Essays Archive | Los Angeles Review of Books

All Essays

Spoiler Alert: Your Art Should Be Ruined
Does worrying about spoilers detract from enjoyment more than the spoilers themselves?
Noah BerlatskyNov 8, 2014
- Film
- Television
Response to Gregory Fried’s “The King Is Dead: Heidegger’s Black Notebooks”
Alexander S. Duff, Jordan Hoffman, Sidonie Kellerer, Andrea Martinez, and Gaëtan Pégny respond to Gregory Fried’s article for LARB on Heidegger and Nazism, “The King Is Dead.”
Alexander S. Duff, Andrea Martinez, Gaëtan Pégny , Jordan Hoffman, Sidonie KellererNov 7, 2014
Not Dead Yet? A Response to Critics
Gregory Fried responds to the critics of his review essay “The King is Dead: Heidegger’s Black Notebooks.”
Gregory FriedNov 7, 2014
Foucault’s Risks
Writing in the same year that Thatcher was elected, Foucault described a nascent neoliberalism now in its mature state. For three graduate students born in a post-Reagan America, there can be no doubt that Foucault’s thinking describes their present.
Anna Shechtman, Peter Raccuglia, Susan MorrowNov 7, 2014
- Philosophy & Religion
- Politics
Seven Poems by José Emilio Pacheco
José Emilio Pacheco (Mexico City, 1939-2014) is one of the most read and recognized Mexican writers.
Katherine M. Hedeen , Víctor Rodríguez NúñezNov 3, 2014
- Poetry
On Galway Kinnell
Poet Galway Kinnell passed away on October 28, 2014. We asked a number of poets and critics to reflect on his life and his work.
Ada Limón, C. Dale Young, Dana Levin, Jennifer L. Knox, Lytton Smith, Natalie Diaz, Robert Wrigley, Sam HamillNov 3, 2014
- Poetry
Writing Is a Lonely Business: James McKimmey, Philip K. Dick, and the Lost Art of Author Correspondence
"At times Dick’s letters read like outtakes of his books, with allusions to alternate realities merging with accounts of everyday life."
Jason StarrNov 3, 2014
- Fiction
- SF
Reflections in a Black Mirror
Our current unreality, as seen in “The Leftovers” and “Black Mirror.”
Mitchell KriegmanNov 3, 2014
- Television
It Was a Very Good Year
Why study a single year? Lots of reasons.
Alan GlynnNov 1, 2014
How to Read “The Curse of the Werewolf”
Brian Cremins recalls the American horror-comics fad of the 1970s, book-and-record sets, and unspoken family trauma.
Brian CreminsOct 31, 2014
- Comics
Still in the Dark
If the CCA is finally dead and buried, why does it keep rearing its ugly head?
Anne Elizabeth MooreOct 31, 2014
- Comics
Homicide: Death on the Screen
A critical autopsy of Law & Order, CSI, The Following, Hannibal
Eric ThurmOct 30, 2014
- Television
A Place in the Making
"The events in Ukraine have expanded the meaning of maidan from that of geographical location (just an empty piece of land) to a term with symbolical status: now maidan stands for independence, liberty, and autonomy."
Thorsten Botz-BornsteinOct 30, 2014
- Politics
On Excess: Susan Sontag’s Born-Digital Archive
Susan Sontag’s entire digital life is now available to researchers. What should they do with it?
Jacquelyn Ardam, Jeremy SchmidtOct 26, 2014
- Literary Criticism
What Is a Uyghur?
An excerpt from Rian Thum's "The Sacred Routes of Uyghur History"
Rian ThumOct 26, 2014
“Of the making of many books there is no end”: Remembering Michael Kammen, the Professor of Paradox
A tribute to the great historian Michael Kammen, written by one of his closest colleagues and friends.
Douglas GreenbergOct 26, 2014
- History
- Memoir & Essay