Edgar Allan Poe and the Mask of the 21st Century

By David Gosselin BUT for the cruel aspersions upon the character and life of America’s poetic genius, EDGAR ALLAN POE, this volume would have remained unwritten. EDGAR ALLAN POE has been more misunderstood than any other poet of the recent past. While his life was beautiful and inspired, yet aspersed, his last moments had more…

»Vice broods in vain to accuse you of crimes.«

By Uwe Alschner On the parallels between Julian Assange’s incarceration and that of General Lafayette. How and why artists make (political) statements on behalf of humanity. Beethoven wrote a whole opera. Julian Assange is probably the most prominent political prisoner in the world. He has been in solitary confinement for almost 15 years, first in…

On Lessing’s ‘Nathan the Wise’: Is a Harmony of Cultures Possible?

In this lecture RTF President Cynthia Chung will conduct a discussion on the classical work ‘Nathan the Wise’ by the renaissance humanist Gotthold Lessing. Exploring this work will not merely be an academic exercise of an art piece, but will be a gateway to the essentials of cultural warfare and the wisest methods of conducting…

The Red Sky: A Parable

By Adam Sedia After crossing the Great Mountains, I saw before me, to the west, a vast and sprawling plain. Many great rivers crossed its fertile fields, teeming at that time of year with wheat and cotton. Yet it has no cities to speak of–only small villages scattered about. The simple folk of the foothills…

Schiller vs. the Congress For Cultural Freedom

By Irene Eckert No, there is a limit to the tyrant’s power! When the oppressed man finds no justice,When the burden grows unbearable, he appealsWith fearless heart to Heaven,And thence brings down his everlasting rights,Which there abide, inalienably his,And indestructible as stars themselves. -Friedrich Schiller,  Rutli Oath, Wilhelm Tell With the global call for FREEDOM as…

Ode to the Orange Tree

Timeless Conversation Between Two Aristocratic Men Gu Yuan & Guo Moruo By Quan Le This is the occasion for expressing some of my desultory remarks on Chinese culture, history and more generally on epistemology, my core interest. Epistemology has 3 theoretical branches : theory of knowledge, heuristics/maieutics and hermeneutics. Epistemology has one practical application at…