The Curious Case of the Transcendental Painting Group The Curious Case of the Transcendental Painting Group
A touring exhibition of 20th-century painting from the American Southwest is poised to be the next big art world hit. Yet the show forces us to ask: What is fueling the revival?
May 22, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Max Pearl
The Indulgences of Rainer Werner Fassbinder The Indulgences of Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Ian Penman’s study of the German filmmaker’s work elucidates his “cocaine communism”—an aesthetics and politics of revolution and pleasure.
May 18, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Andrew Marzoni
Who Was Lydia Maria Child? Who Was Lydia Maria Child?
A new biography examines the life and times of the pioneering activist, abolitionist, and writer.
May 17, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Susan Cheever
Is There Anything Below the Surface in “Beau Is Afraid”? Is There Anything Below the Surface in “Beau Is Afraid”?
When mothers and dreams are involved, it is hard not to think of Freud. But in Ari Aster’s latest, very little is left to the imagination.
May 16, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Jorge Cotte
Elias Canetti: The Last Cosmopolitan Elias Canetti: The Last Cosmopolitan
Throughout his life, Canetti maintained his commitment to a humanity undivided by the artificial lines of a nation or state and standing as one collective whole.
May 16, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Farah Abdessamad
Proper Fat Proper Fat
Thin with disgust Fat with wordless joy And patience Thin like the opening of the gate You pray you’ll make it through Fat like the other side Fat with pubescence With moonstone or…
May 16, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Omotara James
The Wobblies and the Dream of One Big Union The Wobblies and the Dream of One Big Union
A new history examines the lost promise and fierce persecution of the IWW.
May 15, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Michael Kazin
Another Side of W.E.B. Du Bois Another Side of W.E.B. Du Bois
A conversation with Adom Getachew and Jennifer Pitts about Du Bois's thinking on imperialism, transnational solidarity, and their recent collection, W.E.B. Du Bois: International T...
May 10, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins
Chuck Klosterman’s Decade of Ambivalence Chuck Klosterman’s Decade of Ambivalence
In The Nineties, he confronts an era that defined his career as a critic and waxes nostalgic for a mythic, pre-polarization America.
May 9, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Jeremy Gordon
Santiago Amigorena’s Novel of the Shoah and Latin America Santiago Amigorena’s Novel of the Shoah and Latin America
In The Ghetto Within, the Argentine novelist considers the dark shadow that the Holocaust has cast not only on Europe but also on Latin America.
May 8, 2023 / Books & the Arts / Ilan Stavans