Highbrow

Saturday, March 14, 2026

If Saturn was at the same distance as the moon (238,855 miles)

Diameter of Earth: 7,926 miles

Diameter of Saturn: 74,898 miles

Diameter of Saturn's rings: 170,000 miles

Radius of Saturn's rings: 85,000 miles

Friday, March 13, 2026

Choose Wisely

“Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times.”

― Aeschylus

Thursday, March 12, 2026

What is the nature of the mystery? How is this mystery characterized in our descriptions? In criticism? In utterance? In the painting? In (or is it through) our emotions? How are emotions in this case like (and unlike) a response?

René Magritte - Mysterious Barricades, 1961 Oil on canvas, 80.6 x 128 cm

Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Form is easily abstracted and represented, but is motion?

Oskar Nerlinger (German, 1893-1969) Motorcycle in the Race, 1925 gelatin silver print 8 11/16 × 6 7/8" MoMA

Tuesday, March 10, 2026

"Contact!" by Serge Gainsbourg, 1968

Une météorite m'a transpercé le cœur

Vous, sur la terre, vous avez des docteurs

Contact

Il me faut une transfusion de mercure

J'en ai tant perdu par cette blessure

Contact

Ôtez-moi ma combinaison spatiale

Retirez-moi cette poussière sidérale

Contact

Comprenez-moi il me faut à tout prix

Rejoindre mon amour dans la galaxie

Contact

Contact...

In English:

A meteorite pierced my heart

You on Earth have doctors

Contact

I need a mercury transfusion

I have lost so much from this wound

Contact

Take off my spacesuit

Get this stardust off of me

Contact

Understand me, I must at all costs

Join my love in the galaxy

Contact

Contact...

Monday, March 9, 2026

Crass sensationalism, but is it transgressive?

Sunday, March 8, 2026

L'Invention du monde (Michel Zimbacca & Jean-Louis Bédouin, 1953)

Saturday, March 7, 2026

Circe turns Scylla into a sea monster

John William Waterhouse - Circe Invidiosa, 1892

There was a cove,
a little inlet shaped like a bent bow,
a quiet place where Scylla, at midday,
sought shelter when the sea and sky were hot;
and, in midcourse, the sun scorched with full force,
reducing shadows to a narrow thread.
And Circe now contaminates this bay,
polluting it with noxious poisons; there
she scatters venom drawn from dreadful roots
and, three-times-nine times, murmurs an obscure
and tangled maze of words, a labyrinth—
the magic chant that issues from her lips.
Then Scylla comes; no sooner has she plunged
waist-deep into the water than she sees,
around her hips, the horrid barking shapes.

Ovid - Metamorphoses Book XIV, 52-65

Friday, March 6, 2026

Kostelantez and Grok

Emanations contributor Richard Kostelantez has been investigating artificial intelligence and writers' biographies. He asked grok to remark on our work together (Kostelanetz is a regular contributor to Emanations, and his work is often featured in this blog--for example, see HERE. Also, I have articles in the third edition of his Dictionary of the Avant-Gardes project (see books on right). The Dictionary also has an article about me.

Mr. Kostelanetz asked AI "entity" Grok about our work together, and here is the result:

Richard Kostelanetz has authored numerous books, including dictionaries of the avant-gardes, and founded imprints like Archae Editions and Avant-Garde Classics to publish innovative and classic works that might otherwise remain unavailable. carterkaplan.blogspot.com; api.pageplace.de

Carter Kaplan is an American author, editor, and academic specializing in literature, philosophy, and speculative fiction. His notable works include the novel Tally-Ho, Cornelius!, the Invisible Tower Trilogy (Echoes, We Reign Secure, and The Sky-Shaped Sarcophagus), the Aristophanic comedy Diogenes, and the critical study Critical Synoptics: Menippean Satire and the Analysis of Intellectual Mythology, which explores analytic philosophy through poetry and fiction. Kaplan also edits the anthology series Emanations and is involved with International Authors, a consortium publishing literary works. He has taught literature, philosophy, and research writing at various universities across the US and Scotland. amazon.com

