"We aim to tote, haul, and push along the rigorous study of culture and ideas productively and satisfyingly, in well-written prose, multimedia modes of argument, and other styles and forms."

"But I forget that I am moralising in the most interesting part of my tale, and your looks remind me to proceed." (4/4)

~ Mary Shelley, _Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus_

"If this rule were always observed; if no man allowed any pursuit whatsoever to interfere with the tranquillity of his domestic relations, [...] America would have been discovered more gradually; and the empires of Mexico and Peru had not been destroyed." (3/4)
(3/4)

"If the study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections, and to destroy your taste for those simple pleasures in which no alloy can possibly mix, then that study is certainly unlawful, that is to say, not befitting the human mind." (2/4)

Thanks

C'est tellement vrai!

So writes Arnaud Orain, in his latest book, Le monde confisqué: Essai sur le capitalisme de la finitude (XVIᵉ - XXIᵉ siècle) [The Confiscated World: An Essay on Finitude Capitalism, 1500-Present]. For more, see my review, at
renaissanceanimal.com/2025/10/07/b...

because they are not (really) merchants. Their interests lie in becoming sovereigns within a specific ‘space,’ then in forcing ‘taxes’ on their ‘subjects’ who use or live in these spaces... also forced labor, forced prices, unavoidable subscriptions, obligatory publicity, etc.”