ABOUT NOVUM
A few years ago, I came across The Principle of Hope by philosopher Ernst Bloch. The book is an exhaustive exploration of hope on all levels.
It’s about how possibilities enter our imagination, break us free from stagnation, and create new worlds. These aren’t fantasies, but rooted in actual material life. He calls these possibilities “novum” or the “radically new.”
Ages in which nothing happens have almost lost the feeling for the Novum; they live in habit and what is coming is no such thing, but rather as circumscribed as what happened yesterday.
But ages like the modern one, in which history, perhaps for centuries, stands in the balance, have the feeling for the Novum in the extreme, they sense what future is...1
With everything being so in flux nowadays and the future wide open for the taking, I thought this was a nice name for my newsletter.
what do you write about?
I write about history, culture, politics, and whatever I think has some relevance for today.
My perspective starts from the view that we’re living through something of an inflection point. One of its major catalysts is a deep and widespread feeling of uprootedness, largely caused by online life.
These days, shared dreams about the future are commonly met with skepticism. Few people believe what they once took for granted. If we look across all sources of authority, trust has fallen to new lows.2 And across published literature, mentions of distress and anxiety have risen to new highs.3 Additionally, if we look outward at world affairs, the next decade or two will likely end up defining the rest of the century, for better or worse.4
Volatile periods like today are defined by unknowns. Novel ways of thinking and living emerge, sometimes by accident. I explore these themes in my writing. My approach tries to strike a balance between observational, literary, and historical perspectives to write stories about today. This helps to keep my work fresh and engaging.
For a deeper explanation of my perspective, you can read my extended essay.
who are you?
My name is Anton, and I’m a writer and historian. I have a BA and MA in modern history. I’ve been published in magazines like Noema, The Guardian, The Brooklyn Rail, and Palladium.
I grew up in the United States, but my whole family comes from the region of Dalmatia in Croatia. In a past other life, maybe I was a peasant boy or sailor. But in this life, I worked tediously as a ghostwriter for a long time to make ends meet. I started this newsletter back in 2022 just to think things through and meet other like-minded people with no expectations initially.
I currently live in NYC, so if you’re in the city feel free to reach out.
when do you publish?
I publish whenever I can and whenever it’s ready.
I also have two special series on here. One is my history-writing series, Past as Prologue. The other is Readings & Reviews for books and forgotten essays that still have relevance today.
will you take my money?
Become a paid subscriber and I will honor your contribution, and my motivation to keep writing will double!
do you accept mail?
Don’t be a stranger. Send absolutely anything to anton.cebalo (at) outlook.com. Maybe I’ll open a P.O. box for physical letters someday.
The Principle of Hope, pg. 288.
In 2022, the average trust across all leading U.S. institutions hit a new low.
A comparable trend is present throughout the world. In 2019, Cambridge University’s Centre for the Future of Democracy recorded the highest level of discontentment across all democracies since it began conducting survey research. And this was before COVID, no less. There has been no follow-up since.
An analysis of more than 14 million books published over the last 125 years in three major languages (English, German, and Spanish) shows a sharp increase in expressions of anxiety and worry in many parts of the world.
This was the conclusion made by the 2021-2022 UN Human Development Report. The report further says that “globally, fewer than 30 percent of people think that most people can be trusted, the lowest value on record.”
