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).
Reposted by Karl Steel
If medieval guilds and fraternities had inflatable balloon technology, they would have gone so hard. Gigantic balloon of the side wound of Christ, St Lucy with her eyes as two separate balloons, Margaret and her dragon
November 27, 2025 at 2:35 PM
If medieval guilds and fraternities had inflatable balloon technology, they would have gone so hard. Gigantic balloon of the side wound of Christ, St Lucy with her eyes as two separate balloons, Margaret and her dragon
I'm in a car and honestly cannot stand it / get me on a train / I don't know how you all get acclimated to this
November 27, 2025 at 1:59 PM
I'm in a car and honestly cannot stand it / get me on a train / I don't know how you all get acclimated to this
Last night finished reading ORLANDO for the first time, and now I'm laughing at having said to the student, well, it's just a wry book isn't it, a spoof, a real treat, but Woolf's not really doing the consciousness sliding she does in Dalloway or Lighthouse: welp!
November 27, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Last night finished reading ORLANDO for the first time, and now I'm laughing at having said to the student, well, it's just a wry book isn't it, a spoof, a real treat, but Woolf's not really doing the consciousness sliding she does in Dalloway or Lighthouse: welp!
Reposted by Karl Steel
Happy Noam Chomsky Day to all who celebrate
One year at a bar the night before thanksgiving a stranger leaned over to ask me the name of the guy who was both a linguist & an activist & I blanked for a minute & then leaned over & shouted NOAM CHOMSKY, & he shouted back NOAM CHOMSKY & soon we had the whole bar chanting NOAM CHOMSKY NOAM CHOMSKY
Small town and suburban bars the week of thanksgiving have the most insane vibes—adults at home visiting parents and already going insane and sneaking out at night to drink. Weird and terrifying kinships form
November 27, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Happy Noam Chomsky Day to all who celebrate
Reposted by Karl Steel
Are the Three Musketeers allergic to muskets? | University of Oxford
www.ox.ac.uk
November 26, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Reposted by Karl Steel
PROMOTE YOUR BOOKS! EVERYONE WANTS TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR PUBLISHED BOOKS!
gonna be reposting your books because hoo you made a book!
www.versobooks.com/products/303...
gonna be reposting your books because hoo you made a book!
www.versobooks.com/products/303...
November 26, 2025 at 9:49 PM
PROMOTE YOUR BOOKS! EVERYONE WANTS TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR PUBLISHED BOOKS!
gonna be reposting your books because hoo you made a book!
www.versobooks.com/products/303...
gonna be reposting your books because hoo you made a book!
www.versobooks.com/products/303...
November 26, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Reposted by Karl Steel
Every time I ride along 57th to Lancaster I think of this
![Screenshot of consecutive tweets by me on September 25, 2022:
Shout out to the driver on 57th enjoining me to go faster:
"Pedal pedal pedal! Beat me! You got this, you deserve this!"
I got through a light ahead of her, then she caught up to me....blaring "The Final Countdown" [laughing emoji]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:juc6kcsecvldh4nsxbyvfu5x/bafkreidb7exav7elnoht5rs2mojcfw5dfnflorm2ctms6dxzdpm6tbf7di@jpeg)
November 26, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Every time I ride along 57th to Lancaster I think of this
Reposted by Karl Steel
I wrote an essay for @bostonreview.bsky.social about what I learned about close reading when I taught at West Virginia University
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
The Claims of Close Reading - Boston Review
Literary studies have been starved by austerity, but their core methodology remains radical.
www.bostonreview.net
November 26, 2025 at 3:14 PM
I wrote an essay for @bostonreview.bsky.social about what I learned about close reading when I taught at West Virginia University
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
Eliot reading OUR MUTUAL FRIEND and recognizing "he do the police in different voices" as a killer line: A+ to you man.
November 26, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Eliot reading OUR MUTUAL FRIEND and recognizing "he do the police in different voices" as a killer line: A+ to you man.
Reposted by Karl Steel
This is what happens when you leave your Kirsten Dunst wax mannequin out in the rain, folks
November 26, 2025 at 3:46 AM
This is what happens when you leave your Kirsten Dunst wax mannequin out in the rain, folks
Reposted by Karl Steel
No email from a library system stirs the imagination like a notice my scan is ready to download through WORLDCAT. The great cat that surrounds the world? That nuzzles the roots of the world-scratching-tree? The great world cat who is and was and shall be? That cat???
November 25, 2025 at 8:19 AM
No email from a library system stirs the imagination like a notice my scan is ready to download through WORLDCAT. The great cat that surrounds the world? That nuzzles the roots of the world-scratching-tree? The great world cat who is and was and shall be? That cat???
I remember dropping a pizza and pipes ref in conversation with Jennie and she stopped short: 'pizza and...what?'
'Pizza and pipe organs. What you didn't have those in New York?'
Nothing is a wonder or a miracle if it's just part of your life. Vegetable lamb or pizza pipe, all can become mundane.
