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The Monthly Digest: October 2017

Public Intellectuals

The Monthly Digest: October 2017

In September LARB featured a number of pieces that examine, from various angles, the role of intellectuals and artists in public life. What responsibility do cultural workers have toward the public? Should the public support the work of artists and intellectuals, whether or not it benefits from them directly? How has this relationship changed over the past several decades? — LARB Editorial

I Won’t Fear My Passions Like a Coward: On William E. Jones’s “Fall into Ruin”
Rob Goyanes on William E. Jones and Alexander Iolas.
Sep 22, 2017
Where’s the Great “Climate Change Novel”? A Conversation with Amitav Ghosh
Steve Paulson interviews author Amitav Ghosh on contemporary fiction’s failure to grapple with climate change.
Sep 22, 2017
Lawyers as Pillars of Justice
Dorothy Wolpert considers Owen Fiss's "Pillars of Justice: Lawyers and the Liberal Tradition."
Sep 29, 2017
Regarding the Pain of Trump
What Susan Sontag might say about Trump’s response to the Syrian Civil War.
Sep 30, 2017
The Secret Recipe for Success in the Arts
Alexis Clements on how the rigged game of capital exploits artists.
Sep 26, 2017
Jimmy’s Blues
What does it mean when James Baldwin says that he is a blues singer?
Sep 4, 2017
Against the Devil: The Tormented Life of Czesław Miłosz
Maria Rybakova reflects on the tormented life of Czesław Miłosz, as told in a new biography by Andrzej Franaszek.
Sep 9, 2017
Identity and Recognition: A Conversation with Daniel Mendelsohn
Rajat Singh interviews Daniel Mendelsohn about his memoir “An Odyssey,” questions of identity, and the enduring significance of ancient texts.
Sep 14, 2017
Building on the Black Radical Tradition: Jeneé Darden Interviews Gaye Theresa Johnson
Jeneé Darden talks to Gaye Theresa Johnson about her new anthology, "Futures of Black Radicalism," co-edited with Alex Lubin.
Sep 15, 2017
Learning to Live in the Dark: Reading Arendt in the Time of Climate Change
Looking for illumination and affirmation in dark times.
Sep 22, 2017
“The End Is Where We Start From”: On Evan Kindley’s “Poet-Critics and the Administration of Culture”
Bradley Babendir reviews Evan Kindley’s “Poet-Critics and the Administration of Culture.”
Sep 25, 2017
Philosophy and the Gods of the City: Benjamin Aldes Wurgaft’s “Thinking in Public”
What good does the intellectual do in public?
Sep 10, 2017