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Adrian Nathan West

@anathanwest.bsky.social
234 followers 84 following 46 posts
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Eris Press will be publishing my translation of one of my favorite books I’ve read in recent years – Jordi Ibáñez Fanés’s A Quartet, a long, elegant meditation on mourning, religion, and love. Here's an essay I wrote about his book Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso: thebaffler.com/latest/hell-...
thebaffler.com
Hell, or Catalonia | Adrian Nathan West
Novelist Jordi Ibáñez Fanés sees through the founding myths and baleful consequences of Catalan nationalism.
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Dorfman knows "dedicar" often just means give, and the sentence occurs in the book in a place where the uneducated Lalo wouldn't have said "dedicate." This is why I think it's fine just not to mention the translation sometimes; the temptation to bring up trifles to check a box is too strong.
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Come on y'all read this story.
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Anthony Powell: "True interest in yourself is comparatively rare, sharply to be differentiated from mere egotism and selfishness; characteristics often immoderately developed in persons not in the least interested in themselves intellectually or objectively."
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
But the thing is, I don't feel these writers really care much for other people, certainly not for watching them and thinking about them. Nor do they really seem to observe themselves.
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Whereas really Bataille is correct to say, "The humblest and least cultivated human beings have an experience of the possible, and even the totality of the possible, that approaches that of the great mystics in its depth and intensity," and a writer should try to unearth that.
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I read a review of one of these books that said, in essence, the author seems to believe that these experiences do not properly exist for other people, but only come into their own when the author gilds them with his presence, and I think that's right.
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Listen I'm partial but I think it's fucking good!
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Got a cover for the new book, coming out in the UK in March from Thousand Horsemen Press.
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Take a moment and read my story "My Mother's Mother's Death" in the new issue of @thebaffler.com : thebaffler.com/stories/my-m...
thebaffler.com
My Mother’s Mother’s Death | Adrian Nathan West
“It costs more to die than it does to fucking be alive.”
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Saudamini Deo @saudaminideo.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Spending the afternoon researching avant-garde writing in Hindi in the long 1970s, for an exciting new book project, forthcoming early next year. More details soon.
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
My favorite book I've ever translated
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
I should look back at The Group, I think it's easy to forget the intellectual ferment of that era, overshadowed by the late 60s/early 70s. I've also been on a Sidney Lumet kick so that's an excuse to watch the film.
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
I feel abashed at my limited knowledge of American literature but I do miss Rabbit, Run here.
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
I missed this, but congratulations!
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
I love the Muir translations. I've never done a line-by-line comparison because why would I? The truth is 20th c. English literature is unthinkable without them, Garnett, Lowe-Porter, and such others.
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
I wrote a little thing about trailer parks and private equity: unherd.com/2026/06/when...
unherd.com
When private equity came for trailer parks
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
I just got one of these inviting Mario Vargas Llosa to an event called Books, Brews & Beverages for Busy Book Lovers, which I fear he won't be attending....
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Amazing. Thank you.
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New York Review Books @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
"This is a book that should be shoved in everyone’s hands as soon as they learn to read, like a Gideon’s Bible or a pocket Constitution." @anathanwest.bsky.social on Brad Neely's Creased Comics.
artillerymag.com
BRAD NEELY HAS A BOOK OUT AND THAT IS GOOD - Artillery Magazine - Contemporary art news and criticism
In Spanish, the term feísmo is used to denote ugly technique in the pursuit of ugly truth. In its canonical expressions, it pairs the slapdash with a
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
thank you, Jacob
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Thank you so much for sharing this!
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Edmund White was a dear friend and teacher whom I miss terribly nearly a year after his death. I've written a brief memoir about him here: substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com
Melancholy Is a Duty We Ignore
On Edmund White
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
I love Brad Neely's work and I was fortunate enough to be able to write about it for Artillery Magazine: artillerymag.com/brad-neely-h...
artillerymag.com
BRAD NEELY HAS A BOOK OUT AND THAT IS GOOD - Artillery Magazine - Contemporary art news and criticism
In Spanish, the term feísmo is used to denote ugly technique in the pursuit of ugly truth. In its canonical expressions, it pairs the slapdash with a
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
I did not feel about "Transcription" as many others seem to have felt; nor have I ever shared in the enthusiasm for Lerner. The reasons why are complicated, and I've tried to deal with as many as I could in this piece that was probably supposed to be 2,500 words and is instead 6,300.
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
thank you!
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
The only part originally in English is The Night Gardener and a few minor things added in. He did do the final edits with the Pushkin people, though.
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
I hope you'll read my short story "Dogelon Mars" in @thelondonmagazine.bsky.social: thelondonmagazine.org/article/fict...
thelondonmagazine.org
Fiction | Dogelon Mars by Adrian Nathan West - The London Magazine
From our February / March issue, a story of crypto, romance and the eerie sense of peril one can encounter in a short taxi ride.
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
I'd say it's "not racist" in Spanish because the notion of what's racist is different. Kate Clanchy got dragged over "almond-shaped eyes." Mere reference to ethnicity is often verboten in English. In Spanish you can nickname a fat person "gordo" and it's no big deal.
