Helen DeWitt (@helendewitt) profile picture

Novelist (The Last Samurai et al.). Interested in languages, statistics, dataviz. NOT HdW the film curator, who is no longer on X.

Berlin (DE); Vermont (US)
Joined March 2009
Photo by Helen DeWitt (@helendewitt)Photo by Helen DeWitt (@helendewitt)Photo by Helen DeWitt (@helendewitt)Photo by Helen DeWitt (@helendewitt)Photo by Helen DeWitt (@helendewitt)Photo by Helen DeWitt (@helendewitt)Photo by Helen DeWitt (@helendewitt)Photo by Helen DeWitt (@helendewitt)Photo by Helen DeWitt (@helendewitt)Photo by Helen DeWitt (@helendewitt)
In 2023 I read @LKonstan’s The Last Samurai Reread. No comment re critique, but was shocked by inaccuracies & misrepresentations of publication history, tried to get fixed. @ColumbiaUP won’t make even minor corrections. For those who care about bg: not a reliable source.
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Helen DeWitt retweeted
It’s hard to imagine the effort that went into this good literary deed, this unexpected gift to readers and writers. Fills one with gratitude and hope. colophont.com/profile/borisd…
I love great writing and hate how it's treated on the internet. So I built something to try to fix that. If you wish there were a better place to share your writing, to discover new work, to talk culture and books, then I invite you to read—and to join me.
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Helen DeWitt retweeted
Helen Fielding has launched the Bridget Jones Prize for unpublished and unagented comedy writers based in the North of England, with £2,000 for the winner and £1,000 for the runner-up. 👇 ebx.sh/yyRrxg
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Was it one author, book, or event that propelled Korean literature onto the global stage? Korean-French translator Choi Mi-kyung and frequent contributors Anton Hur and Deborah Smith consider the question and demand greater autonomy for translators: tinyurl.com/2n3bkudr
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I went to Stephen Squibb's play 'The Suitors of Helen' last night on W. 30th Street. A prequel to the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Orestaia, etc., and a work high comic poetry. Wonderful acting by Jessica Burbank and Addie Guidry especially. You should all go. newyorkdramadepartment.com/
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Helen DeWitt retweeted
From a Wittgensteinian perspective the AI consciousness debate is a philosophical nadir for culture. Virtually everything said about AI consciousness represents what Wittgenstein called the metaphysical use of language: words acting like an idling engine, doing no real work. 1/11
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People love to be dismissive of @duolingo, but I could understand most of this having done the Duolingo Dutch course back in 2015 (I do get the impression the courses are less helpfully structured now)
Vijf jaar geleden hebben ze de Nachtwacht gereconstrueerd zoals Rembrandt het schilderij bedoelde, met de missende stroken er digitaal aangeplakt. Het resultaat was verbluffend. Omdat de kapitein niet meer pal in het midden stond, ontstaat beweging en diepte. 1/2
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Mystery solved, the neighbor who has been checking my mail in Berlin was worried because she hadn't heard from me so found my address in Vermont and called the police. Turns out I had overlooked a WhatsApp message from a couple of weeks ago
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I was confused because the police said Paula had called, but Steffi said she had worked on it with Paula. So, not a prank, all good.
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Odd thing happened last night, police car came to my door around 9, said they had had a call from someone called Paula who was worried about me because we usually emailed but she hadn't heard from me in a long time.
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I do know a Paula in Berlin but we don't have much contact & I don't think she'd know my address in Vermont. Maybe some kind of prank but if so bizarre
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Helen DeWitt retweeted
When the New York Times at last decided to accept the honorific "Ms.," Gloria Steinem had a good line: "I no longer have to be 'Miss Steinem of Ms. magazine.'"
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Eh bien sachez qu’en Russie la plupart des gens connaît le prénom et le patronyme des grands auteurs. Alexandre Sergueïevitch ? Pouchkine. Anton Pavlovitch ? Tchekhov. Lev Nikolaevitch ? Tolstoï. … Mikhaïl Youriévitch ?
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Helen DeWitt retweeted
CHECK OUT "How to Create a Flawed Character" by our dear friend (and amazing Berlin artist) @MarsDorian #MarsDorian
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Helen DeWitt retweeted
The Iliad and the Odyssey, Greek and English side by side, free. Click any Greek word for LSJ and Cunliffe. Scene summaries, maps, genealogies, a character network, hexameter scansion. The digital Landmark Homer that never existed in print. johnhboyer-sys.github.io/hom…
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Fabelhaft!
there’s an Odyssey movie. Love it or hate it, the poem is still better. I built a free reader for it — Greek with facing English, tap any word for the grammar, every place mapped, the route animated, Flaxman’s engravings. Share and enjoy. johnhboyer-sys.github.io/hom…
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Well? Is there?
Isn't there an old Persian-war related film in which the Athenians have clipped, home-county voices, the Spartans have American drawls, and the Persians sound Russian?
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Helen DeWitt retweeted
No Hollywood slop for "modern audiences": Michael Cacoyannis' "Iphigenia" (1977), based on the play by Euripides. Link to the full movie in the reply.
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Helen DeWitt retweeted
This sounds great.
Sinopse de A Odisseia: "Jason Bourne perdeu-se no mar por anos. Sua esposa, Mulher-Gato, encontra-se desolada e está sendo cobiçada pelo Batman. O filho de Bourne, Homem-Aranha, foi procurar o pai com a ajuda do Justiceiro".
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Helen DeWitt retweeted
If you want to dive deeper into the lost works of the Epic Cycle, Malcom Davies wrote the following books collecting the available evidence. You can read all three for free on Harvard’s website. Find the links below:
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