I’m trying to imagine how many people have done any degree of “table stakes” background reading on Conrad, and read more than HoD in 7th grade, even among HN su

I’m trying to imagine how many people have done any degree of “table stakes” background reading on Conrad, and read more than HoD in 7th grade, even among HN super-achievers (the name Nostromo notwithstanding), and feel confident commenting on an article from a literary quarterly which, let’s be honest, surely assumes readers have undertaken — and possess the tools and fruits of — vast and deep cultural scholarship. Basically five, amiright? Which is to say, there’s a lot to talk about here, but how to present it? Who to? I noticed similar themes while reading Thucydides on my lunch hour. Pfft.