Books & the Arts

Realism and Idealism in The Real World’s DC Realism and Idealism in The Real World’s DC

Washington more often suffocates than satisfies our dreams, and this may prove to be the twenty-third season's unwavering dramatic thread.

Jan 13, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Simon Maxwell Apter

You Can Cut the Pressure in ‘Game Change’ with a Butter Knife You Can Cut the Pressure in ‘Game Change’ with a Butter Knife

Since my poker buddy John Heilemann was good enough to drop off a copy of his embargoed book,  

Jan 12, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Eric Alterman

Imaginariums Imaginariums

James Cameron's Avatar, Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and more.

Jan 7, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

After Macondo: On Evelio Rosero After Macondo: On Evelio Rosero

In Evelio Rosero's The Armies, war is like the Law in Kafka: cruel, implacable and coldly divine.

Jan 7, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Ben Ehrenreich

History Unforeseen: On Sylvia Townsend Warner History Unforeseen: On Sylvia Townsend Warner

In the fiction of Sylvia Townsend Warner, historical change is accidental and almost imperceptible, but for all that no less decisive.

Jan 7, 2010 / Books & the Arts / David Carroll Simon

Nocturnal Crossing Nocturnal Crossing

Audacity it is you who will console us least right here the animal alloy of muscle and voice in the rainy detonation of the day  under the  plus sign overflown by a squadron of petrels Thanks to the farmers who regale me with hatred painted on their faces days perch solely on the shoulders of women more than asleep Storm or rain the beaks that put me back between the hands of the scream will guide them laudably Covered with fresh encephalon I rise already even faster     silence         like the bull under the maul         it is a kiss deriving lips         from our clogprints (Translated from the French by A. James Arnold and Clayton Eshleman)

Jan 6, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Aimé Césaire

How Soon Was Now? How Soon Was Now?

The death, and afterlife, of the Polaroid.

Dec 23, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky

End of the Century End of the Century

Can pop music survive without a mass market, mass acceptance or the drive for mass profits?

Dec 23, 2009 / Books & the Arts / J. Gabriel Boylan

Back Talk: Frederick Wiseman Back Talk: Frederick Wiseman

A conversation with the director of La Danse about the discipline of ballet--and documentary filmmaking.

Dec 23, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Christine Smallwood

Misterioso Misterioso

Thelonious Monk was a more nuanced figure than the flimsy characterization of a way-out jazz cat could ever convey.

Dec 23, 2009 / Books & the Arts / David Yaffe

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