But We Had Music
Maria Popova’s seventh annual Universe in Verse series debuted an animated poem titled “But We Had Music,” a collaboration with Australian musician Nick Cave and Brazilian visual artist Daniel Bruson. The piece blends poetry, astrophysics and music to confront humanity’s fleeting existence against a backdrop of a supermassive black hole. The Marginalian, Popova’s ad‑free cultural platform, highlights the project while reminding readers that its operation relies on voluntary donations and a weekly newsletter. The initiative underscores the growing appeal of interdisciplinary storytelling in digital media.
Albert Camus on the Source of Strength and How to Save Our Sanity in Trying Times
Albert Camus, Nobel laureate in literature, penned the 1940 essay “The Almond Trees,” famously declaring that an “invincible summer” lies within us even in the deepest winter. The piece urges readers to reject despair, cultivate virtues such as strength of...
Pablo Neruda on How to Hold Time
The Marginalian essay reflects on Pablo Neruda’s poetic meditation about holding time, quoting his "Elemental Odes" that split time into backward‑flowing memory and forward‑moving presence. Neruda urges readers to seize the present moment, shaping it with love, justice, and creativity. The...