Essays Archive | Los Angeles Review of Books

All Essays

Maybe Connect
What brings Ta-Nehisi Coates and Elena Ferrante together is their shared refusal to give us the connection we desire.
Jedediah PurdyOct 4, 2015
- Literary Criticism
Straight Outta Compton: The Profound in the Profane
"Straight Outta Compton" is about how a group of young black men crafted a bold new language.
Jody D. ArmourOct 2, 2015
- Film
Hollywood’s Radio Edit
Biopics aren't really where you go for brilliant moviemaking, especially musical versions.
Andrew DuBoisOct 2, 2015
- Film
A New Golden Age Part I: Why Your Grandparents Lived Larger than You Do
Who is better off: you or your parents when they were your age?
Tom StreithorstSep 28, 2015
- Politics
South African Feminism, Lady Gaga, and the Flight Toward “Queer Utopia”
As a fundamental human desire, the power to imagine new worlds that explode existing ones through gender performance and symbolism is universal.
Desiree LewisSep 28, 2015
- Around the World
- Gender & Sexuality
Body of Work: The Dying Philosopher
The scene of the philosopher's death is a reminder that what is most precious — our life — is also the most fragile.
Costica BradatanSep 27, 2015
- History
Radio and Child: Walter Benjamin as Broadcaster
Any serious history of children and radio — any history going beyond a chronicle of program offerings — must include the German writer Walter Benjamin.
Brían HanrahanSep 26, 2015
- Philosophy & Religion
A Biographer of Monsters
Ann Rule's "The Stranger Beside Me" is a staple on the true crime shelves of any bookstore.
Leah CaldwellSep 24, 2015
- Noir
Juan Felipe Herrera’s Global Voice and Vision
An introduction to the scope of Juan Felipe Herrera's oeuvre
Rigoberto GonzálezSep 23, 2015
- Poetry
Welcome to Marseille
"The Connection" is the third film to examine the Marseille-based drug ring that funneled heroin into North American and European markets from the 1950s to the 1980s.
Ruth JonesSep 22, 2015
- Film
Black Lives and the State of Distraction
Distraction makes racism and state violence seem like moving targets, difficult to critique amid the constant, shifty inquisition.
Eddie Bruce-JonesSep 21, 2015
- Politics
The Program Era and the Mainly White Room
We are insistent on something structural: at most of the poetry readings we attend, the room is mainly white.
Juliana Spahr, Stephanie YoungSep 20, 2015
- Poetry
L’Amitié
An interview with Mélanie Laurent and Anne-Sophie Brasme on “Breathe.”
Erik MorseSep 18, 2015
- Film
The New Drug War Cinema: On Netflix’s “Narcos”
"Narcos," a 10-episode series starring Wagner Moura as Escobar, aims to trace his rise from small-time smuggler to the world's most powerful drug lord.
Christopher LooftSep 16, 2015
- Television
The Image of Genre
Reading an artist's novel is often a kind of aesthetic or intellectual work rather than a leisure activity.
Lucy IvesSep 13, 2015
- Art & Architecture
- Literary Criticism
Merit Square-Off: The Fight Over College Admissions
Elite colleges are not meritocracies — if by “meritocracy” we mean that students are admitted solely on the basis of high test scores.
Steven BrintSep 13, 2015
- Education
- Literary Criticism