Exploring Books Through Articles, Reviews, Announcements, & Lists 2023-1 Jan.-Mar.
This is a continuation of the topic Exploring Books Through Articles, Reviews, Announcements, & Lists 2022-4 Oct-Dec.
This topic was continued by Exploring Books Through Articles, Reviews, Announcements, & Lists 2023-2 Apr.-June.
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1featherbear
Bibliographical news, reviews, articles, & lists 2023. Continues: Exploring Books Through Articles, Reviews, Announcements, & Lists, 2022-4 Oct.-Dec..
2featherbear
New York Review, Jan. 19, 2023
Didn't notice before, but the print version is The New York Review of Books, but the online version is The New York Review. Did the change occur during the one day strike at the NYT? Probably not.
Language & Literature
Josephine Quinn. Alphabet Politics: What prompted the development of systems of writing?. Review of: The Greatest Invention: A History of the World in Nine Mysterious Scripts / Silvia Ferrara, translated from the Italian by Todd Portnowitz -- Inventing the Alphabet: The Origins of Letters from Antiquity to the Present / Johanna Drucker.
Ben Lerner. The Faces of Victor Serge: The radical writer’s novels are unsettling explorations of the tension between individual and collective life. Review of Victor Serge, Last Times / translated from the French by Ralph Manheim, edited and with an introduction by Richard Greeman -- The Case of Comrade Tulayev /translated from the French by Willard R. Trask, with an introduction by Susan Sontag -- Unforgiving Years / translated from the French and with an introduction by Richard Greeman -- Birth of Our Power / translated from the French and with an introduction by Richard Greeman -- Memoirs of a Revolutionary / translated from the French by Peter Sedgwick with George Paizis, with a glossary and notes by Richard Greeman, and a foreword by Adam Hochschild -- Notebooks, 1936–1947 / translated from the French by Mitchell Abidor and Richard Greeman, and edited by Claudio Albertani and Claude Rioux.
Francine Prose. Carlotta’s Brooklyn. Review of: Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta / James Hannaham. NYRB gives no publication information; fyi published by Little, Brown, August 2022.
Gary Saul Morson. Living Outside of Time. Review of 4 novels by Eugene Vodolazkin: Brisbane / translated from the Russian by Marian Schwartz -- The Aviator / translated from the Russian by Lisa C. Hayden -- Laurus / translated from the Russian by Lisa C. Hayden -- Solovyov and Larionov / translated from the Russian by Lisa C. Hayden.
Arts
Zadie Smith. The Instrumentalist: At the heart of Todd Field’s new film is a conductor who cannot see beyond her generation’s field of vision. Review of Tár / a film written and directed by Todd Field.
Susan Tallman. Feinting Spells: The thesis of an exhibition on the inspiration a subset of Cubism took from trompe l’oeil is convincingly built with objects made across four centuries. Review of the exhibition & catalog Cubism and the Trompe l’Oeil Tradition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, October 20, 2022–January 22, 2023, catalog by Emily Braun and Elizabeth Cowling, with essays by Claire Le Thomas and Rachel Mustalish.
Alastair Macaulay. The Encyclopedia of the Dance: The first full-length biography of Bronislava Nijinska does long-overdue justice to one of the twentieth century’s great women artists. Review of: La Nijinska: Choreographer of the Modern / Lynn Garafola.
History, Politics, & Society
Colin Thubron. Remainders: Two recent books explore the complex pleasure we take in ruins and the rediscovery of long-forgotten objects. Review of: Shadowlands: A Journey Through Britain’s Lost Cities and Vanished Villages / Matthew Green -- Mudlark’d: Hidden Histories from the River Thames / Malcolm Russell, with photographs by Matthew Williams-Ellis.
Aaron Timms. Flakes: A new book recounts the “psoriasis years” of figures from John Updike to Pablo Escobar. Review of: Skin / translated from the Spanish La piel by Thomas Bunstead.
Alexander Burns. Making the Senate Work for Democrats. Review of: Arc of Power: Inside Nancy Pelosi’s Speakership, 2005–2010 / John A. Lawrence -- A World of Insecurity: Democratic Disenchantment in Rich and Poor Countries / Pranab Bardhan -- The Long Alliance: The Imperfect Union of Joe Biden and Barack Obama / Gabriel Debenedetti.
Sherrilyn Ifill. When Diversity Matters: During October’s marathon argument in a pair of affirmative action cases, the most racially diverse Supreme Court in US history debated the value of diversity. (Essay)
Sophie Nieman. Fear and Oil in Uganda. (Essay)
Tim Judah. Ukraine’s Volunteers. (Essay)
Fintan O'Toole. Dress Rehearsal: Trump’s attempt almost two years ago to undermine the 2020 election reads today like a blueprint drawn for a future autocrat. (Essay)
Didn't notice before, but the print version is The New York Review of Books, but the online version is The New York Review. Did the change occur during the one day strike at the NYT? Probably not.
Language & Literature
Josephine Quinn. Alphabet Politics: What prompted the development of systems of writing?. Review of: The Greatest Invention: A History of the World in Nine Mysterious Scripts / Silvia Ferrara, translated from the Italian by Todd Portnowitz -- Inventing the Alphabet: The Origins of Letters from Antiquity to the Present / Johanna Drucker.
Ben Lerner. The Faces of Victor Serge: The radical writer’s novels are unsettling explorations of the tension between individual and collective life. Review of Victor Serge, Last Times / translated from the French by Ralph Manheim, edited and with an introduction by Richard Greeman -- The Case of Comrade Tulayev /translated from the French by Willard R. Trask, with an introduction by Susan Sontag -- Unforgiving Years / translated from the French and with an introduction by Richard Greeman -- Birth of Our Power / translated from the French and with an introduction by Richard Greeman -- Memoirs of a Revolutionary / translated from the French by Peter Sedgwick with George Paizis, with a glossary and notes by Richard Greeman, and a foreword by Adam Hochschild -- Notebooks, 1936–1947 / translated from the French by Mitchell Abidor and Richard Greeman, and edited by Claudio Albertani and Claude Rioux.
Francine Prose. Carlotta’s Brooklyn. Review of: Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta / James Hannaham. NYRB gives no publication information; fyi published by Little, Brown, August 2022.
Gary Saul Morson. Living Outside of Time. Review of 4 novels by Eugene Vodolazkin: Brisbane / translated from the Russian by Marian Schwartz -- The Aviator / translated from the Russian by Lisa C. Hayden -- Laurus / translated from the Russian by Lisa C. Hayden -- Solovyov and Larionov / translated from the Russian by Lisa C. Hayden.
Arts
Zadie Smith. The Instrumentalist: At the heart of Todd Field’s new film is a conductor who cannot see beyond her generation’s field of vision. Review of Tár / a film written and directed by Todd Field.
Susan Tallman. Feinting Spells: The thesis of an exhibition on the inspiration a subset of Cubism took from trompe l’oeil is convincingly built with objects made across four centuries. Review of the exhibition & catalog Cubism and the Trompe l’Oeil Tradition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, October 20, 2022–January 22, 2023, catalog by Emily Braun and Elizabeth Cowling, with essays by Claire Le Thomas and Rachel Mustalish.
Alastair Macaulay. The Encyclopedia of the Dance: The first full-length biography of Bronislava Nijinska does long-overdue justice to one of the twentieth century’s great women artists. Review of: La Nijinska: Choreographer of the Modern / Lynn Garafola.
History, Politics, & Society
Colin Thubron. Remainders: Two recent books explore the complex pleasure we take in ruins and the rediscovery of long-forgotten objects. Review of: Shadowlands: A Journey Through Britain’s Lost Cities and Vanished Villages / Matthew Green -- Mudlark’d: Hidden Histories from the River Thames / Malcolm Russell, with photographs by Matthew Williams-Ellis.
Aaron Timms. Flakes: A new book recounts the “psoriasis years” of figures from John Updike to Pablo Escobar. Review of: Skin / translated from the Spanish La piel by Thomas Bunstead.
Alexander Burns. Making the Senate Work for Democrats. Review of: Arc of Power: Inside Nancy Pelosi’s Speakership, 2005–2010 / John A. Lawrence -- A World of Insecurity: Democratic Disenchantment in Rich and Poor Countries / Pranab Bardhan -- The Long Alliance: The Imperfect Union of Joe Biden and Barack Obama / Gabriel Debenedetti.
Sherrilyn Ifill. When Diversity Matters: During October’s marathon argument in a pair of affirmative action cases, the most racially diverse Supreme Court in US history debated the value of diversity. (Essay)
Sophie Nieman. Fear and Oil in Uganda. (Essay)
Tim Judah. Ukraine’s Volunteers. (Essay)
Fintan O'Toole. Dress Rehearsal: Trump’s attempt almost two years ago to undermine the 2020 election reads today like a blueprint drawn for a future autocrat. (Essay)
3featherbear
Late notice.
Jean Franco, 1924-2022
Clay Risen. NYT, 12/31/2022. Jean Franco, 98, Pioneering Scholar of Latin American Literature, Dies.
"Through a series of wide-ranging studies, including her landmark book “The Modern Culture of Latin America: Society and the Artist” (1967), Dr. Franco argued that the region’s literature deserved its own sustained focus, a radical idea at a time when most Spanish-language scholarship was still focused on the likes of Miguel de Cervantes and Federico García Lorca."
Jean Franco, 1924-2022
Clay Risen. NYT, 12/31/2022. Jean Franco, 98, Pioneering Scholar of Latin American Literature, Dies.
"Through a series of wide-ranging studies, including her landmark book “The Modern Culture of Latin America: Society and the Artist” (1967), Dr. Franco argued that the region’s literature deserved its own sustained focus, a radical idea at a time when most Spanish-language scholarship was still focused on the likes of Miguel de Cervantes and Federico García Lorca."
4featherbear
Edith Pearlman, 1936-2023
Rebecca Chace. NYT, 01/01/2023: Edith Pearlman, Writer Who Won Acclaim Late in Life, Dies at 86.
"Edith Pearlman, whose acclaimed 2011 collection of short stories, “Binocular Vision,” lifted her out of relative publishing obscurity to make her an instant if belated literary star at the age of 74, died on Sunday at her home in Brookline, Mass. She was 86."
Rebecca Chace. NYT, 01/01/2023: Edith Pearlman, Writer Who Won Acclaim Late in Life, Dies at 86.
"Edith Pearlman, whose acclaimed 2011 collection of short stories, “Binocular Vision,” lifted her out of relative publishing obscurity to make her an instant if belated literary star at the age of 74, died on Sunday at her home in Brookline, Mass. She was 86."
5featherbear
Two from LARB:
Jim Downs. 01/02/2023: The Afterlife of Slavery. Review of: To Walk About in Freedom: The Long Emancipation of Priscilla Joyner / Carole Emberton.
Jordan S. Carroll. 12/31/2023: QAnon, a Compensatory Fantasy for a Nation in Decline. Review of: Operation Mindfuck: QAnon and the Cult of Donald Trump / Robert Guffey and Pastels and Pedophiles: Inside the Mind of QAnon / Mia Bloom.
Jim Downs. 01/02/2023: The Afterlife of Slavery. Review of: To Walk About in Freedom: The Long Emancipation of Priscilla Joyner / Carole Emberton.
Jordan S. Carroll. 12/31/2023: QAnon, a Compensatory Fantasy for a Nation in Decline. Review of: Operation Mindfuck: QAnon and the Cult of Donald Trump / Robert Guffey and Pastels and Pedophiles: Inside the Mind of QAnon / Mia Bloom.
6featherbear
Katy Waldman. New Yorker, 01/01/2023: Jorie Graham Takes the Long View. (Interview)
7featherbear
Ashlie D. Stevens. Salon, 01/02/2023: 5 of our favorite cookbooks to carry you into 2023.
8featherbear
Associate Press. 12/30/2022: 2023 public domain debuts include last Sherlock Holmes work.
"The long-running contested copyright dispute over Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s tales of a whipsmart detective — which has even ensnared Enola Holmes — will finally come to an end as the 1927 copyrights expiring Jan. 1 include Conan Doyle’s last Sherlock Holmes work.
"Alongside the short-story collection “The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes,” books such as Virginia Woolf’s “To The Lighthouse,” Ernest Hemingway’s “Men Without Women,” William Faulkner’s “Mosquitoes” and Agatha Christie’s “The Big Four” — an Hercule Poirot mystery — will become public domain as the calendar turns to 2023."
Wondering if Merle Emre will do an annotated To the Lighthouse as she did with Mrs. Dalloway.
"The long-running contested copyright dispute over Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s tales of a whipsmart detective — which has even ensnared Enola Holmes — will finally come to an end as the 1927 copyrights expiring Jan. 1 include Conan Doyle’s last Sherlock Holmes work.
"Alongside the short-story collection “The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes,” books such as Virginia Woolf’s “To The Lighthouse,” Ernest Hemingway’s “Men Without Women,” William Faulkner’s “Mosquitoes” and Agatha Christie’s “The Big Four” — an Hercule Poirot mystery — will become public domain as the calendar turns to 2023."
Wondering if Merle Emre will do an annotated To the Lighthouse as she did with Mrs. Dalloway.
9featherbear
The New Yorker new for 2023:
Aubrey Wollen. 01/03/2023: The Writer Who Burned Her Own Books. "Rosemary Tonks achieved success among the bohemian literati of Swinging London—then spent the rest of her life destroying the evidence of her career."
Françoise Mouly and Genevieve Bormes. 01/04/2023: A Graphic Novel Rediscovers Harlem’s Glamorous Female Mob Boss. On forthcoming Queenie: Godmother of Harlem / Aurelie Levy (Author), Elizabeth Colomba (Author, Illustrator). "Stephanie St. Clair, who gained notoriety as a criminal entrepreneur and a fashion icon, was a powerful Black woman who was able to wrest control in a world run by men."
Jordi Gaupera. 01/03/2023: A Philosophy Professor’s Final Class. "This past spring, Richard Bernstein investigated the questions he’d been asking his whole career—about right, wrong, and what we owe one another—one last time."
Aubrey Wollen. 01/03/2023: The Writer Who Burned Her Own Books. "Rosemary Tonks achieved success among the bohemian literati of Swinging London—then spent the rest of her life destroying the evidence of her career."
Françoise Mouly and Genevieve Bormes. 01/04/2023: A Graphic Novel Rediscovers Harlem’s Glamorous Female Mob Boss. On forthcoming Queenie: Godmother of Harlem / Aurelie Levy (Author), Elizabeth Colomba (Author, Illustrator). "Stephanie St. Clair, who gained notoriety as a criminal entrepreneur and a fashion icon, was a powerful Black woman who was able to wrest control in a world run by men."
Jordi Gaupera. 01/03/2023: A Philosophy Professor’s Final Class. "This past spring, Richard Bernstein investigated the questions he’d been asking his whole career—about right, wrong, and what we owe one another—one last time."
10featherbear
TLS January 6, 2023|No. 6249
Literature & Bibliography
Kirsty Gunn. Stories that simply unfold: Katherine Mansfield’s place in the literary canon. Review of: All Sorts of Lives: Katherine Mansfield and the art of risking everything / Claire Harman.
James Waddell. Like an uncut cake: The enduring appeal of the hard-copy encyclopedia. Review of: All the Knowledge in the World: The extraordinary history of the encyclopaedia / Simon Garfield.
Polly Jones. We’ll stay away until Putin croaks: Stories of Russian dispersal, exodus and flight. Review of: Kilometer 101 / Maxim Osipov; translated by Boris Dralyuk et al.
Emily Barton. Instinct and obligation: An uncomfortable, beautiful novel of the first human relationship. Review of: Is Mother Dead / Vigdis Hjorth, translated by Charlotte Barslund.
James Cahill. Through the fog: Same-sex love and scientific study in late-Victorian England. Review of: The New Life / Tom Crewe. " John Addington and Henry Ellis are modelled on John Addington Symonds, the poet and critic, and Henry Havelock Ellis, the pioneering sexologist, but Crewe has freed himself from the constraints of historical fidelity to create his fictional 'others'."
In Brief Review of: The Uncollected Essays of Elizabeth Hardwick / Alex Andriesse, editor.
In Brief Review of: Hotel Splendide / Ludwig Bemelmans.
Arts
Bobby Xinyue. Flights of fancy: The marriage of science and the arts in early modern Britain. Review of: Celestial Aspirations: Classical impulses in British poetry and art / Philip Hardie.
Holly Williams. Every word of it true: Two twentieth-century ‘giants’ discuss sex, art and addiction. Review of: WarholCapote: A non-fiction invention / Rob Roth.
Michael Caines. Keynote speeches: New settings – musical and geographical – for a venerable play. Review of a recent staging of As You Like It.
Lesley Chamberlain. Melancholy and joy: The work of four pioneering German women painters. Review of the exhibition Making Modernism: Paula Modersohn-Becker, Käthe Kollwitz, Gabriele Münter and Marianne Werefkin: Royal Academy of Arts, until February 12, 2023.
Ian Buruma. A nose for stink: How the artist Frans Hals recorded the indiscreet charm of the Dutch bourgeoisie. Review of: The Portraitist: Frans Hals and his world / Steven Nadler.
Science and Technology
Richard Lea. Life on Mars: Fact and fiction in an anthology of writing about the red planet. Review of: The Book of Mars: An anthology of fact and fiction / Stuart Clark (editor?).
In Brief Review of: Thirteen Ways To Smell a Tree: A celebration of our connection with trees / David George Haskell.
History, Politics, Society, Travel
Tyler Cowen. Arms and the man: The history of General Electric, once the most valuable company in the United States. Review of: Power Failure: The rise and fall of General Electric / William D. Cohan.
David Pitofsky. Not yet tired of the drama: Attempting to make sense of a presidential provocateur. Review of: Confidence Man: The making of Donald Trump and the breaking of America / Maggie Haberman.
Anthony DePalma. ‘We are not afraid’: The man who inspired Cubans to raise their voices against Castro. Review of: Give Me Liberty: Oswaldo Payá and the struggle to free Cuba / David E. Hoffman.
Libby Purves. A life of duty and Dubonnet: An intimate portrait of the late Queen Mother. Review of: Do Let's Have Another Drink: The singular wit and double measures of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother / Gareth Russell.
Frank Lawon. The worst sea on earth: The story of the Endurance told by the man who found her. Review of: The Ship Beneath the Ice: The discovery of Shackleton’s Endurance / Mensun Bound.
Jonathan Dore. Out of the mists: Franklin’s doomed Arctic expedition, illuminated by its correspondence. Review of: May We Be Spared To Meet On Earth: Letters of the lost Franklin Arctic Expedition / Russell A. Potter, Regina Koellner, Peter Carney and Mary Williamson, editors.
Sara Wheeler. ‘Love was born in Spain’: The importance of the female gaze in a ‘gripping’ travelogue. Review of: Travels into Spain / Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, Baronne d’Aulnoy; edited and translated by Gabrielle M. Verdier.
In Brief Review of: Imperial Wine: How the British Empire made wine’s new world / Jennifer Regan-Lefebvre.
In Brief Review of: Incomparable Realms: Spain during the Golden Age, 1500–1700 / Jeremy Robbins.
In Brief Review of: Why Governments Get It Wrong: And how they can get it right / Dennis C. Grube.
Literature & Bibliography
Kirsty Gunn. Stories that simply unfold: Katherine Mansfield’s place in the literary canon. Review of: All Sorts of Lives: Katherine Mansfield and the art of risking everything / Claire Harman.
