This Week in ‘Nation’ History: ‘Dr. Strangelove’ as ‘a Cold Blade of Scorn Against the Spectator’s Throat’ This Week in ‘Nation’ History: ‘Dr. Strangelove’ as ‘a Cold Blade of Scorn Against the Spectator’s Throat’
Robert Hatch’s conflicted review of Stanley Kubrick’s great satire, released fifty years ago this week.
Jan 25, 2014 / Blog / Katrina vanden Heuvel
Permission to Fail Permission to Fail
MFAs aren’t a problem: it’s artists being content with what they know.
Jan 22, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
Law of Life, and Light Law of Life, and Light
A new history of Chile is a wrestling match between fatalism and optimism.
Jan 22, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Lorna Scott Fox
‘Think of Me With Joy’ ‘Think of Me With Joy’
The worlds of Sholem Aleichem.
Jan 22, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Julia M. Klein
Notes for the Translation of an Ancient Fragment Notes for the Translation of an Ancient Fragment
[She?] pale curtain fire behind it scent of split rock [She] as wind slendered in grass [She] soft path down which [Unknown refrain] Roughened blue [of eyes, of waters?] Steel [of her voice, of weather?]… Apple [her skin? its white cliffs/sting?] the cricket [cricket] climbing All this! [O She!] [Unknown refrain] Sea so blue [a handful, blue] Those glass lips say I shouldn’t say this her blouse slips dawn [or down] Sound [verb] with wide-eyed hands [Unknown refrain] She throws [we throw?] live flowers on fire they [flowers or limbs?] blend smooth as flames Though high stars circling will [how long how long?] pick our bones clean [Unknown refrain]
Jan 21, 2014 / Books & the Arts / James Richardson
An Interview With David Broza An Interview With David Broza
The Israeli musician shares his thoughts on the American Jewish community and collaborating with Palestinian artists.
Jan 16, 2014 / Blog / Eric Alterman
Pictures Without an Exhibition Pictures Without an Exhibition
The Brooklyn Museum’s massive show of war photography is a wasted opportunity.
Jan 15, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Susie Linfield
Casual Opulence Casual Opulence
Denise Levertov’s Collected Poems.
Jan 15, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Adam Plunkett
Unreal Cities? Unreal Cities?
Do “smart” urban automation projects have more in common with Jane Jacobs or Le Corbusier?
Jan 15, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Catherine Tumber
Paris! Paris! Paris! Paris!
All reds come in the shape of lips. Even—s’il vous plaît—our shy little Mazovian cherries. So we shall write with a promiscuous tongue and instead of a period—make a lip print. At the railway station buffet in Radom we drink beer, and the world seen through a full mug is yellowed with the fright of Van Gogh, and a mug—mon Dieu!—also has no ear. Paris! Paris! Ai, dana, da dana! We climb atop our dresser stands and dream of the avant-garde’s New Trick: The Straight Line, which is a stem, and at its end hangs a lip-colored cherry. Oh, sweet drop of Marseillaise, little planet of our malignancy, flow down, drop into our thin borschts! We geometricians of form, puddle-jumpers into others’ imaginations, are waiting for you. And let the folk sing along: Paris! Paris! Ai dana, da dana! (translated from the Polish by Jennifer Grotz and Piotr Sommer)
Jan 14, 2014 / Books & the Arts / Jerzy Ficowski