Ablinger Franz

Simone de Beauvoir’s translators and the many critics have turned their disputes into a play where each acts the role assigned by theatrical cliché… As translation contretemps go, the one surrounding French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir (1908-86) and her foundational work of modern feminism, Le Deuxième Sexe, first published in two volumes in French in … Read more

Late fourth-century frescoes of Sts. Peter, Andrew, John and Paul have been uncovered in the Catacombs of St. Tecla, underneath a nondescript office building in Rome. Arachaeologists used lasers to remove centuries’ worth of calcium carbonate deposits which had accumulated over the paintings. Link

As someone who was a child during the end of the Soviet Era, the following news items cause minor cognitive dissonance: 1) The Russian guided missile warship Varyag is docking in San Francisco this week on a friendly tour coinciding with a visit from the Russian President. At the same time there are three Japanese … Read more

The Industrial Revolution is the inflection point of economic history. During all the millennia before that revolution, incomes were static and humans were poor—often hungry, inadequately clothed, ill-housed. But somehow, in the two-and-a-half centuries since humanity learned to mass produce, a large number of ordinary people have acquired more material comfort than even the wealthiest … Read more