The First Great Novel About Virtual Reality? The First Great Novel About Virtual Reality?
Colin Winnette’s disorienting Users examines the limits of morality and imagination as they exist online and in video games.
Aug 16, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Lily Meyer
What It Takes to Be a Public Intellectual What It Takes to Be a Public Intellectual
In 2014, Adam Shatz’s “Writers or Missionaries” appeared in The Nation, a piece about his relationship, as a Jewish American journalist, to the political conflicts in the Arab-spea…
Aug 15, 2023 / Books & the Arts / J. Howard Rosier
Ágota Kristóf and the Agony of the “Enemy” Language Ágota Kristóf and the Agony of the “Enemy” Language
In her memoir, The Illiterate, the formidable Hungarian writer details her lifelong battle with language as a tool of misunderstanding.
Aug 14, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Missouri Williams
Why Did Tom Hanks Write a Novel? Why Did Tom Hanks Write a Novel?
And can we understand his vision of Hollywood from this strange artifact?
Aug 10, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Adam Nayman
Walter Benjamin’s Radio Years Walter Benjamin’s Radio Years
After the faculty of philosophy in Frankfurt rejected his dissertation and dashed his hopes for an academic career, the Marxist critic found work as a radio broadcaster.
Aug 8, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Peter E. Gordon
Brandon Taylor’s Sweeping Novel of Class and Campuses Brandon Taylor’s Sweeping Novel of Class and Campuses
The Late Americans works the way that university towns do. People move in, move out, move on—not everyone gets to meet, but everyone temporarily occupies the same spaces.
Aug 7, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Sarah Chihaya
Black Refuge and the Novel of Ideas: A Conversation With Maya Binyam Black Refuge and the Novel of Ideas: A Conversation With Maya Binyam
“Fiction is so incredibly rife with ethical questions.”
Aug 3, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Rosemarie Ho
Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Eye Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Eye
For the Italian filmmaker, the act of seeing was its own kind of art.
Aug 2, 2023 / Books & the Arts / T.J. Clark
Manuela Martelli’s Tense Political Thriller “Chile ’76” Manuela Martelli’s Tense Political Thriller “Chile ’76”
In her new film, the actor turned director examines the brutality of the Pinochet regime and the oppressive gender politics of the society he ruled.
Aug 1, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Jacob Sugarman
Is the History of American Art a History of Failure? Is the History of American Art a History of Failure?
Sara Marcus’s recent book argues that from the Reconstruction to the AIDS era, a distinct aesthetic formed around defeat in the realm of politics.
Jul 31, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Lynne Feeley