Many Facets, No Overview: On the Venice Biennale Many Facets, No Overview: On the Venice Biennale
This year's edition of the Venice Biennale sinks under sprawl and overfamiliarity.
Jul 27, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
Hard Against Time: On Roy Fisher Hard Against Time: On Roy Fisher
The Midlands poet Roy Fisher has never aspired to a readership. All the more reason to welcome his Selected Poems.
Jul 27, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Ange Mlinko
Let Us Dispute: On Isaac Casaubon Let Us Dispute: On Isaac Casaubon
Isaac Casaubon was a model citizen of the republic of letters—a community more durable than any church and broader than academia.
Jul 27, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Sam Stark
Yahoo! (A Lion, a Duke, the Tax-Rate Fungi) Yahoo! (A Lion, a Duke, the Tax-Rate Fungi)
If men read epic poetry in bed, And never change their Eeyore underwear, On bunny kidney they’ve unwisely fed: That’s whorehouse food, and most unwholesome fare. If lotus eaters kick spondaic asses, And love trochaic bunny ears the best, It starts a war between the lower classes And puts poetic hooey to the test. If op art poet laureates go bald, And end up haunting Fred on Scooby-Doo, It’s they who to a nunnery are hauled: They have some vinyl bunny ears for you. On Yahoo! you are only who you are, And no one there is anyone… so far.
Jul 27, 2011 / Books & the Arts / K. Silem Mohammad
Michele: A Serenade by Iowa Social Conservatives* Michele: A Serenade by Iowa Social Conservatives*
(With apologies to the Beatles) Michele, our belle, Thinks that gays will all be sent to hell. That’s Michele. Michele, our belle, Thinks they’re sick but could be made all well. Yes, Michele. She just needs to turn them toward Jesus. They’re going through a phase That leads to filthy ways. But with her hubby’s help these guys could All be John Wayne. Michele, our belle, Views you have are suiting us just swell. Our Michele. * Yiddish version (sung with schutzpah) titled “We Kvell, Michele.”
Jul 27, 2011 / Column / Calvin Trillin
Russian Hero Russian Hero
A bet on a horse in the 1949 Grand National resulted in the largest collective transfer of wealth ever to communism's stalwarts in Britain.
Jul 27, 2011 / Beat the Devil / Alexander Cockburn
Three Poems by Benjamin Friedlander Three Poems by Benjamin Friedlander
"Cats Can," "Anchor Baby," "Chick Flick"
Jul 25, 2011 / Audio / Benjamin Friedlander
The Nation Readers’ Summer Books List: Edition Two The Nation Readers’ Summer Books List: Edition Two
Hunter S. Thompson, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Richard Heinberg and much more. Find out what books Nation readers are poring over this summer and let us know what's on your list.
Jul 22, 2011 / The Nation
Special Schadenfreude Edition… Special Schadenfreude Edition…
Eric reviews Paul McCartney, Raul Malo and Elvis Costello, and Reed sees the ghost of the Republican party's past.
Jul 21, 2011 / Blog / Eric Alterman
Gary Shteyngart Interview—The Future, With Fox Prime Ultra and the Bipartisan Party: A Super Sad True Love Story Gary Shteyngart Interview—The Future, With Fox Prime Ultra and the Bipartisan Party: A Super Sad True Love Story
A novelist imagines politics in “the near future.”
Jul 18, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Jon Wiener