Trade Deficit Trade Deficit
Do you have any friends, the darkness asks, and for a moment you're surprised: you expected salt, maybe, or terror. China has some wisdom to offer on this point: Learn how to make a lot of things that are basically useless and also a few things that matter, then flood the markets. The trick is that once the markets are flooded, you must create new markets. Darkness does this all the time, knocking at your door: Do you have any mercy, it asks, any weapons, any sugar, any stone.
Sep 9, 2009 / Books & the Arts / G.C. Waldrep
The Female Gourmet The Female Gourmet
A movie about women's struggle to express their gifts through work? Delicious.
Sep 2, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Katha Pollitt
Cornucopia Blues Cornucopia Blues
How will the good-food revolution move beyond its evangelical phase?
Sep 2, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Brent Cunningham
Aracataca and Sucre Aracataca and Sucre
Will narrowed on a single object and fixed in the face of adversity--such is the recurring story of Gabriel García Márquez's work and life.
Sep 2, 2009 / Books & the Arts / William Deresiewicz
Auden’s Love Poem for Humanity Auden’s Love Poem for Humanity
The poet's "September 1, 1939" saw the start of World War II and declared: "We must love one another or die."
Sep 1, 2009 / Books & the Arts / John Nichols
To Sleep, Perchance to ‘Sleep and Think’ To Sleep, Perchance to ‘Sleep and Think’
Conlangs often succeed only in stripping language of its surprise.
Sep 1, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko
Pattern Recognition: The Writings of Hollis Frampton Pattern Recognition: The Writings of Hollis Frampton
A new volume of essays shows Hollis Frampton leaving behind photography for film.
Aug 26, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Akiva Gottlieb
Back Talk: Jarvis Cocker Back Talk: Jarvis Cocker
A conversation with the former frontman of Pulp about the sound of music in the digital era.
Aug 26, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Christine Smallwood
Beyond Exhaustion: Dan Graham’s Period Pieces Beyond Exhaustion: Dan Graham’s Period Pieces
Does the art of Dan Graham and his disciples promise deceptive simplicity or formulaic thinking?
Aug 26, 2009 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
A Music of Austerity: The Poetry of Wallace Stevens A Music of Austerity: The Poetry of Wallace Stevens
In his best poems, Wallace Stevens makes deprivation feel seductively like plenitude.
Aug 26, 2009 / Books & the Arts / James Longenbach