James Waddell. Like an uncut cake: The enduring appeal of the hard-copy encyclopedia. Review of: All the Knowledge in the World: The extraordinary history of the encyclopaedia / Simon Garfield.
Polly Jones. We’ll stay away until Putin croaks: Stories of Russian dispersal, exodus and flight. Review of: Kilometer 101 / Maxim Osipov; translated by Boris Dralyuk et al.
Emily Barton. Instinct and obligation: An uncomfortable, beautiful novel of the first human relationship. Review of: Is Mother Dead / Vigdis Hjorth, translated by Charlotte Barslund.
James Cahill. Through the fog: Same-sex love and scientific study in late-Victorian England. Review of: The New Life / Tom Crewe. " John Addington and Henry Ellis are modelled on John Addington Symonds, the poet and critic, and Henry Havelock Ellis, the pioneering sexologist, but Crewe has freed himself from the constraints of historical fidelity to create his fictional 'others'."
In Brief Review of: The Uncollected Essays of Elizabeth Hardwick / Alex Andriesse, editor.
In Brief Review of: Hotel Splendide / Ludwig Bemelmans.
Arts
Bobby Xinyue. Flights of fancy: The marriage of science and the arts in early modern Britain. Review of: Celestial Aspirations: Classical impulses in British poetry and art / Philip Hardie.
Holly Williams. Every word of it true: Two twentieth-century ‘giants’ discuss sex, art and addiction. Review of: WarholCapote: A non-fiction invention / Rob Roth.
Michael Caines. Keynote speeches: New settings – musical and geographical – for a venerable play. Review of a recent staging of As You Like It.
Lesley Chamberlain. Melancholy and joy: The work of four pioneering German women painters. Review of the exhibition Making Modernism: Paula Modersohn-Becker, Käthe Kollwitz, Gabriele Münter and Marianne Werefkin: Royal Academy of Arts, until February 12, 2023.
Ian Buruma. A nose for stink: How the artist Frans Hals recorded the indiscreet charm of the Dutch bourgeoisie. Review of: The Portraitist: Frans Hals and his world / Steven Nadler.
Science and Technology
Richard Lea. Life on Mars: Fact and fiction in an anthology of writing about the red planet. Review of: The Book of Mars: An anthology of fact and fiction / Stuart Clark (editor?).
In Brief Review of: Thirteen Ways To Smell a Tree: A celebration of our connection with trees / David George Haskell.
History, Politics, Society, Travel
Tyler Cowen. Arms and the man: The history of General Electric, once the most valuable company in the United States. Review of: Power Failure: The rise and fall of General Electric / William D. Cohan.
David Pitofsky. Not yet tired of the drama: Attempting to make sense of a presidential provocateur. Review of: Confidence Man: The making of Donald Trump and the breaking of America / Maggie Haberman.
Anthony DePalma. ‘We are not afraid’: The man who inspired Cubans to raise their voices against Castro. Review of: Give Me Liberty: Oswaldo Payá and the struggle to free Cuba / David E. Hoffman.
Libby Purves. A life of duty and Dubonnet: An intimate portrait of the late Queen Mother. Review of: Do Let's Have Another Drink: The singular wit and double measures of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother / Gareth Russell.
Frank Lawon. The worst sea on earth: The story of the Endurance told by the man who found her. Review of: The Ship Beneath the Ice: The discovery of Shackleton’s Endurance / Mensun Bound.
Jonathan Dore. Out of the mists: Franklin’s doomed Arctic expedition, illuminated by its correspondence. Review of: May We Be Spared To Meet On Earth: Letters of the lost Franklin Arctic Expedition / Russell A. Potter, Regina Koellner, Peter Carney and Mary Williamson, editors.
Sara Wheeler. ‘Love was born in Spain’: The importance of the female gaze in a ‘gripping’ travelogue. Review of: Travels into Spain / Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, Baronne d’Aulnoy; edited and translated by Gabrielle M. Verdier.
In Brief Review of: Imperial Wine: How the British Empire made wine’s new world / Jennifer Regan-Lefebvre.
In Brief Review of: Incomparable Realms: Spain during the Golden Age, 1500–1700 / Jeremy Robbins.
In Brief Review of: Why Governments Get It Wrong: And how they can get it right / Dennis C. Grube.
11featherbear
Fay Weldon, 1931-2023
Alan Cowell. NYT, 01/04/2023: Fay Weldon, British Novelist Who Challenged Feminist Orthodoxy, Dies at 91. Author of, among many others: The Life and Loves of a She-Devil.
Alan Cowell. NYT, 01/04/2023: Fay Weldon, British Novelist Who Challenged Feminist Orthodoxy, Dies at 91. Author of, among many others: The Life and Loves of a She-Devil.
12featherbear
New from LARB (Los Angeles Review of Books)
William Collins Donahue. LARB, 01/05/2023: Truths That Cannot Be Offered Outside of Art. Review of: Modernism and Mimesis / Stephen D. Dowden.
Thomas J. Millay. 01/05/2023: Mathematical Tragedy. Review of Stella Maris / Cormac McCarthy.
Jason E. Smith. 01/04/2023: Abolition After the George Floyd Rebellion. Review of: States of Incarceration: Rebellion, Reform, and America’s Punishment System / Jarrod Shanahan and Zhandarka Kurti.
William Collins Donahue. LARB, 01/05/2023: Truths That Cannot Be Offered Outside of Art. Review of: Modernism and Mimesis / Stephen D. Dowden.
Thomas J. Millay. 01/05/2023: Mathematical Tragedy. Review of Stella Maris / Cormac McCarthy.
Jason E. Smith. 01/04/2023: Abolition After the George Floyd Rebellion. Review of: States of Incarceration: Rebellion, Reform, and America’s Punishment System / Jarrod Shanahan and Zhandarka Kurti.
13featherbear
The relationship of editor Robert Gottlieb & author Robert Caro, on the occasion of a new documentary, Turn Every Page:
Gal Beckerman. The Atlantic, 01/05/2023: A Civil War Over Semicolons.
Pamela Paul. NYT, 01/05/2023: Robert Caro, Robert Gottlieb and the Art of the Edit.
Ben Kenigsberg. NYT, 12/29/2022: ‘Turn Every Page’ Review: It’s Not Done Yet.
Gal Beckerman. The Atlantic, 01/05/2023: A Civil War Over Semicolons.
Pamela Paul. NYT, 01/05/2023: Robert Caro, Robert Gottlieb and the Art of the Edit.
Ben Kenigsberg. NYT, 12/29/2022: ‘Turn Every Page’ Review: It’s Not Done Yet.
14featherbear
Hiromi Kawakami and translated by Allison Markin Powell. NYT, 01/04/2023: Read Your Way Through Tokyo.
Hiromi Kawakami’s Tokyo Reading List
“The Narrow Road to the Deep North,” Matsuo Basho
“The Curious Casebook of Inspector Hanshichi,” Kido Okamoto
“The House of Nire,” Morio Kita
“Ten Nights’ Dreams,” Natsume Soseki
“A Strange Tale from East of the River,” Kafu Nagai
“Seventeen,” Kenzaburo Oe
“Toddler Hunting and Other Stories,” Taeko Kono
“The Woman Next Door,” Kuniko Mukoda
“After the Quake,” Haruki Murakami
“The Book of Tokyo,” edited by Jim Hinks, Masashi Matsuie and Michael Emmerich
Hiromi Kawakami’s Tokyo Reading List
“The Narrow Road to the Deep North,” Matsuo Basho
“The Curious Casebook of Inspector Hanshichi,” Kido Okamoto
“The House of Nire,” Morio Kita
“Ten Nights’ Dreams,” Natsume Soseki
“A Strange Tale from East of the River,” Kafu Nagai
“Seventeen,” Kenzaburo Oe
“Toddler Hunting and Other Stories,” Taeko Kono
“The Woman Next Door,” Kuniko Mukoda
“After the Quake,” Haruki Murakami
“The Book of Tokyo,” edited by Jim Hinks, Masashi Matsuie and Michael Emmerich
15featherbear
Joyce Meskis, 1942-2022
Michael S. Rosenwood. WaPo, 01/04/2023: Joyce Meskis, whose Tattered Cover became a destination for book lovers, dies at 80.
Michael S. Rosenwood. WaPo, 01/04/2023: Joyce Meskis, whose Tattered Cover became a destination for book lovers, dies at 80.
16featherbear
On the relationship of Darryl Pinckney & Elizabeth Hardwick, & his memoir Come Back in September: A Literary Education on West Sixty-Seventh Street, Manhattan.
Lauren Leblanc. The Atlantic, 01/06/2023: The Writer’s Most Sacred Relationship.
Lauren Leblanc. The Atlantic, 01/06/2023: The Writer’s Most Sacred Relationship.
17featherbear
From this year's The Millions:
Dan Stahl. 01/03/2023: English in the Real World. On Garner's Modern English Usage / Bryan Garner, with asides on McGraw-Hill Handbook of English Grammar and Usage, 2nd edition / Mark Lester, Larry Beason -- The Chicago Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation / Bryan Garner.
Alexander Sammartino. 01/05/2023: The Evolving Comedy of George Saunders.
Dan Stahl. 01/03/2023: English in the Real World. On Garner's Modern English Usage / Bryan Garner, with asides on McGraw-Hill Handbook of English Grammar and Usage, 2nd edition / Mark Lester, Larry Beason -- The Chicago Guide to Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation / Bryan Garner.
Alexander Sammartino. 01/05/2023: The Evolving Comedy of George Saunders.
18featherbear
Bookforum is being discontinued, but for a while articles will be available online, so for the time being, from the last issue (Dec./Jan./Feb.):
Features
Harmony Holiday. Seduction and Betrayal: Hilton Als’s conflicted love letter to Prince. Review of My Pinup / Hilton Als.
Justin Taylor. Brood Meridian: Cormac McCarthy’s dream songs about genius siblings in love. Review of: The Passenger and Stella Maris / Cormac McCarthy.
Becca Rothfeld. Supreme Courtesan: Colette’s classic novels of a prostitute and her young ex-lover. Review of: Chéri and The End of Chéri / Colette.
Sasha Frere-Jones. Director’s Cut: The art of Gordon Matta-Clark. Review of: Gordon Matta-Clark: An Archival Sourcebook / edited by Gwendolyn Owens and Philip Ursprung.
Fiction
Lisa Borst. DIY PI: Sam Lipsyte reinvents the detective novel for the last days of punk. Review of: No One Left to Come Looking for You: A Novel / Sam Lipsyte.
Lily Meyer. Just Deserts: Lydia Millet’s novel of a privileged man’s transformation. Review of: Dinosaurs / Lydia Millet.
Jess Bergman. The Groups: Anna Moschovakis’s novel of collectives challenges the reader to participate. Review of: Participation / Anna Moschovakis.
Stephanie Burt. City on Fire: N. K. Jemisin’s NYC-set fantasy series. Review of: The World We Make: A Novel / N. K. Jemisin.
Omari Weekes. On Boroughed Time: A Black trans ex-convict returns to gentrified Brooklyn. Review of: Didn't Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta / James Hannaham.
Rebecca Ariel Porte. Ruminations in an Emergency: A new translation of Proust’s late masterpiece. Review of: Finding Time Again: In Search of Lost Time, Volume 7 / Marcel Proust, translated by Ian Patterson.
Arts and Letters
Christine Smallwood. Cold Comforts: A new biography of novelist Shirley Hazzard. Review of: Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life / Brigitta Olubas.
Barry Schwabsky. Art book review of: Pierre Fatumbi Verger: United States of America 1934 & 1937 / Edited with Text by Javier Escudero Rodriguez; contributions by Alex Baradel, Deborah Willis, and Nancy De Souza.
Albert Mobilio. Art book review of: Frank Bowling’s Americas: New York, 1966–75 / Edited with text by Reto Thuring and Akili Tommasino with Debra Lennard; contributions by Firelei Baez, Melvin Edwards, Julie Mehretu, Kobena Mercer, and Sarah Roberts.
Christian Lorentzen. Cold Snap: The correspondence of spy-turned-novelist John le Carré. Review of: A Private Spy: The Letters of John le Carré / John le Carré, editor Tim Cornwell.
Siobhan Phillips. Corps Values: A biography of George Balanchine shows the fragile contingency of genius. Review of: Mr. B: George Balanchine's 20th Century / Jennifer Homans.
Nikki Shaner-Branford. Wear and Tear: Sofi Thanhauser’s social history of fabrics and fast fashion. Review of: Worn: A People's History of Clothing / Sofi Thanhauser.
Apporva Tadepalli. Cut to the Chase: Sybil Andrews and Cyril Power’s interwar art. Review of: Sybil & Cyril: Cutting Through Time / Jenny Uglow.
Sophie Haigney. Party Favor: The private longing and public performance of going out. Review of: Hanging Out: The Radical Power of Killing Time / Sheila Liming.
J.C. Gabel. The Indie City: A new history of a legendary Chicago record label. Review of: You're with Stupid: kranky, Chicago, and the Reinvention of Indie Music / Bruce Adams.
Politics
Michael Robbins. Down and Outbreak: A science writer investigates COVID and its origins. Review of: Breathless: The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus / David Quammen.
Columns
Artful Volumes: The season’s outstanding art books.
The Lit Parade: Writers on their favorite books of 2022.
Angelo Hernandez-Dias. A Case for the Weird Voice: George Saunders on revision, the subconscious, and staying mystified. (Interview)
Rachel Tashjian. Be Loyal to the Royal in Yourself: Bunny Mellon’s majestically contradictor. Review of: I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise: A Life of Bunny Mellon / Mac Griswold.
Features
Harmony Holiday. Seduction and Betrayal: Hilton Als’s conflicted love letter to Prince. Review of My Pinup / Hilton Als.
Justin Taylor. Brood Meridian: Cormac McCarthy’s dream songs about genius siblings in love. Review of: The Passenger and Stella Maris / Cormac McCarthy.
Becca Rothfeld. Supreme Courtesan: Colette’s classic novels of a prostitute and her young ex-lover. Review of: Chéri and The End of Chéri / Colette.
Sasha Frere-Jones. Director’s Cut: The art of Gordon Matta-Clark. Review of: Gordon Matta-Clark: An Archival Sourcebook / edited by Gwendolyn Owens and Philip Ursprung.
Fiction
Lisa Borst. DIY PI: Sam Lipsyte reinvents the detective novel for the last days of punk. Review of: No One Left to Come Looking for You: A Novel / Sam Lipsyte.
Lily Meyer. Just Deserts: Lydia Millet’s novel of a privileged man’s transformation. Review of: Dinosaurs / Lydia Millet.
Jess Bergman. The Groups: Anna Moschovakis’s novel of collectives challenges the reader to participate. Review of: Participation / Anna Moschovakis.
Stephanie Burt. City on Fire: N. K. Jemisin’s NYC-set fantasy series. Review of: The World We Make: A Novel / N. K. Jemisin.
Omari Weekes. On Boroughed Time: A Black trans ex-convict returns to gentrified Brooklyn. Review of: Didn't Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta / James Hannaham.
Rebecca Ariel Porte. Ruminations in an Emergency: A new translation of Proust’s late masterpiece. Review of: Finding Time Again: In Search of Lost Time, Volume 7 / Marcel Proust, translated by Ian Patterson.
Arts and Letters
Christine Smallwood. Cold Comforts: A new biography of novelist Shirley Hazzard. Review of: Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life / Brigitta Olubas.
Barry Schwabsky. Art book review of: Pierre Fatumbi Verger: United States of America 1934 & 1937 / Edited with Text by Javier Escudero Rodriguez; contributions by Alex Baradel, Deborah Willis, and Nancy De Souza.
Albert Mobilio. Art book review of: Frank Bowling’s Americas: New York, 1966–75 / Edited with text by Reto Thuring and Akili Tommasino with Debra Lennard; contributions by Firelei Baez, Melvin Edwards, Julie Mehretu, Kobena Mercer, and Sarah Roberts.
Christian Lorentzen. Cold Snap: The correspondence of spy-turned-novelist John le Carré. Review of: A Private Spy: The Letters of John le Carré / John le Carré, editor Tim Cornwell.
Siobhan Phillips. Corps Values: A biography of George Balanchine shows the fragile contingency of genius. Review of: Mr. B: George Balanchine's 20th Century / Jennifer Homans.
Nikki Shaner-Branford. Wear and Tear: Sofi Thanhauser’s social history of fabrics and fast fashion. Review of: Worn: A People's History of Clothing / Sofi Thanhauser.
Apporva Tadepalli. Cut to the Chase: Sybil Andrews and Cyril Power’s interwar art. Review of: Sybil & Cyril: Cutting Through Time / Jenny Uglow.
Sophie Haigney. Party Favor: The private longing and public performance of going out. Review of: Hanging Out: The Radical Power of Killing Time / Sheila Liming.
J.C. Gabel. The Indie City: A new history of a legendary Chicago record label. Review of: You're with Stupid: kranky, Chicago, and the Reinvention of Indie Music / Bruce Adams.
Politics
Michael Robbins. Down and Outbreak: A science writer investigates COVID and its origins. Review of: Breathless: The Scientific Race to Defeat a Deadly Virus / David Quammen.
Columns
Artful Volumes: The season’s outstanding art books.
The Lit Parade: Writers on their favorite books of 2022.
Angelo Hernandez-Dias. A Case for the Weird Voice: George Saunders on revision, the subconscious, and staying mystified. (Interview)
Rachel Tashjian. Be Loyal to the Royal in Yourself: Bunny Mellon’s majestically contradictor. Review of: I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise: A Life of Bunny Mellon / Mac Griswold.
19featherbear
Recently from The New Yorker:
Mary Norris. 01/07/2023: The Editor Who Edited Salinger. "The personal archive of Gus Lobrano, a longtime editor at The New Yorker, provides a glimpse of a vanished literary past."
Katy Waldman. 01/07/2023: Maggie Haberman, the Confidence Man’s Chronicler. On the author of: Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America.
Lucie Elven. 01/05/2023: What Lies Do to a Life. On A History of Lying / Juan Jacinto Muñoz-Rengel.
Mary Norris. 01/07/2023: The Editor Who Edited Salinger. "The personal archive of Gus Lobrano, a longtime editor at The New Yorker, provides a glimpse of a vanished literary past."
Katy Waldman. 01/07/2023: Maggie Haberman, the Confidence Man’s Chronicler. On the author of: Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America.
Lucie Elven. 01/05/2023: What Lies Do to a Life. On A History of Lying / Juan Jacinto Muñoz-Rengel.
20featherbear
Willard Gaylin, 1925-2022, psychoanalyst & author:
Richard Sandomir. NYT, 01/07/2023: Willard Gaylin, a Pioneer in Bioethics, Is Dead at 97.
His books include: Hatred: The Psychological Descent Into Violence -- The Killing of Bonnie Garland: A Question of Justice
Richard Sandomir. NYT, 01/07/2023: Willard Gaylin, a Pioneer in Bioethics, Is Dead at 97.
His books include: Hatred: The Psychological Descent Into Violence -- The Killing of Bonnie Garland: A Question of Justice
21featherbear
Maybe I'll read this one of these days, but I'll be 74 this October. Short stories for the time being.
The New York Times Books Staff. 01/06/2023: What Are Your Reading Goals for 2023?
The New York Times Books Staff. 01/06/2023: What Are Your Reading Goals for 2023?
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Jason Ray Carney. LARB, 01/07/2023: Does Horror Infect or Protect? Review of: Lurking Under the Surface: Horror, Religion, and the Questions That Haunt Us / Brandon R. Graficus.
