David Barral
@thoreaupeutic.bsky.social
High school English Lit program in the French system
Thoreau studies (philological/philosophical wordplay) & translation; Lit; pragmatism | indie research
WIP « La résistance au gouvernement civil », traduction annotée : https://thoreaupeutic.net
Thoreau studies (philological/philosophical wordplay) & translation; Lit; pragmatism | indie research
WIP « La résistance au gouvernement civil », traduction annotée : https://thoreaupeutic.net
Pinned
David Barral
@thoreaupeutic.bsky.social
· Aug 17
I dwelt before, perhaps, in the illusion that my life passed somewhere only between heaven and hell, but now I cannot persuade myself that I do not dwell wholly within hell. … Life itself being worth less, all things with it, which minister to it, are worth less. (1/3)
Reposted by David Barral
“What is analytic philosophy? A vexed question indeed. Whatever it is, it gets a thorough bashing in Christoph Schuringa’s new social history, an unremittingly hostile survey of the subject.”
The opening of Sarah Richmond’s superb review of Schuringa’s new book.
www.the-tls.com/philosophy/h...
The opening of Sarah Richmond’s superb review of Schuringa’s new book.
www.the-tls.com/philosophy/h...
What they mean
What is analytic philosophy? A vexed question indeed. Whatever it is, it gets a thorough bashing in Christoph Schuringa’s new social history, an
www.the-tls.com
November 27, 2025 at 8:30 PM
“What is analytic philosophy? A vexed question indeed. Whatever it is, it gets a thorough bashing in Christoph Schuringa’s new social history, an unremittingly hostile survey of the subject.”
The opening of Sarah Richmond’s superb review of Schuringa’s new book.
www.the-tls.com/philosophy/h...
The opening of Sarah Richmond’s superb review of Schuringa’s new book.
www.the-tls.com/philosophy/h...
Reposted by David Barral
This is too much Gender I don't think we can handle this rn
November 27, 2025 at 8:47 PM
This is too much Gender I don't think we can handle this rn
Reposted by David Barral
Aaron, an immigration attorney, reacts to Trump’s comments about immigrants on Thanksgiving.
November 28, 2025 at 4:57 AM
Aaron, an immigration attorney, reacts to Trump’s comments about immigrants on Thanksgiving.
Reposted by David Barral
Why has everyone got a playbook except me?
November 27, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Why has everyone got a playbook except me?
Reposted by David Barral
Many of us weren't well supervised in the 80s. Our parents gave us house keys, dropped us at school, and hoped for the best.
Okay. So I just finished S1 of Stranger Things!
Thoroughly enjoyed it!
I feel like none of the children in the entire series are properly supervised though 😂
Thoroughly enjoyed it!
I feel like none of the children in the entire series are properly supervised though 😂
November 28, 2025 at 4:19 AM
Many of us weren't well supervised in the 80s. Our parents gave us house keys, dropped us at school, and hoped for the best.
Reposted by David Barral
Sooo, I just saw Waiting for Godot for the first time...
(I've read it before but reading plays is just not it.)
...and I gotta say, I think I'm glad it's been now and not before. I'm definitely at an age where it just hit something deeply buried.
(I've read it before but reading plays is just not it.)
...and I gotta say, I think I'm glad it's been now and not before. I'm definitely at an age where it just hit something deeply buried.
November 28, 2025 at 12:36 AM
Sooo, I just saw Waiting for Godot for the first time...
(I've read it before but reading plays is just not it.)
...and I gotta say, I think I'm glad it's been now and not before. I'm definitely at an age where it just hit something deeply buried.
(I've read it before but reading plays is just not it.)
...and I gotta say, I think I'm glad it's been now and not before. I'm definitely at an age where it just hit something deeply buried.
Reposted by David Barral
"Eiffel Tower Stolen!"
-Le Monde tomorrow, probably
-Le Monde tomorrow, probably
November 28, 2025 at 4:45 AM
"Eiffel Tower Stolen!"
