The Point, Issue 9

The Point is a twice-yearly journal of essays on contemporary life and culture, based in Chicago. A mix of criticism, memoir, and reviews, The Point goes beyond intellectual tourism by challenging its readers to recognize the impact of ideas on their everyday life. Early issues have considered whether it is possible to live an honorable social life on Facebook, what Thorstein Veblen would say about Goldman Sachs, how Stendhal might help us with dating, and why today’s conservatives ought to read Marx. Each issue also contains a symposium consisting of several shorter pieces relating to a topic chosen by the editors—for instance, film, conservatism, or contemporary music. The symposium for issue 9 asks: What is Privacy for? An essay by Leslie Jamison ("The Empathy Exams") on female woundedness and the biographies of Sylvia Plath, and by Thomas Chatterton Williams on Duchamp, modernism, and growing up. Jon Baskin will discuss going out on weekends as a philosophical problem. In the review section, Emilie Shumway will chronicle her visit to House on the Rock, a bizarre tourist attraction in Spring Green, Wisconsin.