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Morten Hoi Jensen. WaPo, 01/05/2023: The rootless, brilliant and tragic life of Joseph Roth. Review of: Endless Flight: The Life of Joseph Roth / Keiron Pim.
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Katie Notopoulos. Buzzfeed News, 01/05/2023: Teachers Are Absolutely Loving The Student Who Made A Tool That Shows If Your Essay Was Written By AI.
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"Filippo Bernardini impersonated agents and publishers to obtain works from writers including Atwood, McEwan and Rooney."
Agence-France Presse via The Guardian, 01/07/2023: Man pleads guilty to stealing more than 1,000 manuscripts.
Agence-France Presse via The Guardian, 01/07/2023: Man pleads guilty to stealing more than 1,000 manuscripts.
26featherbear
More from The Guardian online:
Guardian, 01/07/2023: ‘It altered my entire worldview’: leading authors pick eight nonfiction books to change your mind.
John Self. 01/07/2023: "A box of delights." Review of: The Written World and the Unwritten World / Italo Calvino; translated by Ann Goldstein. (US publication Jan. 17)
Jim Waterson. 01/06/2023: Prince Harry book leaks let papers have their cake and eat it. Spare / Prince Harry US publication date Jan. 10.
Guardian, 01/07/2023: ‘It altered my entire worldview’: leading authors pick eight nonfiction books to change your mind.
John Self. 01/07/2023: "A box of delights." Review of: The Written World and the Unwritten World / Italo Calvino; translated by Ann Goldstein. (US publication Jan. 17)
Jim Waterson. 01/06/2023: Prince Harry book leaks let papers have their cake and eat it. Spare / Prince Harry US publication date Jan. 10.
27featherbear
Russell Banks, 1940-2023
Rebecca Chace. NYT, 01/083/2023: Russell Banks, Novelist Steeped in the Working Class, Dies at 82.
His works include: Cloudsplitter -- Continental Drift -- The Sweet Hereafter -- Affliction.
Addendum:
Ron Charles. WaPo, 01/08/2023: Russell Banks wrestled with our hopes, ideals and regrets.
Rebecca Chace. NYT, 01/083/2023: Russell Banks, Novelist Steeped in the Working Class, Dies at 82.
His works include: Cloudsplitter -- Continental Drift -- The Sweet Hereafter -- Affliction.
Addendum:
Ron Charles. WaPo, 01/08/2023: Russell Banks wrestled with our hopes, ideals and regrets.
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Peter Conrad. The Guardian, 01/09/2023: A literary sucker punch. Review of: Tough Guy: The Life of Norman Mailer / Richard Bradford.
29featherbear
LARB has 2 reviews of The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World / Iain Gilchrist. Well, it's 2 volumes.
Rowan Williams. 01/08/2023: A Brain of Two Minds.
Andrew Louth. 01/08/2023: Beyond Our Delusions.
And now, for something completely different:
Dan Sinykin. 01/09/2023: Fuck the Poetry Police: On the Index of Major Literary Prizes in the United States.
Rowan Williams. 01/08/2023: A Brain of Two Minds.
Andrew Louth. 01/08/2023: Beyond Our Delusions.
And now, for something completely different:
Dan Sinykin. 01/09/2023: Fuck the Poetry Police: On the Index of Major Literary Prizes in the United States.
30featherbear
Congrats to Colleen Hoover.
Emily Temple. LitHub, 01/10/2023: These are the bestselling books of 2022.
Emily Temple. LitHub, 01/10/2023: These are the bestselling books of 2022.
31featherbear
Charles Simic, 1938-2023
Dwight Garner. NYT, 01/09/2023: Charles Simic, Pulitzer-Winning Poet and U.S. Laureate, Dies at 84.
"A Serbian-born American, he left the impression in his verse that he had “poked a hole into everyday life to reveal a glimpse of something endless.”
Dwight Garner. NYT, 01/09/2023: Charles Simic, Pulitzer-Winning Poet and U.S. Laureate, Dies at 84.
"A Serbian-born American, he left the impression in his verse that he had “poked a hole into everyday life to reveal a glimpse of something endless.”
32featherbear
Recent book reviews from The New York Times:
Maurice Chammah. 01/10/2023: What Oakland, Calif., Tells Us About Why Police Reform Is So Hard. Review of: The Riders Come Out at Night: Brutality, Corruption, and Cover-Up in Oakland / Ali Winston and Darwin BondGraham.
Mark Epstein. 01/10/2023: Is That All There Is? A Secular Seeker Visits Holy Sites. Review of: The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise / Pico Iyer.
Alexandra Jacobs. 01/10/2023: Prince Harry Learns to Cry, and Takes No Prisoners, in ‘Spare.’ Review of: Spare / Prince Harry.*
Jennifer Szalai. 01/09/2023: Attention? Medieval Monks Were Distracted Too. Review of: The Wandering Mind: What Medieval Monks Tell Us About Distraction / Jamie Kreiner.
*And while we're at it: Helen Lewis. The Atlantic, 01/11/2023: Prince Harry’s Book Undermines the Very Idea of Monarchy.
Maurice Chammah. 01/10/2023: What Oakland, Calif., Tells Us About Why Police Reform Is So Hard. Review of: The Riders Come Out at Night: Brutality, Corruption, and Cover-Up in Oakland / Ali Winston and Darwin BondGraham.
Mark Epstein. 01/10/2023: Is That All There Is? A Secular Seeker Visits Holy Sites. Review of: The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise / Pico Iyer.
Alexandra Jacobs. 01/10/2023: Prince Harry Learns to Cry, and Takes No Prisoners, in ‘Spare.’ Review of: Spare / Prince Harry.*
Jennifer Szalai. 01/09/2023: Attention? Medieval Monks Were Distracted Too. Review of: The Wandering Mind: What Medieval Monks Tell Us About Distraction / Jamie Kreiner.
*And while we're at it: Helen Lewis. The Atlantic, 01/11/2023: Prince Harry’s Book Undermines the Very Idea of Monarchy.
33featherbear
Eric Adelson. WaPo, 01/11/2023: An unofficial list of the most influential science fiction works ever.
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Becca Rothfeld. New Yorker, 01/09/2023: Franz Kafka, Party Animal. Review of: The Diaries of Franz Kafka, translated by Ross Benjamin.
35featherbear
Jaime Chu. The Baffler, 01/11/2023: Hong Kong Literature’s Growing Pains. Review of: The Impossible City: A Hong Kong Memoir / Karen Cheung and Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong / Louisa Lim.
36featherbear
Kevin Canfield. CrimeReads, 01/11/2023: Iris Yamashita On Writing a Murder Mystery About an Isolated Alaskan Town. Interview on City Under One Roof / Iris Yamashita.
37featherbear
TLS January 13, 2023|No. 6250
Literature
Craig Raine. Drunk on the page: Literary representations of intoxication. (Essay)
Stephen Romer. Bathed in the Poem of the Sea: A new translation of Rimbaud’s selected writings. Review of: The Drunken Boat: Selected writings / Arthur Rimbaud; edited and translated by Mark Polizzotti.
Annabel Kim. Mystery and the macabre: French short stories that upset notions of the mission civilisatrice. Review of: The Penguin Book of French Short Stories (2 v.) / Patrick McGuinness, Editor.
Michael Lapointe. ‘Damsels’ and ‘fellows’: Novels of racial conflict and sexual violence in mid-nineteenth-century America. Review of: In the Upper Country / Kai Thomas -- A Dangerous Business / Jane Smiley.
Amir-Hussein Radjy. No safety in greatness: A turbulent tale of ninth-century Cairo. Review of: Al-Qata’i: Ibn Tulun’s city without walls / Reem Bassiouney; translated by Roger Allen.
Marlé Hammond. Removing the rhymes: The debt owed by modern Arabic poetry to Nazik al-Mala’ika. Review of: Listen To the Mourners: The essential poems of Nazik al-Mala'ika / ‘Abdulwahid Lu’lu’a, editor and translator.
Andrew Van Der Vlies. Tragic dilemmas of freedom: The prescient political novels of a South African exile. Review of: A Wreath For Udomo and Mine Boy / Peter Abrahams.
In Brief Review of: Hellfire: Evelyn Waugh and the Hypocrites Club / David Fleming.
Arts
Colin Grant. ‘Inglan Is a Bitch’: Sam Mendes’s intergenerational, interracial love story set in the 1980s. Review of the film Empire of Light.
David Barnett. What happened after Brecht: The final instalment of a definitive history of German theatre. Review of: Theater in Deutschland, 1967–1995 / Günther Rühle.
Elizabeth Lowry. Three in this marriage: Why Vincent van Gogh’s sister-in-law was responsible for his worldwide fame. Review of: Jo van Gogh-Bonger: The woman who made Vincent famous / Hans Luijten; translated by Lynne Richards.
In Brief Review of: Parallel Public: Experimental art in late East Germany / Sara Blaylock.
Science and Technology
Barbara J. King. The call of the wild: A plea to reintroduce species that have vanished from Britain. Review of: Cornerstones: Wild forces that can change our world / Benedict MacDonald.
Patrick Galbraith. Snagging Scotland: A reflection on nature, art, family, history and otherness. Review of: Belonging: Natural histories of place, identity and home / Amanda Thomson.
N.J. Enfield. Big tech is reading your mind: How software engineers became social engineers in our democracies. Review of: Freedom to Think: The long struggle to liberate our minds / Susie Alegre -- The Digital Republic: On freedom and democracy in the 21st century / Jamie Susskind.
Emily Jones. Chips for everything: What happens when many nations rely on a handful of suppliers for basic technology. Review of: Chip War: The fight for the world’s most critical technology / Chris Miller.
History, Politics, Society & Culture
Martyn Rady. Bad boy of European politics: How Viktor Orbán turned Hungary into an illiberal state. Review of: Tainted Democracy: Viktor Orbán and the subversion of Hungary / Zsuzsanna Szelényi -- Before the Uprising: Hungary under communism, 1949–1956 / Peter Kenez.
Anna Katharina Schaffner. World-weary: Mental fatigue and physical exhaustion in history. Review of: A History of Fatigue: From the Middle Ages to the present / Georges Vigarello, translated by Nancy Erber.
Ari Shavit. Netanyahu in his own words: A divisive politician’s harsh philosophy of survival. Review of: Bibi: My Story / Benjamin Netanyahu.
Abe Silberstein. ‘The only man in the cabinet’: The life of Israel’s first woman prime minister. Review of: The Only Woman in the Room: Golda Meir and her path to power / Pnina Lahav.
James Robins. From empire to Volk: Hopes of Ottoman pluralism were dashed by Turkish nationalism. Review of: The Last Days of the Ottoman Empire / Ryan Gingeras.
Peter Lake, Michael Questier, Kendra Packham And Estelle Paranque. A real papist plot: How did Henry VIII’s love letters to Anne Boleyn get to the Vatican?. (Essay)
In Brief Review of: On Travel and the Journey Through Life / Barnaby Rogerson, editor, illustrated by Kate Boxer.
In Brief Review of: Girl Online: A user manual / Joanna Walsh.
In Brief Review of: Love Me Tender / Constance Debré; translated by Holly James.
In Brief Review of: Cooking: Simply and well, for one or many / Jeremy Lee.
In Brief Review of: Hanged in Medicine Hat / Nathan M. Greenfield.
Literature
Craig Raine. Drunk on the page: Literary representations of intoxication. (Essay)
Stephen Romer. Bathed in the Poem of the Sea: A new translation of Rimbaud’s selected writings. Review of: The Drunken Boat: Selected writings / Arthur Rimbaud; edited and translated by Mark Polizzotti.
Annabel Kim. Mystery and the macabre: French short stories that upset notions of the mission civilisatrice. Review of: The Penguin Book of French Short Stories (2 v.) / Patrick McGuinness, Editor.
Michael Lapointe. ‘Damsels’ and ‘fellows’: Novels of racial conflict and sexual violence in mid-nineteenth-century America. Review of: In the Upper Country / Kai Thomas -- A Dangerous Business / Jane Smiley.
Amir-Hussein Radjy. No safety in greatness: A turbulent tale of ninth-century Cairo. Review of: Al-Qata’i: Ibn Tulun’s city without walls / Reem Bassiouney; translated by Roger Allen.
Marlé Hammond. Removing the rhymes: The debt owed by modern Arabic poetry to Nazik al-Mala’ika. Review of: Listen To the Mourners: The essential poems of Nazik al-Mala'ika / ‘Abdulwahid Lu’lu’a, editor and translator.
Andrew Van Der Vlies. Tragic dilemmas of freedom: The prescient political novels of a South African exile. Review of: A Wreath For Udomo and Mine Boy / Peter Abrahams.
In Brief Review of: Hellfire: Evelyn Waugh and the Hypocrites Club / David Fleming.
Arts
Colin Grant. ‘Inglan Is a Bitch’: Sam Mendes’s intergenerational, interracial love story set in the 1980s. Review of the film Empire of Light.
David Barnett. What happened after Brecht: The final instalment of a definitive history of German theatre. Review of: Theater in Deutschland, 1967–1995 / Günther Rühle.
Elizabeth Lowry. Three in this marriage: Why Vincent van Gogh’s sister-in-law was responsible for his worldwide fame. Review of: Jo van Gogh-Bonger: The woman who made Vincent famous / Hans Luijten; translated by Lynne Richards.
In Brief Review of: Parallel Public: Experimental art in late East Germany / Sara Blaylock.
Science and Technology
Barbara J. King. The call of the wild: A plea to reintroduce species that have vanished from Britain. Review of: Cornerstones: Wild forces that can change our world / Benedict MacDonald.
Patrick Galbraith. Snagging Scotland: A reflection on nature, art, family, history and otherness. Review of: Belonging: Natural histories of place, identity and home / Amanda Thomson.
N.J. Enfield. Big tech is reading your mind: How software engineers became social engineers in our democracies. Review of: Freedom to Think: The long struggle to liberate our minds / Susie Alegre -- The Digital Republic: On freedom and democracy in the 21st century / Jamie Susskind.
Emily Jones. Chips for everything: What happens when many nations rely on a handful of suppliers for basic technology. Review of: Chip War: The fight for the world’s most critical technology / Chris Miller.
History, Politics, Society & Culture
Martyn Rady. Bad boy of European politics: How Viktor Orbán turned Hungary into an illiberal state. Review of: Tainted Democracy: Viktor Orbán and the subversion of Hungary / Zsuzsanna Szelényi -- Before the Uprising: Hungary under communism, 1949–1956 / Peter Kenez.
Anna Katharina Schaffner. World-weary: Mental fatigue and physical exhaustion in history. Review of: A History of Fatigue: From the Middle Ages to the present / Georges Vigarello, translated by Nancy Erber.
Ari Shavit. Netanyahu in his own words: A divisive politician’s harsh philosophy of survival. Review of: Bibi: My Story / Benjamin Netanyahu.
Abe Silberstein. ‘The only man in the cabinet’: The life of Israel’s first woman prime minister. Review of: The Only Woman in the Room: Golda Meir and her path to power / Pnina Lahav.
James Robins. From empire to Volk: Hopes of Ottoman pluralism were dashed by Turkish nationalism. Review of: The Last Days of the Ottoman Empire / Ryan Gingeras.
Peter Lake, Michael Questier, Kendra Packham And Estelle Paranque. A real papist plot: How did Henry VIII’s love letters to Anne Boleyn get to the Vatican?. (Essay)
In Brief Review of: On Travel and the Journey Through Life / Barnaby Rogerson, editor, illustrated by Kate Boxer.
In Brief Review of: Girl Online: A user manual / Joanna Walsh.
In Brief Review of: Love Me Tender / Constance Debré; translated by Holly James.
In Brief Review of: Cooking: Simply and well, for one or many / Jeremy Lee.
In Brief Review of: Hanged in Medicine Hat / Nathan M. Greenfield.
38featherbear
David Owen. New Yorker, 01/12/2022: The Objectively Objectionable Grammatical Pet Peeve.
39featherbear
David Bentley Hart. The Lamp, Christmas 2022 issue: How to Write English Prose.
40featherbear
Recent LARB
Alan Warhaftig. 01/12/2023: C. L. R. James: Renaissance Revolutionary.
Alan Warhaftig. 01/12/2023: Don’t Be Afraid of Going Wrong: Conversations with C. L. R. James.
Jean Hey. 01/10/2023: Enduring Divides. Review of: The Inheritors: An Intimate Portrait of South Africa's Racial Reckoning / Eve Fairbanks.
Alex Harvey. 01/11/2023: Is Rock the Real Thing? Review of: Rock ’n’ Roll Plays Itself: A Screen History / John Scanlan.
Alan Warhaftig. 01/12/2023: C. L. R. James: Renaissance Revolutionary.
Alan Warhaftig. 01/12/2023: Don’t Be Afraid of Going Wrong: Conversations with C. L. R. James.
Jean Hey. 01/10/2023: Enduring Divides. Review of: The Inheritors: An Intimate Portrait of South Africa's Racial Reckoning / Eve Fairbanks.
Alex Harvey. 01/11/2023: Is Rock the Real Thing? Review of: Rock ’n’ Roll Plays Itself: A Screen History / John Scanlan.
41featherbear
Paul Johnson, 1928-2023
Richard B. Woodward. NYT, 01/12/2023: Paul Johnson, Prolific Historian Prized by Conservatives, Dies at 94.
Some of his works include: A History of Christianity -- A History of the Jews -- Modern Times: the world from the twenties to the eighties -- The Birth of the Modern.
"Writing more for a popular audience than for the approval of specialists, he filtered his wide reading through an ethical lens. As a historian, he looked back to the Victorians, for whom readable prose was as crucial as archival research, and, like those old-fashioned moralists, he was fond of hierarchies. Whether the subject was Renaissance sculptors or American humorists, no era, nation, religion, politician, event, building or piece of art or music was safe from his need to compare and rank."
Richard B. Woodward. NYT, 01/12/2023: Paul Johnson, Prolific Historian Prized by Conservatives, Dies at 94.
Some of his works include: A History of Christianity -- A History of the Jews -- Modern Times: the world from the twenties to the eighties -- The Birth of the Modern.
"Writing more for a popular audience than for the approval of specialists, he filtered his wide reading through an ethical lens. As a historian, he looked back to the Victorians, for whom readable prose was as crucial as archival research, and, like those old-fashioned moralists, he was fond of hierarchies. Whether the subject was Renaissance sculptors or American humorists, no era, nation, religion, politician, event, building or piece of art or music was safe from his need to compare and rank."
42featherbear
Claire Lampen. The Cut, 01/12/2023: Prince Harry’s Open Book: With its relentless candor, Spare reveals more than its author may have intended.
Shawn McCreesh. New York Intelligencer, 01/12/2023: Markus Dohle’s Big Flop: What Penguin Random House’s Failed Bid to Eat S&S Means for Publishing.
Shawn McCreesh. New York Intelligencer, 01/12/2023: Markus Dohle’s Big Flop: What Penguin Random House’s Failed Bid to Eat S&S Means for Publishing.
43featherbear
Literary & artistic creation & AI: 2 articles from The Conversation:
Nir Eiskovits & Alec Stubbs. 01/12/2023: ChatGPT, DALL-E 2 and the collapse of the creative process.
Lynne Parker et al. 01/11/2023: AI and the future of work: 5 experts on what ChatGPT, DALL-E and other AI tools mean for artists and knowledge workers.
Nir Eiskovits & Alec Stubbs. 01/12/2023: ChatGPT, DALL-E 2 and the collapse of the creative process.