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
I did this
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Words Without Borders & WWB Campus @wwborders.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Take time today with “No Euskera,” a story from our archives set in Francoist Spain, by Ramiro Pinilla (tr. @anathanwest.bsky.social ). The story follows the journey of an elderly woman and her granddaughter as they visit her son on death row. Read here: buff.ly/SPOvB3s
In the background, a gingham umbrella from above in the rain, as well as the following text overlaid in white:  No Euskera By Ramiro Pinilla, translated from Spanish by Adrian Nathan West “She would never forget her grandmother’s mouth, how it seemed welded shut, or the serene expression on her rough-hewn features, which had ceased to struggle against her yearning to speak.” from the archive: Fiction.
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
I wrote about my parasocial jiu-jitsu BFF for the New York Times Magazine: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/m...
nytimes.com
The Athlete Trolling His Way Through Jiu-Jitsu’s Culture Wars
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Sam Sacks @ssacks.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
A couple bracingly sharp and intelligent Baffler reviews by Adrian Nathan West of new novels I haven't read: on a pair of books updating Bernhard and Perec (thebaffler.com/latest/imper...) and on Jordan Castro's 'Muscle Man' (thebaffler.com/latest/cuck-...)
thebaffler.com
Imperfect Pleasures | Adrian Nathan West
Two novelists take a stab at the literary remake—with differing results.
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Here's this: thebaffler.com/latest/cuck-...
thebaffler.com
Cuck-Coded Zarathustra | Adrian Nathan West
Jordan Castro’s “Muscle Man” thumbs its nose at wokeness while giving the right-curious too little to chew on.
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
Thanks to you for reading!
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
Thank you! There's another review in the pipeline. I need to email you. Hope all is well.
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 06/09/2025
Oh I have more for you. I'll email you.
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UnHerd @unherd.com · 15/05/2025
‘The progressive press has jumped on the anti-alcohol dogpile, with headlines calculated to horrify’ | Adrian Nathan West
unherd.com
America’s puritans are back
'I’d say, and if you’ll excuse me, I must step away to pour myself a glass.' 'Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/.Getty.
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 06/09/2025
Someone got mad at me on X about this but YOLO
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 06/09/2025
Please read this. It was a lot of work and a foray into a new kind of writing for me.
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The Baffler @thebaffler.com · 05/04/2025
The conductor guides the philharmonic to the heavenly spheres. In fiction from Hermann Berger (translated by @anathanwest.bsky.social), the “orchestra minion” is responsible for keeping it on the ground.
thebaffler.com
The Orchestra Minion | Hermann Burger
I have not applied for the post of orchestra minion in order to revive the old feud between strings and woodwind.
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The Baffler @thebaffler.com · 08/01/2025
The passport bro lifestyle repackages old-fashioned sex tourism as a form of hypermasculine personal accomplishment.
thebaffler.com
Bang the World | Adrian Nathan West
Passport Bros repackage sex tourism as glossy personal accomplishment.
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Flipboard Culture Desk @culturedesk.flipboard.social.ap.brid.gy · 17/01/2025
What is a Passport Bro? Adrian Nathan West writes for The Baffler about men who travel to foreign countries in search of women who "value traditional masculine qualities." "Whereas sex tourism is seen as the seedy last recourse for losers who can’t get any in their home country, xenophile […]
flipboard.social
Original post on flipboard.social
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
I meant people trafficked in but also I am interested in conditions in Spain in clubs.
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Sam Sacks @ssacks.bsky.social · 23/12/2024
Adrian Nathan West with an excellent primer on the mysteries of Paul Celan, focusing on a newly translated edition of his letters to his wife www.nytimes.com/2024/12/22/b...
nytimes.com
Book Review: Letters to Gisèle, by Paul Celan
Newly translated letters reveal the inner life of Paul Celan, offering clues to his enigmatic poems.
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
Have you worked much with sex workers sent to clubs in Spain? If so, any chance you'd drop me a line (my full name at gmail)?
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Prof. Anthea Butler @antheabutler.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
This is a great article that might explain a lot about not just dating but the whole damn world right now...from Nathan West thebaffler.com/salvos/bang-...
thebaffler.com
Bang the World | Adrian Nathan West
Passport Bros repackage sex tourism as glossy personal accomplishment.
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 07/01/2025
On a lark I pitched a piece to @thebaffler.com about the Passport Bros phenomenon. Then I had to write it. It's out now and I'm very pleased, I have to say. thebaffler.com/salvos/bang-...
thebaffler.com
Bang the World | Adrian Nathan West
Passport Bros repackage sex tourism as glossy personal accomplishment.
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The Baffler @thebaffler.com · 15/11/2024
“The entire 2024 graduating class of Philadelphia’s police academy has been dispatched to Kensington, but absent a real plan, they seem mostly to be wandering around and telling idlers to move along.”
thebaffler.com
Come to Harm | Adrian Nathan West
In Philadelphia, cycles of neglect and unrealistic initiative have done little solve the problem of drug addiction.
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Adrian Nathan West @anathanwest.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
Ok my attempt to see if this app is real is to ask: throughout the Mediterranean, you can buy fois gras everywhere and you can't find goose anywhere. What do they do with the rest of the goose?
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