The Independent Scholar

The Independent Scholar - May 24, 2026


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In this week's issue:

  • Yang Shuang-zi's Taiwan Travelogue wins the 2026 International Booker — and why the translator's name deserves equal billing
  • Namwali Serpell's On Morrison: the argument that Toni Morrison's formal genius has been buried under her own symbolic importance
  • 42 Jewish authors accuse the Jewish Book Council of institutional bias — including a Booker-shortlisted novelist among the signatories
  • Princeton ends its 133-year unsupervised exam honor code, and Carl Hendrick draws the obvious conclusion about what a degree now certifies
  • R.F. Kuang's forthcoming novel triggers preorder cancellations — over a character who appears on two pages and says nothing
  • A new paper in Theory and Society argues that ideological homogeneity in social science is not just a political problem but an epistemic one
  • Read on.

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    The Independent ScholarBy Julia Murphy