Essays Archive | Los Angeles Review of Books

All Essays

Feminisms in Motion: A Conversation with Jessica Hoffmann and Daria Yudacufski
M. Buna speaks to Jessica Hoffmann and Daria Yudacufski, co-editors of “make/shift” magazine and of “Feminisms in Motion.”
M. BunaJan 18, 2019
- Gender & Sexuality
- Politics
Flamenco’s Afro-Andalusian Roots: The Music of Raúl Rodríguez
A great flamenco artist explores the Afro-Caribbean roots of his art.
Constance Valis HillJan 17, 2019
- Around the World
- Music
The Walls Speak: Excavating the Chinese Immigration Experience at Angel Island
Teow Lim Goh uncovers the ongoing effort by scholars and poets to preserve the Chinese immigrant experience at Angel Island through its lost poetry.
Teow Lim GohJan 13, 2019
- Cultural Studies
- History
Why Literature Professors Turned Against Authors — Or Did They?
The intentions of authors still matter, no matter what the critics say.
John FarrellJan 13, 2019
- Literary Criticism
Letter to the Editor: Matthew Clemente’s Response to Kevin Hart’s “A Return to God After God”
A response to Kevin Hart's review of "Richard Kearney’s Anatheistic Wager" and "The Art of Anatheism."
Kevin Hart, Matthew ClementeJan 13, 2019
- Religion
“Two Catalonias”’s Pact of Forgetting
“Two Catalonias” makes no mention of the Spanish Civil War, an elision that is representative of Spain’s refusal to contend with the war’s lasting effects.
Brandon TruettJan 11, 2019
Housekeeping’s Patron Saint
"Roma" is a movie made to appease the ruling class: fawning in its praise of power, it dead-ends at an image that literally deifies servitude.
Scout TafoyaJan 8, 2019
- Around the World
- Film
The Numinous Has Many Shapes and Ways: On SITI and Aaron Poochigian’s “Bacchae”
Aaron Poochigian’s version of “Bacchae” is colloquial enough to be clear, but not too clear: if it weren’t a bit odd, it wouldn’t be Euripides.
Kevin McMahonJan 6, 2019
- Art & Architecture
Ma’am, An American Tragedy
Marilyn ChinJan 5, 2019
- LARB Lit
A Film by Bertolt Brecht
"Mack the Knife — Brecht’s Threepenny Film" is part-biopic, part-homage, part-metacinematic staging of a film that shouldn’t actually exist — but now does.
Luisa RollenhagenJan 4, 2019
- Around the World
- Film
Practicing Utopia: Recent Retrospectives on the Work of David Wojnarowicz
The powerful multimedia legacy of the late AIDS activist and artist.
Jonathan AlexanderJan 2, 2019
- Art & Architecture
- Gender & Sexuality
The Girl in the File: Margarete Schaffer under Nazi Psychiatry
Edith ShefferJan 1, 2019
Media All the Way Down: Art and Conspiracy at the Met Breuer
Carmine Grimaldi dives into "Everything Is Connected: Art and Conspiracy," at the Met Breuer until January 6, 2019.
Carmine GrimaldiDec 30, 2018
- Art & Architecture
- Politics
Letter to the Editor: Timothy Aubry Responds to Jean-Thomas Tremblay’s Review of His “Guilty Aesthetic Pleasures”
Timothy Aubry responds to Jean-Thomas Tremblay’s LARB review of his “Guilty Aesthetic Pleasures” (December 12, 2018).
Timothy AubryDec 30, 2018
- Literary Criticism
Center Court
"The Favourite" reminds us that the court isn't a primitive version of modern political power but an altogether different institution.
David MarnoDec 28, 2018
- Film
Seen and Heard: Remembering Children's Art and Activism
Marah GubarDec 27, 2018