Didactic v. Ambiguous

ONLY ONE CAN SURVIVE....... (or maybe both)

Hi everyone! First up I have some events to announce. From June 26 to 28, I will be one one of 44 authors featured in the Leukerbad International Literary Festival, “some offering clear political commentary, others taking a keen look at the small, interpersonal connections through which the big issues manifest themselves.” I’ll probably be one of the ones taking a keen look at the little things.

[I just reread James Baldwin’s essay “The Stranger in the Village” (1953), which he wrote in/ about Leukerbad—I was getting a real Henry James vibe and started to wonder if the title was a callback to “The Beast in the Jungle” and then thought “what if the real beast in the jungle is imperialism” so I googled if anyone said that and I think some people did!]

After that, I’m thrilled to be doing an event at the University of Hamburg on July 13. The university offered to arrange a visit to nearby Lübeck to see the Buddenbrookhaus (where Thomas Mann grew up, and then he wrote Buddenbrooks), which I accepted with alacrity, but apparently the house is under renovation until 2030, raising the interesting question: what terrible damage did further decadent generations visit upon the Buddenbrooks House? I’m excited to walk around Lübeck and speculate.

Otherwise, as foreshadowed last time, today’s post is about the word “didactic,” which is something that came up in my conversation with James Wood about The Death of Ivan Ilyich (“But what do we make of Tolstoy’s didacticism”). During the actual conversation, I didn’t make very much of Tolstoy’s didacticism. But later I kept thinking about it, and realized I had a lot to say. So there is an essay about didacticism (2500 words), after the paywall.

Thank you for reading!