Teju Cole’s Elegiac Criticism Teju Cole’s Elegiac Criticism
For the novelist and photographer, to see—and to write about what one sees—is a way to confront the hard facts of the world.
Nov 9, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Walton Muyumba
The Outer Limits of Painting The Outer Limits of Painting
Recent shows from Rick Lowe and Mary Heilmann subvert expectations of the medium, their work exploring social life and its imperfections past the confines of the canvas.
Nov 8, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
Martine Syms’s Portrait of Art School Alienation Martine Syms’s Portrait of Art School Alienation
With her feature film The African Desperate, the visual artist delves into the social and intellectual pitfalls of the MFA experience.
Nov 7, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Jordan Coley
Mike Leigh’s High Hopes Mike Leigh’s High Hopes
From Meantime to Another Year, the British director is often concerned with the aftermath of crushed ideals. Yet his films also reveal an underlying and stubborn faith that change ...
Nov 3, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Ela Bittencourt
How Saidiya Hartman Changed the Study of Black Life How Saidiya Hartman Changed the Study of Black Life
A conversation with writer about her pathbreaking book Scenes of Subjection and how our understanding of race has changed in the last two decades.
Nov 3, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Elias Rodriques
The Civil War’s Economic Shadow The Civil War’s Economic Shadow
To finance the war, the Union had to turn to the banks, and with lasting consequences.
Nov 2, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Stephanie McCurry
Mama I Am Sorry Mama I Am Sorry
For the stillbirth and the live ones. For my books, degrees, and all the other1 ways I have betrayed you. For unlinking our arms a dozen times the year before2 your surgery, unconv…
Nov 1, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Cindy Juyoung Ok
First Foray Into Apophatic Theology First Foray Into Apophatic Theology
and then God is not like the sound the kindling makes as it meets the matchhead, not like the buoy in the bay invisible at night, not like the gravity calling to the pear on the bo…
Nov 1, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Matthew Olzammn
How the Courts Stack the Odds Against the Innocent How the Courts Stack the Odds Against the Innocent
A new book by Daniel Medwed examines the reasons the wrongfully convicted find it so hard to prove their innocence.
Nov 1, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Jed S. Rakoff
Javier Zamora and the Canon of Undocumented Literature Javier Zamora and the Canon of Undocumented Literature
The poet’s memoir joins a growing body of work chronicling the personal and political odysseys undocumented Americans face.
Oct 31, 2022 / Books & the Arts / Jesús A. Rodríguez