June 30, 1936: Margaret Mitchell’s ‘Gone with the Wind’ Is Published June 30, 1936: Margaret Mitchell’s ‘Gone with the Wind’ Is Published
"Margaret Mitchell gives us our Civil War through Southern eyes exclusively, and no tolerant philosophy illumines the crimes of the invaders."
Jun 30, 2015 / 150th Anniversary / Richard Kreitner
Blackness as Being, Whiteness as Nothingness Blackness as Being, Whiteness as Nothingness
Nell Painter and Herman Melville on American racism as existentialism.
Jun 23, 2015 / Greg Grandin
June 16, 1938: Joyce Carol Oates Is Born June 16, 1938: Joyce Carol Oates Is Born
"Oates believes strongly in the authority of the individual’s experience of reality."
Jun 16, 2015 / 150th Anniversary / Richard Kreitner and The Almanac
This Week: Moving Feminism Forward This Week: Moving Feminism Forward
We’ve come a long way, but we’ve a long way to go in progress for women’s rights.
Mar 9, 2013 / Blog / Katrina vanden Heuvel
Passing the Signal Along Passing the Signal Along
The task of a critic has to do with the nature of the knowledge we call art.
Feb 28, 2013 / Books & the Arts / William Deresiewicz
Making Strange: On Victor Shklovsky Making Strange: On Victor Shklovsky
A Russian novelist’s fight, in life and art, to see the world afresh in all its cruelty and splendor.
Feb 5, 2013 / Books & the Arts / Ben Ehrenreich
Till the Knowing Ends: On William Gass Till the Knowing Ends: On William Gass
In Life Sentences, William Gass shows that consciousness needs to be stressed to be strengthened.
Mar 7, 2012 / Books & the Arts / Joanna Scott
Reading John Leonard: A Tribute Reading John Leonard: A Tribute
For the critic John Leonard, “books are where we go alone to complicate ourselves.”
Feb 7, 2012 / Books & the Arts / E.L. Doctorow
The Idler: On Geoff Dyer The Idler: On Geoff Dyer
Freedom to do just what he pleases defines the life and writing of Geoff Dyer.
Apr 21, 2011 / Books & the Arts / Scott Sherman
Back Talk: Terry Castle Back Talk: Terry Castle
A conversation with the author of The Professor about her affair with an older woman and the journals of Susan Sontag.
Jan 28, 2010 / Back Talk Conversations / Christine Smallwood