Books and Ideas

Duncan’s Divagations: On Robert Duncan and H.D.

Duncan’s Divagations: On Robert Duncan and H.D. Duncan’s Divagations: On Robert Duncan and H.D.

Robert Duncan saw in H.D.'s poetry “The story of survival, the evolution of forms in which live survives.”

Feb 3, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko

Dan Bell, RIP Dan Bell, RIP

On the late Daniel Bell, the very archetype of a committed liberal intellectual, and The New Republic's Marty Peretz, plus reader mail.

Jan 27, 2011 / Blog / Eric Alterman

Berlusconi Scandals Berlusconi Scandals

Old satyrs revere Berlusconi. When finding himself home alone, he Just pays a good wage For girls underage, And gets them, though he’s old and bony.

Jan 27, 2011 / Column / Calvin Trillin

The Return of the Culture Wars

The Return of the Culture Wars The Return of the Culture Wars

As before, hypocrites are lining their coffers by pandering to ignorance and xenophobia.

Jan 27, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Doug Harvey

The Weasel’s Tooth: On W.B. Yeats

The Weasel’s Tooth: On W.B. Yeats The Weasel’s Tooth: On W.B. Yeats

W.B. Yeats’s poems on Ireland contemplate failures: not of poetry but of public life in all its forms.

Jan 27, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Stephen Burt

Shelf Life Shelf Life

Merrill Gilfillan’s The Bark of the Dog and The Warbler Road; Tony Judt’s The Memory Chalet.

Jan 27, 2011 / Books & the Arts / John Palattella

The Ballad of John and J.D.: On John Lennon and J.D. Salinger The Ballad of John and J.D.: On John Lennon and J.D. Salinger

Mark David Chapman was carrying a copy of The Catcher in the Rye when he shot John Lennon. The murder was a collision of cultures.

Jan 27, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Charles Taylor

Obama: Triangulation 2.0?

Obama: Triangulation 2.0? Obama: Triangulation 2.0?

In year three, will Obama heed the lessons of Clinton or Reagan?

Jan 20, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Ari Berman

A Short Analysis of Sarah Palin’s Video Speech on the Tucson Shootings A Short Analysis of Sarah Palin’s Video Speech on the Tucson Shootings

What's uppermost on her mind.

Jan 20, 2011 / Column / Calvin Trillin

Library Man: On Claude Lévi-Strauss

Library Man: On Claude Lévi-Strauss Library Man: On Claude Lévi-Strauss

With a sharp eye for cultural patterns and a keen feel for the shape of a story, Claude Lévi-Strauss was a poet in the laboratory of anthropology.

Jan 19, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Thomas Meaney

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