The Baffler
@thebaffler.com
Political and cultural criticism. Since 1988. Online and in print. https://thebaffler.com/
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The Baffler
@thebaffler.com
· 13d
The poptimists and sloptimists have won. Our new issue, “After Words,” describes our postliterate moment, when everything from serious criticism to literary fiction to children’s books seems on the verge of being replaced by content trash.
thebaffler.com/issues/no-81
thebaffler.com/issues/no-81
“That ocean of lost possibilities is a metaphor that is built up by the book and the game together, and completely expressed in neither.”
thebaffler.com/salvos/the-worlds-memory-of-the-world-winslow-yost
thebaffler.com/salvos/the-worlds-memory-of-the-world-winslow-yost
The World’s Memory of the World | Gabriel Winslow-Yost
The world of Disco Elysium evokes both postrevolutionary melancholy and communist fervor for a more just world.
thebaffler.com
November 11, 2025 at 3:29 AM
“That ocean of lost possibilities is a metaphor that is built up by the book and the game together, and completely expressed in neither.”
thebaffler.com/salvos/the-worlds-memory-of-the-world-winslow-yost
thebaffler.com/salvos/the-worlds-memory-of-the-world-winslow-yost
The Berlin of Jenny Erpenbeck’s childhood was pockmarked with ruins. In her new essay collection, she writes on living among them—and their vanishing.
Idle Things | Robert Rubsam
In “Things That Disappear,” Jenny Erpenbeck grapples with ruins, revealing the virtue of unproductive places and idle things.
thebaffler.com
November 11, 2025 at 2:33 AM
The Berlin of Jenny Erpenbeck’s childhood was pockmarked with ruins. In her new essay collection, she writes on living among them—and their vanishing.
“Today, as Silicon Valley leaders turn to the right, and particularly when they migrate to Texas, many are embracing the simultaneous celebration of entrepreneurship and Christian discipleship.”
The Texan Ideology | Fred Turner
The Texan Ideology reflects a century-old fusion of the oil industry and millenarian Christianity.
thebaffler.com
November 11, 2025 at 1:15 AM
“Today, as Silicon Valley leaders turn to the right, and particularly when they migrate to Texas, many are embracing the simultaneous celebration of entrepreneurship and Christian discipleship.”
Evangelical centrists, quashed revolutions, an annihilating fog of history—“Disco Elysium” has all this and more, but in a novel written by the game’s co-creator, we see the world of the game from a sunnier vantage point.
thebaffler.com/salvos/the-worlds-memory-of-the-world-winslow-yost
thebaffler.com/salvos/the-worlds-memory-of-the-world-winslow-yost
The World’s Memory of the World | Gabriel Winslow-Yost
The world of Disco Elysium evokes both postrevolutionary melancholy and communist fervor for a more just world.
thebaffler.com
November 11, 2025 at 12:03 AM
Evangelical centrists, quashed revolutions, an annihilating fog of history—“Disco Elysium” has all this and more, but in a novel written by the game’s co-creator, we see the world of the game from a sunnier vantage point.
thebaffler.com/salvos/the-worlds-memory-of-the-world-winslow-yost
thebaffler.com/salvos/the-worlds-memory-of-the-world-winslow-yost
After three years, workers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette have had their contract restored. Earlier this year, Tadhg Larabee wrote about their historic strike.
November 10, 2025 at 11:05 PM
After three years, workers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette have had their contract restored. Earlier this year, Tadhg Larabee wrote about their historic strike.
“The only mercy Guyotat shows his readers is that he never describes the thoughts and feelings of his characters as they are pushed beyond the limits of subjectivity.”
Violence and the Sacred | Ryan Ruby
Violence may not be the totality of life, but it is closer to the core than humanists would have us believe.
thebaffler.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:55 PM
“The only mercy Guyotat shows his readers is that he never describes the thoughts and feelings of his characters as they are pushed beyond the limits of subjectivity.”
“Worldbuilding” has become synonymous with the creation of endlessly exploitable IP. This doesn’t resemble what’s going on with Elysium, which is both too expansive in scale and too scathing in its analysis of our own reality to be so reduced.
The World’s Memory of the World | Gabriel Winslow-Yost
The world of Disco Elysium evokes both postrevolutionary melancholy and communist fervor for a more just world.
thebaffler.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:13 PM
“Worldbuilding” has become synonymous with the creation of endlessly exploitable IP. This doesn’t resemble what’s going on with Elysium, which is both too expansive in scale and too scathing in its analysis of our own reality to be so reduced.
Reposted by The Baffler
«The global system of connection built out in the 1990s has turned the social world into a resource for the oldest form of capitalism, extraction. For that kind of work Texas makes an ideal home.»
Fred Turner on «The Texan Ideology» at @thebaffler.com thebaffler.com/salvos/the-t...
Fred Turner on «The Texan Ideology» at @thebaffler.com thebaffler.com/salvos/the-t...
