The Perils of the Front-Runner in a Horse Race The Perils of the Front-Runner in a Horse Race
Though Romney was leading right out of the gate, He’s also a guy some conservatives hate. But all other entries they managed to find Were scratched from the start or have fallen behind. So now they’ve decided that Newt is a whiz— The horse that they’re backing, corrupt as he is. Thus Gingrich, now galloping (though he’s quite husky), May make Romney look like the late Edmund Muskie.
Dec 14, 2011 / Column / Calvin Trillin
An Opening in Burma? On Thant Myint-U An Opening in Burma? On Thant Myint-U
Hopes for reform in Burma are starting to be fulfilled, but skepticism of its rulers is still warranted.
Dec 14, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Joshua Kurlantzick
Their Power Their Power
An Epigram [1851] Immense armies, generals bold, Police—covert, overt, of both sexes— ‘gainst whom are these aggressors?— A few ideas… that aren’t new but old…! (Translated from the Polish by Danuta Borchardt)
Dec 14, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Cyprian Norwid
Shelf Life Shelf Life
Anne Rophie’s Art and Madness, Millicent Monk’s Songs of Three Islands, Maisie Houghton’s Pitch Uncertain.
Dec 14, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Elias Altman
Signs of Protest: Occupy’s Guerilla Semiotics Signs of Protest: Occupy’s Guerilla Semiotics
Does the content of a demonstration always exceed and fall short of its ostensible message?
Dec 14, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
Lamentations of the Late-Night Comics Lamentations of the Late-Night Comics
While Jimmy Fallon tears his hair, Bill Maher laments, “It’s just not fair.” Dave Letterman begins to pout. They’ve heard that Herman Cain is out. In common with his late-night peers, Jon Stewart comes quite close to tears, He’d much prefer a case of gout To hearing Herman Cain is out. “The man is threatening our jobs,” Says Leno, as he softly sobs. Colbert is staggering about. He’s heard that Herman Cain is out. They pray together, on their knees: “Could we have Donald Trump back—please?”
Dec 7, 2011 / Column / Calvin Trillin
Of Saints and Caudillos: On Enrique Krauze Of Saints and Caudillos: On Enrique Krauze
A Mexican intellectual takes the measure of liberalism and revolution in twentieth-century Latin America.
Dec 6, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Jorge Volpi
Scenes from ‘My Life as Sherlock Holmes’ Scenes from ‘My Life as Sherlock Holmes’
1. Feeling around for ideas in the dungeonette 2. Scattershot remnants of tulle and fur 3. To quell an especially decorative urge 4. The taxidermy machine in the hall 5. I enjoy life for a day or two 6. A set of alpaca calipers and an alpaca, in a plaza 7. To have banished disreputable grammar 8. Purloining a moment from the restless ocean 9. Vignette of a cat on a lap, ruminative 10. Before it all kicks off 11. Overheard: squawks from the surveillance pavilion 12. Adjective meaning “pursuivant to fishiness” 13. I take the case with a gothic reluctance 14. To the cave of the giant sloths 15. A salmon, a sirloin, a sticky situation 16. Getting pelted with elaborate hairballs in the kisser 17. Truth or carrier bags 18. I vanquish the wrong evil mastermind 19. The return of the alpaca 20. On the run 21. What dissemblers take for granted, sometimes 22. To tweak a surreptitious plan 23. One camelid down, one to go 24. Last ham standing 25. I relinquish my new friends with regret, and doughnuts 26. Sloping off to the hair palace 27. Having ravished a library for unseemly cheeses 28. Girdles within girdles, or faux circumference 29. A cob peering eerily through a sinister window 30. Dissection island
Dec 6, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Jane Yeh
Eels Über Alles: On Julio Cortázar Eels Über Alles: On Julio Cortázar
A novelist’s lyrical attempt to measure the immeasurable.
Dec 6, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Ben Ehrenreich
Cranks and Cogwheels Cranks and Cogwheels
Martin Scorsese’s Hugo.
Dec 6, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans