These three essays orbit Melville’s "Bartleby, the Scrivener" from successive distances. The first attacks the narrator, the second attacks the attack, the third removes the hope of a clean vantage point. Each piece eats the previous one. Together they ask whether any act of understanding can avoid being an act of consumption. Part I: The … Continue reading The Bartleby Triptych: On Vampires, Critics, and Hunger
Tag: capitalism
What’s the Profit (কি লাভ)?
Why do it? I keep thinking about the differences in how people account for value. One dichotomy that comes up is people that want to talk and think about other people, and people that want to talk and think about ideas, without reference to people. I remember once, on a trip to Italy, I was … Continue reading What’s the Profit (কি লাভ)?
