Essays Archive | Los Angeles Review of Books

All Essays

Capitalism Is a Mental Illness: “Hustlers,” “The Known World,” and a Failed TV Project
Annie McGreevy on “Hustlers,” Edward P. Jones’s “The Known World,” a failed TV project, and the hustles that sustain us under capitalism.
Annie McGreevyNov 6, 2019
The Road to Chocolate Plantation: A Poem
A poem by Malcolm Tariq
Malcolm TariqNov 5, 2019
Sit in, Burn Out, Move On: A Note on Political Activism in the ’60s
Jay Neugeboren recounts his time as an American antiwar activist in the 1960s and contemplates his current standing as an activist in modern-day America.
Jay NeugeborenNov 3, 2019
- Nonfiction
- Politics
Pure Wordless Emotion on Film: “In This Life” at the 2019 Dance on Camera Festival
Constance Valis Hill reviews Bat-Sheva Guez’s hypnotic new dance film.
Constance Valis HillNov 3, 2019
- Art & Architecture
- Film
Language Does Not Need to Be Hopeful to Provide Hope: A Conversation Between John James and Christopher Kondrich
A conversation between poets John James and Christopher Kondrich.
Christopher Kondrich, John JamesNov 1, 2019
- Poetry
Art Matters Now — 12 Writers on 20 Years of Art: Eunsong Kim on the Colonial Inheritance of 2001
Eunsong Kim considers Dread Scott’s "Lockdown" (2000–2004) and Gaye Chan’s "Historic Waikiki" (2001).
Eunsong KimOct 31, 2019
- Art & Architecture
Out of the Glass Case: Museum Heists and Repatriations
Megan Ward looks at the 2018 film “Museo,” starring Gael García Bernal, and contemporary debates around museum repatriation and cultural memory.
Megan WardOct 30, 2019
Reading to a Child
Emily Hodgson Anderson on the promises and perils of reading aloud.
Emily Hodgson AndersonOct 27, 2019
- Young Adult & Children’s Literature
Privilege Nostalgia: Reading Beckett During Brexit
What does the central role of literary disinheritance in Beckett's work teach us about those who voted for Brexit?
Eva KennyOct 26, 2019
The Trouble with “Adam”
The teen film “Adam” turns complex issues of trans visibility into a vacuous sex farce.
Caden Mark GardnerOct 26, 2019
Real Life Rock Top 10: October 2019
LARB presents the October installment of “Real Life Rock Top 10,” a monthly column by cultural critic Greil Marcus.
Greil MarcusOct 25, 2019
- Music
- Poetry
Bosnia’s Mosques Without Muslims
The rebuilding of destroyed mosques is Bosnia is one part of a long project of genocide prevention.
Maxim Edwards, Michael ColborneOct 24, 2019
- Around the World
- Politics
Motion Sickness: Disavowing “Succession”
Jorge Cotte explores the queasy, wobbly, ethically ambiguous experience of being close to the billionaire children of HBO's Succession.
Jorge CotteOct 24, 2019
- Television
Circuit: Queer Pleasure as Queer Memory
Joe Osmundson lyrically deploys circuit metaphors to describe how new anti-virals are re-wiring the gay dance circuit in post-AIDS New York.
Joseph OsmundsonOct 22, 2019
- Gender & Sexuality
- Science & Technology
I, Language Robot
Hired to write stories alongside an AI writing bot, neuroscientist Patrick House reflects on how the bot can — and can’t — write the same story that he can.
Patrick HouseOct 21, 2019
- Science & Technology
Waste of Space
Alex Weintraub reviews "Ad Astra."
Alex WeintraubOct 20, 2019
- Film