'Pizza and pipe organs. What you didn't have those in New York?'
Nothing is a wonder or a miracle if it's just part of your life. Vegetable lamb or pizza pipe, all can become mundane.
omg I have the most intense memories of the pizza and pipes in San Jose that we went to a few times, it was just mind blowing for a young kid. A joy to be reminded of it.
* Pizza and organ music have a long and glorious relationship in the USA, and the combination helped inspire Chuck E. Cheese's empire
tastecooking.com/life-death-p...
tastecooking.com/life-death-p...
November 25, 2025 at 4:36 PM
I remember dropping a pizza and pipes ref in conversation with Jennie and she stopped short: 'pizza and...what?'
'Pizza and pipe organs. What you didn't have those in New York?'
Nothing is a wonder or a miracle if it's just part of your life. Vegetable lamb or pizza pipe, all can become mundane.
'Pizza and pipe organs. What you didn't have those in New York?'
Nothing is a wonder or a miracle if it's just part of your life. Vegetable lamb or pizza pipe, all can become mundane.
Reposted by Karl Steel
We’re accepting applications for our (paid! remote!) summer internship! professors who follow me please share with any students interested in writing
Would You Like To Be Defector’s Sixth-Ever Editorial Intern? | Defector
Big news: Defector is looking to hire editorial interns for the summer of 2026. Wow! That could be you! How could it be you? I am here to answer that question, and many more. What will a Defector inte...
defector.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:46 PM
We’re accepting applications for our (paid! remote!) summer internship! professors who follow me please share with any students interested in writing
Lotta CUNY folk on this list (and at least 3 affiliated or at least once affiliated with Brooklyn College):
www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news...
www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news...
NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announces transition committees
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced Monday the creation of 17 transition advisory committees made up of more than 400 people.
www.cbsnews.com
November 25, 2025 at 12:13 AM
Lotta CUNY folk on this list (and at least 3 affiliated or at least once affiliated with Brooklyn College):
www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news...
www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news...
in re: people who are worried about Mamdani and the police, can confirm that this is a very heartening appointment (disclosure: Vitale is my bc colleague, and congrats!)
I'm excited to announce that I have been asked to join the Mamdani Transition Team to work on community safety issues. A New Era for NYC.
November 24, 2025 at 9:10 PM
in re: people who are worried about Mamdani and the police, can confirm that this is a very heartening appointment (disclosure: Vitale is my bc colleague, and congrats!)
LITERALLY JUST FINISHED TEACHING THE CLERK'S TALE
November 24, 2025 at 4:03 PM
LITERALLY JUST FINISHED TEACHING THE CLERK'S TALE
Asked for 2 eggs and cheese on a roll and the guy asked me 'what kind of cheese' and I completely glitched out
November 24, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Asked for 2 eggs and cheese on a roll and the guy asked me 'what kind of cheese' and I completely glitched out
Reposted by Karl Steel
If my enemies insist on using stilts the better to search for me from on high, I have no choice but to go deep in the earth, where stilts can never reach
November 23, 2025 at 11:30 PM
If my enemies insist on using stilts the better to search for me from on high, I have no choice but to go deep in the earth, where stilts can never reach
I just followed the money
November 23, 2025 at 3:20 AM
I just followed the money
Reposted by Karl Steel
“We can safely assume that Hurwitz is not delivering off-the-cuff remarks. She's thought about this. She has chosen the abyss. She is far from the only one.”
Thank you @attackerman.bsky.social
www.forever-wars.com/sarah-hurwit...
Thank you @attackerman.bsky.social
www.forever-wars.com/sarah-hurwit...
Sarah Hurwitz Profanes the Holocaust
Holocaust education has worked too well for the Obama speechwriter, since when she rationalizes Israel's genocide, "I sound obscene." Maybe sit with that, Sarah
www.forever-wars.com
November 22, 2025 at 10:22 PM
“We can safely assume that Hurwitz is not delivering off-the-cuff remarks. She's thought about this. She has chosen the abyss. She is far from the only one.”
Thank you @attackerman.bsky.social
www.forever-wars.com/sarah-hurwit...
Thank you @attackerman.bsky.social
www.forever-wars.com/sarah-hurwit...
Reposted by Karl Steel
Everyone reading that new Lizza post like Herzog listening to the bear attack recording
November 22, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Everyone reading that new Lizza post like Herzog listening to the bear attack recording
Reposted by Karl Steel
Mamdani getting Trump to back down & even *compliment* him costs Mamdani absolutely nothing (& indeed actually shows his skills) & probably also saves a lot of vulnerable ppl in this city a trememndous amount of pain if it means Trump is less inclined to act shitty towards us bc of this meeting
November 21, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Mamdani getting Trump to back down & even *compliment* him costs Mamdani absolutely nothing (& indeed actually shows his skills) & probably also saves a lot of vulnerable ppl in this city a trememndous amount of pain if it means Trump is less inclined to act shitty towards us bc of this meeting