-Le Monde tomorrow, probably
-Le Monde tomorrow, probably
Reposted by David Barral
“Press Conference As Humiliation Ritual: An Analysis of Trump and the U.S. Press through The Lens of Performative Sadomasochism”
In this essay I will…
In this essay I will…
“You’re a stupid person” — Trump lashes out at a reporter who presses him on the fact that the suspected DC shooter was actually thoroughly vetted before he was let in the US from Afghanistan
November 28, 2025 at 2:56 AM
“Press Conference As Humiliation Ritual: An Analysis of Trump and the U.S. Press through The Lens of Performative Sadomasochism”
In this essay I will…
In this essay I will…
Reposted by David Barral
Homeland Security doesn’t grasp the fact that the first Thanksgiving was about making “room at the table” for European “invaders.”
November 27, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Homeland Security doesn’t grasp the fact that the first Thanksgiving was about making “room at the table” for European “invaders.”
Reposted by David Barral
That’s the least of it. Vile white supremacist spew about Rep. Ilhan Omar.
November 28, 2025 at 4:49 AM
That’s the least of it. Vile white supremacist spew about Rep. Ilhan Omar.
Reposted by David Barral
Reposted by David Barral
To clarify this: it does actually seem to me Labour have basically chosen the lurch from crisis to crisis response to events, which is what I said I didn't want earlier this month. But in the interim I became convinced they were gonna do more actively harmful stuff, whereas it's actually just meh.
(Personally I thought the budget was less bad than I expected. But it also highlighted one of the core weaknesses of government decision making right now which is the role of the OBR - its too crude a representation of uncertainty about the future to have everything turn on one summary statistic.)
November 27, 2025 at 5:25 AM
To clarify this: it does actually seem to me Labour have basically chosen the lurch from crisis to crisis response to events, which is what I said I didn't want earlier this month. But in the interim I became convinced they were gonna do more actively harmful stuff, whereas it's actually just meh.
Reposted by David Barral
"Pangs" neatly shows the potential and limits of "progressive horror" as a genre/mode of writing for political change. What I love about it is that it's essentially staged as a morality play with Buffy as the audience stand-in.
I should watch "Pangs," the Thanksgiving episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. A
From 1999, it's a neat historical document of a moment where critical views of Thanksgiving were breaking through to the mainstream, but only enough to produce some cringe and a little offensiveness, IIRC.
From 1999, it's a neat historical document of a moment where critical views of Thanksgiving were breaking through to the mainstream, but only enough to produce some cringe and a little offensiveness, IIRC.
November 27, 2025 at 5:25 PM
"Pangs" neatly shows the potential and limits of "progressive horror" as a genre/mode of writing for political change. What I love about it is that it's essentially staged as a morality play with Buffy as the audience stand-in.
Reposted by David Barral
This absolute shitshow was published in Nature www.nature.com/articles/s41... Tag yourself! I'm "Frymblal". Or perhaps "Runctional Feature", hard to decide.
November 27, 2025 at 12:21 PM
This absolute shitshow was published in Nature www.nature.com/articles/s41... Tag yourself! I'm "Frymblal". Or perhaps "Runctional Feature", hard to decide.
Reposted by David Barral
*small embarrassed voice*
A little plug for my article on Devon book sales c. 1700, which has gone online open access. tl;dr book auctions weren't just a London/Oxbridge thing: a flourishing second-hand book market centred on Exeter included auctions from the 1680s.
doi.org/10.1093/libr...
A little plug for my article on Devon book sales c. 1700, which has gone online open access. tl;dr book auctions weren't just a London/Oxbridge thing: a flourishing second-hand book market centred on Exeter included auctions from the 1680s.
doi.org/10.1093/libr...
A Provincial Market in Second-Hand Books: Book Sales in Devon, 1688–1725
Abstract. Comparatively little is known about England’s early book-auction trade outside of London and the university towns, with few catalogues surviving
doi.org
November 27, 2025 at 9:31 AM
*small embarrassed voice*
A little plug for my article on Devon book sales c. 1700, which has gone online open access. tl;dr book auctions weren't just a London/Oxbridge thing: a flourishing second-hand book market centred on Exeter included auctions from the 1680s.
doi.org/10.1093/libr...
A little plug for my article on Devon book sales c. 1700, which has gone online open access. tl;dr book auctions weren't just a London/Oxbridge thing: a flourishing second-hand book market centred on Exeter included auctions from the 1680s.
doi.org/10.1093/libr...
Reposted by David Barral
No contract, no coffee.
We don’t believe in sitting on the sidelines. Join our Transition co-chair @linamkhan.bsky.social , First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan & @sbworkersunited.org at the picket lines.
