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Browse is for structured discovery when you know the kind of mood, place, medium, or corridor you want — but not the exact work. It should feel like opening a current, not scanning a taxonomy page.
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The Past
16 curated works.
16 works available.
Curated works
Routes through The Past
16 works selected across all media.
Themes in this selection
Routes through the index
Screen to page
Books that echo The Past
Books
Dancer from the Dance
Carries a strong pull into film through longing and power.
Books
Pattern Recognition
Carries a strong pull into music through identity and power.
Listening lane
Albums in this field
Music
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Carries a strong pull into television through power and after-hours.
Music
The Dark Side of the Moon
Carries a strong pull into film through after-hours and longing.
Interpretive layer
Idea lines behind this surface
Bring interpretation forward so the route reads with more clarity, pressure, and argument.
Essays
Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism
Carries a strong pull into books through power and memory.
Essays
The Republic
Carries a strong pull into books through identity and migration.
Continue the route
Television · Strong bridge
The Sopranos
1990s
A New Jersey mob boss in therapy. The show that invented prestige television.
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Books · Strong bridge
The Brothers Karamazov
1880s
Three brothers and a murdered father. Faith, reason, and the problem of evil.
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Music · Strong bridge
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
1990s
Soul, hip-hop, and reggae fused into a deeply personal statement of faith, love, and independence.
Anime · Strong bridge
Haibane Renmei
2000s
Born from a cocoon in the village of Old Home, a young Haibane—a being with a halo and small gray wings—awakens to a world she does not understand without memories of her past. Named Rakka for the dream of falling she had while inside the cocoon, she soon becomes accustomed to life in the strange town. However, ther...
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Essays 1990s
Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism
Pastiche, the waning of affect, and the cultural dominance of late capitalism.
Television 2000s
The Wire
Baltimore's institutions examined season by season. The novel as television.
Books 1970s
Dancer from the Dance
One of the most important works of gay literature, this haunting, brilliant novel is a seriocomic remembrance of things past -- and still poignantly present. It depicts the adventures of Malone, a beautiful young man searching for love amid New York's emerging gay scene. From Manhattan's Everard Baths and after-hour...
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Music 1970s
The Dark Side of the Moon
Time, money, madness, and death. The concept album as cultural monolith.
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Film 1970s
The Godfather
The Corleone family saga. Power, loyalty, and the corruption of the American dream.
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Essays
The Republic
What is justice? The cave, the philosopher-king, and the foundations of Western thought.