Books & the Arts

How to Succeed on Broadway!

How to Succeed on Broadway! How to Succeed on Broadway!

Why is Arthur Miller one of the most lauded American playwrights—and one of the most vilified?

Apr 20, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Alisa Solomon

Hume’s Call to Action

Hume’s Call to Action Hume’s Call to Action

For philosophy to be effective, it has to understand the world in which it operates. David Hume brought history and politics to the realm of ideas.

Apr 20, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Richard Bourke

Can an Unfinished Piece of Art Also Be Complete?

Can an Unfinished Piece of Art Also Be Complete? Can an Unfinished Piece of Art Also Be Complete?

An exhibit at the Met Breuer explores the differences between completing and finishing an artwork.

Apr 14, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky

Carmen Boullosa

The Need of the Forgotten The Need of the Forgotten

The novelist and poet Carmen Boullosa talks about her obsession with lost stories and found textual objects, and how rereading gives books new faces.

Apr 8, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Aaron Bady

Hopes of Coexistence in Syria

Hopes of Coexistence in Syria Hopes of Coexistence in Syria

Does Samar Yazbek’s diary of the Syrian civil war merely represent the dreams of an exile?

Apr 7, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Frederick Deknatel

My Erasures

My Erasures My Erasures

My erasures were featured. * I collected debris to sell as crash art, crush porn. * “Say goodbye to Lonesome George,” the last Galapagos tortoise. * I was a pushover for the laws o…

Apr 7, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Rae Armantrout

Reconstruction

Reconstruction Reconstruction

We don’t know which came first, the chicken— naturally unsalted (enough to make a grown man cry, remembering sweet nothings) — or the hapless egg, who sat on a wall that may or may…

Apr 7, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Amanda Jernigan

The Cathedral at Ground Zero

The Cathedral at Ground Zero The Cathedral at Ground Zero

Understanding the prosody of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub’s construction also requires an accounting of its extravagance.

Apr 6, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Michael Sorkin

‘Everybody Wants Some!!’ Has Just Enough Gravity

‘Everybody Wants Some!!’ Has Just Enough Gravity ‘Everybody Wants Some!!’ Has Just Enough Gravity

If you’re determined to do it, you can wring a story, some themes, and even a moral out of Richard Linklater’s new movie.

Apr 6, 2016 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Less Is Moore

Less Is Moore Less Is Moore

Observations is one of the great verbal works of art of the 20th century, in part because of Marianne Moore’s infectious devotion to everything small.

Mar 31, 2016 / Books & the Arts / James Longenbach

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