Art Beings

The Art Of Compression

Richard Hughes Gibson | Hedgehog Review | 31st May 2023

Quantity has a quality all its own. A work of fiction shorter than 10,000 words is a short story. A work of fiction longer than 30,000 words is a novel. But is there a stylistic frontier between the two? Is "vigorous compression" a useful marker for the short story, and "expansiveness" a useful marker for the novel? Or is a short story something to be read in one sitting, and a novel episodically? (1,770 words)

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We Are Not Human Beings

Derek Parfit | Philosophy | 5th January 2012

Was Derek Parfit the greatest philosopher in living memory, or a windy eccentric who wrote one fine book and one dud book? Opinion is divided, as recent reviews of a new biography demonstrate. Judge for yourself. This essay shows Parfit at his best. He considers what might make a person the same person over time, replete with thought experiments about teleportation and head transplants (9,600 words)