James
@jamesdraney.bsky.social
VAP in the Writing Program at Haverford College. Working on a book about the novel, interiority, and big data. https://tinyurl.com/yc6jdn9z
#MLA26: Looking forward to thinking about realism and distraction with these fine folks on Sunday afternoon. I'll be presenting a new paper on one of my favorite recent novels, @rosalindbrown.bsky.social's Practice (2024).
January 8, 2026 at 12:38 AM
#MLA26: Looking forward to thinking about realism and distraction with these fine folks on Sunday afternoon. I'll be presenting a new paper on one of my favorite recent novels, @rosalindbrown.bsky.social's Practice (2024).
just purchased looking forward to listening
December 27, 2025 at 6:54 PM
just purchased looking forward to listening
new New Yorker caption contest just dropped
December 13, 2025 at 3:46 AM
new New Yorker caption contest just dropped
reading On the Calculation of Volume
December 6, 2025 at 3:39 PM
reading On the Calculation of Volume
it's nice when one's long-dormant dream is rekindled
November 30, 2025 at 6:20 PM
it's nice when one's long-dormant dream is rekindled
There'd also be a subplot involving a confrontation between Michael Caine and @dieworkwear.bsky.social
November 28, 2025 at 5:23 PM
There'd also be a subplot involving a confrontation between Michael Caine and @dieworkwear.bsky.social
POV: It's 2007 and you're in the computer room at your best friend's house. He logs into AOL and tells you to pull up a chair. He wants to show you a documentary that changed his life.
November 21, 2025 at 5:13 PM
POV: It's 2007 and you're in the computer room at your best friend's house. He logs into AOL and tells you to pull up a chair. He wants to show you a documentary that changed his life.
The big Other doesn't exi--
October 26, 2025 at 2:29 PM
The big Other doesn't exi--
Throwing this unsung classic into the canon of '90s films about Just Hanging Out
October 25, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Throwing this unsung classic into the canon of '90s films about Just Hanging Out
The 1990s were fun because every movie was about a prolonged postcollegiate Hang Out with your aimless friends
October 13, 2025 at 4:12 PM
The 1990s were fun because every movie was about a prolonged postcollegiate Hang Out with your aimless friends
even the signage is suffering from imposter syndrome
September 25, 2025 at 4:35 PM
even the signage is suffering from imposter syndrome
Earl Hines Plays Duke Ellington - 4-record set by Book-Of-The-Month Records. Recorded right before Ellington's death in the early '70s. There's an air of nostalgia in Hines's playing. One master honoring another.
September 14, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Earl Hines Plays Duke Ellington - 4-record set by Book-Of-The-Month Records. Recorded right before Ellington's death in the early '70s. There's an air of nostalgia in Hines's playing. One master honoring another.
Jonathan Crary, from Scorched Earth
September 11, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Jonathan Crary, from Scorched Earth
From William James's Principles of Psychology
September 5, 2025 at 8:55 PM
From William James's Principles of Psychology
Me: mom can we stop and get some classical music to relax/study to
Mom: we have classical music to relax/study to at home
What's at home:
Mom: we have classical music to relax/study to at home
What's at home:
September 5, 2025 at 12:21 AM
Me: mom can we stop and get some classical music to relax/study to
Mom: we have classical music to relax/study to at home
What's at home:
Mom: we have classical music to relax/study to at home
What's at home:
The lost poetics of TV static, 1982-2002 (The Ring, Videodrome, The Seventh Continent, Poltergeist)
August 24, 2025 at 7:20 PM
The lost poetics of TV static, 1982-2002 (The Ring, Videodrome, The Seventh Continent, Poltergeist)
Not a cell phone in sight. Just a nice walk on the beach. No podcasts, no FaceTime. Just thinking some thoughts and living in the moment.
August 7, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Not a cell phone in sight. Just a nice walk on the beach. No podcasts, no FaceTime. Just thinking some thoughts and living in the moment.
One significant yet unsung casualty of AI image generators: this kind of bright/clunky handmade Word Art sign.
August 5, 2025 at 6:45 PM
One significant yet unsung casualty of AI image generators: this kind of bright/clunky handmade Word Art sign.
You: discursive formations embedded in cultural products regulate the field of the sayable and thinkable, conditioning and even constituting social imaginaries
Me: yeah man Deep Impact (1998) really messed with my expectations about what tsunamis look like
Me: yeah man Deep Impact (1998) really messed with my expectations about what tsunamis look like
July 30, 2025 at 5:17 PM
You: discursive formations embedded in cultural products regulate the field of the sayable and thinkable, conditioning and even constituting social imaginaries
Me: yeah man Deep Impact (1998) really messed with my expectations about what tsunamis look like
Me: yeah man Deep Impact (1998) really messed with my expectations about what tsunamis look like
Tolstoy on the causes of war: "Man lives consciously for himself, but serves as an unconscious instrument for the achievement of historical, universally human goals... History, that is, the unconscious, swarmlike life of mankind, uses every moment of a king's life as an instrument for its purposes"
June 22, 2025 at 7:08 AM
Tolstoy on the causes of war: "Man lives consciously for himself, but serves as an unconscious instrument for the achievement of historical, universally human goals... History, that is, the unconscious, swarmlike life of mankind, uses every moment of a king's life as an instrument for its purposes"