We don’t believe in sitting on the sidelines. Join our Transition co-chair @linamkhan.bsky.social , First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan & @sbworkersunited.org at the picket lines.
November 26, 2025 at 5:54 PM
No contract, no coffee.
We don’t believe in sitting on the sidelines. Join our Transition co-chair @linamkhan.bsky.social , First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan & @sbworkersunited.org at the picket lines.
We don’t believe in sitting on the sidelines. Join our Transition co-chair @linamkhan.bsky.social , First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan & @sbworkersunited.org at the picket lines.
Reposted by David Barral
On my Xmas list. A red baseball cap with the words:
Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent'
Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent'
November 27, 2025 at 7:32 AM
On my Xmas list. A red baseball cap with the words:
Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent'
Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent'
Reposted by David Barral
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
November 26, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Good morning to Brazilian reporter Manuela Borges, who’s been waiting eleven years for this petty moment. ❤️ 🇧🇷
Reposted by David Barral
"A woman whose mood improves with a book, a poem, a song or a cup of coffee will not be defeated by anyone; even life loses with it"
~ Khalil Gibran 🌸🌸🌸
~ Khalil Gibran 🌸🌸🌸
November 26, 2025 at 12:17 PM
"A woman whose mood improves with a book, a poem, a song or a cup of coffee will not be defeated by anyone; even life loses with it"
~ Khalil Gibran 🌸🌸🌸
~ Khalil Gibran 🌸🌸🌸
Reposted by David Barral
But I was told there are protocols to prevent that. 🙃
the Monday Night Football sideline reporter just casually described a player getting concussed to the point of vomiting and then returning to the field
November 25, 2025 at 12:32 PM
But I was told there are protocols to prevent that. 🙃
Reposted by David Barral
J'allais justement blousquer que je raccroche d'une heure de discussion avec un gars de 20-22 ans qui m'a refilé 10 points de vie, franchement go les jeunes et laissez-nous on vous ralentit clairement
« Mais monsieur, on disait pas feminicide avant ? Mais on disait quoi ? Crimes passionnels ? Mais c’est n’importe quoi ! »
Juste pour rappeler que vos combats payent.
Juste pour rappeler que vos combats payent.
November 25, 2025 at 2:19 PM
J'allais justement blousquer que je raccroche d'une heure de discussion avec un gars de 20-22 ans qui m'a refilé 10 points de vie, franchement go les jeunes et laissez-nous on vous ralentit clairement
Reposted by David Barral
‘just before he separated from Mary in the 1970s, wrote to her: “What you must realize is that once I begin a story you become a character, not a person; Monet’s haystacks didn’t complain that they weren’t really purple.”’
A Life in Letters by John Updike — a personality revealed vividly
This collection of the late writer’s correspondence is pure gold, shining with insights about literature and life
on.ft.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:47 PM
‘just before he separated from Mary in the 1970s, wrote to her: “What you must realize is that once I begin a story you become a character, not a person; Monet’s haystacks didn’t complain that they weren’t really purple.”’
Reposted by David Barral
La dé-diabolisation du RN a rudement bien marché, la diabolisation de LFI aussi 🙃
💀💀💀
Bardella 53 - Philippe 47
Bardella 56 - Attal 44
Bardella 58 - Glucksmann 42
Bardella 74 - Mélenchon 26
Bardella 53 - Philippe 47
Bardella 56 - Attal 44
Bardella 58 - Glucksmann 42
Bardella 74 - Mélenchon 26
Bardella élu président de la République en 2027 quel que soit l’adversaire au second tour, selon un sondage
🔗https://l.sudouest.fr/C3hV
🔗https://l.sudouest.fr/C3hV
November 25, 2025 at 10:01 AM
La dé-diabolisation du RN a rudement bien marché, la diabolisation de LFI aussi 🙃
Reposted by David Barral
Ever since I started teaching Gertrude Stein, 2, 3 years ago, my life has significantly improved in the areas of experiencing brilliance and hilarity. Highly recommend.
November 25, 2025 at 12:39 AM
Ever since I started teaching Gertrude Stein, 2, 3 years ago, my life has significantly improved in the areas of experiencing brilliance and hilarity. Highly recommend.
Reposted by David Barral
