Books & the Arts

The Sanitorium Vincent in France, one of several institutions where Max Blecher convalesced.

Romancing the Remains Romancing the Remains

A tubercular Surrealist describes his convalescence. What could go right?

Sep 24, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Ricky D’Ambrose

Sculpture/fountain by Naum Gabo at Guy's and St Thomas's Hospital, London, UK

The Politics of Bad Art The Politics of Bad Art

In whose service does a painter paint, or a critic criticize?

Sep 24, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky

Naples, Italy.

Conditions of Emergence: On Elena Ferrante Conditions of Emergence: On Elena Ferrante

In the pseudonymous author’s Neapolitan Novels, the price of leaving Naples is that you can never be at home again.

Sep 24, 2015 / Books & the Arts / William Deresiewicz

Rafia Zakaria (credit: Jeremy Hogan)

Divided Affections Divided Affections

One writer’s fight against traditions that stifle women in Pakistan.

Sep 10, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Muhammad Idrees Ahmad

Billie Holiday and Mister, circa 1946. (Credit: William P. Gottlieb / LOC)

Who Loves You? Who Loves You?

America’s ongoing fascination with Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra.

Sep 10, 2015 / Books & the Arts / David Hajdu

Diagnosis Inc.

Diagnosis Inc. Diagnosis Inc.

You are two oranges shy of sangria You chumpchange in a clackdish You the flensed soldier, egg-runny on the inside You frogging deadline after deadline You caught in a Swiss chokeh…

Sep 10, 2015 / Books & the Arts / James Byrne

Miriam Toews (credit: Carol Loewen)

The Unfathomable Sadness The Unfathomable Sadness

Miriam Toews writes about death and mental illness without sentimentality or sweeping platitudes.

Sep 10, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Lauren Oyler

Saul Bellow (middle) after acknowledging his receipt of the Nobel Prize in Literature, October 22, 1976. (Credit: Charles Knoblock / AP)

The Flow of Life The Flow of Life

Is Saul Bellow the central American novelist since Willa Cather and William Faulkner?

Sep 10, 2015 / Books & the Arts / David Mikics

Top Ten Back-to-School Songs

Top Ten Back-to-School Songs Top Ten Back-to-School Songs

An incomplete list of some of the best songs ever written about school.

Sep 8, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Peter Rothberg

Yoss

Welcome to Earth: Cuba’s ‘Special Period’ Gets the Sci-Fi Treatment Welcome to Earth: Cuba’s ‘Special Period’ Gets the Sci-Fi Treatment

The funny, scathing, and heart-wrenching universe of A Planet for Rent.

Aug 27, 2015 / Books & the Arts / André Naffis-Sahely

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