Nathan Pensky
@nathanpensky.bsky.social
Writer. / First-gen CMU Ph.D. Adjuncting at Pitt and Duquesne. / Host at Third Person Limited podcast. / Columnist at The Pittsburgh Review of Books. / He/him.
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thirdpersonlimited.com
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thirdpersonlimited.com
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Here's a nice announcement. I just turned in the final draft for my first academic book, 'Cartesian Theaters, Shakespearean Minds: Finding Descartes on the Early Modern Stage' to be published with Edinburgh University Press next year.
The debate over whether Thanksgiving food is good is so dumb. Of course it's good. But it's the kind of good you eat once a year. You eat all the leftovers and are precisely sated for that type of food the instant you have finished them.
November 25, 2025 at 3:46 AM
The debate over whether Thanksgiving food is good is so dumb. Of course it's good. But it's the kind of good you eat once a year. You eat all the leftovers and are precisely sated for that type of food the instant you have finished them.
My rules for Thanksgiving, since I do all the cooking: 1) spatchcock the turkey; it's so much easier and better, 2) cranberries and stuffing are actually better in the store-bought variety (canned and Stove Top), 3) anything not from scratch in a pie is an ABOMINATION
November 24, 2025 at 9:05 PM
My rules for Thanksgiving, since I do all the cooking: 1) spatchcock the turkey; it's so much easier and better, 2) cranberries and stuffing are actually better in the store-bought variety (canned and Stove Top), 3) anything not from scratch in a pie is an ABOMINATION
Reposted by Nathan Pensky
This was such a fun conversation - give it a listen this week if you need an excuse to get away from your family!
Here's Episode 12: "Amber Sparks and 'We Love You, Bunny'". (@ambersparks.bsky.social y.social) www.thirdpersonlimited.com/episodes/epi...
November 24, 2025 at 3:13 PM
This was such a fun conversation - give it a listen this week if you need an excuse to get away from your family!
Really enjoyed having Amber on the podcast.
Here's Episode 12: "Amber Sparks and 'We Love You, Bunny'". (@ambersparks.bsky.social y.social) www.thirdpersonlimited.com/episodes/epi...
November 24, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Really enjoyed having Amber on the podcast.
A movie that takes place where you're from.
November 24, 2025 at 3:24 AM
A movie that takes place where you're from.
Reposted by Nathan Pensky
Reposted by Nathan Pensky
How’re you going to get all that product across the water?
November 21, 2025 at 1:57 PM
How’re you going to get all that product across the water?
I think I have cover letter-blindness. Every single version of one that I have ever written or read sounds exactly the same to me.
November 20, 2025 at 8:29 PM
I think I have cover letter-blindness. Every single version of one that I have ever written or read sounds exactly the same to me.
Reposted by Nathan Pensky
In Episode 11, "Jason Diamond and Blurbs" Mason (@stockstill.bsky.social) tells the story of a writer who got a book deal after getting a blurb from Dan Brown. www.thirdpersonlimited.com/episodes/epi...
November 20, 2025 at 5:49 PM
In Episode 11, "Jason Diamond and Blurbs" Mason (@stockstill.bsky.social) tells the story of a writer who got a book deal after getting a blurb from Dan Brown. www.thirdpersonlimited.com/episodes/epi...
Reposted by Nathan Pensky
“We’re allowed to see the present through the lens of memory, to understand the here and now both from the perspective of an inevitably diminished future and through the scholar’s nostalgia.”
A review of Ian McEwan's new novel by Nathan Pensky. @nathanpensky.bsky.social.
pghrev.com/the-beautifu...
A review of Ian McEwan's new novel by Nathan Pensky. @nathanpensky.bsky.social.
pghrev.com/the-beautifu...
The Beautiful Mess of Ian McEwan's New Novel - Pittsburgh Review of Books
Ian McEwan’s new novel What We Can Know is a brilliant narrative that often seems to defy its own rules – a formal exercise that transcends considerations of
pghrev.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:48 PM
“We’re allowed to see the present through the lens of memory, to understand the here and now both from the perspective of an inevitably diminished future and through the scholar’s nostalgia.”
A review of Ian McEwan's new novel by Nathan Pensky. @nathanpensky.bsky.social.
pghrev.com/the-beautifu...
A review of Ian McEwan's new novel by Nathan Pensky. @nathanpensky.bsky.social.
pghrev.com/the-beautifu...
Reposted by Nathan Pensky
Jason Diamond (@jasondiamond.bsky.social) from Episode 11: www.thirdpersonlimited.com/episodes/epi...
