Balint on Zipperstein's new bio of Roth: "Roth curated Penguin’s 'Writers From the Other Europe,' smuggling masters from behind the Iron Curtain into American sight: Tadeusz Borowski, Danilo Kiš, Milan Kundera and, crucially, Bruno Schulz." www.wsj.com/arts-culture...

🇭🇺 On this day in 1956, Hungarians rose up against Soviet occupation — and showed solidarity with the 🇵🇱 Polish (“lengyel”) nation, whose June 1956 Poznań protests had been crushed. 🎥 Footage: Blinken OSA Archivum, post-colorized by Colorful History (Színes Történelem) YouTube channel

Keep an eye out for this one from Hadji Bakara and @uchicagopress.bsky.social. It’s brilliant and necessary.💡 press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo....

When I was researching my book in Prague, Ivan Klíma and his wife Helena invited me into their home and talked to me for hours over zázvorová limonáda. Their hospitality was just one reason their apartment was a first stop for visiting US writers like Philip Roth. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/04/w...

This was a great excuse to finally read Riley’s book on Civic Foundations of Fascism in Europe, and man is it a useful corrective on civil society, democracy, and authoritarianism (even if I don’t agree with all of it so far)

New online: John Ganz (@lioneltrolling.bsky.social) interviews Dylan J. Riley on Trump and the state of American democracy. www.dissentmagazine.org/online_artic...

“Antipolitics is the ethos of civil society, and civil society is the antithesis of military society.” -György Konrád

Come hang out at @redemmas.org on Wednesday October 1st!

Kino Lucerna, Dec. 21, 2013

Incredible. Would be so interested to see a deep dive on the period, roughly, between ‘68 and ‘89.

This review made me very curious about what these authors would make of a different liberal socialist tradition from the 20th century: attempts to liberalize state socialism from inside the Eastern bloc (Prague Spring, etc.).

Thanks for this, @platanoclassics.bsky.social! www.thenation.com/article/soci...

New at PB: In conversation with @carolyndever.bsky.social, @devoney.bsky.social talks about her new book “Wild for Austen,” covering everything from sexuality, erotica, and love to class, moms, dads, and the power of naughtiness. www.publicbooks.org/weird-but-fa...

“68 Publishers ‘was far and away the most important of the émigré publishing houses,’ said Derek Sayer. ‘It basically kept Czech literature alive.’ And, Mr. Sayer recalled, Mr. Škvorecký ‘was very insistent’ that ‘[Zdena Salivarová] was the one who kept it going.’” Unpaywalled: archive.ph/7JJjL

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THE NONCONFORMISTS made the Allen Ginsberg Project's weekly round-up: allenginsberg.org/2025/08/f-a-...

There were no apocalyptic haboobs in Bulgaria this summer. Highly recommend applying to this institute co-sponsored by @acls1919.bsky.social and the Centre for Advanced Study Sofia. www.acls.org/news/acls-co...

Love raising resilient kids in Phoenix in 2025.

We need to offer counter-narratives to the reductions to humanities that many institutions are undertaking, and equip our colleagues across institutions with evidence that the myths being deployed to reduce our fields are not based in fact. futurelostarchive.beehiiv.com/p/the-myth-o...

Promo vid. Links to other vids in fundraiser page. youtube.com/shorts/Npmj3...

Pre-order! www.amazon.com/Banning-Book...

An incredible opportunity to think alongside other scholars about an important topic at the Institute for Advanced Study, CEU in Budapest. The next theme will be "Modalities of Resilience and Resistance: Academia and Society in Illiberal Times." ias.ceu.edu/joint-budape...

I wrote something about dissent and the motive for speaking out. calebcrain.substack.com/p/the-motive...

It's hard to avoid recalling this passage from the English historian Tony Judt:

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In more book news: who says before there's a final cover or description is too early to post a pre-order link, especially when it shows the low, low price of $17.96? www.bloomsbury.com/us/banning-b...

Our edition of The Church Committee Report has a cover. Coming Jan '26. @mguariglia.bsky.social and I both hope its relevance diminishes between now and then.

Excited to share the *incredible* cover for the Church Committee Report! The first version of the 1975 report on illegal surveillance & the national security state ever published by a mainstream press. Abridged/introduced by @brianhochman.bsky.social and I. Published by W.W. Norton January 2026.

‘A number is a mystery, which God solves.’ For Bloomsday, James Joyce and Adolf Hoffmeister argue about a Czech translation of Finnegans Wake, in a rare interview from 1930. granta.com/the-game-of-...

Great review of @briankgoodman.bsky.social The Nonconformists read.dukeupress.edu/twentieth-ce...

This summer, ASU English professor @briankgoodman.bsky.social is conducting research in Bulgaria with a prestigious @acls1919.bsky.social fellowship. Goodman's work on the project was first enabled with seed funding from ASU’s Humanities Institute. Learn more: ow.ly/WzQq50VTxRf #ASUHumanities

Incredible book! 👏

Reviewed! tinyurl.com/22ena7s6

I just want to personally thank all of my colleagues teaching in community colleges, particularly in Arizona. You have produced some of the most gifted students I’ve taught over the last few years @asuenglish.bsky.social. Thank you for your amazing teaching and brilliant work.

Book is 40% off over on the @harvardpress.bsky.social site! www.hup.harvard.edu/history-book...

My @nehgov.bsky.social grant “In the Shadow of the Holocaust: Short Fiction by Jewish Writers from the Soviet Union” was canceled by “DOGE.” The project doesn’t support "the furtherance of the President's agenda.” Jews surviving genocide: out of step w/ the agenda of using Jews to destroy higher ed.

"Life After Kafka depicts the magic and poison of memories, and what we cling to when all else is lost. Most of all, it illuminates the bravery required to move forward through the shattered remains of one world to rebuild life in a new one." www.blpress.org/books/life-a...

Heartfelt thanks to Fergal, Selma, Uilleam, and Maya for shortlisting LIFE AFTER KAFKA for this year's EBRD Literature Prize. I am always grateful when readers, including those in the role of "judge," appreciate my work. It's also a pleasure to be in the company of translators I count as friends!

Headed to Bulgaria this summer to think and write about antipolitical literature and the spread of "Epistemic Mistrust" with other @acls1919.bsky.social fellows. Thanks to the Centre for Advanced Study Sofia for hosting! news.asu.edu/b/20250321-a...

every college, corporate, and nonprofit president right now

From interview of Lee Bollinger, 1st Amendment scholar who served as dean of @UMichLaw, president of @UMich, and president of Columbia University. www.chronicle.com/article/were...

I wrote a slightly unhinged essay review for ALH on DeLillo’s walls, Albanian bunkers, seed vaults, Cold War nostalgia, Tom Clancy, Philip K. Dick, Fredric Jameson, and the half-life of all cultural forms. You can access “After Cold War Studies” here: academic.oup.com/alh/article/...

Under review

“The risk of overreaction is trivial compared to the risks of accommodation.” New: Mark Greif on the war against the bureaucracy. www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...

Well, I outlived Kafka. Please, no cards. 🎂