Forget Where I Heard It Forget Where I Heard It
With pigeon force the air men come clattering. It would be sad if it wasn’t so funny, one swore. Stay out of the nettles. Do not live above the shop. His men may find you there. Otherwise, as coma says, my beans, my peas, my coma get read into the riot act. That comes later. After three decades of futility, you have to ask: Who was this composer? Was he known for anything else? Is the mere survival of the notes justified, or do we all survive this way, more or less?
Feb 11, 2015 / Books & the Arts / John Ashbery
Snow Snow
How did we come to this cold place? It is not listed on the maps. The cold has disarranged your face. These memories are not ours, perhaps. But still we must pretend to know the reason for things as they are. We do not recognize the snow. Perhaps that makes us what we are.
Feb 11, 2015 / Books & the Arts / William Logan
Feral Gardens Feral Gardens
Danny Cooke’s Postcards from Pripyat, Chernobyl summons a lost history of familiar and alien dreams.
Feb 11, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Joshua Clover
How Rory Kennedy’s ‘Last Days in Vietnam’ Distorts History How Rory Kennedy’s ‘Last Days in Vietnam’ Distorts History
This Oscar-nominated doc is all about well-meaning Americans—with nothing about the indiscriminate US firepower that destroyed much of the country.
Feb 4, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Nick Turse
Camus Redux Camus Redux
Today, Albert Camus is still alive but changed, thanks to the art of David Oelhoffen and Kamel Daoud.
Feb 4, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Alice Kaplan
To Be (Charlie) or Not to Be (Charlie)? To Be (Charlie) or Not to Be (Charlie)?
Killing is not creating, and drawing is not killing. Charlie has the right to draw.
Feb 4, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Kamel Daoud
Evangelical Boilerplate Evangelical Boilerplate
Billy Graham’s innocuous blend of showmanship and salvation.
Feb 4, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Molly Worthen
Fortune’s Son Fortune’s Son
Why the line from Barry Goldwater to Ted Cruz runs over Nelson Rockefeller.
Feb 4, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Michael O’Donnell
Some Enchanted Standards Some Enchanted Standards
Singing the standards on Shadows in the Night, Bob Dylan employs his own flaws to beautiful effect.
Feb 2, 2015 / Books & the Arts / David Hajdu
Sullivan Versus Sullivan Sullivan Versus Sullivan
From Andrew Sullivan's departure from the blogosphere to Birdman's inevitable wins at the Oscars: it's all inside today's Altercation.
Feb 2, 2015 / Blog / Eric Alterman