Seeking ‘Convulsive Beauty’ Seeking ‘Convulsive Beauty’
The legendary Surrealist exhibitions of the late 1930s and early 1940s were Surrealist in spirit and secondarily Surrealist in content. In 1942, for example, an exhibition called...
Feb 21, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Arthur C. Danto
Protesting Black Hawk Down Protesting Black Hawk Down
It's one thing to have Somali groups protesting Black Hawk Down for what they say is an inaccurate and racist portrayal of Somalis.
Feb 21, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Adrian Brune
Lost in America Lost in America
"When I write, I bid farewell to myself," Jimmy Santiago Baca said in 1992. "I leave most of what I know behind and wander through the landscape of language." This is a memorable...
Feb 14, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Ilan Stavans
Following Doctors’ Orders Following Doctors’ Orders
It's the largest profession in healthcare. It's the largest female profession in America. But despite its tremendous importance and impact, most people know very little about con...
Feb 14, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Suzanne Gordon
Black Mischief Black Mischief
On East Capitol Street a few years ago, I was in a taxi when a car pulled suddenly and dangerously across our bow. My driver was white, with a hunter's cap and earmuffs and an inde...
Feb 14, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Christopher Hitchens
Ellison Unbound Ellison Unbound
"I remind myself that much of television is now comic strip," Ralph Ellison told TV Guide in 1988. It is not surprising that the author of Invisible Man would be uncomfortable wi...
Feb 14, 2002 / Books & the Arts / David Yaffe
A Crowbar to the Face A Crowbar to the Face
Frederick Wiseman has spent a lifetime piecing together sounds and images captured from the daily flow.
Feb 14, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Yuri Gagarin Rides Again Yuri Gagarin Rides Again
London Despite an initial drop in attendance in the uncertain aftermath of September 11, and the changing of the guard at three major institutions, the London theater scen...
Feb 7, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Carol Rocamora
Hoisting the Black Flag Hoisting the Black Flag
As the World Economic Forum met in New York City recently, the American media were much more concerned with what protesters were doing in the streets than with what they were say...
Feb 7, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Karen Rosenberg
Our Collective Bargain Our Collective Bargain
The fortunes of American unions have taken a turn for the worse. Thanks to terrorism and recession, union members are reeling from a series of economic and political setbacks. Ne...
Feb 7, 2002 / Books & the Arts / Steve Early