Books & the Arts

Episode I–The Phantom Menace Episode I–The Phantom Menace

Not only now but every week, I am reminded at two-minute intervals of the influence of Star Wars.

May 20, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Nowhere Man, Please Listen Nowhere Man, Please Listen

On April Fool's Day 1989, Leonid Loktev changed without warning into another person.

May 13, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Borges in Another Métier Borges in Another Métier

With Pablo Neruda and Alejo Carpentier, Jorge Luis Borges set in motion the wave of astonishing writing that has given Latin American literature its high place in our time.

May 13, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Jay Parini

On the Virtual Picket Line On the Virtual Picket Line

The unfortunate flaw in From the Telegraph to the Internet is its title, which suggests a highly specialized account of an industry when in fact it is a deeply moving narrative ...

May 13, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Marcus G. Raskin

Labor’s Foundations Labor’s Foundations

Deep in the pages of the biweekly Chronicle of Philanthropy lies the "New Grants" section.

May 13, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Colman McCarthy

Memory Hotel (It’s Haunted) Memory Hotel (It’s Haunted)

Thanks to the genius of millions, who over the generations have created our language, we may speak of the most uncanny experience in terms that suit the most common.

May 6, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

Waits: Guthrie’s Heir? Waits: Guthrie’s Heir?

Tom Waits is an imaginary hobo. He cruises the oddball corners of American pop culture, collecting the deft and moving and loopy short takes he sees and imagines there.

May 6, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Gene Santoro

Lovestone’s Thin Red Line Lovestone’s Thin Red Line

Jay Lovestone is not only one of the oddest characters in the history of the American left but easily its most slippery.

May 6, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Paul Buhle

The Spies Who Loved Us? The Spies Who Loved Us?

I still kick myself for not having saved the short story I wrote for composition class in seventh grade in which I described how the Russians took over my small suburban communit...

May 6, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Ellen Schrecker

Global Indigestion Global Indigestion

I coined the term "global brunch" several years ago after seeing a film of the Stravinsky-Cocteau Oedipus Rex as staged by Julie Taymor.

Apr 29, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans

x