Author Archives: cristian

If translating from one language into another is, as for Giacomo Leopardi, being “in the shadow of a a language” due to the scale of the task and the irreducibility of one scriptural Lebenswelt to another, then the duty of a translator is not so much to create as to reveal. Reveal other worlds, discloseContinue reading “Translation as revelation”

No cultural shift has been more consequential than when some societies decided that the ideal way to prepare an individual for social life is to keep her in school for 15 years of her life or more. Modern society prizes cognitive development more than any other type of human development. We are not deemed readyContinue reading “The writing is on every wall”

Imagine the things which could have been achieved if the Arabic numerals had reached Europe sooner. If instead of being developed in the 5th-6th century AD, the Hindu-Arabic number system we now call Arabic had become mainstream in antiquity. The precursors of the Arabic numerals in Europe had been the Roman numbers, a rather simpleContinue reading “A story of numbers”

An idealist’s worst enemy is reality. The lyrics of U2’s song ‘Where the streets have no name’ may have been inspired by the segregated streets of 80s Belfast, where each street had a religious-economic identity. But 40 years later, we’re far from releasing our streets from the grip of power struggles. There are calls forContinue reading “Where the streets have no name”

We like to talk about early adopters, but what about early leavers? Getting onboard is great, but getting offboard before the ship starts to sink is even better; or jumping ship causing the ship to go down. Adoption of an exciting new technology is always desirable. Some technologies, ideas, products take off, others don’t, andContinue reading “Early adopters and early leavers”

Every culture decides how to remember. Whether to remember at all. Who to remember and for how long. Each society develops its own devices for praising and blaming, extolling and denouncing individuals, behaviours and ideas. Unremembering is not the same as forgetting. Forgetting leaves a void in the record, unremembering marks the memory for removal,Continue reading “Unremembering”

The 1st-century AD Roman poet Martial knew the power of words and the weakness of men. He knew that the best a writer can do is to hold up a mirror for her readers, or have the readers hold it up for themselves. He knew that what we don’t want to see in ourselves isContinue reading “Holding up a mirror”

The farther one goes back in history, the more intense the question of record survival becomes. The farther away we look, the dimmer things get, not because there’s anything wrong with our power of sight, but because the crumbs have scattered beyond recovery. Historians of the ancient and medieval period often lament the lack ofContinue reading “Survival show”

There are times when I think that we need more superstition in our lives. That we need more bibliomancy. Divination is an old art. The future is an old unknown. The practice of gaining insight into the future or a question of public or private significance by means of reading a book passage at randomContinue reading “It’s in the books”