November 17, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Jason Diamond (@jasondiamond.bsky.social) from Episode 11: www.thirdpersonlimited.com/episodes/epi...
I just realized that Jason Schwartzman's red beret in 'Rushmore' was referring to his mom's red beret at the end of 'Rocky'. Good job whosever idea that was, that was smart.
November 17, 2025 at 2:16 PM
I just realized that Jason Schwartzman's red beret in 'Rushmore' was referring to his mom's red beret at the end of 'Rocky'. Good job whosever idea that was, that was smart.
I feel strongly that chips and dip are a more advanced form of eating. Eating both food and utensil is the next logical step in human progress.
November 16, 2025 at 2:26 PM
I feel strongly that chips and dip are a more advanced form of eating. Eating both food and utensil is the next logical step in human progress.
I really liked Jason's book, and he was pretty dang interesting to talk to as well.
Here's Episode 11: "Jason Diamond and Book Blurbs". @jasondiamond.bsky.social www.thirdpersonlimited.com/episodes/epi...
November 15, 2025 at 6:04 PM
I really liked Jason's book, and he was pretty dang interesting to talk to as well.
Reposted by Nathan Pensky
Growing up in a time when “selling out” was the most shameful thing you could do and then being forced to live through the 2020s feels like being kicked in the head by a horse every day
November 13, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Growing up in a time when “selling out” was the most shameful thing you could do and then being forced to live through the 2020s feels like being kicked in the head by a horse every day
Reposted by Nathan Pensky
The Republican president is a pedophile who has doubled my healthcare costs and let scores of violent criminals out of jail. But a Democratic mayor-elect wants to make busses free in a city I don't live in. I have never felt more politically homeless.
November 13, 2025 at 12:47 PM
The Republican president is a pedophile who has doubled my healthcare costs and let scores of violent criminals out of jail. But a Democratic mayor-elect wants to make busses free in a city I don't live in. I have never felt more politically homeless.
Reposted by Nathan Pensky
With genuine shame, recent years in politics have given me my first taste for what it is to have moralised contempt for my opponents. Not hatred, not fear; contempt. There's some core element of the right wing coalition at the moment which seems to me best described as a revolt of the loser men...
November 13, 2025 at 6:53 AM
With genuine shame, recent years in politics have given me my first taste for what it is to have moralised contempt for my opponents. Not hatred, not fear; contempt. There's some core element of the right wing coalition at the moment which seems to me best described as a revolt of the loser men...
Reposted by Nathan Pensky
He's on a mission from God
What's from Chicago, hates Illinois Nazis, and is holy as fuck?
It's the Pope in 1982.
It's the Pope in 1982.
November 13, 2025 at 2:13 AM
He's on a mission from God
Reposted by Nathan Pensky
"We would rather be ruined than changed;
We would rather die in our dread
Than climb the cross of the moment
And let our illusions die."
—W. H. Auden, The Age of Anxiety
We would rather die in our dread
Than climb the cross of the moment
And let our illusions die."
—W. H. Auden, The Age of Anxiety
November 7, 2025 at 5:12 AM
"We would rather be ruined than changed;
We would rather die in our dread
Than climb the cross of the moment
And let our illusions die."
—W. H. Auden, The Age of Anxiety
We would rather die in our dread
Than climb the cross of the moment
And let our illusions die."
—W. H. Auden, The Age of Anxiety
Reposted by Nathan Pensky
@bleakhousing.bsky.social is not wrong here...
November 7, 2025 at 4:42 PM
@bleakhousing.bsky.social is not wrong here...
Reposted by Nathan Pensky
In Episode 10, we discuss how much 'Hamlet' is too much? www.thirdpersonlimited.com/episodes/epi...
November 7, 2025 at 4:25 PM
In Episode 10, we discuss how much 'Hamlet' is too much? www.thirdpersonlimited.com/episodes/epi...
Just heard someone refer to Captain Beefheart as "prog rock".
November 2, 2025 at 5:12 AM
Just heard someone refer to Captain Beefheart as "prog rock".
I am become Death, eater of candy.
November 1, 2025 at 1:14 AM
I am become Death, eater of candy.
Reposted by Nathan Pensky
Reposted by Nathan Pensky
Pennsylvania has an important Supreme Court race coming up on Tuesday, November 4. If you live in the Keystone State, or know someone who does, vote YES to retain three justices who will protect your fundamental rights and freedoms.
October 29, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Pennsylvania has an important Supreme Court race coming up on Tuesday, November 4. If you live in the Keystone State, or know someone who does, vote YES to retain three justices who will protect your fundamental rights and freedoms.