‘If I Turn Traitor…’ ‘If I Turn Traitor…’
Eric Alterman reviews music and Reed Richardson parses the ethics of sports journalism.
Mar 25, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Eric Alterman
A Brief Summary of Military Intervention in Libya A Brief Summary of Military Intervention in Libya
We’re in. And now we mean to pulverize that lout. And meanwhile try to think of some way to get out.
Mar 24, 2011 / Column / Calvin Trillin
Possible Humans: On Juan José Saer Possible Humans: On Juan José Saer
The achievement of Juan José Saer’s fiction, next to its sensuousness, is its creation of an all-engulfing present.
Mar 23, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Lorna Scott Fox
Cats Can Cats Can
You’re feeling silly, but someone said that cats can see ghosts. So you go to the door with a saucer of milk, and just then the ghost wakes up from a deep sleep and bleeds a little into the sink. Or not the sink, but a bed, or rather a head now held up by a bed. Or whatever. It doesn’t matter. Choosing your words carefully makes no difference to a cat or a ghost. Look at your backyard. Does the grass care what the frost heave thinks? Contour is all, even when hidden. The loose overburden covering a buried cavity is delicately balanced. When runoff- storage ponds seep into the folds of the brain, the additional weight can trigger a collapse called a sinkhole, where ghosts bleed into the cracks. Cats can see it.
Mar 23, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Benjamin Friedlander
Shelf Life: On Poets and Painters Shelf Life: On Poets and Painters
Tibor de Nagy’s Painters & Poets; Bill Berkson’s For the Ordinary Artist; William Corbett’s Albert York.
Mar 23, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
The Three Faces of Steve: On Stephen Sondheim The Three Faces of Steve: On Stephen Sondheim
Finishing the Hat makes clear Stephen Sondheim’s belief that being an artist requires intellectual vigilance.
Mar 23, 2011 / Books & the Arts / David Schiff
A Parade of Arrogance: On John Dower A Parade of Arrogance: On John Dower
During war, John Dower explains, “the system filters out the thoughtful and replaces them with the faithful.”
Mar 23, 2011 / Books & the Arts / George Scialabba
Out of the Mouths of Birds Out of the Mouths of Birds
Is there a human language without birdsong in it?
Mar 22, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko
Hiroshima to Fukushima Hiroshima to Fukushima
The problem with mankind wielding nuclear power isn’t about backup generators or safety rules—it’s our essential human fallibility.
Mar 17, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Jonathan Schell
Brackets, Brackets, Everywhere Brackets, Brackets, Everywhere
Alter-reviews of Stoppard and music old and new, Reed on the Washington Post's decision to bracket their writers into right-leaning and left-leaning and reader mail.
Mar 17, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Eric Alterman