culture | ZETEO

Go Medieval on Your Verse

March 10, 2015 by Ana Maria Caballero

One of my favorite blogs is called “Interesting Literature.” It is just that, a site with interesting, often very random, facts about literature and literary history. A few weeks ago they published a piece called “10 Short Medieval Poems Everyone Should Read.” Fear not. The poems included are only a few lines long and translation is provided, so they are very easy to read. Sure, the poems’ subject matter may seem simplistic, almost pre-adolescently romantic. But it is nevertheless fascinating to have […]

Categories: Ana Maria Caballero, ZiR • Tags: art, books, culture, History, medieval poetry, poetry, reading, writing

Those White Cliffs of Dover

January 20, 2015 by Ana Maria Caballero

Last week, I wrote about a poem written by Randall Mann titled “Bernal Hill.” A discerning reader pointed at the near-obvious reference Mann’s poem makes to the classic “Dover Beach,” written in the mid-1800’s by English poet Matthew Arnold. I accept that the reference totally slipped my grasp, so I wanted to share Arnold’s poem this week. “Dover Beach” was inspired by the famous, white-chalk English cliffs of Dover, which carry symbolic significance for the British because they face the nation’s European neighbors […]

Categories: Ana Maria Caballero, ZiR • Tags: books, culture, Dover, England, love, poem, poetry, reading, writing

Poetry in Film

December 2, 2014 by William Eaton

A good friend recently sent me an article from Flavor Wire titled “10 Famous Poems that Appeared in Film.” The selection is actually surprising. William Blake is prominent on the list. There is mention of Jim Jarmusch’s cult 1955 Western “Dead Man,” which is supposedly based on the visionary poems of William Blake. And, there is mention of the now-classic film “Blade Runner,” also inspired by the poetry of William Blake. Excerpts from the English poet’s book “America, a Prophecy” recur throughout the […]

Categories: Ana Maria Caballero, ZiR • Tags: culture, film, lit, poetry, writing

Our hidden search for homogeneity

January 13, 2014 by Alexia Raynal

I often avoid talking about race, class, and migration in public. People seem to take these topics as an opportunity to strengthen their beliefs, rather than to enter a discussion. (see “Breaking up the Echo” quoted in my first week of reading). A recent article in the New York Times opinion pages has taken my conviction a step further. In Does Immigration mean ‘France is Over’? Justin E. H. Smith suggests that people not only seek homogeneity in their own lives; they […]

Categories: ZiR • Tags: beliefs, culture, diversity, immigration, migration, New York Times, racism, reading

Reading: 27 January-2 February 2013

January 28, 2013 by William Eaton

From Tyler Peckio, Zeteo Contributor 28 January 2013 Hollywood loses the plot Every Thursday for the past month myself, and a few friends from my undergraduate studies, meet up and discuss an agreed upon book. We always make an effort, no matter how abstract the content is, to establish connections between the material and our current lives (whether in an existential, political, economical, or societal way). Philosophical material should be read as a living, breathing, constantly evolving thing—not as something existing in […]

Categories: ZiR • Tags: Adorno, critical theory, culture, film, guns, Jorge Luis Borges, literature, media, psychology