Books & the Arts

An Ambiguous Medium: On Lee Ufan

An Ambiguous Medium: On Lee Ufan An Ambiguous Medium: On Lee Ufan

The aesthetic illusions of a Korean artist.

Sep 21, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky

The World House: On Malcolm X The World House: On Malcolm X

A biographer's flawed attempt to rediscover the politics in the decidedly political life of Malcolm X.

Sep 21, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Aziz Rana

Tulum Tulum

in ceasing to exist gods create in air an emptiness where the light comes to settle all their monuments gather around the edge the earth underneath congeals its ancient waves see the god descending from a pediment he was supposed to induce the rain’s downfall it’s the sky today that drops into the rock to very gingerly liberate our heart and elongate the view toward the end of time same at its core to the Caribbean Sea its green water took the divine in its folds all then ends up in rumbling and murmuring all began in an identical manner   (translated from the French by Eléna Rivera)

Sep 21, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Bernard Nöel

Gratitude and Forbearance: On Christopher Lasch

Gratitude and Forbearance: On Christopher Lasch Gratitude and Forbearance: On Christopher Lasch

Christopher Lasch and his quest for the moral resources of the next New Deal.  

Sep 14, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Norman Birnbaum

Soft Sells: On Liberal Internationalism Soft Sells: On Liberal Internationalism

Why does John Ikenberry think the sorrows of liberal internationalism are temporary?

Sep 14, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Samuel Moyn

Treatment Treatment

The relationship between a handsome young broker and a lovely young curator is in trouble. Before they can marry, he must come to tolerate, then feel guarded affection for a good natured buffoon who populates dioramas with stuffed mouse couples in period dress, then for an assortment of others, some less likeable, who also take passionate interest in an activity that generates no profit

Sep 14, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Rae Armantrout

Agents of Destruction

Agents of Destruction Agents of Destruction

Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion, Göran Hugo Olsson’s Black Power Mixtape 1967–1975, Tate Taylor’s The Help

Sep 14, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Visions and Revisions: On T.S. Eliot

Visions and Revisions: On T.S. Eliot Visions and Revisions: On T.S. Eliot

Two volumes of T.S. Eliot's letters elucidate how the momentous achievements of his art were determined by moments of awful daring.

Sep 6, 2011 / Books & the Arts / James Longenbach

Uncertainty and Anxiety: On Khrushchev’s Thaw

Uncertainty and Anxiety: On Khrushchev’s Thaw Uncertainty and Anxiety: On Khrushchev’s Thaw

Why did different segments of the Soviet population experience Khrushchev’s reforms in radically different ways?  

Sep 6, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Benjamin Nathans

Shelf Life: On Socrates Shelf Life: On Socrates

Bettany Hughes's biography of Socrates is a book that Socrates himself, on a mean day, would have torn to shreds.

Sep 6, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Emily Wilson

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