Art, class and reliability... individual destiny and history... weighty stuff as the notes from the anti-fascist underground during the Second World War come to a climax. This Aesthetics of Resistance Volume 3 by Peter Weiss episode covers part II up to p. 209. Next AOR episode we will finish the book.

We chat about our fairly boring Springs, including Toronto sports, and Tom does an update on his recent reading, including Dostoevsky and Jameson.

Mentioned:

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky An Essay on Man by Ernst Cassirer The Following Story by Cees Nooteboom Molloy by Samuel Beckett Malone Dies by Samuel Beckett The Unnamable by Samuel Beckett Marxism and Form by Fredric Jameson

AOR3 read-along next time is up to p. 209.

Our fourth episode in our read-along for The Aesthetics of Resistance: Volume III, up to page 164 (Part II). Next AOR episode will be up to page 209. The war enters a new phase and there's some cinematic intrigue plus some discussion about art.

We check in about Tom's trip to Mexico, minor life updates and the news. Tom is still a bit sick so we had to cut this one somewhat short but we'll be back soon. Next Aesthetics of Resistance Volume 3 episode should be within the next week or two, up to end of Part I of the book.

We talk about pp 90 to 131 of Aesthetics of Resistance Volume 3 by Peter Weiss. The resistance to German fascism enters a new stage as isolated Communists struggle to find ways to be helpful.

The art from AOR is available here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_of_art_in_The_Aesthetics_of_Resistance

Next time (in a few weeks) we will read up to Section II (p. 164).

We chat about Ramadan and Lent, fitness and travel, investing in leftist coin Avi Lewis, and a mini-review of NTBTSTM.

We talk about up to page 90 in Aesthetics of Resistance Volume 3 by Peter Weiss in our read-along group. Then at about 57 minutes we chat about the Epstein debates and a few mini-reviews.

Next read-along in a few weeks we will get to page 131.

Mentioned: The Wild Pear Tree (2018) dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan The American by Henry James Zeno's Conscience by Italo Svevo Concrete by Thomas Bernhard The Imperative to Write by Jeff Fort

Blog post that discusses The Imperative to Write: https://this-space.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-imperative-to-write-destitutions-of.html

We talk about Tom leaving his job, the schizophrenia of Long 2026 and frustration over how politics works, trolling by competing in good deeds, and some mini reviews.

Mentioned: The Time that Remains. The Worst Person in the World. Fistful of Dollars. Following. Eephus. This is Spinal Tap.

Ralph Waldo Emerson essays. Masnavi by Rumi. Me & Rumi by Shams Tabrizi.

After our resolutions we jump into Aesthetics of Resistance by Peter Weiss, volume 3, a novel about art and fighting fascism in Europe during 1930s and 40s. We get up to page 44 in our first episode in this series. Next time (in a few weeks) we will do up to page 90. Book talk starts at 16m48s.

We chat about our favourite movies, podcasts, games, moments and books of 2025 as we get ready to say goodbye to a pretty bad year.

Tom's Top Five Books:

5 Poetry of Rilke (Ed Snow trans.) 4 Aesthetics of Resistance vol II by Peter Weiss 3 Autobiography by John Cowper Powys 2 Terra Nostra by Carlos Fuentes 1 Lieutenant-Colonel de Maumort by Roger Martin du Gard

Don's favourites were Aesthetics of Resistance Vol I and II by Peter Weiss and Correction by Thomas Bernhard.

We chat about whether prediction markets are forbidden, Herbert McCabe on the goodness of God, some Mubis and some books.

Faith Within Reason by Herbert McCabe, OP. Oslo, August 31st. Wendy and Lucy. Bring them Down. The Smashing Machine. Frost by Thomas Bernhard. Austerlitz by WG Sebald. Selected Writings of Walter Benjamin, Vol 2, Part One. What Maisie Knew by Henry James.

Don also briefly mentions the podcasts Age of Napoleon and The Siècle.