Books & the Arts

The Oldest Romantic The Oldest Romantic

Why didn’t you warn me of the arm’s smoothness in its dormitory, where it enters the roundness of the shoulder, my eyes locked open. What made you think I’d forget the lure of the long gaze when you look back at me with that shadow under your arm when the sun is low… Why didn’t you believe it exists, the breathing in the lung under the arm, you alone with the vacant pain in one eye, the triangle of dark under you?

Nov 10, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Elisa Sampedrín

The Wild Desire to Leave: On Soviet Jewry The Wild Desire to Leave: On Soviet Jewry

Gal Beckerman's When They Come for Us We'll Be Gone is an engaging account of the exodus of Jews from the Soviet Union.

Nov 10, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Benjamin Nathans

Once Every Thousand Years… Once Every Thousand Years…

The Larry Sanders Show and the compromised administration of Obama.

Nov 4, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Eric Alterman

Texts for Nothing? On Tom McCarthy Texts for Nothing? On Tom McCarthy

With C, Tom McCarthy asks us to see fiction as a crafty and adventurous playmate unafraid of its mortality.

Nov 4, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Ben Ehrenreich

Fame is a Bee: On Dick Cavett

Fame is a Bee: On Dick Cavett Fame is a Bee: On Dick Cavett

A talk-show like Dick Cavett's, intelligent but not intellectual, offered television a new twist.

Nov 4, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Heather Hendershot

Voids and Jackasses Voids and Jackasses

127 Hours; Jackass 3D; Hereafter; Made in Dagenham; Middletown

Nov 3, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Emily Dickinson Came to Earth and Then She Left Emily Dickinson Came to Earth and Then She Left

Nov 3, 2010 / Books & the Arts / C.A. Conrad

The Rosenberg Variations

The Rosenberg Variations The Rosenberg Variations

A new book concludes that it was really Ethel and Julius Rosenberg's in-laws who illegally passed classified information on the atomic bomb to the Russians. Does the news still mat...

Oct 27, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Victor Navasky

The Pirate’s Prophet: On Lewis Hyde

The Pirate’s Prophet: On Lewis Hyde The Pirate’s Prophet: On Lewis Hyde

Is the cultural commons a viable alternative to the copyright regime, or does it risk turning culture into a consumerist slum?

Oct 27, 2010 / Books & the Arts / David Wallace-Wells

Ibex Have Evolved for Life at the Top Ibex Have Evolved for Life at the Top

When we say specimen we mean you. By you we mean whatever collection of night sweats and shopping lists accumulates in the bed by dawn. When we say dark we mean pitch, moonless, starless, don't even open your eyes. When we say he has your eyes we mean we see nothing of you there. If you want someone to come for you, you'll have to cry harder than that. If you want to be prepared, practice: blizzard, fire, famine. Your shoes or your coat? Your cat or your dog? Sister, daughter, mother, wife?

Oct 27, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Lisa Olstein

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