Essays Archive | Los Angeles Review of Books

All Essays

See/Eakins/Swimming
On Sam See’s “queer mythologies” and Thomas Eakins’s "Swimming."
Christopher LoobyMay 3, 2020
Having an Orange Soda with Sam
The landscapes around Bakersfield and other outposts in the California foothills became alternate geographies for the modernist maps Sam and I were drawing.
Kate MarshallMay 3, 2020
- Literary Criticism
- Nonfiction
Once More, with Feeling
Sam See’s work will always be timely, in that it calls us to attend to the transformative power of the feelings that go into a work of literature
Michael NorthMay 3, 2020
Critical Love Studies
Writing about Sam See today, I am stunned to discover that his thoughts have been hiding in plain sight among my own.
Merve EmreMay 3, 2020
- Gender & Sexuality
- Literary Criticism
Another Silent Spring?
Lida Maxwell considers the politics of nature in the era of COVID-19.
Lida MaxwellMay 3, 2020
- Politics
On the Importance of People and Place: An Encounter with Sarah Davis-Goff
Luke Cassidy talks to writer Sarah Davis-Goff and considers her new novel, "Last Ones Left Alive."
Luke CassidyMay 2, 2020
Bong Joon-ho: Love in the Time of Capitalism
Dan Hassler-Forest looks at the recent work of Academy Award winner Bong Joon-ho.
Dan Hassler-ForestMay 1, 2020
LACMA: Demolition Under Cover of COVID-19
Joseph Giovannini argues for an immediate stop to Michael Govan’s demolition of LACMA’s buildings during the pandemic lockdown.
Joseph GiovanniniMay 1, 2020
- Art & Architecture
American Tunes for Coronaviral Times: Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, and John Prine
Pamela Thurschwell looks to songs by Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, and John Prine to make sense of COVID-19.
Pamela ThurschwellMay 1, 2020
- Music
- Politics
“A Dreadful Plague in London Was”
What Daniel Defoe’s “A Journal of the Plague Year” can teach us about the COVID-19 pandemic.
Leo BraudyApr 27, 2020
Symphonies Silenced, Sonatas Streamed: The State of Classical Music During COVID-19
Melissa Chan considers the state of classical music in the age of coronavirus.
Melissa ChanApr 27, 2020
Mailer in Miami
Norman Mailer was a pundit of the back rooms who slung observations of how candidates moved through the world.
Matt HansonApr 25, 2020
- Nonfiction
- Politics
Real Life Rock Top 10: April 2020
LARB presents the April installment of “Real Life Rock Top 10,” a monthly column by cultural critic Greil Marcus.
Greil MarcusApr 24, 2020
- Music
Marion Stokes and the Power of Guerrilla Archiving
Grace Hadland reviews the documentary on reclusive guerrilla archivist and media critic Marion Stokes, “Recorder.”
Gracie HadlandApr 23, 2020
Teaching American Studies in the Middle East
Suzanne Enzerink on teaching American culture and politics in Lebanon.
Suzanne EnzerinkApr 22, 2020
The Last Jewish Libertine: “Uncut Gems” and Jewish Masculinity Onscreen
Oleg Ivanov traces the filmic image of the masculine Jew from Elliott Gould to Adam Sandler.
Oleg IvanovApr 21, 2020