Books and Ideas

Óscar Castro Ramírez

How Theater Can Help Us Survive How Theater Can Help Us Survive

The saga of Chilean director and playwright Oscar Castro is a vivid example of how art can help us endure—and thrive.

May 6, 2021 / Ariel Dorfman

Virgina Woolf

Helpful Men: Defending Philip Roth, Dismissing Virginia Woolf Helpful Men: Defending Philip Roth, Dismissing Virginia Woolf

Like most women who write, I live my life according to the firmly stated judgments of literary men.

May 6, 2021 / Alyssa Harad

Tove Ditlevsen

The Brutal Transcendence of Tove Ditlevsen The Brutal Transcendence of Tove Ditlevsen

By resisting all of memoir’s conventions, the Danish writer tells the story of her life more painfully and beautifully.

May 6, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Marie Solis

Hello, Poetry, You ‘Lamenting Pleasure’

Hello, Poetry, You ‘Lamenting Pleasure’ Hello, Poetry, You ‘Lamenting Pleasure’

Reading poetry over the phone, David Ferry and loved ones find an antidote to loneliness.

May 5, 2021 / Elizabeth Emma Ferry and Stephen Ferry

'The Romans of the Decadence', 1847. Artist: Thomas Couture

The Hedonist Bard of the Midlife Crisis The Hedonist Bard of the Midlife Crisis

Why you should and shouldn’t read the provocative poems of Frederick Seidel.

May 5, 2021 / Books & the Arts / David Schurman Wallace

Tom Tomorrow cartoon

The Right-Wing Outrage Cycle The Right-Wing Outrage Cycle

By the time the lie has been debunked, it’s too late.

May 4, 2021 / Tom Tomorrow

Jhumpa Lahiri’s Quietly Bracing New Novel

Jhumpa Lahiri’s Quietly Bracing New Novel Jhumpa Lahiri’s Quietly Bracing New Novel

How writing in Italian gave Lahiri a new sense of creative freedom.

May 4, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Jennifer Wilson

Can Capitalism Be Fixed?

Can Capitalism Be Fixed? Can Capitalism Be Fixed?

In his new book, Branko Milanovic charts what has gone wrong with contemporary capitalism while also insisting we must reconcile ourselves to its contradictions.

May 4, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Alyssa Battistoni

Graham Greene’s God

Graham Greene’s God Graham Greene’s God

As a new biography shows, the British novelist was always haunted by, and uncertain about, his own faith.

May 4, 2021 / Books & the Arts / John Banville

The Entwined History of Freedom and Racism

The Entwined History of Freedom and Racism The Entwined History of Freedom and Racism

In White Freedom, historian Tyler Stovall examines how liberty for some has always entailed a lack of liberty for many others.  

May 3, 2021 / Books & the Arts / Olúfémi O. Táíwò

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