Art, education, rhythm
Postcard #47
Hello and welcome back to another edition of THE POSTCARD, Unregistered’s fortnightly roundup of recommendations.
Thoughts, tools, and treats
This week’s POSTCARD focuses on education and art.
Education
William Deresiewicz advocates for the revival of liberal education. Hollis Robbins, however, notes that he overlooks crucial factors that separate aspiration from actuality. I think she’s onto something. Talking of education: In a knowledgeable and thoughtful article, Hollis asks what the “higher” in higher ed means. Hint: AI is forcing the question.
Post-partisan storytelling
As part of a larger project and a five-part series of articles, Erin O’Connor sketches a theory of post-partisan storytelling.
Taste, cont’d
Scott Alexander contra everyone on taste.
What makes art great?
Nabeel S. Qureshi argues that good literature uses language „to be surprising, to have a work with layers of patterns, and to produce something with great depth.“ He adds a fourth, content-related aspect: „Art, at its best, is in part about these most spiritually weighty human experiences, and this component of greatness is not reducible to any formal factors, because it is life itself.“ Henry Oliver replies.
Meat, music, LLMs
A brilliant piece by Justin Smith-Ruiu on the mechanization of music and language, in which he argues „that so much writing today appears to me as the textual equivalent of smooth jazz.“ The way forward? „It seems to me it would be far preferable to strive to come up with something like the textual equivalent of ‚Blue Monday‘, or even of ‚Lujon‘, something that owns up to the technological conditions of its production, while continuing to look for new ways to preserve and express what is irreducibly human under these conditions.“
Noteworthy
“Yes, I think I can say this much about myself: that in my very core, I am an enthusiast and a skeptic alike.“
—Axel Matthes, founder and longtime publisher of Matthes & Seitz, a German publishing house established in 1977, who will celebrate his 90th birthday on May 18, 2026. With its translations of the Surrealists, Matthes & Seitz became a major destination for French literature, essays, and philosophy in Germany. Matthes received the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1997 in recognition of his services to French literature.
A mystery link leading into the unknown
„No...
As always,
Dirk
P.S.: Feel free to send me pointers to articles, books, sites, pods, tools, and treats that could be interesting for this roundup. While I cannot promise to link them, I read and appreciate every hint.