“The Poet Is a Man Who Feigns”
Portuguese modernist Fernando Pessoa channeled a grand, glorious chorus of writers—heteronyms, he called them—robust inventions of his unique imagination.
The Tangled Language of Jargon
What our emotional reaction to jargon reveals about the evolution of the English language, and how the use of specialized terms can manipulate meaning.
Getting a Grip on Slavoj Žižek (with Slavoj Žižek)
The Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek is famous for his provocative takes, but how should we understand his basic ideas?