Culture & Religion — April 2, 2010

Dorothy Parker’s Poems

Dorothy Parker’s popularity may have been part of the reason that academia was slow to take up her poetry, writes R. S. Gwynn. But now even feminists have taken her into the literary canon.

bigthinkeditor

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Dorothy Parker’s popularity may have been part of the reason that academia was slow to take up her poetry, writes R. S. Gwynn. But now even feminists have taken her into the literary canon. Gwynn looks at two recent editions of Parker’s verse that have been released, and at why Parker may have given up writing poems after a fashion.

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

A black and white photo of a man with his hand on his head.

High Culture

Meet the 3rd bestselling poet in world history

He is only out-sold by William Shakespeare and Lao Tzu.

A statue of a thoughtful, seated philosopher on the right seems to be contemplating a calling, while a standing figure holding a lyre on the left adds harmony against the textured background.

Thinking

Everyday Philosophy: Can you have a “calling” without a caller?

If you’re an atheist with a vocation, who laid that path for you?

Close-up image of a human iris featuring vibrant blue and yellow hues with a dark pupil in the center.

The mystery at the heart of consciousness

“Is it possible that consciousness is a much more basic phenomenon in nature and is essentially pervading everything?”

▸

10 min

—

with

Annaka Harris

Starts With A Bang

Ask Ethan: Does the CMB really “prove” the Big Bang?

Since the mid-1960s, the CMB has been identified with the Big Bang’s leftover glow. Could any alternative explanations still work?

A wasp illustration in blue on grid paper is overlaid on a close-up image of effervescent bubbles in a golden alcoholic liquid.

Health

The first known animal that’s “immune” to alcohol intoxication

Could studying the Oriental hornet lead to a treatment for people with alcohol use disorder?

Up Next

Culture & Religion

Hipsters in Winter

Has the culture of “white 20-somethings dressed in skinny jeans and lumberjack shirts, and wearing thick-rimmed glasses” begun its inevitable decline?