Microfiction
Identity and the Exhaustion of Grand Ideas
Over the past few decades, intellectual life has been shaped by a growing distrust of ambitious theories that once claimed to explain history and society as a whole. The fading influence of the radical projects associated with the 1968 generation produced a more careful and restrained scholarly atmosphere. Many historians and social theorists became skeptical of large narratives and universal categories, preferring limited scope and methodological caution. In Germany, this shift took a distinctive form through the rise of microhistory, an approach that emphasizes close attention to sources, local contexts, and everyday life. Microhistorians sought to revive the craft of traditional historiography while distancing themselves from older positivist assumptions. Their work often challenges broad concepts such as capitalism, industrialization, and the state, treating them as abstractions that obscure rather than clarify lived experience.
By Gopal Balakrishnanabout 6 hours ago in Fiction
The Pot Boiling Over
Once, there was a pot of about 340 million drops and droplets. Most of them would like to think they lived together peacefully for decades, but that wasn’t true. Different regions struggled, sometimes fought, with each other. And the mainstreams still often pursued and attacked the minorities. Law enforcers sometimes pushed minority drops out of the pot, never to be seen again.
By Gabriel Shamesabout 13 hours ago in Fiction
How to Fuck Around
So, you’ve been invited to a party. You are excited to go, right? What? You aren’t excited or aren’t going? You remember the last party you went to and it was a total awkward disaster? Oh, boy, you’re right, you probably just shouldn’t go. What’s that? But you really want to go, but you’ll need some advice on how to interact with peers, socialize, and basically, you know…
By Amos Gladea day ago in Fiction
THE MOTH
Hapley was one of the most celebrated entomologists of his time, famous for his discoveries and infamous for his bitter feud with Professor Pawkins. Their rivalry had lasted for decades and had grown from an academic disagreement into a personal war. It began when Pawkins dismissed a species Hapley had named, and from that moment onward, the two men attacked each other relentlessly in papers, meetings, and public lectures. Their quarrel became legendary within scientific circles, stirring passions as fierce as any religious dispute.
By Faisal Khana day ago in Fiction
How to Maintain a Lighthouse During Prolonged Fog
Purpose A lighthouse exists to be consistent. It is not built for recognition, conversation, or feedback. It does not require acknowledgment from the ships that pass or the waters that threaten them. Its purpose is singular and unchanging: to remain operational.
By Melanie Rose2 days ago in Fiction
