Karl Steel
@karlsteel.bsky.social
Brooklyn College / Grad Center Medievalist. Posthumanism. How to Make a Human (Ohio State UP 2011); How Not to Make a Human (Minnesota UP 2019). Currently working on The Irrational Animal.
website is medievalkarl.com
website is medievalkarl.com
Pinned
Karl Steel
@karlsteel.bsky.social
· Dec 31
Last day 2024, signed an advance contract for Book 3, THE RATIONAL ANIMAL: ON HUMAN LIMITS IN THE MIDDLE AGES (U of Minnesota Press).
run yesterday I said something I'm musicologist have been saying forever, which is that G/S are musical reactionaries or at best musically mid, as P of P (1879) is well into the era of Wagner, but musically PP calls back above all to Rossini, i.e., about 50 years prior. Perky, upbeat fun tunes!
Rewatched a good chunk of the 1983 Pirates of Penzance last night and among the things I love about it: nothing inspirational, personal, or uplifting. Just catchy tunes and silliness. Nothing sincere but the art, if that!
December 7, 2025 at 4:56 PM
run yesterday I said something I'm musicologist have been saying forever, which is that G/S are musical reactionaries or at best musically mid, as P of P (1879) is well into the era of Wagner, but musically PP calls back above all to Rossini, i.e., about 50 years prior. Perky, upbeat fun tunes!
And on the ground, which is my moodres gate, / I knokke with my staf, bothe erly and late, / And seye `Leeve mooder, leet me in
Which lines of poetry live rent-free in your head?
December 7, 2025 at 12:56 PM
And on the ground, which is my moodres gate, / I knokke with my staf, bothe erly and late, / And seye `Leeve mooder, leet me in
Bought this today at MoMA PS1 and glad I did.
Some of you are going to like the Ayoung Lee show. We were tickled by Vaginal Davis: fab.
Some of you are going to like the Ayoung Lee show. We were tickled by Vaginal Davis: fab.
December 7, 2025 at 3:42 AM
Bought this today at MoMA PS1 and glad I did.
Some of you are going to like the Ayoung Lee show. We were tickled by Vaginal Davis: fab.
Some of you are going to like the Ayoung Lee show. We were tickled by Vaginal Davis: fab.
Reposted by Karl Steel
December 7, 2025 at 3:21 AM
I read Perry Anderson in the New Left Review on the way home: his ancient to 2025 political history gets the Ukraine War so catastrophically wrong. And his very materialist refusal to consider white & gender supremacy as a historical force simply invalidates the whole thing
December 6, 2025 at 3:14 AM
I read Perry Anderson in the New Left Review on the way home: his ancient to 2025 political history gets the Ukraine War so catastrophically wrong. And his very materialist refusal to consider white & gender supremacy as a historical force simply invalidates the whole thing
Reposted by Karl Steel
lmao, it's absolutely gonna happen. it's not gonna happen today, it's not gonna happen tomorrow, but it's definitely gonna happen.
December 5, 2025 at 9:50 PM
lmao, it's absolutely gonna happen. it's not gonna happen today, it's not gonna happen tomorrow, but it's definitely gonna happen.
Reposted by Karl Steel
the successful homeschooled kids I knew are people with educated, loving, financially comfortable parents who are able to spend lots of time mentoring their offspring - but guess what's true about most successful private and public school kids.
December 5, 2025 at 7:50 PM
the successful homeschooled kids I knew are people with educated, loving, financially comfortable parents who are able to spend lots of time mentoring their offspring - but guess what's true about most successful private and public school kids.
This honestly feels like a mass shooting waiting to happen
let's go down the list of largest cities with Republican mayors and see what our new World Cup landscape looks like
1. Dallas
2. Fort Worth
okay, so, Texas, no surprise here
3. Oklahoma City
look, they do okay with the Thunder I guess, even if they should still be the Sonics
4. Fresno
ruh roh
1. Dallas
2. Fort Worth
okay, so, Texas, no surprise here
3. Oklahoma City
look, they do okay with the Thunder I guess, even if they should still be the Sonics
4. Fresno
ruh roh
Monica Crowley claims Trump is "talking to FIFA" about potentially moving the World Cup out of "blue cities," but no decisions have been made
December 5, 2025 at 5:28 PM
This honestly feels like a mass shooting waiting to happen
Also, in Clarissa-related news, I am VERY thrilled to be part of this today (my little presentation will be on the perversity of close-reading one little bit, a single word, in a 1500-page novel)
December 5, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Also, in Clarissa-related news, I am VERY thrilled to be part of this today (my little presentation will be on the perversity of close-reading one little bit, a single word, in a 1500-page novel)
Reposted by Karl Steel
The tiktok girl who does funny skits while wearing a bread mask turning into Manchester and Liverpool City Councils' public enemy number 1 was really not on my 2025 bingo card
December 5, 2025 at 11:47 AM
The tiktok girl who does funny skits while wearing a bread mask turning into Manchester and Liverpool City Councils' public enemy number 1 was really not on my 2025 bingo card
Everyone read the comment to my post by @sinsleyh.bsky.social ! I had utterly neglected the Leslie Stephen angle!
Have you ever wondered whether Clarissa Dalloway bore that name because of Samuel Richardson's Clarissa Harlowe? Well! She didn't! For that insight, and more, read me, here:
clarissa2025readinggroup.substack.com/p/virginia-w...
clarissa2025readinggroup.substack.com/p/virginia-w...
Virginia Woolf and Clarissa and Clarissa
contributed by Karl Steel
clarissa2025readinggroup.substack.com
December 5, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Everyone read the comment to my post by @sinsleyh.bsky.social ! I had utterly neglected the Leslie Stephen angle!
Have you ever wondered whether Clarissa Dalloway bore that name because of Samuel Richardson's Clarissa Harlowe? Well! She didn't! For that insight, and more, read me, here:
clarissa2025readinggroup.substack.com/p/virginia-w...
clarissa2025readinggroup.substack.com/p/virginia-w...
Virginia Woolf and Clarissa and Clarissa
contributed by Karl Steel
clarissa2025readinggroup.substack.com
December 5, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Have you ever wondered whether Clarissa Dalloway bore that name because of Samuel Richardson's Clarissa Harlowe? Well! She didn't! For that insight, and more, read me, here:
clarissa2025readinggroup.substack.com/p/virginia-w...
clarissa2025readinggroup.substack.com/p/virginia-w...
Reposted by Karl Steel
Dreamed I got a chastising message at work that said, “You should know the names of all the Muppets,” and someone stuck up for me, saying, “I don’t think this one has a name,” and they attached a picture of like a white Gonzo with no eyes
December 4, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Dreamed I got a chastising message at work that said, “You should know the names of all the Muppets,” and someone stuck up for me, saying, “I don’t think this one has a name,” and they attached a picture of like a white Gonzo with no eyes
Reposted by Karl Steel
in any case i’d describe coogler (like peele) as very much being the children of stephen spielberg and if they were white this would be abundantly clear
December 4, 2025 at 2:10 PM
in any case i’d describe coogler (like peele) as very much being the children of stephen spielberg and if they were white this would be abundantly clear
On the run today, listening to American Vandal, thought about this again: another point I should have made -- chatgpt isn't going to tell that accountant when it doesn't know! It'll just provide something plausible. And if you don't know, how will you know? Awful.
thinking too much about the accountant I talked to recently who uses chatpt for questions they don't know on their recertification exams. me: "if you don't know the answer, how do you know it's correct?" them: "it never makes a mistake. it looks up the right answer" me: "it's not a search engine!"
December 4, 2025 at 2:25 PM
On the run today, listening to American Vandal, thought about this again: another point I should have made -- chatgpt isn't going to tell that accountant when it doesn't know! It'll just provide something plausible. And if you don't know, how will you know? Awful.
Reposted by Karl Steel
"what does vampirism represent in Sinners" locked by the mods after 2,635 interpretive theories
I think my hottest take of the year remains that Sinners is kind of thematically confused and accidentally reactionary
December 4, 2025 at 2:00 PM
"what does vampirism represent in Sinners" locked by the mods after 2,635 interpretive theories
Rewatched a good chunk of the 1983 Pirates of Penzance last night and among the things I love about it: nothing inspirational, personal, or uplifting. Just catchy tunes and silliness. Nothing sincere but the art, if that!
December 4, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Rewatched a good chunk of the 1983 Pirates of Penzance last night and among the things I love about it: nothing inspirational, personal, or uplifting. Just catchy tunes and silliness. Nothing sincere but the art, if that!
Reposted by Karl Steel
Check it out. At The New School, you could've studied composition with John Cage, social science methods with John Dewey, cultural history with Lewis Mumford, or photography with Berenice Abbott
December 4, 2025 at 5:47 AM
Check it out. At The New School, you could've studied composition with John Cage, social science methods with John Dewey, cultural history with Lewis Mumford, or photography with Berenice Abbott
Reposted by Karl Steel
Reposted by Karl Steel
Ok, I have to ask. What's a movie that if someone doesn't like you'll hate them?
December 3, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Ok, I have to ask. What's a movie that if someone doesn't like you'll hate them?
thinking too much about the accountant I talked to recently who uses chatpt for questions they don't know on their recertification exams. me: "if you don't know the answer, how do you know it's correct?" them: "it never makes a mistake. it looks up the right answer" me: "it's not a search engine!"
December 3, 2025 at 5:12 PM
thinking too much about the accountant I talked to recently who uses chatpt for questions they don't know on their recertification exams. me: "if you don't know the answer, how do you know it's correct?" them: "it never makes a mistake. it looks up the right answer" me: "it's not a search engine!"
what in gods name is going on with his nose, did picasso take this picture
December 3, 2025 at 5:07 PM
what in gods name is going on with his nose, did picasso take this picture
Amazing class! Amazing prof! Amazing person!
I’m teaching a graduate class this spring on legal and literary personhood. NYC consortial students welcome! Let me know if you have questions.
December 3, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Amazing class! Amazing prof! Amazing person!
Reposted by Karl Steel
I’m teaching a graduate class this spring on legal and literary personhood. NYC consortial students welcome! Let me know if you have questions.
December 3, 2025 at 2:22 PM
I’m teaching a graduate class this spring on legal and literary personhood. NYC consortial students welcome! Let me know if you have questions.
gave the chaucer undergrads a chance to go back to tales they wanted to revisit: Thopas (!) [so I talked about: why-have-the-major-domo-be-someone-whose-taste-is-bad] and Wife of Bath's Tale, which meant I got to talk about this:
opencanterburytales.dsl.lsu.edu/wobt1/
Carissa Harris on rape culture
opencanterburytales.dsl.lsu.edu/wobt1/
Carissa Harris on rape culture
The Wife of Bath’s Tale (2024) – The Open Access Companion to the Canterbury Tales
opencanterburytales.dsl.lsu.edu
December 3, 2025 at 4:00 PM
gave the chaucer undergrads a chance to go back to tales they wanted to revisit: Thopas (!) [so I talked about: why-have-the-major-domo-be-someone-whose-taste-is-bad] and Wife of Bath's Tale, which meant I got to talk about this:
opencanterburytales.dsl.lsu.edu/wobt1/
Carissa Harris on rape culture
opencanterburytales.dsl.lsu.edu/wobt1/
Carissa Harris on rape culture