The Ironist
Differing Perspectives
Inspiration
This is the second essay by Peter on the intricacies of the English language. Here, he writes on where inspiration comes from, and why no amount of effort can quite summon it. My first piece in the English language series talked about the quality of writing that...
The Last Puritan
Alexander Montgomery writes a fleeting, intimate glimpse of Glenn Gould, the genius and the strange solitude of his greatness. Glenn Gould’s sitting in Fran’s Deli, St. Clair East, and I sit here, watching him from the pub across the street. There he is, the bastard,...
The Awkward One: Rediscovering Mary Bennett
About the most forgettable Bennet sister and a retelling of Pride and Prejudice... “There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well. The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the...
The Little Tanagra: Part 2
Previously in Part 1, Hara writes about young Arsinoe growing into a woman of remarkable talents at the sanctuary of Artemis at Brauron. But longing for freedom, she begins to plan her escape. Arsinoe took longer each day to return from her...
The Little Tanagra: Part 1
We are delighted to introduce a new serialized work of literary fiction from Dr. Hara Papatheodorou: a fairy tale that reimagines the origins of the celebrated Tanagra figurines in ancient Greece. In the small village of Tanagra, in Boeotia, there lived a poor...
WORDS, WORDS, WORDS…
Starting in April 2026, The Ironist is starting a running monthly series of articles on the English language written by our very own contributor Peter Scotchmer, a retired English teacher. Polonius: ‘What is the matter you read, my lord?’ Hamlet: ‘Words, words,...
Skinny Legs and All: The Seriousness of the Absurd
Talking objects, messy love, art, philosophy, and global conflict. All in one book. “In the haunted house of life, art is the only stair that doesn’t creak.” Over time I have come to believe that the higher the element of fantasy in a book, the more serious it often...
Utopian Delusions
Peter Scotchmer writes about the enduring lure of utopia and why humanity’s attempts to build perfect societies so often end in dystopia. I will not walk with your progressive apes, Erect and sapient. Before them gapes The dark abyss to which their progress...
Forgotten Heroes #8 – Pauolos Paella the Peacemaker
In this Forgotten Heroes story, Alfred Russel Wallace, flying whales called linanders, and a peace-making dish collide in an improbable history of the world’s most famous rice pan. Recently discovered petroglyph of a linander assisting ancient boy scouts...