Andrew Brown 8/23/23 Andrew Brown 8/23/23

Reading Baudrillard as a Writer

READING NOTES — I think I finally understand Baudrillard, which is to say, I think I finally understand how to read him. Take a phrase like, “The real is not real.” It’s infuriating. It doesn’t mean anything. Of course, that’s half the point. If you don’t see that, then you’ll set him down and never pick him up again.

Andrew Brown 4/22/21 Andrew Brown 4/22/21

Objects, Feelings, Thoughts: Lessons from Chinese Poetics

Personal takeaways from my reading of “Pearl from the Dragon’s Mouth,” a book that explores the role of ‘feeling’ and ‘scene’ in Chinese poetics.

Andrew Brown 4/6/21 Andrew Brown 4/6/21

Travel Writing, Poetry & the Uta Makura

In “Musashino in Tuscany: Japanese Overseas Travel Literature 1860-1912,” Susanna Fessler identifies two central features of Japanese travel literature: 1) uta makura (codified poetic references) and 2) meisho (famous travel places).

Andrew Brown 10/13/20 Andrew Brown 10/13/20

“He didn't hesitate to publish everything he wrote.”

This back-and-forth between prose and not-prose is a common feature of prosimetrum. Here the effect is magnificent, because the notes are evidence and refutation of Ben Youssef’s claim to have not written a poem.