Books & the Arts

To Curse and Fume To Curse and Fume

As our own yellow press goes from strength to strength, what can the history of slander and libel teach us?

Apr 16, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Ruth Scurr

Shelf Life Shelf Life

Gary Wills's Bomb Power: The Modern Presidency and the National Security State; Elizabeth Arnold's Effacement.

Apr 16, 2010 / Books & the Arts / John Palattella

Gramaphoons Gramaphoons

A rock bottom, a bottom line, a body in extremis all make the poems of Graham Foust quaver and reel.

Apr 16, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko

The Crack-Up The Crack-Up

The Latin American utopia has disappeared, says novelist and crackero Jorge Volpi, and he displays little nostalgia for it.

Apr 16, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Ben Ehrenreich

Extravagant Disorder Extravagant Disorder

Miroslav Tichy's haphazard, eccentric photographs are disciplined, even rigorous--and indifferent to the claims of their female subjects.

Apr 14, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Jana Prikryl

Get Out Get Out

Can you feel your confidence match the billowing crowd? You even feel cocky, believing you've earned the admiration of a few. It is, in fact, what it appears to be: a voice fastened to paper very carefully, a cry cut from its mouth. But then, you think, who is that you're talking to? There's no one here, just paper and ink and you. What is this pathetic game? Get out. Go find a friend.

Apr 14, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Craig Morgan Teicher

A Reign Not of This World A Reign Not of This World

Juan Carlos Onetti immerses himself in reality just long enough to fashion an escape. This is his peculiar gift.

Apr 14, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Jonathan Blitzer

Scattered Threads

Scattered Threads Scattered Threads

This year's Whitney Biennial fails to address the question of which art pertains to our time rather than any other.

Apr 8, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky

Anderson’s Amphibologies: On Perry Anderson

Anderson’s Amphibologies: On Perry Anderson Anderson’s Amphibologies: On Perry Anderson

Perry Anderson deftly punctures the EU's self-serving myths, but his own pieties make him a better prosecutor than judge.

Apr 8, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Mark Mazower

A Caller of the Dove A Caller of the Dove

In his poems, Mahmoud Darwish greeted even his own name warily, knowing it was something else he'd be forced to leave behind.

Apr 8, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Jordan Davis

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