily becoming more dusky, and a death-like trance seizes upon everything earthly.”

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How to Live to the Full While Dying: The Extraordinary Diary of Alice James, William and Henry James’s Underappreciated Sister
How to Live to the Full While Dying: The Extraordinary Diary of Alice James, William and Henry James’s Underappreciated Sister

“It is the most supremely interesting moment in life, the only one in fact when living seems life.”

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The Blue Songbird: A Tenderhearted and Lyrical Parable About Finding Your Voice and Coming Home to Yourself
The Blue Songbird: A Tenderhearted and Lyrical Parable About Finding Your Voice and Coming Home to Yourself

A lovely Japanese-inspired meditation on what makes us who we are.

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Sir Thomas Browne on the Transcendent Torture of Romantic Friendship
Sir Thomas Browne on the Transcendent Torture of Romantic Friendship

“United souls are not satisfied with embraces, but desire to be truly each other.”

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Advice to the Young from Pioneering Astrophysicist Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, Who Discovered the Composition of the Universe
Advice to the Young from Pioneering Astrophysicist Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, Who Discovered the Composition of the Universe

Work with love, embrace the unexpected, let no one else make intellectual decisions for you, and always remain in direct touch with the fountain-head.

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