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
The Monthly Digest: October 2017
Regarding the Pain of Trump
What Susan Sontag might say about Trump’s response to the Syrian Civil War.
Lawyers as Pillars of Justice
Dorothy Wolpert considers Owen Fiss's "Pillars of Justice: Lawyers and the Liberal Tradition."
The Secret Recipe for Success in the Arts
Alexis Clements on how the rigged game of capital exploits artists.
“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.”
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.
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.
Learning to Live in the Dark: Reading Arendt in the Time of Climate Change
Looking for illumination and affirmation in dark times.
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.
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.
Philosophy and the Gods of the City: Benjamin Aldes Wurgaft’s “Thinking in Public”
What good does the intellectual do in public?
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.
Jimmy’s Blues
What does it mean when James Baldwin says that he is a blues singer?
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