• Mala Chatterjee
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  MALA CHATTERJEE

public writing

published + forthcoming essays

our avatars, ourselves
Boston Review


saved by infinite jest 
​
Aeon

transcendent luminescence, ravaging flames: on alexander kriss's borderline
Los Angeles Review of Books

there is more than is dreamt of in our academic philosophy: on becca rothfeld's all things are too small
​
The Chronicle Review


letter: a reply to "DBT and its discontents"
The Drift


embodiment as enigma: on xi xi’s mourning a breast (trans. jennifer feeley, nyrb 2024)
Cleveland Review of Books


knowing the story of your life: on lowry pressly's the right to oblivion: privacy and the good life
forthcoming in The Point 


what we talk about when we talk about techno
forthcoming in Pioneer Works Broadcast

building worlds, bending minds: on techno and the art of magic
forthcoming in Los Angeles Review of Books

our own worst enemies:
severance as mental illness, the puzzles and pains of plurality, and the problem of other minds

forthcoming



​in-progress essays

surviving death in the age of information
on the ways we outlive ourselves, how the modern world transforms them & what the law should do about it 

invisible pain & the right to escape
on why invisible pain is sidelined by contemporary disability theory & activism + the legitimacy of escapism as a mechanism for coping with embodied life

the intensity affliction
on "high achievers" and the pathological obsession, imprisoning compulsion, and toxic glamorization that can accompany goal-oriented behavior

the unreality of emotions
on what public discourse gets wrong about the nature of emotions -- and how they ought to be "validated" -- and why the ongoing perpetuation of these attitudes is actively harmful in many ways.

when the artist becomes the algorithm
on what, if anything, is wrong with generative AI "style clones" emulating the visions & voices of real artists to proliferate new works + what the practice illuminates about how much we value human artistry (with jenny judge)

the strange loop of reality TV
on reality TV and the sense of community it creates

the philosophy lessons of science fiction 
on the philosophical value of science fiction, the methodology of thought experiments, and what present discourse about new technology gets wrong



book project

​the identity prism

(proposal in progress)


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  • Mala Chatterjee
  • scholarship
  • public writing
  • Contact + media
  • Taste