Dan Conley

Adding Virginia Woolf

My earlier ChatGPT analysis of my 2024 writing left out a crucial component: Virginia Woolf. So I’ve gone back to the AI demigod and asked for a new version with Woolf as the narrative spine. Virginia Woolf and the Soul of Montaigne Virginia Woolf,…

Living in DeLillo Time

The headline in the Drudge Report this morning asks the question “Drones Hunting Radiation?” This links to a Newsweek (it always kills me to write that, since what is Newsweek now is an insult to what was once a great newsmagazine) story, which is…

Montaigne on the Olympics

Yes, Michel de Montaigne had things to say about the Olympics, by way of Pythagoras: Our life, said Pythagoras, is like the vast throng assembled for the Olympic Games: some use their bodies there to win fame from the contests; others come to trade,…

Love of Narrative

I have one more moment from "The Bear" season 3 worth discussing. Throughout the season, Carmy is haunted by flashbacks about working at a restaurant in New York under the direction of Chef David Fields, who regularly insults and abuses him. He sees…

The Bear, Season 3

I’m not a huge fan of “The Bear” in season 3, at least in comparison to the excellent season 2. But I did find interesting the similarities between the way the main character Carmy was portrayed this season and how Kafuku behaved in “Drive My Car."…

The Montaigne Book

I’ve put a lot of thought this week into what I want my Montaigne book to look like. Originally I thought that I would just bring to market all 107 essays in whichever form I liked best. But going through each of my pieces again, it’s become clear…

31. The Cannibals (and The Coaches)

When I was in France in February, I went to several bookstores looking for a complete volume of Montaigne’s essays, and it was surprisingly difficult to find. What I discovered in every Parisian book shop, however, was the Etonnants Classiques…