2,161 words

Ever have one of those moments that make you question everything? Sometimes things get so confusing that up seems like down, day seems like night, and you find yourself revisiting some of your most fundamental principles. Of course, I’m talking about the Jewish Question. (more…)

George Barbier, “Eventails (Fans)”

7,971 words

Twentieth Century Studios is threatening to release a remake of Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile (1937). And if Kenneth Branaugh’s previous outing as the Hercule Poirot character in 2017’s Murder on the Orient Express was anything to go by, best to avoid it. (more…)

2,166 words

Albert Camus
Trans. Joseph Laredo
The Stranger
London: Penguin, 2000 (1942)

“I love my country too much to be a nationalist.”

— Attributed to Albert Camus  (more…)

4,518 words

A popular argument is that terrorism is fundamentally a reaction to US foreign policy – that even if Islamic terrorists couch their anger in religious sentiments, indeed even if they believe that the US is in fact a “Great Satan” (more…)

Siouxsie Sioux

1,420 words

As universal as pop music tries to be, there are some songs which cut into profit margins by drawing distinct lines between large groups of people and cast aspersions or judgment across those lines. And depending on how sanctified or protected the victim group is — or how known or unknown the singer/songwriter is — the song might actually become popular. For example, Mick Jagger made a career out of doing this to women, and Bruce Springsteen to the wealthy. But very rarely does pop music draw lines along racial barriers. (more…)

Thomas Edward Lawrence, 1888–1935

1,654 words

French translation here

T. E. Lawrence was born in North Wales on 15 August 1888. He was the illegitimate son of Sir Thomas Chapman, an Anglo-Irish baronet. His mother was Scottish. He became a legend in his own time as Lawrence of Arabia — a brilliant active life which ended in a motorcycle “accident” when he was only 46. (more…)

Thomas Edward Lawrence, 1888–1935

2,432 words

English original here

T. E. Lawrence naquit dans le nord du Pays de Galles le 15 août 1888. Il était le fils illégitime de Sir Thomas Chapman, un baron anglo-irlandais. Sa mère était écossaise. Il devint une légende de son vivant sous le nom de Lawrence d’Arabie – une vie active et brillante qui prit fin dans un « accident » de moto alors qu’il n’avait que 46 ans. (more…)