American Shooter American Shooter
Clint Eastwood’s shoot ’em up is remorseless, racist fantasy.
Feb 11, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Forget Where I Heard It Forget Where I Heard It
With pigeon force the air men come clattering. It would be sad if it wasn’t so funny, one swore. Stay out of the nettles. Do not live above the shop. His men may find you there. Otherwise, as coma says, my beans, my peas, my coma get read into the riot act. That comes later. After three decades of futility, you have to ask: Who was this composer? Was he known for anything else? Is the mere survival of the notes justified, or do we all survive this way, more or less?
Feb 11, 2015 / Books & the Arts / John Ashbery
Snow Snow
How did we come to this cold place? It is not listed on the maps. The cold has disarranged your face. These memories are not ours, perhaps. But still we must pretend to know the reason for things as they are. We do not recognize the snow. Perhaps that makes us what we are.
Feb 11, 2015 / Books & the Arts / William Logan
Feral Gardens Feral Gardens
Danny Cooke’s Postcards from Pripyat, Chernobyl summons a lost history of familiar and alien dreams.
Feb 11, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Joshua Clover
Camus Redux Camus Redux
Today, Albert Camus is still alive but changed, thanks to the art of David Oelhoffen and Kamel Daoud.
Feb 4, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Alice Kaplan
To Be (Charlie) or Not to Be (Charlie)? To Be (Charlie) or Not to Be (Charlie)?
Killing is not creating, and drawing is not killing. Charlie has the right to draw.
Feb 4, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Kamel Daoud
Evangelical Boilerplate Evangelical Boilerplate
Billy Graham’s innocuous blend of showmanship and salvation.
Feb 4, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Molly Worthen
Fortune’s Son Fortune’s Son
Why the line from Barry Goldwater to Ted Cruz runs over Nelson Rockefeller.
Feb 4, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Michael O’Donnell
Latin Lives Latin Lives
Is the revival of a dead language breathing new life into the humanities?
Jan 26, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Anthony Grafton
The Zeitgeist of No Zeitgeist The Zeitgeist of No Zeitgeist
MoMA’s “Forever Now” trumpets art with a shallow sense of tradition.
Jan 26, 2015 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky