Alina Stefanescu
@alinaetc.bsky.social
poet. writer. editor. reviewer. translator. corrupted bibliomaniac. exists in romanian and alabamian. hybrid in she/her dreams. self-deleting. self-ghosting.
www.alinastefanescuwriter.com
www.alinastefanescuwriter.com
Reposted by Alina Stefanescu
In a human sacrifice to deity there might be at least a mistaken and terrible beauty; in the rites of the moneychangers, where greed, laziness, and envy were assumed to move all men's acts, even the terrible became banal.
February 10, 2026 at 9:30 PM
In a human sacrifice to deity there might be at least a mistaken and terrible beauty; in the rites of the moneychangers, where greed, laziness, and envy were assumed to move all men's acts, even the terrible became banal.
From Francesca Woodman’s “Profiles of some possible modern day caryatids, ca. 1980” which I had the opportunity to sit with today.
February 11, 2026 at 5:34 AM
From Francesca Woodman’s “Profiles of some possible modern day caryatids, ca. 1980” which I had the opportunity to sit with today.
Reposted by Alina Stefanescu
I wrote about Pluribus and the dangers of writing exclusively for the fans. www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025...
The Importance of Critical Thinking in a Zombiefied World
Why romantasy is crucial to understanding Apple TV’s hit show “Pluribus”
www.theatlantic.com
December 23, 2025 at 2:11 PM
I wrote about Pluribus and the dangers of writing exclusively for the fans. www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025...
An irredeemable conversation on a porch in December where only Ionesco’s rhinoceros could save us.
www.alinastefanescuwriter.com/blog/2026/2/...
www.alinastefanescuwriter.com/blog/2026/2/...
Nate and Alina, with respect to earaches. — alina Ştefănescu
ALINA STEFANESCU AND NATHAN KNAPP IN CONVERSATION
www.alinastefanescuwriter.com
February 11, 2026 at 4:48 AM
An irredeemable conversation on a porch in December where only Ionesco’s rhinoceros could save us.
www.alinastefanescuwriter.com/blog/2026/2/...
www.alinastefanescuwriter.com/blog/2026/2/...
It’s always a question of how porous the boundary of that bubble— to paraphrase Glissant. What sort of openness it imagines. Bezos is like every neoliberal billionaire. We desperately need critique to address the failures of liberal democracy as a form. 😔 It’s a messy time to think, live, write.
February 10, 2026 at 7:08 PM
It’s always a question of how porous the boundary of that bubble— to paraphrase Glissant. What sort of openness it imagines. Bezos is like every neoliberal billionaire. We desperately need critique to address the failures of liberal democracy as a form. 😔 It’s a messy time to think, live, write.
I would only add that we encounter iterations of “ourselves” forever anyway— being human asks us to reckon with the fragility of contingency. Literature gives us the Otherwise of possible lives. Our bubbles are virulent. Bezos bubbles us for $. As do flags.
www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...
www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...
The End of Books Coverage at the Washington Post
Becca Rothfeld, a former critic at the Washington Post, on the death of the paper’s books section.
www.newyorker.com
February 10, 2026 at 7:01 PM
I would only add that we encounter iterations of “ourselves” forever anyway— being human asks us to reckon with the fragility of contingency. Literature gives us the Otherwise of possible lives. Our bubbles are virulent. Bezos bubbles us for $. As do flags.
www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...
www.newyorker.com/books/page-t...
No one did exuberance like Kierkegaard after a Schelling lecture. 🖤
February 10, 2026 at 4:09 PM
No one did exuberance like Kierkegaard after a Schelling lecture. 🖤
When that Americano is not enough and you need an intensified footnote.
February 10, 2026 at 3:58 PM
When that Americano is not enough and you need an intensified footnote.
This translation of a bildungspoem by Yucel Kayiran by Derick Mattern speaks to the intersection of poetic form and the novel’s gest towards self-narration. It is thrilling to me. Thrilling.
exchanges.uiowa.edu/passage-efsu...
exchanges.uiowa.edu/passage-efsu...
February 10, 2026 at 3:57 PM
This translation of a bildungspoem by Yucel Kayiran by Derick Mattern speaks to the intersection of poetic form and the novel’s gest towards self-narration. It is thrilling to me. Thrilling.
exchanges.uiowa.edu/passage-efsu...
exchanges.uiowa.edu/passage-efsu...
Elizabeth Willis again.
February 10, 2026 at 4:21 AM
Elizabeth Willis again.
Reposted by Alina Stefanescu
CALL FOR PITCHES
@dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I are at work on a new version of Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century aimed at a more general audience.
We’re looking for new contributions: your model close readings of texts, canonical and not, from literary studies and not.
Details below!
@dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I are at work on a new version of Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century aimed at a more general audience.
We’re looking for new contributions: your model close readings of texts, canonical and not, from literary studies and not.
Details below!
February 9, 2026 at 1:56 PM
CALL FOR PITCHES
@dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I are at work on a new version of Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century aimed at a more general audience.
We’re looking for new contributions: your model close readings of texts, canonical and not, from literary studies and not.
Details below!
@dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I are at work on a new version of Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century aimed at a more general audience.
We’re looking for new contributions: your model close readings of texts, canonical and not, from literary studies and not.
Details below!
Reposted by Alina Stefanescu
My chapter from a recent collection
“A Most Thrilling Geometry” (Predicative Space in Proust) | 16 | The R
Working out from the role of place names in Proust, this essay considers the sense in which certain encounters with language signal an intrinsic relation to
doi.org
June 30, 2025 at 5:37 AM
My chapter from a recent collection
That night 9 months ago when I found myself on the blah side of town in Manhattan where the most interesting mammals were the rats I shit thee never. 🥹
February 10, 2026 at 2:12 AM
That night 9 months ago when I found myself on the blah side of town in Manhattan where the most interesting mammals were the rats I shit thee never. 🥹
😆🫶🏼 Pat asked me to turn down my volume
February 10, 2026 at 2:02 AM
😆🫶🏼 Pat asked me to turn down my volume
I don’t do it often but there have been periods in my life when I didnt touch alcohol so I hear you. I missed it then sometimes. but I also hate it Raymond. I hate what I’ve seen it do 🫶🏼
February 10, 2026 at 12:10 AM
I don’t do it often but there have been periods in my life when I didnt touch alcohol so I hear you. I missed it then sometimes. but I also hate it Raymond. I hate what I’ve seen it do 🫶🏼
BrIan eno nailed it
February 10, 2026 at 12:08 AM
BrIan eno nailed it
Don’t judge me friends aeroports are slowwww
February 9, 2026 at 10:53 PM
Don’t judge me friends aeroports are slowwww