Cultural Criticism and Analysis

Lauren Oyler and the Critic in the Internet Age

Lauren Oyler and the Critic in the Internet Age Lauren Oyler and the Critic in the Internet Age

In No Judgment, the novelist and critic explores the perilous activity of literary criticism in the era of social media.

Apr 10, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Alana Pockros

The End of  “Curb Your Enthusiasm” Marks the End of an Era

The End of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” Marks the End of an Era The End of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” Marks the End of an Era

Larry David is the last of his kind—and in several ways.

Apr 8, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Daniel Bessner

The TikTok social media platform's logo is reflected in the eye of a 13-year-old boy as he looks at a computer screen in Bath, England.

“In Techno Parentis”: Who Should Regulate the Online Lives of Teenagers? “In Techno Parentis”: Who Should Regulate the Online Lives of Teenagers?

With TikTok, Instagram, and other platforms using algorithms to send teen viewers addictive, dangerous content—and reaping immense profits—self-regulation has clearly failed.

Apr 2, 2024 / Zephyr Teachout

Olga Ravn’s Novel of Parenting and Its Discontents

Olga Ravn’s Novel of Parenting and Its Discontents Olga Ravn’s Novel of Parenting and Its Discontents

In My Work, the novelist examines the trials and tribulations of being a mother.

Apr 2, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Jess Cotton

The Many Faces of Viet Thanh Nguyen

The Many Faces of Viet Thanh Nguyen The Many Faces of Viet Thanh Nguyen

The Vietnamese American writer’s leap to the mainstream comes at a moment that demands his anti-colonialist perspective.

Mar 25, 2024 / Feature / Mari Uyehara

President Trump Hosts Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban At The White House

Far From a Kink, Donald Trump’s Dictator Fetish Puts Him Squarely in the Mainstream Far From a Kink, Donald Trump’s Dictator Fetish Puts Him Squarely in the Mainstream

The American elite has long had a soft spot for “our sons of bitches” like those Trump now befriends.

Mar 22, 2024 / Jeet Heer

A person views Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica” at the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid on April 3, 2017.

Art During Wartime Art During Wartime

Can it really be that to call for sympathy with victims of murder and kidnapping is necessarily to demand violence in return?

Mar 14, 2024 / Barry Schwabsky

What Happened to the 21st-Century City?

What Happened to the 21st-Century City? What Happened to the 21st-Century City?

And how we can save it.

Mar 12, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Kate Wagner

The Enchanted Worlds of Marshall Sahlins

The Enchanted Worlds of Marshall Sahlins The Enchanted Worlds of Marshall Sahlins

What if we saw the study of ghosts, gods, and other metapersons as worthy of a science of its own?

Mar 6, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Anna Della Subin

Lisa Vanderpump and Tom Sandoval, of “Vanderpump Rules,” at Bravocon in Las Vegas, Nev., 2023.

Are Autofiction and Reality TV the Same? Are Autofiction and Reality TV the Same?

A conversation with the literary critic Anna Kornbluh on her new book Immediacy, a searing indictment of a newly prevalent aesthetic of verisimilitude and the first person.

Mar 4, 2024 / Books & the Arts / Lily Meyer

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