The Texan Ideology | Fred Turner
The Texan Ideology reflects a century-old fusion of the oil industry and millenarian Christianity.
thebaffler.com
November 1, 2025 at 4:43 PM
«The global system of connection built out in the 1990s has turned the social world into a resource for the oldest form of capitalism, extraction. For that kind of work Texas makes an ideal home.»
Fred Turner on «The Texan Ideology» at @thebaffler.com thebaffler.com/salvos/the-t...
Fred Turner on «The Texan Ideology» at @thebaffler.com thebaffler.com/salvos/the-t...
In this excerpt from Alla Gorbunova’s new collection “(Th)ings and (Th)oughts”—out now from @deepvellum.bsky.social—bad becomes good, good becomes bad, and a man makes a deal with the devil that no one can dissolve.
Three Moral Tales | Alla Gorbunova
“Batman, Transformer, Spiderman Putin, the Crimea is definitely ours.”
thebaffler.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:22 PM
In this excerpt from Alla Gorbunova’s new collection “(Th)ings and (Th)oughts”—out now from @deepvellum.bsky.social—bad becomes good, good becomes bad, and a man makes a deal with the devil that no one can dissolve.
The book that “Disco Elysium” was built upon has never received an official English translation. In our new issue, Gabriel Winslow-Yost considers two recent fan-led efforts to bring the novel to a new audience.
thebaffler.com/salvos/the-worlds-memory-of-the-world-winslow-yost
thebaffler.com/salvos/the-worlds-memory-of-the-world-winslow-yost
The World’s Memory of the World | Gabriel Winslow-Yost
The world of Disco Elysium evokes both postrevolutionary melancholy and communist fervor for a more just world.
thebaffler.com
November 10, 2025 at 7:00 PM
The book that “Disco Elysium” was built upon has never received an official English translation. In our new issue, Gabriel Winslow-Yost considers two recent fan-led efforts to bring the novel to a new audience.
thebaffler.com/salvos/the-worlds-memory-of-the-world-winslow-yost
thebaffler.com/salvos/the-worlds-memory-of-the-world-winslow-yost
George Whitmore’s 1987 novel “Nebraska” has been reissued by The Song Cave. Dale Peck writes about the late writer’s body of work and the place it occupies in the queer literature of the American century.
Trying to Sound Sincere | Dale Peck
In “Nebraska,” George Whitmore explores the nature of truth— and the ways people are forced to manipulate its presentation.
thebaffler.com
November 10, 2025 at 5:30 PM
George Whitmore’s 1987 novel “Nebraska” has been reissued by The Song Cave. Dale Peck writes about the late writer’s body of work and the place it occupies in the queer literature of the American century.
Thirty years ago, Richard Barbrook and Andy Cameron described “The Californian Ideology”—how hippies shaped Silicon Valley. Now, after examining the new extractive tech landscape, Fred Turner defines the next phase: “The Texan Ideology.”
The Texan Ideology | Fred Turner
The Texan Ideology reflects a century-old fusion of the oil industry and millenarian Christianity.
thebaffler.com
November 10, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Thirty years ago, Richard Barbrook and Andy Cameron described “The Californian Ideology”—how hippies shaped Silicon Valley. Now, after examining the new extractive tech landscape, Fred Turner defines the next phase: “The Texan Ideology.”
Reposted by The Baffler
This is new from the always insightful Fred Turner, who has previously written extensively on the “Californian ideology.” thebaffler.com/salvos/the-t...
The Texan Ideology | Fred Turner
The Texan Ideology reflects a century-old fusion of the oil industry and millenarian Christianity.
thebaffler.com
October 31, 2025 at 1:37 PM
This is new from the always insightful Fred Turner, who has previously written extensively on the “Californian ideology.” thebaffler.com/salvos/the-t...
Reposted by The Baffler
"the Texan Ideology reflects a century-old fusion of the oil industry and millenarian Christianity," etc etc
thebaffler.com/salvos/the-t...
thebaffler.com/salvos/the-t...
The Texan Ideology | Fred Turner
The Texan Ideology reflects a century-old fusion of the oil industry and millenarian Christianity.
thebaffler.com
November 1, 2025 at 4:58 PM
"the Texan Ideology reflects a century-old fusion of the oil industry and millenarian Christianity," etc etc
thebaffler.com/salvos/the-t...
thebaffler.com/salvos/the-t...
Reposted by The Baffler
Reposted by The Baffler
"More than anything, the Pale seems to be a metaphor that has broken containment."
read this in my print copy this morning and loved it: a reflection on Disco Elysium, Kurvitz's vaguely translated novel, and worldbuilding
read this in my print copy this morning and loved it: a reflection on Disco Elysium, Kurvitz's vaguely translated novel, and worldbuilding
“Video games are almost always digressive, whether their designers want them to be or not, because players can’t be trusted. Given the slightest freedom, they’ll wander off, focus on side quests and minor details, avoid the main story entirely.”
