Novum Newsletter

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.