How Imaginary Is ‘Calvin and Hobbes’?

Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. You’re reading Dispatch Culture, our weekly newsletter exploring the world beyond politics. To unlock all of our stories, podcasts, community benefits, and our newest feature, Dispatch Voiced, which allows you to listen to our written stories in your own podcast feed, join The Dispatch as a paying member. Valerie is Ideas Editor at The Dispatch, based in New York City. Prior to joining the company in 2025, she worked at The New York Times and NewsGuard Technologies, and she is currently a Novak Fellow through The Fund for American Studies. When Valerie isn’t commissioning and editing the next big essay for The Dispatch, she is probably people-watching in a funky cafe or scheming up her next oddly-themed party. Daniel Sipes is a Dispatch intern from Washington, D.C. He graduated in 2026 from the University of Chicago with degrees in economics and public policy and a minor in English and creative writing. His hobbies include weightlifting, reading, and continually writing and then throwing away the first 10 pages of the Great American Novel. Elizabeth Grace Matthew writes about books, education, and culture, including on Substack. Eli Kronenberg is a Dispatch intern and a rising senior at Northwestern University. When he’s not reporting, he is usually taking long walks, listening to an array of podcasts, or riding the emotional rollercoaster of supporting Tottenham Hotspur. Newsletter selected Click sign up to start receiving your newsletters. More Dispatch Culture Newsletter selected Click sign up to start receiving your newsletters.