Essays – line of best fit

Half Awake in a Fake Empire

Freedom, Natality, and the Loss of the World in Hannah Arendt’s America The United States of America is not merely a sovereign state, but a political and affective project bound to a specific promise of freedom, action, and the immutable experience of wonder. In the final lines of The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald glimpsesContinue reading “Half Awake in a Fake Empire”

American Wasteland

In the final lines of The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald situates the condition of man in a primordial experience of wonder. Imagining the first arrival of European explorers to North America, he writes: “For a transitory, enchanted moment, man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aestheticContinue reading “American Wasteland”

Borne Back Into The Past

The American Dream in Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence and J.D. Salinger’s Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut. Thomas Jefferson and the Founding Fathers of the United States of America were not merely engaged in a project of national liberation. Though their revolution began in precarious rebellion against the tyranny of arbitrary rule, its radical contingency orientedContinue reading “Borne Back Into The Past”

Slouching Towards Bethlehem

Modernity’s Second Coming in Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan and Friedrich Nietzsche’s On the Genealogy of Morals. A cursory examination of the ideas in Thomas Hobbes’ and Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophies leaves one with the impression that they are polar opposites. As the paragon of the modern state, Hobbes positions himself squarely in the crosshairs of Nietzsche’s coruscatingContinue reading “Slouching Towards Bethlehem”

No Sacrifice Too Great

A Literary Analysis. What does it mean to love? Ernest Hemingway once wrote that the essence of love lies in the willingness to serve, do things for, and ultimately, sacrifice oneself to benefit the object of one’s love. But sacrifice can entail a great many things, from the sacrifice of one’s dreams and inclinations inContinue reading “No Sacrifice Too Great”

Abortive Sorrows and Pretentious Quips

A Literary Exploration of Ambition, Satisfaction, and Artificiality in The Great Gatsby. How might a man, by conscious action, justify the extraordinary yet terrible privilege of his existence? The answer to this question, in the words of Fyodor Dostoevsky, lies not in merely staying alive, but in finding something to live for. Thus, is theContinue reading “Abortive Sorrows and Pretentious Quips”