Anton Cebalo

New York

Contributor at Freelance

Writer at Novum Newsletter

writer // https://t.co/B6zI4Ys682

Featured in: Favicon

substack.com (+1) Favicon

palladiummag.com Favicon

3quarksdaily.com

Articles

Writers As Politicians

Aug 7, 2024 | novum.substack.com | Anton Cebalo

Hello, happy to finally be publishing another essay for my history-writing series Past as Prologue. If you’re a new subscriber, this is a series where I revisit ideas and moments from the past that were unique for their time. You can read the last installments here and here. This essay is about a period when underground literature was so idolized that many believed its heroes should enter politics and govern.
The Internet Is Like a City (But Not in the Way You'd Think)

May 1, 2024 | novum.substack.com | Anton Cebalo

In the days of the early internet, the language to describe it was still an open question. Cultural critic Howard Rheingold, credited with coining the term “virtual community,” likened it to a great frontier. “The pioneers are still out there exploring,” he wrote, with its borders undetermined.
Symphonies of Color

Jan 31, 2024 | novum.substack.com | Anton Cebalo

This short essay was inspired by Oleksiy Radynski’s documentary “Infinity According to Florian” which is now screening at the Sculpture Center in Long Island City, Queens, New York every Thursday from January 25 - March 25, 2024. Siberia’s vast expanse, encompassing some 9% of Earth’s landmass, has long stirred great minds, often under extreme duress. Historically, it has been a place of forced labor, exile, and otherwise unlikely friendships.
2023 Recap: Novum Newsletter

Jan 4, 2024 | novum.substack.com | Anton Cebalo

Hello everyone. Is it too late for a 2023 recap? I hope not. The past year has been good to me in many ways, but in other ways not so much. For almost half the year, I didn’t publish anything here. But despite that setback, I had 872 subscribers at the start of the year and now I have some ~2,650 subscribers. Thank you for sticking around. My initial plan for 2023 was to pursue a weekly series where I reviewed stories that interested me.
The Return of the World's Fair

Dec 17, 2023 | novum.substack.com | Anton Cebalo

In the spring of 1873, a Japanese delegation arrived at the World’s Fair in Vienna, Austria-Hungary. Five years after the Meiji Revolution, their attendance was meticulously planned. A special government bureau was created, and a team of engineers accompanied the delegation. The exposition was even given a test run a year beforehand in Tokyo. Yet for Kido Yakayoshi, one of the founding Meiji statesmen, the event provoked a kind of existential crisis.
There Once Was an Empire

Nov 19, 2023 | novum.substack.com | Anton Cebalo

When it comes to history writing, one of the most recognizable frames is the story of the “rise and fall.” Although broad and often misused, it is undeniably a trope that deeply interests the public imagination. So much so that nowadays one doesn’t need to look far to find anxieties over our own alleged fall. Discussions on “decline” and even “collapse” have become more commonplace online.
On the Importance of Roots

Nov 6, 2023 | 3quarksdaily.com | Anton Cebalo

In the past decade, the writer Simone Weil has grown in popularity and continues to provoke conversation some 80 years after her death. She was a writer mainly preoccupied with what she called "the needs of the soul." One of these needs, almost prophetic in its relevance today, is the capacity for attention toward the world which she likened to prayer. Another is the need to be rooted in a community and place, discussed at length in her last book On the Need for Roots written in 1943.
The Man Who Shredded the Newspaper

Sep 11, 2023 | 3quarksdaily.com | Anton Cebalo

In the decade before World War I, the newspaper dominated life like it never would again. The radio was not yet fit for mass use, and neither was film or recording. It was then common for major cities to have a dozen or so morning papers competing for attention. Deceit, exaggeration, and gimmicks were typical, even expected, to boost readership. Rarely were reporters held to account. This characterization is not mine but taken from Austrian writer Karl Kraus.
The Purpose of the Novel

May 31, 2023 | novum.substack.com | Anton Cebalo
What Is Psychopolitics? - by Anton Cebalo

May 14, 2023 | novum.substack.com | Anton Cebalo