The World’s Memory of the World | Gabriel Winslow-Yost
The world of Disco Elysium evokes both postrevolutionary melancholy and communist fervor for a more just world.
thebaffler.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:47 PM
"More than anything, the Pale seems to be a metaphor that has broken containment."
read this in my print copy this morning and loved it: a reflection on Disco Elysium, Kurvitz's vaguely translated novel, and worldbuilding
read this in my print copy this morning and loved it: a reflection on Disco Elysium, Kurvitz's vaguely translated novel, and worldbuilding
Reposted by The Baffler
I had the great privilege of writing about George Whitmore’s beloved novel, Nebraska, for the good people over at the Baffler.
Trying to Sound Sincere | Dale Peck
In “Nebraska,” George Whitmore explores the nature of truth— and the ways people are forced to manipulate its presentation.
thebaffler.com
November 6, 2025 at 1:48 AM
I had the great privilege of writing about George Whitmore’s beloved novel, Nebraska, for the good people over at the Baffler.
“Video games are almost always digressive, whether their designers want them to be or not, because players can’t be trusted. Given the slightest freedom, they’ll wander off, focus on side quests and minor details, avoid the main story entirely.”
The World’s Memory of the World | Gabriel Winslow-Yost
The world of Disco Elysium evokes both postrevolutionary melancholy and communist fervor for a more just world.
thebaffler.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:41 PM
“Video games are almost always digressive, whether their designers want them to be or not, because players can’t be trusted. Given the slightest freedom, they’ll wander off, focus on side quests and minor details, avoid the main story entirely.”
When a world dies, much dies alongside it: ways of thinking, ways of building, ways of living. @robrubsam.bsky.social writes on Jenny Erpenbeck’s new essay collection, “Things That Disappear.”
Idle Things | Robert Rubsam
In “Things That Disappear,” Jenny Erpenbeck grapples with ruins, revealing the virtue of unproductive places and idle things.
thebaffler.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:30 PM
When a world dies, much dies alongside it: ways of thinking, ways of building, ways of living. @robrubsam.bsky.social writes on Jenny Erpenbeck’s new essay collection, “Things That Disappear.”
“Podcasting during Obama had a wondrous feeling: we Americans had finally untangled the more vexatious knots of modernity by electing him and were ready to train our curious minds on the minute problems and the major shortcomings in society.”
thebaffler.com/outbursts/the-hatred-of-podcasting-belden
thebaffler.com/outbursts/the-hatred-of-podcasting-belden
The Hatred of Podcasting | Brace Belden
In 2015, if you said, “I heard it on a podcast,” you were trying to sound smart. In 2025, it’s better to lie.
thebaffler.com
November 8, 2025 at 11:01 PM
“Podcasting during Obama had a wondrous feeling: we Americans had finally untangled the more vexatious knots of modernity by electing him and were ready to train our curious minds on the minute problems and the major shortcomings in society.”
thebaffler.com/outbursts/the-hatred-of-podcasting-belden
thebaffler.com/outbursts/the-hatred-of-podcasting-belden
With day care costing a fortune, and many without paid parental leave, no wonder American parents have turned to YouTube channels like Ms. Rachel.
Speak and Sell | Sophie Pinkham
The siren song of Ms. Rachel cannot be understood outside of America’s ongoing impoverishment of families.
thebaffler.com
November 8, 2025 at 9:34 PM
With day care costing a fortune, and many without paid parental leave, no wonder American parents have turned to YouTube channels like Ms. Rachel.
“Writing and thinking well are not acts of resistance any more than subculture is automatically resistant.”
Innocence and Its Opposite | Ben Miller
Ronald M. Schernikau knew that literary creation and political engagement are intimately related—and in unpredictable ways.
thebaffler.com
November 8, 2025 at 8:30 PM
“Writing and thinking well are not acts of resistance any more than subculture is automatically resistant.”
Pierre Guyotat’s rendition of the genocidal savagery of one colonial war arrives in English as we confront another. His account of atrocity is unblinking and his books remind us to see clearly when everything else tells us to look away.
Violence and the Sacred | Ryan Ruby
Violence may not be the totality of life, but it is closer to the core than humanists would have us believe.
thebaffler.com
November 8, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Pierre Guyotat’s rendition of the genocidal savagery of one colonial war arrives in English as we confront another. His account of atrocity is unblinking and his books remind us to see clearly when everything else tells us to look away.
“All things considered, living out your life in an asylum for the mentally ill is a small price to pay for getting out of burning in the flames of Hell for all eternity.”
Three Moral Tales | Alla Gorbunova
“Batman, Transformer, Spiderman Putin, the Crimea is definitely ours.”
thebaffler.com
November 8, 2025 at 5:52 PM
“All things considered, living out your life in an asylum for the mentally ill is a small price to pay for getting out of burning in the flames of Hell for all eternity.”
“Writing and thinking well are not acts of resistance any more than subculture is automatically resistant.”
Innocence and Its Opposite | Ben Miller
Ronald M. Schernikau knew that literary creation and political engagement are intimately related—and in unpredictable ways.
thebaffler.com
November 8, 2025 at 5:03 PM
“Writing and thinking well are not acts of resistance any more than subculture is automatically resistant.”