17 Comments
Apr 11Liked by becca rothfeld

Overjoyed to be known as a bringer of rugelach :)

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truly the best!!!!!!

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Apr 11Liked by becca rothfeld

fully agree that kleist is better than goethe

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Goethe is perversely underrated because the Goethe-industrial complex makes him seem like such a chore

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Goethe is obviously good, don't get me wrong, but I still prefer Kleist

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I get it, Goethe himself founded the Goethe-industrial complex, except in the early stuff and the shorter poems he almost makes an active effort to be boring whereas Kleist is never boring

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I think people can both have reasons for what they write and also be driven by subpersonal and superpersonal unconscious factors. I know i am!

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Of course they can…but is there any reason to think that in this case, they do?

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Just your standard Darwinian and Freudian reasons for human aggression and its enjoyment. Nothing special about this case.

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I cant believe your BF piece compelled me, a person whose daily reading predominantly consists of consumer review of bathrobes, to start devouring some hella old german gothic horror?!

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Could someone explain the Renata Adler references/variations to a non-native English speaker—it's all over Twitter in connection to the Oyler review and I'm puzzled...

Looking forward to the review—for ETA Hoffman aficionados, check out Offenbach's great opera Les Contes d'Hoffmann based on three of his short stories, with Hoffmann being the main character. It has a show-stopping, difficult-to-sing aria called The Doll Song in the first act, and the most beautiful barcarolle duet in the third act (Belle nuit...).

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the barcarolle duet is heavenly, one of my favorite pieces of music of all time!

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This whole thing smacks of gender.

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🙏

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fwiw, I’ve seen the complete opposite reaction to Manov’s piece, but maybe we just follow different people on Twitter/substack…

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