Lynne Parker et al. 01/11/2023: AI and the future of work: 5 experts on what ChatGPT, DALL-E and other AI tools mean for artists and knowledge workers.
44featherbear
Max Abelson. n+1, 01/10/2023: Malcolm on the Stand. Review of: Janet Malcolm: The Last Interview and Other Conversations / Janet Malcolm, introduction Katie Roiphe.
"To read Malcolm is to be moved by the clarity of her journalism—and warned, again and again, that the form is no good"
"To read Malcolm is to be moved by the clarity of her journalism—and warned, again and again, that the form is no good"
45featherbear
Topical New Yorker book reviews.
Jill Lepore. 01/09/2023: What the January 6th Report Is Missing.
Rebecca Mead. 01/13/2023: The Haunting of Prince Harry.
Jill Lepore. 01/09/2023: What the January 6th Report Is Missing.
Rebecca Mead. 01/13/2023: The Haunting of Prince Harry.
46featherbear
More New Yorker book reviews:
Merve Emre. 01/16/2023: Has Academia Ruined Literary Criticism? On Cultural Capital: the problem of literary canon formation and Professing Criticism: essays on the organization of literary study / John Guillory.
Nikhil Krishman. 01/16/2023: The Victorian Reformers Who Defended Same-Sex Desire. Review of: The New Life: a novel / Tom Crewe.
Jennifer Wilson. 01/16/2023: John le Carré’s Search for a Vocation. Review of: A Private Spy / John Le Carre, edited by Tim Cornwell.
Merve Emre. 01/16/2023: Has Academia Ruined Literary Criticism? On Cultural Capital: the problem of literary canon formation and Professing Criticism: essays on the organization of literary study / John Guillory.
Nikhil Krishman. 01/16/2023: The Victorian Reformers Who Defended Same-Sex Desire. Review of: The New Life: a novel / Tom Crewe.
Jennifer Wilson. 01/16/2023: John le Carré’s Search for a Vocation. Review of: A Private Spy / John Le Carre, edited by Tim Cornwell.
47featherbear
The Atlantic on Janet Malcolm & a memoir of its late fiction editor C. Michael Curtis.
Katie Roiphe. 01/15/2023: She Never Meant to Write a MemoirReview of: Still Pictures: on photography and memory / Janet Malcolm.
Cullen Murphy and Scott Stossel. 01/16/2023: The Literary Legacy of C. Michael Curtis.
Katie Roiphe. 01/15/2023: She Never Meant to Write a MemoirReview of: Still Pictures: on photography and memory / Janet Malcolm.
Cullen Murphy and Scott Stossel. 01/16/2023: The Literary Legacy of C. Michael Curtis.
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Another review of the new Cormac McCarthy novels:
Joy Williams. Harper's, 01/2023: Great, Beautiful, Terrifying: on Cormac McCarthy. Review of: The Passenger and Stella Maris / Cormac McCarthy.
Joy Williams. Harper's, 01/2023: Great, Beautiful, Terrifying: on Cormac McCarthy. Review of: The Passenger and Stella Maris / Cormac McCarthy.
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Aimée Gasston. The Public Domain Review, 01/09/2023: Eating and Reading with Katherine Mansfield.
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Recently on LARB:
Costica Bradatan. 01/14/2023: How to Swim Against the Stream: On Diogenes.
Yelena Furmann. 01/14/2023: Somewhat Nebulous Contours. Review of: How the Soviet Jew Was Made / Sasha Senderovich.
Natasha Lennard. 01/15/2023: The Eternal Return of Fascism: A Conversation with Rob Riemen. Interview with the author of: To Fight Against This Age: On Fascism and Humanism.
Paul Dicken. 01/16/2023: Competing Paradigms. On The Last Writings of Thomas S. Kuhn: Incommensurability in Science / edited by Bojana Mladenović.
Costica Bradatan. 01/14/2023: How to Swim Against the Stream: On Diogenes.
Yelena Furmann. 01/14/2023: Somewhat Nebulous Contours. Review of: How the Soviet Jew Was Made / Sasha Senderovich.
Natasha Lennard. 01/15/2023: The Eternal Return of Fascism: A Conversation with Rob Riemen. Interview with the author of: To Fight Against This Age: On Fascism and Humanism.
Paul Dicken. 01/16/2023: Competing Paradigms. On The Last Writings of Thomas S. Kuhn: Incommensurability in Science / edited by Bojana Mladenović.
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"A Tennessee homemaker entered the online world of romance writers and it became, in her words, “an addiction.” Things went downhill from there."
Ellen Barry. NYT, 01/16/2023: A Fake Death in Romancelandia.
Ellen Barry. NYT, 01/16/2023: A Fake Death in Romancelandia.
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"The Englewood library closed last week after tests found methamphetamine in parts of the building, officials said. The main library in Boulder closed after a similar problem last month."
Livia Albeck-Ripka. NYT, 01/16/2023: A Second Colorado Library Closes Because of Meth Contamination.
Livia Albeck-Ripka. NYT, 01/16/2023: A Second Colorado Library Closes Because of Meth Contamination.
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TLS January 20, 2023|No. 6251
Literature & Bibliography
John Stokes. Secrets and lies: Arthur Miller’s troubled relationships and the curse of celebrity. Review of: Arthur Miller: American witness / John Lahr.
Michael Hofmann. Citizen of nowhere: The biography of Shirley Hazzard, an Australian novelist more at home in the world. Review of: Shirley Hazzard: a writing life / Brigitta Olubas.
Benjamin Shull. Changing trains at Summit: A former US poet laureate’s memoir, rooted in New Jersey. Review of: Jersey Breaks: Becoming an American poet / Robert Pinsky.
Jade French. A modern woman: Studies of H. D.’s love affairs and her development as a writer. Review of: H. D. and Bryher: An untold love story of modernism / Susan McCabe -- Winged Words: The life and work of the poet H. D. / Donna Krolik Hollenberg.
Noreen Masud. When the smoke clears: H. D.’s roman à clef about life with Ezra Pound and Frances Gregg. Review of: HERmione / H.D.
Patricia Craig. Escaping mother church: Memory and experience inform an Irish writer’s essays. Review of: A Guest at the Feast: Essays / Colm Tóibín.
Edmund Gordon. Hero or creep?: A character called Bret reflects on the ‘dreadful events of 1981.’ Review of: The Shards / Bret Easton Ellis.
Houman Barekat. People like us: A white liberal checks his privilege. Review of: Sugar Street / John Dee.
Christopher Shrimpton. Sleepwalk to disaster: A funny novel of family life and generational conflict. Review of: The End of Nightwork / Aidan Cottrell-Boyce.
Gabriel Roberts. A diminished thing: How nature’s abundance was reflected in literature. (Essay)
In Brief Review of: 99 Interruptions / Nick Boyle. ("Meditations on interruption as the essence of life and narrative fiction.")
In Brief Review of: Immaterial Texts in Late Medieval England: Making English literary manuscripts, 1400–1500 / Daniel Wakelin.
Classics
Brooke Holmes. In the gutter: The body beautiful in Greece and Rome. Review of: Exposed: The Greek and Roman body / Caroline Vout.
Samuel Agbamu. It wasn’t all Greek to him: The prophet of Pan-Africanism claimed the Classics for his own. Review of: Co-Workers in the Kingdom of Culture: Classics and cosmopolitanism in the thought of W. E. B. Du Bois / David Withun.
Caroline Vout. Finding the ancient Other?: Visual representations of Black people in the ancient world. Review of: Untangling Blackness in Greek Antiquity / Sarah F. Derbew.
Science and Technology
Fay Bound Alberti. The heart of the matter: The discovery of the circulation of blood helped to revolutionize philosophy. Review of: The Wine-Dark Sea Within: A turbulent history of blood / Dhun Sethna.
Religion
In Brief Review of: The Mystical Presence of Christ: The exceptional and the ordinary in late medieval religion / Richard Kieckhefer.
Politics & Society
Geoffrey Robertson. A town called Sue: How Russian oligarchs use British courts to close down investigative journalism. (Essay)
Regina Rini. Human experiments: When good intentions go to bad places. (Essay)
In Brief Review of: Tomorrow Is Here: Speeches / Navid Kermani; translated by Tony Crawford.
In Brief Review of: Big Man and the Little Men / Clifford Thompson.
In Brief Review of: Hunting: a cultural history / Jan E. Dizard and Mary Zeiss Stange.
Literature & Bibliography
John Stokes. Secrets and lies: Arthur Miller’s troubled relationships and the curse of celebrity. Review of: Arthur Miller: American witness / John Lahr.
Michael Hofmann. Citizen of nowhere: The biography of Shirley Hazzard, an Australian novelist more at home in the world. Review of: Shirley Hazzard: a writing life / Brigitta Olubas.
Benjamin Shull. Changing trains at Summit: A former US poet laureate’s memoir, rooted in New Jersey. Review of: Jersey Breaks: Becoming an American poet / Robert Pinsky.
Jade French. A modern woman: Studies of H. D.’s love affairs and her development as a writer. Review of: H. D. and Bryher: An untold love story of modernism / Susan McCabe -- Winged Words: The life and work of the poet H. D. / Donna Krolik Hollenberg.
Noreen Masud. When the smoke clears: H. D.’s roman à clef about life with Ezra Pound and Frances Gregg. Review of: HERmione / H.D.
Patricia Craig. Escaping mother church: Memory and experience inform an Irish writer’s essays. Review of: A Guest at the Feast: Essays / Colm Tóibín.
Edmund Gordon. Hero or creep?: A character called Bret reflects on the ‘dreadful events of 1981.’ Review of: The Shards / Bret Easton Ellis.
Houman Barekat. People like us: A white liberal checks his privilege. Review of: Sugar Street / John Dee.
Christopher Shrimpton. Sleepwalk to disaster: A funny novel of family life and generational conflict. Review of: The End of Nightwork / Aidan Cottrell-Boyce.
Gabriel Roberts. A diminished thing: How nature’s abundance was reflected in literature. (Essay)
In Brief Review of: 99 Interruptions / Nick Boyle. ("Meditations on interruption as the essence of life and narrative fiction.")
In Brief Review of: Immaterial Texts in Late Medieval England: Making English literary manuscripts, 1400–1500 / Daniel Wakelin.
Classics
Brooke Holmes. In the gutter: The body beautiful in Greece and Rome. Review of: Exposed: The Greek and Roman body / Caroline Vout.
Samuel Agbamu. It wasn’t all Greek to him: The prophet of Pan-Africanism claimed the Classics for his own. Review of: Co-Workers in the Kingdom of Culture: Classics and cosmopolitanism in the thought of W. E. B. Du Bois / David Withun.
Caroline Vout. Finding the ancient Other?: Visual representations of Black people in the ancient world. Review of: Untangling Blackness in Greek Antiquity / Sarah F. Derbew.
Science and Technology
Fay Bound Alberti. The heart of the matter: The discovery of the circulation of blood helped to revolutionize philosophy. Review of: The Wine-Dark Sea Within: A turbulent history of blood / Dhun Sethna.
Religion
In Brief Review of: The Mystical Presence of Christ: The exceptional and the ordinary in late medieval religion / Richard Kieckhefer.
Politics & Society
Geoffrey Robertson. A town called Sue: How Russian oligarchs use British courts to close down investigative journalism. (Essay)
Regina Rini. Human experiments: When good intentions go to bad places. (Essay)
In Brief Review of: Tomorrow Is Here: Speeches / Navid Kermani; translated by Tony Crawford.
In Brief Review of: Big Man and the Little Men / Clifford Thompson.
In Brief Review of: Hunting: a cultural history / Jan E. Dizard and Mary Zeiss Stange.
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Jonathan Raban, 1942-2023
Richard Sandomir. NYT 01/18/2023: Jonathan Raban, Adventurous Literary Traveler, Dies at 80.
Author of: Bad Land, an American Romance -- Passage to Juneau: a sea and its meaning -- Arabia: a journey through the labyrinth -- Old Glory: A Voyage Down the Mississippi
"Since his stroke, which left him with the use of only one hand, Mr. Raban had worked on an autobiography, “Father and Son.” Instead of a computer, he used voice dictation software to write and edit the book, which he finally completed. It is to be published by Knopf in September, John Freeman, his editor, wrote in an email."
Richard Sandomir. NYT 01/18/2023: Jonathan Raban, Adventurous Literary Traveler, Dies at 80.
Author of: Bad Land, an American Romance -- Passage to Juneau: a sea and its meaning -- Arabia: a journey through the labyrinth -- Old Glory: A Voyage Down the Mississippi
"Since his stroke, which left him with the use of only one hand, Mr. Raban had worked on an autobiography, “Father and Son.” Instead of a computer, he used voice dictation software to write and edit the book, which he finally completed. It is to be published by Knopf in September, John Freeman, his editor, wrote in an email."
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Joshua Hammer. NYT, 01/14/2023: Life and Much Death in the Amazon. Review of: Masters of the Lost Land: The Untold Story of the Amazon and the Violent Fight for the World’s Last Frontier / Heriberto Araujo.
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Ellen Pall. The Millions, 01/19/2023: Adventures in Not-Writing.
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Books in today's WaPo:
Katherine A. Powers. WaPo, 01/19/2023: Why some books should not be made into audiobooks.
Kelly Kasulis Cho. WaPo, 01/19/2023: He made a children’s book using AI. Then came the rage.
Katherine A. Powers. WaPo, 01/19/2023: Why some books should not be made into audiobooks.
Kelly Kasulis Cho. WaPo, 01/19/2023: He made a children’s book using AI. Then came the rage.
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Marco Roth. Tablet, 01/17/2023: A Kafka for Our Times.
"My aunt, the first writer I’d met in real life, once tried warning against the tendency toward Kafkaism that she’d sensed growing within me—the idea, as she thought of it, that true literature and art were only born from suffering and that writers were required to lead desperate, unhappy lives. "
"My aunt, the first writer I’d met in real life, once tried warning against the tendency toward Kafkaism that she’d sensed growing within me—the idea, as she thought of it, that true literature and art were only born from suffering and that writers were required to lead desperate, unhappy lives. "
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Sarah Weinman. The Atlantic, 01/20/2023: When Truman Capote's Lies Caught Up With Him.
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Recent work on LARB:
Michael Scott Moore. 01/20/2023: The Photic and the Deep. Review of: How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures / Sabrina Imbler.
Peter Sebastian Chesney. 01/20/2023: Hot Time in the BioCity. Review of: Natural Consequences: Intimate Essays for a Planet in Peril / Char Miller.
Ed Luker. 01/19/2023: Psychic Frictions. Review of: Psychoanalysis in a Plague Year / Donald Moss -- Abécédaire / Sharon Kivland.
Emma Kemp. 01/19/2023: Sometimes I Am What I Really Am. Review of: Maya Deren: Choreographed for Camera / Mark Alice Durant.
Michael Scott Moore. 01/20/2023: The Photic and the Deep. Review of: How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures / Sabrina Imbler.
Peter Sebastian Chesney. 01/20/2023: Hot Time in the BioCity. Review of: Natural Consequences: Intimate Essays for a Planet in Peril / Char Miller.
Ed Luker. 01/19/2023: Psychic Frictions. Review of: Psychoanalysis in a Plague Year / Donald Moss -- Abécédaire / Sharon Kivland.
Emma Kemp. 01/19/2023: Sometimes I Am What I Really Am. Review of: Maya Deren: Choreographed for Camera / Mark Alice Durant.
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"Rachel Comey’s collaboration with The New York Review of Books is the latest flirtation between the fashion and literary worlds."
Marie Solis. NYT, 01/21/20223: Clothes for People Who Love Books.
Marie Solis. NYT, 01/21/20223: Clothes for People Who Love Books.
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Betty Lee Sung, 1924-2023
"U.S.-born, she lived for a time in China and then fled as Japan invaded. She later broke academic ground in New York in the study of the Asian American diaspora."
Sam Roberts. NYT, 01/20/2023: Betty Lee Sung, Pioneering Scholar of Chinese in America, Dies at 98.
"U.S.-born, she lived for a time in China and then fled as Japan invaded. She later broke academic ground in New York in the study of the Asian American diaspora."
Sam Roberts. NYT, 01/20/2023: Betty Lee Sung, Pioneering Scholar of Chinese in America, Dies at 98.
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"Schools are struggling to keep their shelves stocked as oversight by parents and school boards intensifies."
Hannah Natanson. WaPo, 01/22/2023: Students want new books. Thanks to restrictions, librarians can’t buy them.
Hannah Natanson. WaPo, 01/22/2023: Students want new books. Thanks to restrictions, librarians can’t buy them.
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"No page is boring in this graphic novel that illustrates life in Cairo."
Jonathan Guyer. WaPo, 01/19/2023: What Egyptians wish for. Review of: Shubeik Lubeik (Pantheon Graphic Library) / Deena Mohamed.
Jonathan Guyer. WaPo, 01/19/2023: What Egyptians wish for. Review of: Shubeik Lubeik (Pantheon Graphic Library) / Deena Mohamed.
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New York Review, Feb. 9, 2023
Literature
Francesca Wade. ‘The Sanctuary of Pure Expression’: A new biography of Mina Loy shows that the roving modernist saw artistic genius as a means to self-reinvention. Review of: Mina Loy: Apology of Genius / Mary Ann Caws.
Joan Silber. Friends: a love story: Jean Chen Ho’s main characters like each other plenty, with all the trouble that comes with that. Review of: Fiona and Jane / Jean Chen Ho.
Ben Fountain. A. M. Homes’s new novel might be a satire of American politics, but should we be mainly amused, or mainly horrified? Review of: The Unfolding / A.M. Homes.
Anahid Nersessian. Reckoning with silence: Dionne Brand’s poetry has the weight and sonority of prophetic utterance without a hint of melodrama. Review of: Nomenclature: New and Collected Poems / Dionne Brand.
Neal Ascherson. Sonnets for the State: A new book recounts the history of the Circle of Writing Chekists, a group of officials in the East German Ministry of State Security who wrote poetry as a weapon in the class struggle. Review of: The Stasi Poetry Circle: The Creative Writing Class That Tried to Win the Cold War / Philip Oltermann.
Arts
Jed Perl. Going to Extremes: For Matisse art was a perpetual emergency, a matter of testing boundaries, breaking through. Review of the catalogs Matisse: the Red Studio / Ann Temkin and Dorthe Aagesen, and the exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, May 1–September 10, 2022; and SMK–National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, October 13, 2022–February 26, 2023 and Matisse in the 1930s / Matthew Affron, Cécile Debray, Claudine Grammont, and others, and the exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, October 20, 2022–January 29, 2023; the Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris, March 1–May 29, 2023; and the Musée Matisse Nice, June 23–September 24, 2023.
Adam Kirsch. Arias of despair: What can opera elicit from The Hours that the page and the screen cannot? Review of: The Hours: an opera by Kevin Puts, with a libretto by Greg Pierce, at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City, November 22–December 15, 2022.
Coco Fusco. An exhibition of Cuban art from the past decade charts the emergence of a group of artists who have broken the state’s monopoly on public discourse. Review of: Sin Autorización: Contemporary Cuban Art an exhibition at the Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York City, October 21, 2022–January 15, 2023.
Science and Technology
Alec Wilkerson. Illuminating the Brain’s ‘Utter Darkness’: A new biography considers the peculiar life of Santiago Ramón y Cajal, whose discovery that nerve cells are individual completely overthrew the existing theory of the brain. Review of: The Brain in Search of Itself: Santiago Ramón y Cajal and the Story of the Neuron / Benjamin Ehrlich -- Spark: The Life of Electricity and the Electricity of Life / Timothy J. Jorgensen.
