Hamartia

One of the most consequential misunderstandings in the history of literary criticism turns on a single Greek word. In Aristotle’s Poetics, that word is hamartia. It is usually rendered, in classrooms and handbooks, as “tragic flaw,” and on that translation an entire tradition of reading tragedy has been erected. Yet if we return to Aristotle’s Greek and trace the word’s history with some philological care, it becomes clear that this familiar formula rests on a slow but decisive mistranslation—less an error at a single moment than a long cultural drift in which a term meaning “mistake” gradually hardened into a doctrine of moral defect.

In classical Greek, hamartia belongs to the language of action rather than character. Its root sense is concrete and kinetic: to miss one’s mark, as an archer misses the target. By extension, it denotes an error, a misjudgment, a false step... Jonathan Bate, Jonathan Bat's Literary Remains

e, per finire febbraio e l'inverno, una bella foto della grande nevicata a Providence, in RI

 

 

Fawning

It is the afternoon of the fawn. Everywhere you turn, in workplaces and households alike, yearlings with saucer eyes, brown felt noses, and stilt-like legs are wondering if you’re mad at them. The fawn response, as it’s known in some precincts of social media, bundles various forms of ingratiating, people-pleasing behavior. It can manifest in threatening situations, where expressing authentic emotion could elicit a powerful person’s wrath or cruelty, or it might be more banal: laughing at a vindictive supervisor’s unfunny joke, saying you love a gift when you don’t, laboring over the perfect string of whimsical emojis to append to an opinion that you’ve expressed over text. Katy Waldman, The New Yorker

fawning, un termine che non conoscevo per un concetto che conosco molto bene. L'IA lo definisce in questo modo: a survival response where someone tries to stay safe by pleasing, appeasing, or agreeing with others—especially people perceived as threatening or powerful. Quale potrebbe essere la traduzione italiana? Sempre l'IA suggerisce: compiacenza, servilismo, adulazione, sottomissione accomodante, comportamento remissivo. Io aggiungerei anche leccaculaggine 

The New Yorker Story

All my life, I’ve heard about this thing, “the New Yorker story”. I hadn’t investigated this term in depth, but I understood it to mean “a short story that is meandering, plotless, and slight—full of middle-class people discussing their relentlessly banal problems”. Woman of Letters

un lunghissimo articolo (troppo lungo! ma interessante) che fa la storia delle storie del New Yorker, da come e quando hanno cominciato ad apparire sulla rivista, alla loro evoluzione, e soprattutto cerca di definire i tratti che le contraddistinguono.

Departure(s)

Julian Barnes tells us that this is his final book, so that’s one departure accounted for – the last instalment of a writing career spanning 45 years, encompassing novels and short stories, memoirs and essays, biography, travel writing, translation and even a little pseudonymous detective fiction. Many of these works turn up here, whether obliquely or overtly, referred to through subject matter, style, tone or connotation; in the contemporary cultural argot, which Barnes is fond of examining, these writerly winks might be known as Easter eggs. Alex Clark, The Guardian

Departure(s) by Julian Barnes is published by Jonathan Cape. 

triste! 

Ai Weiwei On Censorship

Given that there can be few contemporary artists who have thought more about censorship – its goals, techniques, efficacy – than Ai, it’s inevitable this new book, which runs to fewer than 90 pages, will be read as his distilled wisdom on the topic. Censorship, he asserts, is no new phenomenon: during the Shang dynasty (1600-1046BC) a saying emerged – “the great affairs of the state are worship and military bases”.

But Ai’s main argument is that censorship is neither a uniquely Chinese phenomenon, nor something confined to “countries defined as autocratic and authoritarian”. In the west – “the so-called free world”, with its “ostensibly democratic societies” – free speech is a chimera, regulated through “more covert, more deceptive and more corrosive” means. Flexing his rhetoric, he describes censorship “as both an indispensable tool of mental enslavement and a fundamental source of political corruption”. Sukhdev Sandhu, The Guardian

On Censorship by Ai Weiwei is published by Thames & Hudson 

Sigmund Freud’s begonia

 

This story started in March. A friend sent me a link to a small British movie she’d worked on that hadn’t yet been released. It had been shot in Wales over 18 days on a tiny budget, and as the closing credits rolled, my tearful husband [Richard Curtis] said he thought it was one of the best British films of all time. We offered to host a screening and invited anyone we knew with media influence to watch the masterpiece that is The Ballad of Wallis Island to help spread the word.

A few weeks later, the co-writer and star of the film, Tom Basden, arrived with a thank-you gift: a plastic pot with a leafy stick in the middle. To be honest, I’d have preferred a scented candle, but I was touched that he’d brought it.

Tom then told me the story of the plant. This scrubby little sprig was a cutting from his begonia, which had started life as a cutting given to him by his father-in-law, the writer Barry Walsh, who had been given his plant as a cutting by the casting director Corinne Rodriguez in 2017. Corinne’s begonia had grown from a cutting of a plant grown from one given to her by the actor Sally Miles in the 1970s. Sally’s had started life as a cutting she was given by the opera singer Kirsten Flagstad in the 50s. And Kirsten had been given her cutting in the 30s by her dear friend … Sigmund Freud.

So there I was, moving from apathy to disbelief, holding the same plant my great-grandfather Sigmund had nurtured nearly 100 years ago. Emma Freud, The Observer

una bella storia! 

Trying Dry January?

More drinkers have been saying cheers to a booze-free January, according to a new study, and that choice might come with real health benefits and ultimately help some people cut back for good.

Published in Alcohol and Alcoholism, the review by researchers from Brown University’s School of Public Health and Warren Alpert Medical School analyzed 16 other studies, with more than 150,000 total participants, that specifically mentioned the term “Dry January.” The team examined who takes part in the month-long alcohol-free challenge, how they are affected and what factors help people succeed. The study also identified how the campaign might expand and improve participation.

Researchers found that even a temporary pause in drinking can lead to meaningful physical and psychological improvements. Participants who cut out alcohol completely for the month reported improved sleep, better mood, weight loss, and healthier liver function and blood pressure. Corrie Pikul, News from Brown 

Christmas time is for murder

It’s not exactly the cosy, fireside Christmas story readers might be hoping for, but Hercule Poirot’s Christmas is the most polished example of a perplexing subgenre of crime fiction: the festive murder mystery. Lou Selfridge, The New Statesman

qualche bel giallone per digerire le feste natalizie... 

The books to look out for in 2026

2026 is already promising plenty of unmissable releases: there are new novels by George Saunders, Ali Smith and Douglas Stuart, memoirs from Gisèle Pelicot, Lena Dunham and Mark Haddon, and plenty of inventive debuts to look forward to. Here, browse all the biggest titles set to hit shelves in the coming months across fiction and nonfiction, selected by the Guardian’s books desk. The Guardian

Buon Anno!

 

vi auguriamo uno splendido 2026 di nuovo con una copertina del New Yorker. Questa è uscita sul primo numero del 2024 della rivista ed è stata disegnata da Bianca Bagnarelli, illustratrice e fumettista italiana.