All Essays

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  Theaters of Cruelty

  An excerpt from "The Art of Cruelty: A Reckoning."

  Maggie NelsonJul 8, 2011
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  Magicland

  I’m not equating him with Hitler, mind you, or Joe Smith or Jim Jones. I’m just trying to understand my own compulsion.

  Laurie WinerJul 1, 2011
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  Odious and Unpleasant

  For all the talk of information overload, we are all of us a little behind on our reading.

  Jun 25, 2011
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  Fresh Pulp and Geezer Noir

  Trying to pin down the definitive characteristics of “noir” is a tiresome game.

  Jun 23, 2011
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  Letter to the Editors

  It is difficult for an author to respond to a review without sounding churlish.

  David Livingstone Smith, Jon-Christian SuggsJun 18, 2011
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  Keeping The Eye Moving

  Patricia Patterson is an accretive artist, invariably extending, but rarely leaving much behind.

  Robert PolitoJun 16, 2011

• Whose Hollywood Is It Anyway?

  The most satisfying literary conflicts allow all antagonists to be right, each in his own way.

  Jun 15, 2011

• What Was African American Literature? A Symposium

  Warren leaves us with several productively troubling conclusions.

  Jun 13, 2011

• The Mysterious Island

  I'm writing this because I just found out that my favorite bookseller in the world is dead.

  Jun 11, 2011

• The Room and the Elephant

  On internet criticism, Wikipedia, and the waning of expertise.

  Jun 7, 2011

• Man Is Not Cat Food

  Are we in danger, then, of a widespread, coordinated, animal revolt?

  Jun 6, 2011

• Letter From Trinidad: Beyoncé Is Gold

  Like all pop stars of the stature she’s now attained, Beyoncé is less an expresser of herself than a mirror for our fantasies and fears.

  May 27, 2011

• Hot Dystopic: Orwell and Huxley at the Shanghai’s World Fair

  The idea that Orwell rather than Huxley was the one to turn to if one wanted a fictional lens through which to see China went virtually unchallenged..

  May 20, 2011

• Where the Action Was

  This was the canonical American art for which the claim "you had to be there" seemed strongest ...

  May 19, 2011

• Stephen Potter: Life Among the Acquaintances

  The Potter voice: that mock-pedantic tone of winning modesty and warm condescension.

  May 18, 2011

• Skin Deep

  Word and line can marry enticingly in the art of tattoo.

  May 16, 2011