Ian Frazier. Grim Reapers: Mega-agriculture is destroying the Corn Belt and the Central Valley, which the country’s food system depends on. Can midsize farms survive to save it?. Review of: Perilous Bounty: The Looming Collapse of American Farming and How We Can Prevent It / Tom Philpott -- The Farmer’s Lawyer: The North Dakota Nine and the Fight to Save the Family Farm / Sarah Vogel.
Politics, Culture, & Society
Linda Greenhouse. Victimhood and vengeance: The contemporary rise of Christian nationalism in the US is a reactionary response to the country’s liberalization over the past half-century. Review of: The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy / Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, with a foreword by Jemar Tisby -- Christianity’s American Fate: How Religion Became More Conservative and Society More Secular / David A. Hollinger -- This Earthly Frame: The Making of American Secularism / David Sehat.
Christine Smallwood. Misreading the Cues: The “balanced-literacy” method of teaching children to read has predominated in American schools since the 1990s. It has been a failure. Review of: Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong / an American Public Media podcast created by Emily Hanford.
Gary Shteyngart. Beyond the Pale: After the Russian Revolution, Jews left behind the shtetl and had to navigate a modern identity: New Soviet Man. Review of: How the Soviet Jew Was Made / Sasha Senderovich.
Fred Kaplan. Putin's Miscalculation: After two decades of reforming its armed forces, Russia expected a lightning victory in Ukraine, but the ill-starred invasion has revealed their deficiencies. Review of: Putin’s Wars: From Chechnya to Ukraine / Mark Galeotti.
Literature
Francesca Wade. ‘The Sanctuary of Pure Expression’: A new biography of Mina Loy shows that the roving modernist saw artistic genius as a means to self-reinvention. Review of: Mina Loy: Apology of Genius / Mary Ann Caws.
Joan Silber. Friends: a love story: Jean Chen Ho’s main characters like each other plenty, with all the trouble that comes with that. Review of: Fiona and Jane / Jean Chen Ho.
Ben Fountain. A. M. Homes’s new novel might be a satire of American politics, but should we be mainly amused, or mainly horrified? Review of: The Unfolding / A.M. Homes.
Anahid Nersessian. Reckoning with silence: Dionne Brand’s poetry has the weight and sonority of prophetic utterance without a hint of melodrama. Review of: Nomenclature: New and Collected Poems / Dionne Brand.
Neal Ascherson. Sonnets for the State: A new book recounts the history of the Circle of Writing Chekists, a group of officials in the East German Ministry of State Security who wrote poetry as a weapon in the class struggle. Review of: The Stasi Poetry Circle: The Creative Writing Class That Tried to Win the Cold War / Philip Oltermann.
Arts
Jed Perl. Going to Extremes: For Matisse art was a perpetual emergency, a matter of testing boundaries, breaking through. Review of the catalogs Matisse: the Red Studio / Ann Temkin and Dorthe Aagesen, and the exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, May 1–September 10, 2022; and SMK–National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, October 13, 2022–February 26, 2023 and Matisse in the 1930s / Matthew Affron, Cécile Debray, Claudine Grammont, and others, and the exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, October 20, 2022–January 29, 2023; the Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris, March 1–May 29, 2023; and the Musée Matisse Nice, June 23–September 24, 2023.
Adam Kirsch. Arias of despair: What can opera elicit from The Hours that the page and the screen cannot? Review of: The Hours: an opera by Kevin Puts, with a libretto by Greg Pierce, at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City, November 22–December 15, 2022.
Coco Fusco. An exhibition of Cuban art from the past decade charts the emergence of a group of artists who have broken the state’s monopoly on public discourse. Review of: Sin Autorización: Contemporary Cuban Art an exhibition at the Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York City, October 21, 2022–January 15, 2023.
Science and Technology
Alec Wilkerson. Illuminating the Brain’s ‘Utter Darkness’: A new biography considers the peculiar life of Santiago Ramón y Cajal, whose discovery that nerve cells are individual completely overthrew the existing theory of the brain. Review of: The Brain in Search of Itself: Santiago Ramón y Cajal and the Story of the Neuron / Benjamin Ehrlich -- Spark: The Life of Electricity and the Electricity of Life / Timothy J. Jorgensen.
Ian Frazier. Grim Reapers: Mega-agriculture is destroying the Corn Belt and the Central Valley, which the country’s food system depends on. Can midsize farms survive to save it?. Review of: Perilous Bounty: The Looming Collapse of American Farming and How We Can Prevent It / Tom Philpott -- The Farmer’s Lawyer: The North Dakota Nine and the Fight to Save the Family Farm / Sarah Vogel.
Politics, Culture, & Society
Linda Greenhouse. Victimhood and vengeance: The contemporary rise of Christian nationalism in the US is a reactionary response to the country’s liberalization over the past half-century. Review of: The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy / Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, with a foreword by Jemar Tisby -- Christianity’s American Fate: How Religion Became More Conservative and Society More Secular / David A. Hollinger -- This Earthly Frame: The Making of American Secularism / David Sehat.
Christine Smallwood. Misreading the Cues: The “balanced-literacy” method of teaching children to read has predominated in American schools since the 1990s. It has been a failure. Review of: Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong / an American Public Media podcast created by Emily Hanford.
Gary Shteyngart. Beyond the Pale: After the Russian Revolution, Jews left behind the shtetl and had to navigate a modern identity: New Soviet Man. Review of: How the Soviet Jew Was Made / Sasha Senderovich.
Fred Kaplan. Putin's Miscalculation: After two decades of reforming its armed forces, Russia expected a lightning victory in Ukraine, but the ill-starred invasion has revealed their deficiencies. Review of: Putin’s Wars: From Chechnya to Ukraine / Mark Galeotti.
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Kevin Mims. Quillette, 01/21/2023: Whatever Happened to Light Verse?.
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Recently on LARB:
Martin Woessner. 01/22/2023: The Kid Stays Out of the Picture. Review of: Harvard, Hollywood, Hitmen, and Holy Men / Paul W. Williams.
Michael Meranze. 01/21/2023: The Function of the University at the Present Time. Review of: Dirty Knowledge: Academic Freedom in the Age of Neoliberalism / Julia Schleck.
Martin Woessner. 01/22/2023: The Kid Stays Out of the Picture. Review of: Harvard, Hollywood, Hitmen, and Holy Men / Paul W. Williams.
Michael Meranze. 01/21/2023: The Function of the University at the Present Time. Review of: Dirty Knowledge: Academic Freedom in the Age of Neoliberalism / Julia Schleck.
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Recent book-related on The New Yorker:
Elif Batuman. 01/23/2023: Rereading Russian Classics in the Shadow of the Ukraine War. "How to reckon with the ideology of “Anna Karenina,” “Eugene Onegin,” and other beloved books."
Casey Cep. 01/23/2023: What Monks Can Teach Us About Paying Attention. Review of: The Wandering Mind: What Medieval Monks Tell Us About Distraction / Jamie Kreiner.
Idrees Kahloon. 01/23/2023: What’s the Matter with Men?. Review of: Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do about It / Richard Reeves.
Peter C. Baker. 01/23/2023: A Children’s Classic with a Refreshing Lack of Lessons. About: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day / Judith Viorst.
Elif Batuman. 01/23/2023: Rereading Russian Classics in the Shadow of the Ukraine War. "How to reckon with the ideology of “Anna Karenina,” “Eugene Onegin,” and other beloved books."
Casey Cep. 01/23/2023: What Monks Can Teach Us About Paying Attention. Review of: The Wandering Mind: What Medieval Monks Tell Us About Distraction / Jamie Kreiner.
Idrees Kahloon. 01/23/2023: What’s the Matter with Men?. Review of: Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do about It / Richard Reeves.
Peter C. Baker. 01/23/2023: A Children’s Classic with a Refreshing Lack of Lessons. About: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day / Judith Viorst.
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Andy Lamey. The Point, 01/23/2023: Theories of Justice: Is decolonization progressive? On Against Decolonisation / Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò.
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Victor S. Navasky, 1932-2023
Joseph Berger. NYT, 01/24/2023: Victor S. Navasky, a Leading Liberal Voice in Journalism, Dies at 90.
"Witty and contrarian, he was the longtime editor and later publisher of The Nation and wrote an acclaimed book about the Hollywood blacklisting era." Author of: Kennedy Justice and Naming Names.
Joseph Berger. NYT, 01/24/2023: Victor S. Navasky, a Leading Liberal Voice in Journalism, Dies at 90.
"Witty and contrarian, he was the longtime editor and later publisher of The Nation and wrote an acclaimed book about the Hollywood blacklisting era." Author of: Kennedy Justice and Naming Names.
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TLS January 27, 2023|No. 6252
Literature
Tim Parks. The illusion of control: Essays by the Italian writer who moved from realism to fantastical fiction. Review of: The Written World and the Unwritten World: Collected non-fiction / Italo Calvino, translation Ann Goldstein.
Mary C. Flannery. Always larger than life: How Chaucer’s indomitable Wife of Bath became an inspiration for many great writers. Review of: The Wife of Bath: A biography / Marion Turner.
Richard Smythe. Bucolic and euphoric: Celebrating the nature writing of Ronald Blythe, who died this month at the age of 100. Review of: Next to Nature: A lifetime in the English countryside / Ronald Blythe.
Grace Moore. Dickens’s grand tour: A writer whose imagination required constant stimulation. Review of: Dickens and Travel: The start of modern travel writing / Lucinda Hawksley.
Luis Fernández Cifuentes. Poet of the people?: In search of Lorca: the man behind the myth. Review of: Lorca After Life / Noël Valis -- After Lorca / Jack Spicer, preface by Peter Gizzi.
Harriet Baker. Bric-a-brac of a life: The celebration and affirmation of a mother’s existence. Review of the novel: The Hero of This Book / Elizabeth McCracken.
Tom Conaghan. Rips in the fabric: Convention and experiment in the short story form. Review of: Interpolated Stories / David Rose -- The BBC National Short Story Award / Introduced by Elizabeth Day.
Nina Allan. Author or subject?: Reframing a world of machismo, misogyny and camaraderie. Review of: Kick the Latch / Kathryn Scanlan.
Rohan Maitzen. Day after day: An author’s testament to turning up. Review of: A Writer's Diary / Toby Litt.
Luke Roberts. Try living: Mark Hyatt’s newly discovered novel of queer life in 1960s London. (Essay)
Lloyd (Meadhbh) Houston. Quare and queer: Three recently published volumes of queer poetry. Review of: 100 Queer Poems: An anthology / Mary Jean Chan and Andrew McMillan, editors -- Queering the Green: Post-2000 queer Irish poetry / Paul Maddern, editor -- The Sun Isn't Out Long Enough / Tatevik Sargsyan, editor.
Irina Dumitrescu. Fine romances: The problems and pleasures of a genre that's ‘easy to read but hard to write.’ (Essay)
In Brief Review of: A Down Home Meal For These Difficult Times / Meron Hadero.
Arts
Marjorie Perloff. A matter of light: An essential account of America’s greatest sculptor. Review of: David Smith: The art and life of a transformational sculptor / Michael Brenson.
Nat Segnit. Movies, films and fables: Fictionalization and fixations in Steven Spielberg’s new work. Review of the film The Fabelmans.
In Brief Review of: Y tu mamá también (BFI Film Classics) / Paul Julian Smith.
In Brief Review of: Kiki Man Ray: Art, love and rivalry in 1920s Paris / Mark Braude.
Philosophy and Religion
Jonathan Egid. A novelist’s philosopher: The Athenian thinker who inspired Chaucer. Review of: Looking for Theophrastus: Travels in search of a lost philosopher / Laura Beatty.
Ben Hutchinson. Rorschach test for modernity: Facts and interpretations in the life of Friedrich Nietzsche. Review of: Wie Nietzsche Aus Der Kalte Kam: Geschichte einer Rettung / Philipp Felsch -- Nietzsche in Italy / Guy de Pourtalès, translated by Will Stone -- Friedrich Nietzsche (Critical Lives) / Ritchie Robertson.
Costica Bradatan. A Socrates gone insane: How Diogenes turned opposition into an art form. Review of: How to Say No: An ancient guide to the art of Cynicism / Diogenes and the Cynics; selected, translated, and introduced by M. D. Usher.
David Armitage. Makers of American ideology: John Locke and Adam Smith as misunderstood founding fathers. Review of: America's Philosopher: John Locke in American intellectual life / ClaIre Rydell Arcenas -- Adam Smith's America: How a Scottish philosopher became an icon of American capitalism / Glory M. Liu.
In Brief Review of: A Gift of Joy and Hope / Pope Francis; translated by Oonagh Stransky.
Politics and Society
Melissa Chan. Debunking the big lie: Authoritarianism in the Philippines. Review of: The Making of the Modern Philippines: Pieces of a jigsaw state / Philip Bowring -- How To Stand Up To a Dictator: The fight for our future / Maria Ressa.
Fredrik Logevall. Rebel with a cause: Thomas Jefferson, propagandist to the American Revolution. Review of: His Masterly Pen: A biography of Jefferson the writer / Fred Kaplan.
In Brief Review of: Accidental Kindness: A doctor’s notes on empathy / Michael Stein.
In Brief Review of: Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs: Unconventional Warfare in the Ancient World / Adrienne Mayor.
In Brief Review of: Chase of the Wild Goose / Mary Gordon.
Royals
Nicola Shulman. Finding quarrel in a straw: The interior world of Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, as revealed by his memoir. Review of: Spare / Prince Harry.
A.N. Wilson. Always kept in reserve: A ‘chatty, well-meaning’ biography of Queen Elizabeth II. Review of: Elizabeth: an intimate portrait / Gyles Brandreth.
Literature
Tim Parks. The illusion of control: Essays by the Italian writer who moved from realism to fantastical fiction. Review of: The Written World and the Unwritten World: Collected non-fiction / Italo Calvino, translation Ann Goldstein.
Mary C. Flannery. Always larger than life: How Chaucer’s indomitable Wife of Bath became an inspiration for many great writers. Review of: The Wife of Bath: A biography / Marion Turner.
Richard Smythe. Bucolic and euphoric: Celebrating the nature writing of Ronald Blythe, who died this month at the age of 100. Review of: Next to Nature: A lifetime in the English countryside / Ronald Blythe.
Grace Moore. Dickens’s grand tour: A writer whose imagination required constant stimulation. Review of: Dickens and Travel: The start of modern travel writing / Lucinda Hawksley.
Luis Fernández Cifuentes. Poet of the people?: In search of Lorca: the man behind the myth. Review of: Lorca After Life / Noël Valis -- After Lorca / Jack Spicer, preface by Peter Gizzi.
Harriet Baker. Bric-a-brac of a life: The celebration and affirmation of a mother’s existence. Review of the novel: The Hero of This Book / Elizabeth McCracken.
Tom Conaghan. Rips in the fabric: Convention and experiment in the short story form. Review of: Interpolated Stories / David Rose -- The BBC National Short Story Award / Introduced by Elizabeth Day.
Nina Allan. Author or subject?: Reframing a world of machismo, misogyny and camaraderie. Review of: Kick the Latch / Kathryn Scanlan.
Rohan Maitzen. Day after day: An author’s testament to turning up. Review of: A Writer's Diary / Toby Litt.
Luke Roberts. Try living: Mark Hyatt’s newly discovered novel of queer life in 1960s London. (Essay)
Lloyd (Meadhbh) Houston. Quare and queer: Three recently published volumes of queer poetry. Review of: 100 Queer Poems: An anthology / Mary Jean Chan and Andrew McMillan, editors -- Queering the Green: Post-2000 queer Irish poetry / Paul Maddern, editor -- The Sun Isn't Out Long Enough / Tatevik Sargsyan, editor.
Irina Dumitrescu. Fine romances: The problems and pleasures of a genre that's ‘easy to read but hard to write.’ (Essay)
In Brief Review of: A Down Home Meal For These Difficult Times / Meron Hadero.
Arts
Marjorie Perloff. A matter of light: An essential account of America’s greatest sculptor. Review of: David Smith: The art and life of a transformational sculptor / Michael Brenson.
Nat Segnit. Movies, films and fables: Fictionalization and fixations in Steven Spielberg’s new work. Review of the film The Fabelmans.
In Brief Review of: Y tu mamá también (BFI Film Classics) / Paul Julian Smith.
In Brief Review of: Kiki Man Ray: Art, love and rivalry in 1920s Paris / Mark Braude.
Philosophy and Religion
Jonathan Egid. A novelist’s philosopher: The Athenian thinker who inspired Chaucer. Review of: Looking for Theophrastus: Travels in search of a lost philosopher / Laura Beatty.
Ben Hutchinson. Rorschach test for modernity: Facts and interpretations in the life of Friedrich Nietzsche. Review of: Wie Nietzsche Aus Der Kalte Kam: Geschichte einer Rettung / Philipp Felsch -- Nietzsche in Italy / Guy de Pourtalès, translated by Will Stone -- Friedrich Nietzsche (Critical Lives) / Ritchie Robertson.
Costica Bradatan. A Socrates gone insane: How Diogenes turned opposition into an art form. Review of: How to Say No: An ancient guide to the art of Cynicism / Diogenes and the Cynics; selected, translated, and introduced by M. D. Usher.
David Armitage. Makers of American ideology: John Locke and Adam Smith as misunderstood founding fathers. Review of: America's Philosopher: John Locke in American intellectual life / ClaIre Rydell Arcenas -- Adam Smith's America: How a Scottish philosopher became an icon of American capitalism / Glory M. Liu.
In Brief Review of: A Gift of Joy and Hope / Pope Francis; translated by Oonagh Stransky.
Politics and Society
Melissa Chan. Debunking the big lie: Authoritarianism in the Philippines. Review of: The Making of the Modern Philippines: Pieces of a jigsaw state / Philip Bowring -- How To Stand Up To a Dictator: The fight for our future / Maria Ressa.
Fredrik Logevall. Rebel with a cause: Thomas Jefferson, propagandist to the American Revolution. Review of: His Masterly Pen: A biography of Jefferson the writer / Fred Kaplan.
In Brief Review of: Accidental Kindness: A doctor’s notes on empathy / Michael Stein.
In Brief Review of: Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs: Unconventional Warfare in the Ancient World / Adrienne Mayor.
In Brief Review of: Chase of the Wild Goose / Mary Gordon.
Royals
Nicola Shulman. Finding quarrel in a straw: The interior world of Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, as revealed by his memoir. Review of: Spare / Prince Harry.
A.N. Wilson. Always kept in reserve: A ‘chatty, well-meaning’ biography of Queen Elizabeth II. Review of: Elizabeth: an intimate portrait / Gyles Brandreth.
73featherbear
Recently on LARB:
Alex Genty-Waksberg. 01/25/2023: Compassion After Catastrophe. Review of: Death on Gokumon Island / Seishi Yokomizo.
Raymond Craib. 01/25/2023: Escape Therapy. Review of: Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires / Douglas Rushkoff.
Whitney Strub. 01/24/2023: History of Smut. Review of: The Pornography Wars: The Past, Present, and Future of America’s Obscene Obsession / Kelsy Burke.
Greg Gerke. 01/22/2023: Bludgeoning Process. Review of: The Cinema House and the World: The Cahiers du Cinema Years, 1962–1981 / Serge Daney.
Alex Genty-Waksberg. 01/25/2023: Compassion After Catastrophe. Review of: Death on Gokumon Island / Seishi Yokomizo.
Raymond Craib. 01/25/2023: Escape Therapy. Review of: Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires / Douglas Rushkoff.
