Taking trains and trams in Berlin, I noticed people reading. Books, I mean - not pocket-size devices that bleep as if censorious, on which even Shakespeare scans like a spreadsheet. Joshua Cohen berlinbleepbook Change image and share on social
The larger your audience, the smaller your vocabulary and range of referents - the fewer your means of expression. You can't rely on the luxury of intimacy. Joshua Cohen audienceexpressionfew Change image and share on social
I've never been able to shake the idea of family, which is to say I've never been able to shake my family. Being membered - being one limb of an immense grosser body - that's always been a fact to me. Joshua Cohen bodyfactfamily Change image and share on social
I first read Dostoyevsky when I was 14 years old and was entranced. Dostoyevsky truly is a writer for 14-year-olds, and I mean that in the most approving way - approving of his energy, and rage, his endless pessimism, and endless innocence. Joshua Cohen approvedostoyevskyendless share on social
I think if German literature could survive the '40s and Russian literature could survive Sovietism, American literature can survive Google. Joshua Cohen 40samericangerman Change image and share on social
Each and every novel is a world outside the world - for a reader to visit, for comfort, consolation, escape, or challenge. Joshua Cohen challengecomfortconsolation Change image and share on social
Without computers, in the 17th century, we could classify the entire animal kingdom... there was this idea of the speciation, right? And now, all a search engine is is essentially the mathematical speciation of ideas - and these things really derive from the way that language is used and the way words relate. Joshua Cohen 17thanimalcentury share on social
When knowledge no longer becomes the commodity of the few, but in a sense becomes equalized by everyone having access, you lose some aspect of Jewish particularity, or at least a Jewish particularity that is fundamental to the construct of Jews as people of the book, which was always interesting. Joshua Cohen accessaspectbook share on social
The Jewish calendar, which is lunar, is a calendar of witness. The Sanhedrin, Jewry's Congress, met in Jerusalem toward the end of every month to wait for the new moon. Joshua Cohen calendarcongressend Change image and share on social
'Religion,' I should note, has a disputed etymology in Latin: some say it's from 'relegere,' meaning 'to reread', while others say it's from religare, meaning 'to connect' or 'link.' Literature is life's fastener. Joshua Cohen connectdisputeetymology share on social