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Reposted by Matthew Levay

Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · 4d

You could be reading a book right now.

Matthew Levay @matthewlevay.bsky.social · 4d

“There is no end to the process of forming ourselves into people who are genuinely open to what the world has to teach us.” So good an affirmation of the humanities, and of what higher education should be.

Aims of Education Address 2009—Jonathan Lear

John U. Nef Distinguished Service Professor in the Committee on Social Thought, the Department of Philosophy, and the College

college.uchicago.edu

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Matthew Levay @matthewlevay.bsky.social · 4d

That entire week, I was in awe of how seriously he took Freud as a way to think through our lives, and how seriously he took every student in the class. 2/2

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Matthew Levay @matthewlevay.bsky.social · 4d

Sad to see this news, belatedly. I was lucky to attend a week-long seminar with Lear as a graduate student, and he was incredibly kind despite (or perhaps because of) how green I was. 1/2

eileen chengyin chow @chowleen.bsky.social · 11d

Safe travels to Professor Jonathan Lear, whose words and thoughts transported so many of us.

His radical hope remains.

Photo of Jonathan Lear in glasses

Jonathan Lear
1948 - 2025
Philosopher, psychoanalyst, teacher
Image ht harvard up

"It is not only good but wondrous that there should be mourning [...]
In response to loss, we make meaning: re-creating in memory and imagination what we have lost and reanimating forms of life that might otherwise disappear."
—Jonathan Lear
Imagining the End
Image via harvard up

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Matthew Levay @matthewlevay.bsky.social · 4d

Understandable. I can relate!

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Matthew Levay @matthewlevay.bsky.social · 4d

Solidarity, Cara. Always happy to be an outlet for venting.

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Reposted by Matthew Levay

Matthew Levay @matthewlevay.bsky.social · 5d

Absolutely thrilled with the cover @univnebpress.bsky.social has designed for my book, The New Old Style: Anachronism in Contemporary Comics (coming August ‘26)! And special thanks to the wonderful and generous Cole Closser for allowing me to use their art.

Cover of a book titled The New Old Style: Anachronism in Contemporary Comics, by Matthew Levay. The cover features three vertically-arranged panels. The middle features the book’s title against a black background, while the top and bottom feature colorful drawings of a boy with white circles for eyes, done in a style clearly reminiscent of 1920s and 1930s-era newspaper comics and designed to appear as if they are printed on old newsprint.

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Matthew Levay @matthewlevay.bsky.social · 5d

Thanks, Ken!

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Matthew Levay @matthewlevay.bsky.social · 5d

Preorder here!

The New Old Style - Nebraska Press

www.nebraskapress.unl.edu

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Matthew Levay @matthewlevay.bsky.social · 5d

Absolutely thrilled with the cover @univnebpress.bsky.social has designed for my book, The New Old Style: Anachronism in Contemporary Comics (coming August ‘26)! And special thanks to the wonderful and generous Cole Closser for allowing me to use their art.

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Reposted by Matthew Levay

Modernist Studies Association (MSA) @moderniststudies.bsky.social · 7d

Don't forget to register for the 2025 MSA Conference in Boston, starting Oct. 9. We have an exciting schedule of panels, roundtables, workshops, seminars, and plenaries. Plus we'll be celebrating all the amazing book prize winners.

Register here: www.moderniststudies.org/conference/M...

The Modernist Studies Association is devoted to the study of the arts in their social, political, cultural, and intellectual contexts from the later nineteenth through the mid-twentieth century. The o...

www.moderniststudies.org

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Matthew Levay @matthewlevay.bsky.social · 7d

Proud to have an essay in this volume. And congrats to Jon for his fabulous work as editor! @upmississippi.bsky.social

Modernist Studies Association (MSA) @moderniststudies.bsky.social · 7d

The runner-up for the 2025 MSA Prize for edited collections and anthologies is Jonathan Najarian, editor of Comics and Modernism: History, Form, and Culture.

Congratulations Jonathan and the University of Mississippi Press!

Comics and Modernism

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2025 COMICS STUDIES SOCIETY EDITED BOOK PRIZEContributions by David M. Ball, Scott Bukatman, Hillary Chute, Jean Lee Cole, Louise Kane, Matthew Levay, Andrei Molotiu, Jonathan Naja...

www.upress.state.ms.us

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Matthew Levay @matthewlevay.bsky.social · 9d

It kills me that I live an easy drive from this archive (I mean, @rlevay.bsky.social even worked on the same campus!) but have never visited. Friends, let me know if you’d like to help rectify that by making a trip to Logan.

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 11d

I've been obsessed with old clothing catalogs for decades and used to buy stacks of them off eBay. Recently, I interviewed the co-founders of one of the most amazing catalog collections in the world, The Outdoor Recreation Archive at Utah State University. I mean, look at this stuff:

Two photos. The one shows what appears to be a mountain animal herder carrying Patagonia gear. The other shows a man and a woman in front of a bus. They are wearing mountain parkas.

Two photos, both from an old Patagonia catalog. One shows a man in a red jacket and blue pants. He's holding a camera. The other shows his subject, a porcupine in a small, red Patagonia jacket.

Two images One is a drawing of a man in a zip-up field jacket and flat cap, smoking a pipe. The other shows some people hanging out by a body of water.

Two photos. The first shows someone playing a wind instrument inside an Early Winters tent. The other shows some people carrying a canoe and backpack up a rock. It's from an LL Bean catalog.

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Matthew Levay @matthewlevay.bsky.social · 9d

Thrilled to see my childhood team in the playoffs. But here’s hoping the Mariners take the whole thing.

MLB (Bot) @mlbbot.bsky.social · 9d

The @Reds have secured their spot in the #postseason!

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Matthew Levay @matthewlevay.bsky.social · 9d

Have been thinking of picking up the first volume as MSA plane reading, so this is very helpful!

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Matthew Levay @matthewlevay.bsky.social · 13d

Let’s go M’s

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Reposted by Matthew Levay

Modernist Studies Association (MSA) @moderniststudies.bsky.social · 14d

We have an incredible schedule of panels and roundtables at the MSA in Boston in TWO weeks. Also, don't forget to check out the TWO amazing keynote plenaries with Kelly Rich and Jina Kim AND with Kevin Quashie and Evie Shockley. Don't forget to register ASAP! See you in Boston!!!

The Modernist Studies Association is devoted to the study of the arts in their social, political, cultural, and intellectual contexts from the later nineteenth through the mid-twentieth century. The o...

www.moderniststudies.org

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Matthew Levay @matthewlevay.bsky.social · 16d

Got outside

Two kids and a small dog hiking along a rocky trail, with aspens and evergreens in the near distance. Leaves are just beginning to turn red and gold.

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Matthew Levay @matthewlevay.bsky.social · 18d

Bruce Hornsby and the Range, Scenes from the Southside

Carlos Estrada @ctothelos77.bsky.social · 19d

What is Dad playing?

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Matthew Levay @matthewlevay.bsky.social · 20d

For smart interview shows, I like Robert Harrison’s Entitled Opinions and Gil Roth’s Virtual Memories. I’m trying Bella Freud’s Fashion Neurosis too, which is good so far, even as it has a different dynamic than other, similar formats.

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Matthew Levay @matthewlevay.bsky.social · 22d

I may be a modernist, but I love a lot of cozy things.

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Matthew Levay @matthewlevay.bsky.social · 22d

All five are excellent.

Matthew Levay @matthewlevay.bsky.social · 22d

Battling doomscrolling with five small pleasures:

The sound of a clothes dryer at night
Baseball on the radio, also at night
Old newspapers, especially the comics
Browsing eBay with no intention to buy
Making lists

Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 22d

battle doomscrolling by posting 5 small pleasures in life:

the bus
toddler giggles
opening the mailbox
very cold very bubbly water
found poetry

Matt Zoller Seitz @mattzollerseitz.bsky.social · 22d

Battle doomscrolling by posting 5 small pleasures in life:

1. Cold side of a pillow
2. Autumn in New York City, sweater-weather temperature
3. Crocs (the shoe, not the reptile)
4. Finding stuff after thinking you lost it
5. Cats

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Matthew Levay @matthewlevay.bsky.social · 22d

If we’re sticking with television, any self-contained, early-ish episode of The X-Files that sees Mulder and Scully visiting a small town, interviewing a series of eccentric locals, and poring through decidedly un-digitized records.

Comics in the Spooky Age 🧛🧟‍♀️👻 @comicsinthega.bsky.social · 22d

With everything going on in the world, it's important for people to find joy when they can. What's something that makes you happy? I'm not looking for deep answers. I'm looking for goofy, silly, nerdy ones. I'm going with the answering machine messages in the opening of The Rockford Files episodes.

A title card for The Rockford Files that shows his rotary phone.

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Matthew Levay @matthewlevay.bsky.social · 25d

The news I needed: new Vikingur Ólafsson album coming this fall.

OPUS 109 Beethoven | Bach | Schubert / Víkingur Ólafsson | Deutsche Grammophon

Recent GRAMMY®-winner Víkingur Ólafsson announces his new upcoming album Opus 109. At the heart of the project is Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 30 in E on Deutsche Grammophon. Listen and buy now.

www.deutschegrammophon.com

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