Books & the Arts

Sounds and Sweet Airs: Introducing Lyric Nation Sounds and Sweet Airs: Introducing Lyric Nation

A new audio dossier features poets who have been published in The Nation reading selections of their work.

Mar 28, 2011 / Books & the Arts / John Palattella

Three Poems by Nathaniel Mackey Three Poems by Nathaniel Mackey

"Parlay Cheval Ou," excerpt from "Lone Coast Anacrusis," "Song of the Andoumboulou: 77"

Mar 28, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Nathaniel Mackey

Three Poems by Jennifer Moxley Three Poems by Jennifer Moxley

"The Logic of Survival," "On the Face of It," "The Quest"

Mar 28, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Jennifer Moxley

Five Poems by Peter Gizzi Five Poems by Peter Gizzi

"On What Became of Mathew Brady's Battle Photographs," "Lullaby," "Eclogues," "True Discourse on Power," "Oversong"

Mar 28, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Peter Gizzi

Elizabeth Taylor, Al Jazeera and the Raid on Entebbe

Elizabeth Taylor, Al Jazeera and the Raid on Entebbe Elizabeth Taylor, Al Jazeera and the Raid on Entebbe

How a Hollywood star offered herself in a hostage trade.

Mar 25, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Jon Wiener

‘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

Possible Humans: On Juan José Saer

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 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

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