Sentimentality or Honesty? On Charles Taylor Sentimentality or Honesty? On Charles Taylor
Charles Taylor is a sadly endangered type: the philosopher-statesman.
Aug 10, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Mark Oppenheimer
Break That Wall Break That Wall
Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz’s The Interrupters; Raul Ruiz’s Mysteries of Lisbon; Jon Favreu’s Cowboys and Aliens; David Yates’s Harry Potter and the Deat...
Aug 10, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Top Ten Songs About Nuclear War Top Ten Songs About Nuclear War
Fear of nuclear apocalypse has provided serious creative juice for songwriters and musicians of all genres.
Aug 5, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Peter Rothberg
The Democratic Paintbrush of Lucian Freud The Democratic Paintbrush of Lucian Freud
Freud made the case through his art that no body type inherently possesses more capacity to compel than another.
Aug 1, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Margaret Spillane
Many Facets, No Overview: On the Venice Biennale Many Facets, No Overview: On the Venice Biennale
This year's edition of the Venice Biennale sinks under sprawl and overfamiliarity.
Jul 27, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
Hard Against Time: On Roy Fisher Hard Against Time: On Roy Fisher
The Midlands poet Roy Fisher has never aspired to a readership. All the more reason to welcome his Selected Poems.
Jul 27, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko
Let Us Dispute: On Isaac Casaubon Let Us Dispute: On Isaac Casaubon
Isaac Casaubon was a model citizen of the republic of letters—a community more durable than any church and broader than academia.
Jul 27, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Sam Stark
Yahoo! (A Lion, a Duke, the Tax-Rate Fungi) Yahoo! (A Lion, a Duke, the Tax-Rate Fungi)
If men read epic poetry in bed, And never change their Eeyore underwear, On bunny kidney they’ve unwisely fed: That’s whorehouse food, and most unwholesome fare. If lotus eaters kick spondaic asses, And love trochaic bunny ears the best, It starts a war between the lower classes And puts poetic hooey to the test. If op art poet laureates go bald, And end up haunting Fred on Scooby-Doo, It’s they who to a nunnery are hauled: They have some vinyl bunny ears for you. On Yahoo! you are only who you are, And no one there is anyone… so far.
Jul 27, 2011 / Books & the Arts / K. Silem Mohammad
Russian Hero Russian Hero
A bet on a horse in the 1949 Grand National resulted in the largest collective transfer of wealth ever to communism's stalwarts in Britain.
Jul 27, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Alexander Cockburn
Three Poems by Benjamin Friedlander Three Poems by Benjamin Friedlander
"Cats Can," "Anchor Baby," "Chick Flick"
Jul 25, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Benjamin Friedlander