Whitney Strub. 01/24/2023: History of Smut. Review of: The Pornography Wars: The Past, Present, and Future of America’s Obscene Obsession / Kelsy Burke.
Greg Gerke. 01/22/2023: Bludgeoning Process. Review of: The Cinema House and the World: The Cahiers du Cinema Years, 1962–1981 / Serge Daney.
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Thomas Chatterton Williams. The Atlantic, 01/25/2023: The People Who Don’t Read Books.
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Two from Boston Review:
Emily Berman. 01/25/2023: Without Warrant. Review of: Virtual Searches: Regulating the Covert World of Technological Policing / Christopher Slobogin -- Predict and Surveil: Data, Discretion, and the Future of Policing / Sarah Brayne.
Christopher Newfield. 01/20/2023: The Neoliberal Superego of Education Policy. Review of: Can College Level the Playing Field? Higher Education in an Unequal Society / Sandy Baum and Michael McPherson -- The Walls around Opportunity: The Failure of Colorblind Policy for Higher Education / Gary Orfield.
Emily Berman. 01/25/2023: Without Warrant. Review of: Virtual Searches: Regulating the Covert World of Technological Policing / Christopher Slobogin -- Predict and Surveil: Data, Discretion, and the Future of Policing / Sarah Brayne.
Christopher Newfield. 01/20/2023: The Neoliberal Superego of Education Policy. Review of: Can College Level the Playing Field? Higher Education in an Unequal Society / Sandy Baum and Michael McPherson -- The Walls around Opportunity: The Failure of Colorblind Policy for Higher Education / Gary Orfield.
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Kathryn Ma. LitHub, 01/25/2023: Kathryn Ma on Growing Up a Librarian’s Daughter. Author of The Year She Left Us and The Chinese Groove: a novel.
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Connor Mullin. The Millions, 01/10/2023: Moving Power: Huck Finn, James Madison, and the Currents of History.
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Pamela Paul. NYT, 01/26/2023: The Long Shadow of ‘American Dirt.’
Molly Fischer. New Yorker, 01/24/2023: The Rules According to Pamela Paul.
Molly Fischer. New Yorker, 01/24/2023: The Rules According to Pamela Paul.
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Lucy Scholes. Prospect. 01/25/2023: Meet the archive moles. "There’s a growing band of people digging through library stacks and second-hand bookshops in search of lost classics. I’m one of them"
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Paul La Farge, 1970-2023
Neil Genzlinger. NYT, 01/25/2023: Paul La Farge, Inventive Novelist, Is Dead at 52.
Author of: The Night Ocean (2017, novel about H.P. Lovecraft) -- The Facts of Winter (2005; "translation" of the purported French poet Paul Poissel) -- Haussmann, or the Distinction (2001).
Neil Genzlinger. NYT, 01/25/2023: Paul La Farge, Inventive Novelist, Is Dead at 52.
Author of: The Night Ocean (2017, novel about H.P. Lovecraft) -- The Facts of Winter (2005; "translation" of the purported French poet Paul Poissel) -- Haussmann, or the Distinction (2001).
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John Self. BBC Culture, 01/25/2023: Colette: The most beloved French writer of all time.
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Charles Kaiser. The Guardian, 01/28/2023: Myth America review: superb group history of the lies that built a nation. Review of: Myth America: Historians Take On the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past / Kevin M Kruse and Julian E Zelizer, editors.
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Helen Charman. Jacobin, 01/2023: The Hopeful Romanticism of John Keats. Review of: Keats’s Odes: A Lover’s Discourse / Anahid Nersessian.
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Sarah Lyall. NYT, 01/31/2023: The Yale Library That’s a Temple to Learning … and a Portal to Hell. Review of: Hell Bent / Leigh Bardugo.
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Judith Shulevitz. Atlantic, 01/31/2023: The Miraculous Salman Rushdie. Review of: Victory City: a novel / Salman Rushdie.
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Christopher Buckley. The Atlantic, 02/01/2023: America's Byron: Remembering the poet and novelist James Dickey on his centennial.
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TLS February 3, 2023|No. 6253
Literature & Language
Anahid Nersessian. Part panic closet, part music box: The constraints and ‘small freedoms’ of the sonnet. Review of: The American Sonnet: An anthology of poems and essays / edited by Dora Malech and Laura T. Smith.
Sophie Oliver. Is that all you want?: Mina Loy: an avant-garde poet who treated her life as art. Review of: Mina Loy: Apology of genius / Mary Ann Caws.
Daniel Wakelin. Present and correk: A new edition of Gavin Douglas’s translation of the Aeneid into Scots. Review of: The Eneados: Gavin Douglas’s Translation of Virgil’s Aeneid / Priscilla Bawcutt and Ian C. Cunningham, editors.
James Marcus. Brother spirits: On Herman Melville and his biographer Lewis Mumford. Review of: Up From the Depths: Herman Melville, Lewis Mumford, and rediscovery in dark times / Aaron Sachs.
Sam Quill. Local patriot: the ‘sharp, philosophical, funny’ poetry of Don Paterson. Review of: The Arctic / Don Paterson -- Don Paterson / Ben Wilkinson.
Harry Cochrane. Path of least resistance: A poet's memoir in a mode of ‘tender but grim realism.’ Review of: Toy Fights: a boyhood / Don Paterson.
Tom Seymour Evans. Literary payback: The strange story of Truman Capote and the millionaire’s widow. Review of: Deliberate Cruelty: Truman Capote, the millionaire’s wife, and the murder of the century / Roseanne Montillo.
Kathryn Murphy. Energy in search of subject: Antic, angry, tricksy stories of nothing from ‘the Slovak Kafka.’ Review of: Dead / Balla; translated by David Short -- Big Love / Balla; translated by Peter and Julia Sherwood.
Nick Holdstock. ‘I shall hate her still’: The twisted tale of a friendship soaked in enmity. Review of: The Fawn / Magda Szabó; translated by Len Rix.
M. John Harrison. Our world but also not: Geometry, precision, perfection in ‘a little object of meditation.' Review of: A Mountain to the North, a Lake to the South, Paths to the West, a River to the East / László Krasznahorkai; translated by Ottilie Mulzet.
In Brief Review of: On the Marble Cliffs / Ernst Jünger; translated by Tess Lewis.
In Brief Review of:Why Is This a Question? / Paul Anthony Jones.
In Brief Review of: They're Going to Love You / Meg Howrey.
Arts
Adam Mars-Jones. Animal magic: A freewheeling late work from a veteran filmmaker. Review of Jerzy Skolimowski’s film Eo.
Muriel Zagha. Anatomy of a murder: A real-life Medea explored through a French courtroom drama. Review of Muriel Diop's film Saint Omer.
Guy Stevenson. The smell of the past: The life and story of Nan Goldin, an artist who became an activist. Review of Laura Poitras's documentary All the Beauty and the Bloodshed.
James Cook. Fighters or jokers?: What the Bond films and the Beatles tell us about the British. Review of: Love and Let Die: Bond, the Beatles and the British psyche / John Higgs.
History & Society
Wendy Slater. The price of Stalin’s victory: A ‘superb’ new history of the Soviet leader in wartime. Review of: Stalin as Warlord / Alfred J. Rieber.
Pratinav Anil. Falling short of greatness: A revisionist history of India’s first post-independence leader. Review of: Nehru's India: A history in seven myths / Taylor Sherman.
Ruth Scurr. Photographic memories: Janet Malcolm looks back at her life through pictures. Review of: Still Pictures: On photography and memory / Janet Malcolm.
Ferdinand Mount. Good chaps: How the English upper classes appropriated fair play from the lower orders. Review of: An English Tradition?: The history and significance of fair play / Jonathan Duke-Evans.
Guy Stagg. In the forest silence: The third in Kapka Kassabova’s trilogy of travel books about the Balkan borderlands. Review of: Elixir: In the valley at the end of time / Kapka Kassabova.
Elizabeth Dearnley. Blessed ladies: The rise of the fairy queen in Christian Europe. Review of: Queens of the Wild: Pagan goddesses in Christian Europe: An investigation / Ronald Hutton.
In Brief Review of: The Ceiling Outside: The science and experience of the disrupted mind / Noga Arikha.
In Brief Review of: Norway in the Second World War: Politics, society and conflict / Ole Kristian Grimnes; translated by Frank Stewart.
Literature & Language
Anahid Nersessian. Part panic closet, part music box: The constraints and ‘small freedoms’ of the sonnet. Review of: The American Sonnet: An anthology of poems and essays / edited by Dora Malech and Laura T. Smith.
Sophie Oliver. Is that all you want?: Mina Loy: an avant-garde poet who treated her life as art. Review of: Mina Loy: Apology of genius / Mary Ann Caws.
Daniel Wakelin. Present and correk: A new edition of Gavin Douglas’s translation of the Aeneid into Scots. Review of: The Eneados: Gavin Douglas’s Translation of Virgil’s Aeneid / Priscilla Bawcutt and Ian C. Cunningham, editors.
James Marcus. Brother spirits: On Herman Melville and his biographer Lewis Mumford. Review of: Up From the Depths: Herman Melville, Lewis Mumford, and rediscovery in dark times / Aaron Sachs.
Sam Quill. Local patriot: the ‘sharp, philosophical, funny’ poetry of Don Paterson. Review of: The Arctic / Don Paterson -- Don Paterson / Ben Wilkinson.
Harry Cochrane. Path of least resistance: A poet's memoir in a mode of ‘tender but grim realism.’ Review of: Toy Fights: a boyhood / Don Paterson.
Tom Seymour Evans. Literary payback: The strange story of Truman Capote and the millionaire’s widow. Review of: Deliberate Cruelty: Truman Capote, the millionaire’s wife, and the murder of the century / Roseanne Montillo.
Kathryn Murphy. Energy in search of subject: Antic, angry, tricksy stories of nothing from ‘the Slovak Kafka.’ Review of: Dead / Balla; translated by David Short -- Big Love / Balla; translated by Peter and Julia Sherwood.
Nick Holdstock. ‘I shall hate her still’: The twisted tale of a friendship soaked in enmity. Review of: The Fawn / Magda Szabó; translated by Len Rix.
M. John Harrison. Our world but also not: Geometry, precision, perfection in ‘a little object of meditation.' Review of: A Mountain to the North, a Lake to the South, Paths to the West, a River to the East / László Krasznahorkai; translated by Ottilie Mulzet.
In Brief Review of: On the Marble Cliffs / Ernst Jünger; translated by Tess Lewis.
In Brief Review of:Why Is This a Question? / Paul Anthony Jones.
In Brief Review of: They're Going to Love You / Meg Howrey.
Arts
Adam Mars-Jones. Animal magic: A freewheeling late work from a veteran filmmaker. Review of Jerzy Skolimowski’s film Eo.
Muriel Zagha. Anatomy of a murder: A real-life Medea explored through a French courtroom drama. Review of Muriel Diop's film Saint Omer.
Guy Stevenson. The smell of the past: The life and story of Nan Goldin, an artist who became an activist. Review of Laura Poitras's documentary All the Beauty and the Bloodshed.
James Cook. Fighters or jokers?: What the Bond films and the Beatles tell us about the British. Review of: Love and Let Die: Bond, the Beatles and the British psyche / John Higgs.
History & Society
Wendy Slater. The price of Stalin’s victory: A ‘superb’ new history of the Soviet leader in wartime. Review of: Stalin as Warlord / Alfred J. Rieber.
Pratinav Anil. Falling short of greatness: A revisionist history of India’s first post-independence leader. Review of: Nehru's India: A history in seven myths / Taylor Sherman.
Ruth Scurr. Photographic memories: Janet Malcolm looks back at her life through pictures. Review of: Still Pictures: On photography and memory / Janet Malcolm.
Ferdinand Mount. Good chaps: How the English upper classes appropriated fair play from the lower orders. Review of: An English Tradition?: The history and significance of fair play / Jonathan Duke-Evans.
Guy Stagg. In the forest silence: The third in Kapka Kassabova’s trilogy of travel books about the Balkan borderlands. Review of: Elixir: In the valley at the end of time / Kapka Kassabova.
Elizabeth Dearnley. Blessed ladies: The rise of the fairy queen in Christian Europe. Review of: Queens of the Wild: Pagan goddesses in Christian Europe: An investigation / Ronald Hutton.
In Brief Review of: The Ceiling Outside: The science and experience of the disrupted mind / Noga Arikha.
In Brief Review of: Norway in the Second World War: Politics, society and conflict / Ole Kristian Grimnes; translated by Frank Stewart.
88featherbear
Recently on LARB:
Gina Apostol. 01/30/2023: Let the Knife Speak: On José Rizal.
Evan Selinger. 01/31/2023: Whose Body Is in the Analog World? Review of: The Future Is Analog: How to Create a More Human World / David Sax.
Ethan Warren. 01/31/2023: The Band’s Massive Weight. Review of: Rags and Bones: An Exploration of the Band / Jeff Sellars and the Criterion Collection reissue & remastering of Martin Scorsese's The Last Waltz.
Joseph Rezek. 02/01/2023: Structures of Belonging and Nonbelonging. Review of: Cotton Mather’s Spanish Lessons: A Story of Language, Race, and Belonging in the Early Americas / Kirsten Silva Gruesz.
Elizabeth Lasch-Quinn. 01/29/2023: Democracy from the Ashes. Review of: Phoenix: A Father, a Son, and the Rise of Athens / David Stuttard.
Tabby Refael. 01/29/2023: Women of Iran Rise and Revolt. Review of: Love and War in the Jewish Quarter (a novel) / Dora Levy Mossanen.
Gina Apostol. 01/30/2023: Let the Knife Speak: On José Rizal.
Evan Selinger. 01/31/2023: Whose Body Is in the Analog World? Review of: The Future Is Analog: How to Create a More Human World / David Sax.
Ethan Warren. 01/31/2023: The Band’s Massive Weight. Review of: Rags and Bones: An Exploration of the Band / Jeff Sellars and the Criterion Collection reissue & remastering of Martin Scorsese's The Last Waltz.
Joseph Rezek. 02/01/2023: Structures of Belonging and Nonbelonging. Review of: Cotton Mather’s Spanish Lessons: A Story of Language, Race, and Belonging in the Early Americas / Kirsten Silva Gruesz.
Elizabeth Lasch-Quinn. 01/29/2023: Democracy from the Ashes. Review of: Phoenix: A Father, a Son, and the Rise of Athens / David Stuttard.
Tabby Refael. 01/29/2023: Women of Iran Rise and Revolt. Review of: Love and War in the Jewish Quarter (a novel) / Dora Levy Mossanen.
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New York Review online 02/23/2023
Arts
Christopher Benfy. Buildings Come to Life: In Edward Hopper’s paintings of New York, human figures often seem outgrowths of their architectural surroundings. Review of the exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, October 19, 2022–March 5, 2023, Edward Hopper's New York / catalog of the exhibition by Kim Conaty, with essays by Kirsty Bell, Darby English, and David Hartt, and contributions by David Crane, Jennie Goldstein, Melinda Lang, and Farris Wahbeh.
Matthew Aucoin. Performance as Immolation: The conductor Carlos Kleiber’s aesthetic was founded on the interplay between voluptuous refinement and an impulse to violence. Review of: Corresponding with Carlos: A Biography of Carlos Kleiber. Charles Barber and Carlos Kleiber: Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon (12 CDs and 1 Blu-ray disc (2018)).
Andrew Butterfield. A ‘Magic Mirror’ of Venice: The first-ever exhibition outside Italy of the works of Vittore Carpaccio is a bracing introduction to the artist who best captured the imaginative grandeur and the ceremonial refinement of early-sixteenth-century Venice. Review of the exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., November 20, 2022–February 12, 2023; and the Palazzo Ducale, Venice, March 18–June 18, 2023 Vittore Carpaccio: Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice / catalog of the exhibition by Peter Humfrey and others.
Literature
Marina Warner. Nothing More Wondrous: A recent comparative study of medieval Christian and Islamic culture suggests that marvels offer common ground; wonder is a shared delight, a shared motive. Review of: Medieval Marvels and Fictions in the Latin West and Islamic World / Michelle Karnes.
Frances Wilson. Very Free and Indirect: The intensity of experience that Katherine Mansfield sought in her short life is matched by the formal obliqueness she discovered in her stories. Review of: All Sorts of Lives: Katherine Mansfield and the Art of Risking Everything / Claire Harman.
Natural History
Tim Flannery. Monotreme Dreams: Australia’s egg-laying monotremes and pouch-carrying marsupials may seem to be outliers, but they’re as well suited to their environment as any other mammal. Review of: Platypus Matters: The Extraordinary Story of Australian Mammals / Jack Ashby -- Koala: A Natural History and an Uncertain Future / Danielle Clode.
Politics & History
Timothy Garton Ash. Ukraine in Our Future: Ukraine faces extraordinary challenges, but it also presents a challenge for Europe—and a great opportunity. Review of: Unmaking Imperial Russia: Mykhailo Hrushevsky and the Writing of Ukrainian History / Serhii Plokhy -- The Frontline: Essays on Ukraine’s Past and Present / Serhii Plokhy -- The Zelensky Effect / Olga Onuch and Henry E. Hale -- Der Krieg gegen die Ukraine: Hintergründe, Ereignisse, Folgen (The War Against Ukraine: Background, Events, Consequences) / Gwendolyn Sasse.
Vanessa Barbara. Brazil at the Crossroads: Lula’s election comes as a relief to many Brazilians, but in this historically violent and unequal country, a void in the democratic field endures. (Essay)
Larry Rohter. ‘Bad for Business': In Harsh Times, Mario Vargas Llosa grieves for the path Guatemala might have taken had the United States and the United Fruit Company not intervened in 1954 to overthrow the reformist president Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán. Review of: Harsh Times / Mario Vargas Llosa, translated from the Spanish by Adrian Nathan West.
Ursula Lindsey. Rape and Resistance in Egypt: A new book recounts the heroics of activists who organized to protect women from sexual violence during the Egyptian revolution and to assert their right to participate in the country’s political life. Review of: Radius: A Story of Feminist Revolution / Yasmin El-Rifae.
Hermione Lee. The Soft-Power Brokers: A new history focusing on the English Rothschilds tells how the women were centrally involved in business, politics, social welfare, and culture—all while caught between the advantages of wealth and the burdens of anti-Semitism and sexism. Review of: The Women of Rothschild: The Untold Story of the World’s Most Famous Dynasty / Natalie Livingstone.
T. H. Breen. Commanders and Courtiers: The Howe family achieved an influential position of power in late-eighteenth-century Britain, propelled by the shrewd social intelligence of the Howe women. Review of: The Howe Dynasty: The Untold Story of a Military Family and the Women Behind Britain’s Wars for America / Julie Flavell.
Arts
Christopher Benfy. Buildings Come to Life: In Edward Hopper’s paintings of New York, human figures often seem outgrowths of their architectural surroundings. Review of the exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, October 19, 2022–March 5, 2023, Edward Hopper's New York / catalog of the exhibition by Kim Conaty, with essays by Kirsty Bell, Darby English, and David Hartt, and contributions by David Crane, Jennie Goldstein, Melinda Lang, and Farris Wahbeh.
Matthew Aucoin. Performance as Immolation: The conductor Carlos Kleiber’s aesthetic was founded on the interplay between voluptuous refinement and an impulse to violence. Review of: Corresponding with Carlos: A Biography of Carlos Kleiber. Charles Barber and Carlos Kleiber: Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon (12 CDs and 1 Blu-ray disc (2018)).
