How long is a moment? [more inside]
posted by hadjiboy on Aug 5, 2008 - 34 answers

Recursion filter: I recently came across the phrase 'Mise en Abyme' and have become fascinated by recursion in literature, language and film. What writings have used these themes in their form to address the questions they posed? [more inside]
posted by 0bvious on Apr 2, 2008 - 18 answers

I am looking for writings on the infinity of definition. [more inside]
posted by 0bvious on Mar 13, 2008 - 32 answers

How is the meaning of art and artefacts being altered by the methods we use to: Experience, Define and Preserve them... In other words, in what ways have technologies been used to experience, re-define and/or preserve art and artifacts? [more inside]
posted by 0bvious on Feb 5, 2008 - 12 answers

I am interested in the mimetic and narrative capacities of artefacts, how cultural remnants transmit information through time and how meaning is translated once an artefact is re-appropriated or examined from a new perspective. I have several avenues of study at the moment (a list in extended explanation), but would like some more ideas. Areas of critical theory, linguistics, evolutionary psychology and poetics are all relevant. [more inside]
posted by 0bvious on Jan 27, 2008 - 12 answers

Is there a name for a grammatical construction in which two different types of adjectives -- for example, one describing a physical characteristic and one passing a moral judgment -- are used to modify the same noun? [more inside]
posted by Acetylene on Sep 21, 2007 - 7 answers

Help me with a German sentence (quote?). German speakers: is the following sentence a quote from German literature? It's in reference to a picture of a Jewish headstone with pebbles on it. "Wieviel Wissen wird unter diesen Steinen liegen" Just wondering if this is a literary quote, or merely the musings of the commentor.
posted by nax on Jul 23, 2007 - 4 answers

Looking for a quick and simple explanation as to the difference between "La Vita Nuova" (with a u), and "La Vita Nova". [more inside]
posted by Nugget on Jun 25, 2007 - 8 answers

Has Finnegans Wake ever been translated? How?
posted by dead_ on Oct 20, 2006 - 36 answers

What should I read in Russian and where can I get it? [more inside]
posted by mustcatchmooseandsquirrel on Jul 15, 2006 - 11 answers

I'm interested in learning more about language/literature-based events. Not so much the traditional poetry reading, more like innovative ways people come together in a relaxed environment to do some sort of activity that revolves around reading stuff aloud and telling stories. [more inside]
posted by lalalana on Mar 4, 2006 - 7 answers

Can anyone recommend a dictionary or guide to 17th-century English that would help my teenage daughter understand the words she comes across when reading Milton and the boys?
posted by GoatCactus on Jul 20, 2005 - 10 answers

I'm looking for the original source of a Charles Darwin quote, which is sometimes stated as "It is not the strongest of the species that survive, not the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." This isn't easy since seemingly thousands of authors and public speakers have quoted him without referencing the source (although they do attribute it to Darwin). Can you help? [more versions of the quote inside] [more inside]
posted by found missing on May 28, 2004 - 9 answers