Weekly Readings #200 (12/01/25-12/07/25)

A weekly newsletter on what I’ve written, read, and otherwise enjoyed.

I take the above screenshot from a wide-ranging conversation between Jared Henderson and Ross Barkan at The Honest Broker.1 I like the part where they talk about my new novel Major Arcana—Ross even recounts his part in its origin story—but you should listen to the whole thing, which ranges from Substack’s role in the literary landscape to the meaning of American history, the New Romanticism, and the rise of AI. And if you’re curious about this much-discussed book—please see also Ian Cattanach’s upcoming book club on Major Arcana, and my interview with Ian—you can order it in all formats (print, ebook, audio) here; you can also find it in print wherever books are sold online. You can buy it directly from Belt Publishing, too—we receive more of a profit that way—or you might also suggest that your local library or independent bookstore acquire a copy. Please also leave a Goodreads, Amazon, or other rating and review. Thanks to all my readers!

Then there’s The Invisible College, my literature podcast for paid subscribers. This week I released “Our Offering Is Language,” an episode about Don DeLillo’s first major novel, The Names. The Names is slightly less well-known than other books I’ve treated in The Invisible College, but I recommend it highly for its relevance to so many of the questions endlessly debated today. In the episode, I discuss everything from the influence of critical theory on fiction to the possibility of an Italian-American literature to American imperialism and the CIA’s role in American art and culture.2 Next week in The Invisible College: Toni Morrison’s neglected masterpiece Paradise. A paid subscription to Grand Hotel Abyss buys you access to The Invisible College’s ever-expanding archive, with almost 90 two- to three-hour episodes on subjects from Homer to Joyce, and from ancient to contemporary literature. Thanks to all my current and future paid subscribers!

Finally, I appeared with our own Paul Franz on a Johns Hopkins University podcast to discuss my recent essay for the distinguished academic journal Literary Imagination, “Romantic Truth: Imaginative Authority in the Literary Criticism of René Girard.” New readers might be especially interested in this interview, as I recount my intellectual history in academe as background to my critique of Girard. Thanks to Paul for hosting me,