Kaplan and Kostelanetz share a professional relationship in the realm of avant-garde and experimental literature. Kaplan has contributed articles to Kostelanetz's A Dictionary of the Avant-Gardes(third edition, 2019), including entries on "Herman Melville" and "Michael Butterworth." The dictionary also features an entry on Kaplan himself, highlighting his contributions to literary theory and satire. api.pageplace.de; searchworks.stanford.edu

Kaplan's blog, Highbrow, has featured Kostelanetz's writings, such as a 2022 post sharing Kostelanetz's detailed statement on his publishing philosophy for Archae Editions and Avant-Garde Classics. In it, Kostelanetz discusses his approach to on-demand publishing, reprinting modernist classics (e.g., works by Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and Guillaume Apollinaire), and collaborating with authors like Charles Doria to preserve innovative texts. carterkaplan.blogspot.com

Thursday, March 5, 2026

Highbrow Returns: Emanations 12 progress report

All Emanations 12 materials (except fiction illustrations) are now in the "master file".

I've prepared a fair draft of the Table of Contents.

Lots of formatting tasks to perform (mostly fine adjustments to the poetry). The book looks very good... Time consuming, but it's worth it.

Lots of clever material--all of it.

As I indicate above in the title, daily Highbrow remarks now resume.

Please share.

Albrecht Durer - Little Owl, 1508

Tuesday, January 13, 2026

Highbrow Hiatus - Taking off to read manuscripts, back soon...

Sky King: Kirby Grant and Gloria Winters with a Cessna 310B, N5384A, the Songbird. (Photograph by Hal McAlpin)

Monday, January 12, 2026

Brigitte Bardot & Sacha Distel - La Bise Aux Hippies (1967)

Amusing satire. "Free Love" indeed. Click HERE for lyrics.

Sunday, January 11, 2026

Reading submissions, communications forthcoming...

Saturday, January 10, 2026

Satan Rock Star - Reading of Satanic Verses (from Terrance Lindall and Bienvenido Bones Bañez, Jr.)

Just across my desk from Terrance Lindall. Here, AI (I am assuming) reads from Bienvenido Bones Bañez, Jr's Satanic Verses. While I have reservations about the theology, the productions of Monsieurs Lindall and Bañez are often intriguing:

Friday, January 9, 2026

Friday January 23, Joshua Tree, California

Space Cowboy Books 10 Year Anniversary Celebration

Friday January 23^rd 4-6pm

61871 29 Palms Hwy. Joshua Tree, CA 92252

https://spacecowboybooks.com/

Come celebrate this milestone with Joshua Tree’s independent bookstore, featuring live music from The Kearns Family & Phog Masheeen, with snacks by Epicurean Fling, and 10% off store-wide. This event is free to attend.

Since opening our doors in January of 2016, Space Cowboy Books has published forty-nine books, musical audiobooks, and chapbooks, plus fifty fanzines, hosted hundreds of in-person and online events, produced ninety-four episodes of Simultaneous Times podcast, won a multitude of awards (Laureate, Bram Stoker, Elgin, +), launched Electronic Brain magazine, provided annual scholarships for Clarion West and Odyssey Writing Workshops, given away thousands of kid’s books, donated hundreds of books to prisons, and generally proliferated the love of literature and all things science fiction. Here’s to ten more years!
RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/space-cowboy-books-10-year-anniversary-celebration-tickets-1979065041815

For press inquiries and photo requests contact Jean-Paul L. Garnier spacecowboybooks@gmail.com

Jean-Paul L. Garnier

Thursday, January 8, 2026

The Fantastic in Art and Fiction

A Wayback Machine archive of fantastic art and fiction created by the Cornell University Library Institute for Digital Collections. Click the image for access: