Robert Zaretsky is a professor in the Honors College at the University of Houston. He is the author of several books, most recently Victories Never Last: Reading and Caregiving in a Time of Plague (University of Chicago Press, 2022).
Robert Zaretsky
Articles
It’s All Greek and yet Frighteningly Comprehensible.
Robert Zaretsky and Michael Barnes consider Thucydides’s “History of the Peloponnesian War.”
Humanism Is a Frail Craft: On Sarah Bakewell’s “Humanly Possible”
Robert Zaretsky reviews Sarah Bakewell’s “Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Hope.”
Or Better Worse: On Michael Ignatieff and Consolation
Robert Zaretsky is invigorated by Michael Ignatieff’s “On Consolation: Finding Solace in Dark Times.”
“Is Not a Face Quite Different from a Mask?”: Molière at 400
Robert Zaretsky unmasks the continuing relevance of Molière.
More to Admire: On Laura Marris’s Translation of Albert Camus’s “The Plague”
Robert Zaretsky admires the aesthetic and moral clarity of Laura Marris’s new translation of Camus’s “The Plague.”
Pardonne-Moi: On Vladimir Jankélévitch and the Philosophy of Forgiveness
Robert Zaretsky reflects on the life and work of French philosopher Vladimir Jankélévitch, and the supernatural nature of true forgiveness.
Crystallized Desire: On Stendhalian Love
Robert Zaretsky explores love in the time of the pandemic through the life and ideas of Stendhal.
Letters from the Heart
Simone de Beauvoir’s advice to the lovelorn.
Charisma: Now You’ve Got It, Now You Don’t
A rich and rewarding study of political leadership in the 18th and 19th centuries.
For Camus, It Was Always Personal
On the inspirational lyricism of Camus’s essays.
Enduring Strength: On Anne Applebaum’s “Twilight of Democracy”
Robert Zaretsky finds reasons for hope in “Twilight of Democracy” by Anne Applebaum.
Dog Days in Postwar Paris: On Curzio Malaparte’s “Diary of a Foreigner in Paris”
Robert Zaretsky picks apart “Diary of a Foreigner in Paris” by Curzio Malaparte.
“Ah the Old Questions, the Old Answers”: Losing to Win in Samuel Beckett’s “Endgame”
Robert Zaretsky moves through Samuel Beckett’s “Endgame” as the pandemic takes its course.
A Door for You Alone: Reading Kafka’s “The Trial” in Self-Isolation
Robert Zaretsky reads Franz Kafka’s “The Trial” under quarantine.
The Logic of the Rebel: On Simone Weil and Albert Camus
Robert Zaretsky considers Albert Camus’s posthumous friendship with Simone Weil.
I Have the Best Words: On Bérengère Viennot’s “La Langue de Trump”
Robert Zaretsky reviews “La Langue de Trump” by Bérengère Viennot, the French translator of Donald Trump’s speeches.
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