Andrew Butterfield. A ‘Magic Mirror’ of Venice: The first-ever exhibition outside Italy of the works of Vittore Carpaccio is a bracing introduction to the artist who best captured the imaginative grandeur and the ceremonial refinement of early-sixteenth-century Venice. Review of the exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., November 20, 2022–February 12, 2023; and the Palazzo Ducale, Venice, March 18–June 18, 2023 Vittore Carpaccio: Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice / catalog of the exhibition by Peter Humfrey and others.
Literature
Marina Warner. Nothing More Wondrous: A recent comparative study of medieval Christian and Islamic culture suggests that marvels offer common ground; wonder is a shared delight, a shared motive. Review of: Medieval Marvels and Fictions in the Latin West and Islamic World / Michelle Karnes.
Frances Wilson. Very Free and Indirect: The intensity of experience that Katherine Mansfield sought in her short life is matched by the formal obliqueness she discovered in her stories. Review of: All Sorts of Lives: Katherine Mansfield and the Art of Risking Everything / Claire Harman.
Natural History
Tim Flannery. Monotreme Dreams: Australia’s egg-laying monotremes and pouch-carrying marsupials may seem to be outliers, but they’re as well suited to their environment as any other mammal. Review of: Platypus Matters: The Extraordinary Story of Australian Mammals / Jack Ashby -- Koala: A Natural History and an Uncertain Future / Danielle Clode.
Politics & History
Timothy Garton Ash. Ukraine in Our Future: Ukraine faces extraordinary challenges, but it also presents a challenge for Europe—and a great opportunity. Review of: Unmaking Imperial Russia: Mykhailo Hrushevsky and the Writing of Ukrainian History / Serhii Plokhy -- The Frontline: Essays on Ukraine’s Past and Present / Serhii Plokhy -- The Zelensky Effect / Olga Onuch and Henry E. Hale -- Der Krieg gegen die Ukraine: Hintergründe, Ereignisse, Folgen (The War Against Ukraine: Background, Events, Consequences) / Gwendolyn Sasse.
Vanessa Barbara. Brazil at the Crossroads: Lula’s election comes as a relief to many Brazilians, but in this historically violent and unequal country, a void in the democratic field endures. (Essay)
Larry Rohter. ‘Bad for Business': In Harsh Times, Mario Vargas Llosa grieves for the path Guatemala might have taken had the United States and the United Fruit Company not intervened in 1954 to overthrow the reformist president Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán. Review of: Harsh Times / Mario Vargas Llosa, translated from the Spanish by Adrian Nathan West.
Ursula Lindsey. Rape and Resistance in Egypt: A new book recounts the heroics of activists who organized to protect women from sexual violence during the Egyptian revolution and to assert their right to participate in the country’s political life. Review of: Radius: A Story of Feminist Revolution / Yasmin El-Rifae.
Hermione Lee. The Soft-Power Brokers: A new history focusing on the English Rothschilds tells how the women were centrally involved in business, politics, social welfare, and culture—all while caught between the advantages of wealth and the burdens of anti-Semitism and sexism. Review of: The Women of Rothschild: The Untold Story of the World’s Most Famous Dynasty / Natalie Livingstone.
T. H. Breen. Commanders and Courtiers: The Howe family achieved an influential position of power in late-eighteenth-century Britain, propelled by the shrewd social intelligence of the Howe women. Review of: The Howe Dynasty: The Untold Story of a Military Family and the Women Behind Britain’s Wars for America / Julie Flavell.
90featherbear
"Dorothy Sayers’s most famous character is a detective who solves crimes with elegance—but he finds the deeper enigmas of human beings always out of reach."
Tayla Zax. The Atlantic, 02/03/2023: The Case of the Unknowable Human.
Tayla Zax. The Atlantic, 02/03/2023: The Case of the Unknowable Human.
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Marjorie Perloff, Johanna Winant. Boston Review, 02/03/2023: Letter to the Editors: “A Century of Serious Difficulty.”
Discussing: Johanna Winant. Boston Review, 12/07/2022: A Century of Serious Difficulty.
Discussing: Johanna Winant. Boston Review, 12/07/2022: A Century of Serious Difficulty.
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Sadie Stein. NYT 02/06/2023: The Essential Colette.
93featherbear
"Will the Japanese novelist Mieko Kawakami’s stark explorations of class translate to American readers?"
Joshua Hunt. New York Times Magazine, 02/07/2023: ‘Breasts and Eggs’ Made Her a Feminist Icon. She Has Other Ambitions.
Joshua Hunt. New York Times Magazine, 02/07/2023: ‘Breasts and Eggs’ Made Her a Feminist Icon. She Has Other Ambitions.
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Mike Lawson. LitHub, 02/07/2023: The Great, Always Bizarre Florida Crime Fiction Tradition.
95featherbear
TLS February 10, 2023|No. 6254
Literature
Ian Ellison. In the mountain’s shadow: The impact of Thomas Mann’s magnum opus. Review of: Mann's Magic Mountain: World literature and closer reading / Karolina Watroba.
James Fenton. The world we have lost: A new translation of the Spanish national epic. Review of: Songs of the Cid: The epic poem, the Romances and the Carmen Campidoctoris / Translated and introduced by Dan Veach -- Cantares De MÍo Cid: El poema épico, los Romances y el Carmen Campidoctoris / Introduced by Dan Veach; text modernized by Alberto Montaner Frutos and Ángel Escobar Chico -- Cantares De MÍo Cid: El poema épico, los Romances y el Carmen Campidoctoris (Texto Originales) / Introduced and edited by Alberto Montaner Frutos.
Lucasta Miller. Album collection: How William St Clair used commonplace books to gauge the popularity of the poets. (Essay)
Claire Lowdon. Doomed to repetition: Aleksandar Hemon’s ‘faux-profound’ take on the random cruelties of history. Review of: The World and All That It Holds / Aleksandar Hemon.
Rosemary Ashton. Lord Rochester to you: Why German Jane Eyres shied away from the Gothic. Review of: ‘Jane Eyre’ In German Lands: The import of romance, 1848–1918 / Lynne Tatlock -- Victorian Women Writers and the Other Germany: Cross-cultural freedoms and female opportunity / Linda K. Hughes.
David Frier. A girl with green eyes: The troubador lyrics of medieval Galician Portuguese. Review of: Cantigas: Galician-Portuguese troubadour poems / Richard Zenith, translator.
William Armstrong. A hunter lost in a forest: Tales from Turkey’s wild east. Review of: ‘The Wounded Age’ and ‘Eastern Tales' / Ferit Edgü.
Clifford Thompson. Their island story: A tiny community off the coast of Maine is visited by state officials. Review of: This Other Eden / Paul Harding.
In Brief Review of: A Winter Grave / Peter May.
In Brief review of: The Shutter of Snow / Emily Holmes Coleman.
Arts
Michael Caines. Light relief: An all-female, mess-free Titus Andronicus. Review of the play at Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, until April 15.
Alice Wadsworth. It goes without saying: An enchanting domestic drama rendered in mime. Review of Berlin-based performing arts troupe Familie Flöz performance of Feste, a mime play, Peacock Theatre, Sadler’s Wells, then on tour until May 7.
Craig Raine. Acrostics: The literary game ‘designed to be invisible.’ (Essay)
Religion
Lucy Wooding. Prayer book rebellion: The Catholic uprising that almost turned the Protestant tide. Review of: A Murderous Midsummer: The Western Rising of 1549 / Mark Stoyle.
Andrea Brady. Death becomes them: How the Reformation changed the cult of the dead. Review of: The Death Arts in Renaissance England: A critical anthology / William E. Engel, Rory Loughnane and Grant Williams, editors -- Country Church Monuments / C. B. Newham.
Giuliana Chamedes. A calculating coward: The Vatican archives don’t exonerate Pius XII. The Pope at War: The secret history of Pius XII, Mussolini, and Hitler / David I. Kertzer.
Science and Technology
Richard Norton-Taylor. The spy in your pocket: How a group of journalists exposed a hacking conspiracy. Review of: Pegasus: The story of the world’s most dangerous spyware / Laurent Richard and Sandrine Rigaud -- Striking Back: The end of peace in cyberspace – and how to restore it / Lucas Kello.
History, Politics, & Society
Josephine Crawley Quinn. New Caesars and old: How generals settle their veterans on others’ lands. Review of: Land Expropriation in Ancient Rome and Contemporary Zimbabwe: Veterans, masculinity and war / Obert Bernard Mlambo.
David Herman. An eye for an eye: The Jews who sought revenge on the Nazis. Review of: Nakam: The Holocaust survivors who sought full-scale revenge / Dina Porat.
Sarah Rivett. Culture clash: Colonial treaty-making with Native American tribes. Review of: Culture and Language at Crossed Purposes: The unsettled records of American settlement / Jerome McGann.
Noel Malcolm. Renaissance man: Essays in tribute to Jacob Burckhardt’s classic work. Review of: A Renaissance Reclaimed: Jacob Burckhardt’s Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy reconsidered / Stefan Bauer and Simon Ditchfield, editors.
Mark Mazower. Give them back!: Did the Ottomans preserve the Parthenon and Elgin wreck it? Review of: Who Saved the Parthenon?: A new history of the Acropolis, before, during and after the Greek Revolution / William St. Clair.
Jason Pack. The deal with Gaddafi: Libya’s implosion and the failure of the Arab Spring. Review of: Benghazi!: A new history of the fiasco that pushed America and its world to the brink / Ethan Chorin.
In Brief Review of: Radius: A story of feminist revolution / Yasmin El-Rifae.
In Brief Review of: The Path of Peace: Walking the Western Front Way / Anthony Seldon.
In Brief Review of: Capitalism: The story behind the word / Michael Sonenscher.
In Brief Review of: Do Not Resuscitate: The life and afterlife of Maurice Saatchi / Maurice Saatchi.
Literature
Ian Ellison. In the mountain’s shadow: The impact of Thomas Mann’s magnum opus. Review of: Mann's Magic Mountain: World literature and closer reading / Karolina Watroba.
James Fenton. The world we have lost: A new translation of the Spanish national epic. Review of: Songs of the Cid: The epic poem, the Romances and the Carmen Campidoctoris / Translated and introduced by Dan Veach -- Cantares De MÍo Cid: El poema épico, los Romances y el Carmen Campidoctoris / Introduced by Dan Veach; text modernized by Alberto Montaner Frutos and Ángel Escobar Chico -- Cantares De MÍo Cid: El poema épico, los Romances y el Carmen Campidoctoris (Texto Originales) / Introduced and edited by Alberto Montaner Frutos.
Lucasta Miller. Album collection: How William St Clair used commonplace books to gauge the popularity of the poets. (Essay)
Claire Lowdon. Doomed to repetition: Aleksandar Hemon’s ‘faux-profound’ take on the random cruelties of history. Review of: The World and All That It Holds / Aleksandar Hemon.
Rosemary Ashton. Lord Rochester to you: Why German Jane Eyres shied away from the Gothic. Review of: ‘Jane Eyre’ In German Lands: The import of romance, 1848–1918 / Lynne Tatlock -- Victorian Women Writers and the Other Germany: Cross-cultural freedoms and female opportunity / Linda K. Hughes.
David Frier. A girl with green eyes: The troubador lyrics of medieval Galician Portuguese. Review of: Cantigas: Galician-Portuguese troubadour poems / Richard Zenith, translator.
William Armstrong. A hunter lost in a forest: Tales from Turkey’s wild east. Review of: ‘The Wounded Age’ and ‘Eastern Tales' / Ferit Edgü.
Clifford Thompson. Their island story: A tiny community off the coast of Maine is visited by state officials. Review of: This Other Eden / Paul Harding.
In Brief Review of: A Winter Grave / Peter May.
In Brief review of: The Shutter of Snow / Emily Holmes Coleman.
Arts
Michael Caines. Light relief: An all-female, mess-free Titus Andronicus. Review of the play at Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, until April 15.
Alice Wadsworth. It goes without saying: An enchanting domestic drama rendered in mime. Review of Berlin-based performing arts troupe Familie Flöz performance of Feste, a mime play, Peacock Theatre, Sadler’s Wells, then on tour until May 7.
Craig Raine. Acrostics: The literary game ‘designed to be invisible.’ (Essay)
Religion
Lucy Wooding. Prayer book rebellion: The Catholic uprising that almost turned the Protestant tide. Review of: A Murderous Midsummer: The Western Rising of 1549 / Mark Stoyle.
Andrea Brady. Death becomes them: How the Reformation changed the cult of the dead. Review of: The Death Arts in Renaissance England: A critical anthology / William E. Engel, Rory Loughnane and Grant Williams, editors -- Country Church Monuments / C. B. Newham.
Giuliana Chamedes. A calculating coward: The Vatican archives don’t exonerate Pius XII. The Pope at War: The secret history of Pius XII, Mussolini, and Hitler / David I. Kertzer.
Science and Technology
Richard Norton-Taylor. The spy in your pocket: How a group of journalists exposed a hacking conspiracy. Review of: Pegasus: The story of the world’s most dangerous spyware / Laurent Richard and Sandrine Rigaud -- Striking Back: The end of peace in cyberspace – and how to restore it / Lucas Kello.
History, Politics, & Society
Josephine Crawley Quinn. New Caesars and old: How generals settle their veterans on others’ lands. Review of: Land Expropriation in Ancient Rome and Contemporary Zimbabwe: Veterans, masculinity and war / Obert Bernard Mlambo.
David Herman. An eye for an eye: The Jews who sought revenge on the Nazis. Review of: Nakam: The Holocaust survivors who sought full-scale revenge / Dina Porat.
Sarah Rivett. Culture clash: Colonial treaty-making with Native American tribes. Review of: Culture and Language at Crossed Purposes: The unsettled records of American settlement / Jerome McGann.
Noel Malcolm. Renaissance man: Essays in tribute to Jacob Burckhardt’s classic work. Review of: A Renaissance Reclaimed: Jacob Burckhardt’s Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy reconsidered / Stefan Bauer and Simon Ditchfield, editors.
Mark Mazower. Give them back!: Did the Ottomans preserve the Parthenon and Elgin wreck it? Review of: Who Saved the Parthenon?: A new history of the Acropolis, before, during and after the Greek Revolution / William St. Clair.
Jason Pack. The deal with Gaddafi: Libya’s implosion and the failure of the Arab Spring. Review of: Benghazi!: A new history of the fiasco that pushed America and its world to the brink / Ethan Chorin.
In Brief Review of: Radius: A story of feminist revolution / Yasmin El-Rifae.
In Brief Review of: The Path of Peace: Walking the Western Front Way / Anthony Seldon.
In Brief Review of: Capitalism: The story behind the word / Michael Sonenscher.
In Brief Review of: Do Not Resuscitate: The life and afterlife of Maurice Saatchi / Maurice Saatchi.
96featherbear
Ismail Muhammad. NYT, 02/07/2023: Culture as a Centuries-Long Game of Telephone. Review of: Culture: The Story of Us, From Cave Art to K-Pop / Martin Puchner.
97featherbear
Recently on LARB:
Erdağ Göknar. 02/08/2023: Plagues and Painting with Words: Glimpses of Orhan Pamuk’s Writing Process. About Nights of Plague / Orhan Pamuk.
Heather Tressler. 02/07/2023: The Engine of Self-Knowledge. Review of: Couplets: a love story / Maggie Millner.
Ana Cecilia Alvarez. 02/07/2023: The Second First Love. Review of: Couplets: a love story / Maggie Millner.
Elizabeth Gonzalez James. 02/06/2023: They Toss Bodies at You. Review of: Our Share of Night / Mariana Enríquez.
Ed Simon. 02/05/2023: When Perry Miller Invented America. Review of: City on a Hill: A History of American Exceptionalism / Abram C. Van Engen.
J.C. Hallman. 02/05/2023: All Despotisms Must End. Review of: Lydia Maria Child: A Radical American Life / Lydia Morland.
DW McKinney. 02/04/2023: Graphic Medicine: Comics Redraw Health Narratives.
Ayize Jama-Everett. 02/04/2023: I’m Looking to Jump Ship Sooner Than I Should: A Conversation with Percival Everett.
Erdağ Göknar. 02/08/2023: Plagues and Painting with Words: Glimpses of Orhan Pamuk’s Writing Process. About Nights of Plague / Orhan Pamuk.
Heather Tressler. 02/07/2023: The Engine of Self-Knowledge. Review of: Couplets: a love story / Maggie Millner.
Ana Cecilia Alvarez. 02/07/2023: The Second First Love. Review of: Couplets: a love story / Maggie Millner.
Elizabeth Gonzalez James. 02/06/2023: They Toss Bodies at You. Review of: Our Share of Night / Mariana Enríquez.
Ed Simon. 02/05/2023: When Perry Miller Invented America. Review of: City on a Hill: A History of American Exceptionalism / Abram C. Van Engen.
J.C. Hallman. 02/05/2023: All Despotisms Must End. Review of: Lydia Maria Child: A Radical American Life / Lydia Morland.
DW McKinney. 02/04/2023: Graphic Medicine: Comics Redraw Health Narratives.
Ayize Jama-Everett. 02/04/2023: I’m Looking to Jump Ship Sooner Than I Should: A Conversation with Percival Everett.
98featherbear
Martha C. Nussbaum, interviewer Jeremy Bendik-Keymer. Boston Review, 02/08/2023: On Justice for Animals. Discussing Justice for Animals: Our Collective Responsibility / Martha C. Nussbaum.
99featherbear
Nigel Biggar. Compact, 02/02/2023: Anatomy of a Book Cancellation.
100featherbear
A little off-topic, on the passing of one of my favorite guitarists:
Colin Groundwater. LitHub, 02/07/2023: Tom Verlaine was the Strand’s Best Customer.
Patti Smith. New Yorker, 01/30/2023: He Was Tom Verlaine.
Colin Groundwater. LitHub, 02/07/2023: Tom Verlaine was the Strand’s Best Customer.
Patti Smith. New Yorker, 01/30/2023: He Was Tom Verlaine.
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Ron Charles. WaPo, 02/08/2023: What readers hate most in books — from dreams to italics.
102featherbear
Anna Momigliano. The Atlantic, 02/10/2023: Why Do Fascists Love Dante?
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Tim Cook. Quillette, 02/10/2023: Review of: Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad.
104featherbear
Elisabeth Egan and Erica Ackerberg. NYT, 02/14/2023: A Love Letter to Libraries, Long Overdue.
105featherbear
TLS February 17, 2023|No. 6255
Literature
James Marcus. In the ring with Mailer: The author’s gladiatorial contest of art. Review of: Tough Guy: The life of Norman Mailer / Richard Bradford -- The Naked and the Dead and Selected Letters, 1945–1946 (Library of America) / Norman Mailer -- Mailer's Last Days: New and selected remembrances of a life in literature / J. Michael Lennon -- Norman Mailer at 100: Conversations, correlations, confrontations / Robert J. Begiebing.
Tom Seymour Evans. Prose that reads like gunfire: In the eyes of James Ellroy, America was never innocent. Review of: Love Me Fierce in Danger: The life of James Ellroy / Steven Powell.
Carol Apollonio. The quest for Chekhov: The missing pieces in the jigsaw of a writer’s life. Review of: Chekhov Becomes Chekhov: The emergence of a literary genius / Bob Blaisdell -- Small Fry: And other stories Anton Chekhov; translated by Stephen Pimenoff.
Nat Segnit. The magic fades: Salman Rushdie’s reinvention of ancient epic. Review of: Victory City / Salman Rushdie.
Joseph Phelan. Talking to themselves: How poets and academics have used imaginary dialogues. Review of: Conversing in Verse: Conversation in nineteenth-century English poetry / Elizabeth K. Helsinger.
Camille Ralphs. Everyone’s Sylvia Plath: The poet beyond her life and circumstances. Review of Denise Gough's theatrical performance Dead Poets Live: Sylvia Plath 60 years later, Wilton’s Music Hall, London and BBC Sound's My Sylvia Plath.
George Cochrane. Such a lovely place: Finding empathy amid a Covid lockdown. Review of: Hotel Milano / Tim Parks.
Peter Salmon. Nietzsche’s heir: A French writer puts the death of God into practice. Review of: George Bataille: Critical Essays, Volume 1: 1944–1948 / Edited by Alberto Toscano and Benjamin Noys; translated by Chris Turner.
Angela Leighton. Field studies: The aunt and niece who wrote under a single pseudonym. Review of: Chains of Love and Beauty: The diary of Michael Field / Carolyn Dever -- For That Moment Only: And other prose works / Michael Field; Edited by Alex Murray and Sarah Parker.
Baya Simons. Life only happened with Peter: A naive Californian girl falls for a chino-wearing heartthrob. Review of: Avalon: a novel / Nell Zink.
Costica Bradatan. Romania’s Kafka: The ten-year journal of a young writer facing death. Review of: The Illuminated Burrow: A sanatorium journal / Max Blecher; translated by Gabi Reigh.
Kevin Brazil. Their generation: Sibling love and ideological conflict in the early GDR. Review of: Siblings / Brigitte Reimann, translated by Lucy Jones.
Anna Katharina Schaffner. Gaining fluency: What it means to be human in a gendered, classist, sexist world. Review of: Blutbuch / Kim de l'Horizon.
In Brief Review of: Poor Naked Wretches: Shakespeare’s working people / Stephen Unwin.
In Brief Review of: En Salle / Claire Baglin.
In Brief Review of: What You Need From the Night / Laurent Petitmangin; translated by Shaun Whiteside.
In Brief Review of: Homeward From Heaven / Boris Poplavsky, translated by Bryan Karetnyk.
Arts
Andrew Butterfield. Pop goes the easel: The artist’s studio in history, from cathedral workshop to industrial unit. Review of: The Artist's Studio: a cultural history / James Hall.
Keith Miller. A composer of shapes: Giorgio Morandi’s pared-down purity – and a sense of something beyond the frame. Review of the exhibition Giorgio Morandi: Masterpieces from the Magnani-Rocca Foundation / Estorick Collection, London, until May 28.
In Brief Review of: Alain Locke and the Visual Arts / Kobena Mercer.
Science and technology
Helen Scales. Seeding the sea: The tremendous power of ocean life to recover. Review of: Rewilding the Sea: How to save our oceans / Charles Clover.
Louise Fabiani. Coral reefs in the air: Reviving ancient ecosystems in Britain. Review of: The Lost Rainforests of Britain / Guy Shrubsole.
In Brief Review of: Data Cartels: The companies that control and monopolize our information / Sarah Lamdan.
In Brief Review of: The Modern Bestiary: A curated collection of wondrous creatures / Joanna Bagniewska.
History, Society & Geography
Irina Dumitrescu. Permission to leave: Opening the books on communist Romania. Review of: In Search of Romania / Dennis Deletant.
Stanley Bill. Jozef Pilsudski: Founding father of modern Poland / Joshua D. Zimmerman.
Jonathan Keates. Glimpse of an ideal city: The miraculous accomplishment of medieval Siena. Review of: Siena: The life and afterlife of a medieval city / Jane Stevenson.
Serii Plokhy. Turning the clock on history: The Kremlin’s attempt to recreate the Russian Empire. Review of: Putin's Wars: From Chechnya to Ukraine / Mark Galeotti -- Overreach: The inside story of Putin’s war against Ukraine / Owen Matthews -- Invasion: Russia’s bloody war and Ukraine’s fight for survival / Luke Harding.
Norma Clarke. Dead before their time: After his acclaimed memoirs of his father and mother, Blake Morrison turns to his sisters. Review of: Two Sisters / Blake Morrison.
Simon Jenkins. How green are the valleys?: An ancient track through the heart of Wales. Review of: Sarn Helen: A journey through Wales, past, present and future / Tom Bullough; Illustrated by Jackie Morris.
Regina Rini. Balloon debate: Ethics, espionage and explosions. (Essay)
Literature
James Marcus. In the ring with Mailer: The author’s gladiatorial contest of art. Review of: Tough Guy: The life of Norman Mailer / Richard Bradford -- The Naked and the Dead and Selected Letters, 1945–1946 (Library of America) / Norman Mailer -- Mailer's Last Days: New and selected remembrances of a life in literature / J. Michael Lennon -- Norman Mailer at 100: Conversations, correlations, confrontations / Robert J. Begiebing.
Tom Seymour Evans. Prose that reads like gunfire: In the eyes of James Ellroy, America was never innocent. Review of: Love Me Fierce in Danger: The life of James Ellroy / Steven Powell.
Carol Apollonio. The quest for Chekhov: The missing pieces in the jigsaw of a writer’s life. Review of: Chekhov Becomes Chekhov: The emergence of a literary genius / Bob Blaisdell -- Small Fry: And other stories Anton Chekhov; translated by Stephen Pimenoff.
Nat Segnit. The magic fades: Salman Rushdie’s reinvention of ancient epic. Review of: Victory City / Salman Rushdie.
Joseph Phelan. Talking to themselves: How poets and academics have used imaginary dialogues. Review of: Conversing in Verse: Conversation in nineteenth-century English poetry / Elizabeth K. Helsinger.
Camille Ralphs. Everyone’s Sylvia Plath: The poet beyond her life and circumstances. Review of Denise Gough's theatrical performance Dead Poets Live: Sylvia Plath 60 years later, Wilton’s Music Hall, London and BBC Sound's My Sylvia Plath.
George Cochrane. Such a lovely place: Finding empathy amid a Covid lockdown. Review of: Hotel Milano / Tim Parks.
Peter Salmon. Nietzsche’s heir: A French writer puts the death of God into practice. Review of: George Bataille: Critical Essays, Volume 1: 1944–1948 / Edited by Alberto Toscano and Benjamin Noys; translated by Chris Turner.
Angela Leighton. Field studies: The aunt and niece who wrote under a single pseudonym. Review of: Chains of Love and Beauty: The diary of Michael Field / Carolyn Dever -- For That Moment Only: And other prose works / Michael Field; Edited by Alex Murray and Sarah Parker.
Baya Simons. Life only happened with Peter: A naive Californian girl falls for a chino-wearing heartthrob. Review of: Avalon: a novel / Nell Zink.
Costica Bradatan. Romania’s Kafka: The ten-year journal of a young writer facing death. Review of: The Illuminated Burrow: A sanatorium journal / Max Blecher; translated by Gabi Reigh.
Kevin Brazil. Their generation: Sibling love and ideological conflict in the early GDR. Review of: Siblings / Brigitte Reimann, translated by Lucy Jones.
Anna Katharina Schaffner. Gaining fluency: What it means to be human in a gendered, classist, sexist world. Review of: Blutbuch / Kim de l'Horizon.
In Brief Review of: Poor Naked Wretches: Shakespeare’s working people / Stephen Unwin.
In Brief Review of: En Salle / Claire Baglin.
In Brief Review of: What You Need From the Night / Laurent Petitmangin; translated by Shaun Whiteside.
In Brief Review of: Homeward From Heaven / Boris Poplavsky, translated by Bryan Karetnyk.
Arts
Andrew Butterfield. Pop goes the easel: The artist’s studio in history, from cathedral workshop to industrial unit. Review of: The Artist's Studio: a cultural history / James Hall.
Keith Miller. A composer of shapes: Giorgio Morandi’s pared-down purity – and a sense of something beyond the frame. Review of the exhibition Giorgio Morandi: Masterpieces from the Magnani-Rocca Foundation / Estorick Collection, London, until May 28.
In Brief Review of: Alain Locke and the Visual Arts / Kobena Mercer.
Science and technology
Helen Scales. Seeding the sea: The tremendous power of ocean life to recover. Review of: Rewilding the Sea: How to save our oceans / Charles Clover.
Louise Fabiani. Coral reefs in the air: Reviving ancient ecosystems in Britain. Review of: The Lost Rainforests of Britain / Guy Shrubsole.
In Brief Review of: Data Cartels: The companies that control and monopolize our information / Sarah Lamdan.
In Brief Review of: The Modern Bestiary: A curated collection of wondrous creatures / Joanna Bagniewska.
History, Society & Geography
Irina Dumitrescu. Permission to leave: Opening the books on communist Romania. Review of: In Search of Romania / Dennis Deletant.
Stanley Bill. Jozef Pilsudski: Founding father of modern Poland / Joshua D. Zimmerman.
Jonathan Keates. Glimpse of an ideal city: The miraculous accomplishment of medieval Siena. Review of: Siena: The life and afterlife of a medieval city / Jane Stevenson.
Serii Plokhy. Turning the clock on history: The Kremlin’s attempt to recreate the Russian Empire. Review of: Putin's Wars: From Chechnya to Ukraine / Mark Galeotti -- Overreach: The inside story of Putin’s war against Ukraine / Owen Matthews -- Invasion: Russia’s bloody war and Ukraine’s fight for survival / Luke Harding.
Norma Clarke. Dead before their time: After his acclaimed memoirs of his father and mother, Blake Morrison turns to his sisters. Review of: Two Sisters / Blake Morrison.
Simon Jenkins. How green are the valleys?: An ancient track through the heart of Wales. Review of: Sarn Helen: A journey through Wales, past, present and future / Tom Bullough; Illustrated by Jackie Morris.
Regina Rini. Balloon debate: Ethics, espionage and explosions. (Essay)
106featherbear
"A new report suggests what some have long suspected: One of the world’s most famous poets may have been murdered."
Ariel Dorfman. The Atlantic, 02/16/2023: Who Poisoned Pablo Neruda?
Flávia Milhorance. NYT, 02/15/2023: Who Was Pablo Neruda and Why Is His Death a Mystery?
Ariel Dorfman. The Atlantic, 02/16/2023: Who Poisoned Pablo Neruda?
Flávia Milhorance. NYT, 02/15/2023: Who Was Pablo Neruda and Why Is His Death a Mystery?
107featherbear
New York Review Online Mar. 9, 2023 issue:
Literature
Evan Kindley. Departments on the Defensive: A new book by John Guillory explores the history of literary studies and casts a despairing eye at the future of literary criticism. Review of: Professing Criticism: Essays on the Organization of Literary Study / John Guillory.
Michael Dirda. ‘Devilish Agencies at Work’: Walter de la Mare, a poet and writer of weird tales, once counted T. S. Eliot and Graham Greene among his admirers, and now his ghost stories persist with an underground influence. Review of: Strangers and Pilgrims: Tales by Walter de la Mare / with an introduction by Mark Valentine -- Out of the Deep: And Other Supernatural Tales / Walter de la Mare, with an introduction by Greg Buzwell -- Reading Walter de la Mare / edited by William Wootten.
Natasha Wimmer. The Friction of Language: The novelist Yoko Tawada, who writes in both Japanese and German, often makes translation one of her central themes. Review of: Scattered All Over the Earth / Yoko Tawada, translated from the Japanese by Margaret Mitsutani.
Arts
Claire Bucknell. Cannibals and Guillotines: Far from a straightforward propagandist, the caricaturist James Gillray preferred pleasing, or irritating, many different kinds of customers.. Review of: James Gillray: A Revolution in Satire / Tim Clayton.
History, Society, & Politics
Michael Gorra. Having the Last Word: The sketches in Janet Malcolm’s Still Pictures are as close as she ever came to the autobiography she wouldn’t or couldn’t write. Review of: Still Pictures: On Photography and Memory / Janet Malcolm, with an introduction by Ian Frazier and an afterword by Anne Malcolm.
Gavin Francis. The Dream of Forgetfulness: Two recent books build on an insight of Borges—that to live, it is necessary to forget. Review of: Forgetting: The Benefits of Not Remembering / Scott A. Small -- A Primer for Forgetting: Getting Past the Past / Lewis Hyde.
John J. Lennon. Peddling Darkness: True crime stories, like Sarah Weinman’s Scoundrel, make for suspenseful reading. But do they exploit the criminal, and deepen a thirst for punishment? Review of: Scoundrel: The True Story of the Murderer Who Charmed His Way to Fame and Freedom / Sarah Weinman.
Sue Halpern. Private Eyes: The surveillance economy has all but eliminated Americans’ ability to be “let alone.” Review of: The Fight for Privacy: Protecting Dignity, Identity, and Love in the Digital Age / Danielle Keats Citron -- Seek and Hide: The Tangled History of the Right to Privacy / Amy Gajda.
Gordon F. Sander. Finland’s Turn to the West: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has abruptly ended the Finns’ reservations about joining NATO. (Essay)
David S. Reynolds. The Remarkable Grimkes: A new multigenerational history of the abolitionist Grimke family is a sobering reminder of the complicated nature of race relations in America after the Civil War. Review of: The Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family / Kerri K. Greenidge.
Kathryn Hughes. A Complicated Reformer: Adherents to Maria Montessori’s radical methods have extended from progressive parents to Benito Mussolini. Review of: The Child Is the Teacher: A Life of Maria Montessori / Cristina De Stefano, translated from the Italian by Gregory Conti.
Rachel Nolan. An Amazonian Exodus: The discovery of a Bible led a Peruvian man on a decades-long process of conversion, leading him and his disciples to a settlement in the West Bank, where they became caught up in a demographic contest with Palestinians for the future of Israel. Review of: The Prophet of the Andes: An Unlikely Journey to the Promised Land / Graciela Mochkofsky, translated from the Spanish by Lisa Dillman.
Thomas Rogers. The Long Shadow of German Colonialism: The people of what was once German-occupied Africa are demanding reparations for the colonial violence that shapes the region to this day. (Essay)
Literature
Evan Kindley. Departments on the Defensive: A new book by John Guillory explores the history of literary studies and casts a despairing eye at the future of literary criticism. Review of: Professing Criticism: Essays on the Organization of Literary Study / John Guillory.
Michael Dirda. ‘Devilish Agencies at Work’: Walter de la Mare, a poet and writer of weird tales, once counted T. S. Eliot and Graham Greene among his admirers, and now his ghost stories persist with an underground influence. Review of: Strangers and Pilgrims: Tales by Walter de la Mare / with an introduction by Mark Valentine -- Out of the Deep: And Other Supernatural Tales / Walter de la Mare, with an introduction by Greg Buzwell -- Reading Walter de la Mare / edited by William Wootten.
Natasha Wimmer. The Friction of Language: The novelist Yoko Tawada, who writes in both Japanese and German, often makes translation one of her central themes. Review of: Scattered All Over the Earth / Yoko Tawada, translated from the Japanese by Margaret Mitsutani.
Arts
Claire Bucknell. Cannibals and Guillotines: Far from a straightforward propagandist, the caricaturist James Gillray preferred pleasing, or irritating, many different kinds of customers.. Review of: James Gillray: A Revolution in Satire / Tim Clayton.
History, Society, & Politics
Michael Gorra. Having the Last Word: The sketches in Janet Malcolm’s Still Pictures are as close as she ever came to the autobiography she wouldn’t or couldn’t write. Review of: Still Pictures: On Photography and Memory / Janet Malcolm, with an introduction by Ian Frazier and an afterword by Anne Malcolm.
Gavin Francis. The Dream of Forgetfulness: Two recent books build on an insight of Borges—that to live, it is necessary to forget. Review of: Forgetting: The Benefits of Not Remembering / Scott A. Small -- A Primer for Forgetting: Getting Past the Past / Lewis Hyde.
John J. Lennon. Peddling Darkness: True crime stories, like Sarah Weinman’s Scoundrel, make for suspenseful reading. But do they exploit the criminal, and deepen a thirst for punishment? Review of: Scoundrel: The True Story of the Murderer Who Charmed His Way to Fame and Freedom / Sarah Weinman.
Sue Halpern. Private Eyes: The surveillance economy has all but eliminated Americans’ ability to be “let alone.” Review of: The Fight for Privacy: Protecting Dignity, Identity, and Love in the Digital Age / Danielle Keats Citron -- Seek and Hide: The Tangled History of the Right to Privacy / Amy Gajda.
Gordon F. Sander. Finland’s Turn to the West: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has abruptly ended the Finns’ reservations about joining NATO. (Essay)
David S. Reynolds. The Remarkable Grimkes: A new multigenerational history of the abolitionist Grimke family is a sobering reminder of the complicated nature of race relations in America after the Civil War. Review of: The Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family / Kerri K. Greenidge.
Kathryn Hughes. A Complicated Reformer: Adherents to Maria Montessori’s radical methods have extended from progressive parents to Benito Mussolini. Review of: The Child Is the Teacher: A Life of Maria Montessori / Cristina De Stefano, translated from the Italian by Gregory Conti.
Rachel Nolan. An Amazonian Exodus: The discovery of a Bible led a Peruvian man on a decades-long process of conversion, leading him and his disciples to a settlement in the West Bank, where they became caught up in a demographic contest with Palestinians for the future of Israel. Review of: The Prophet of the Andes: An Unlikely Journey to the Promised Land / Graciela Mochkofsky, translated from the Spanish by Lisa Dillman.
Thomas Rogers. The Long Shadow of German Colonialism: The people of what was once German-occupied Africa are demanding reparations for the colonial violence that shapes the region to this day. (Essay)
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Ed Simon. The Millions, 02/16/2023: An Essay About Nothing.
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Hallie Liebermann. The Guardian, 02/17/2023: Republicans take aim at risque jokes and romance novels with anti-sex bills.
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Emily Temple. LitHub, 02/17/2023: Some of the Best Stories from a Century of Weird Tales (That You Can Read Online).
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Recently from LARB:
Jack Skelley. 02/18/2023: Posthumous Existence: A Conversation with Anahid Nersessian. Regarding Keats’s Odes: A Lover’s Discourse.
Hugh Charles O'Connell. 02/18/2023: A Revolutionary Hate to Salvage Utopian Love. Review of: A Spectre, Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto / China Miéville.
Jack Skelley. 02/18/2023: Posthumous Existence: A Conversation with Anahid Nersessian. Regarding Keats’s Odes: A Lover’s Discourse.
Hugh Charles O'Connell. 02/18/2023: A Revolutionary Hate to Salvage Utopian Love. Review of: A Spectre, Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto / China Miéville.
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Public Books seems to be back, after a January hiatus:
Kenneth W. Warren. 02/15/2023: Leon Forrest: “Make a Way Out of No Way.” Foreword to the republication of Forrest's Divine Days.
Matthew Redmond. 02/14/2023: Magnificent Wreck: Samuel Taylor Coleridge at 250.
Patrick Allington. 02/10/2023: All Futures Are Possible. On speculative fiction.
Kenneth W. Warren. 02/15/2023: Leon Forrest: “Make a Way Out of No Way.” Foreword to the republication of Forrest's Divine Days.
Matthew Redmond. 02/14/2023: Magnificent Wreck: Samuel Taylor Coleridge at 250.
Patrick Allington. 02/10/2023: All Futures Are Possible. On speculative fiction.
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Jennifer Hassan. WaPo, 02/19/2023: Salman Rushdie calls revisions to Roald Dahl books ‘absurd censorship.’
Helen Lewis. Atlantic, 02/21/2023: Roald Dahl Can NeverR Be Made Nice.
Sarah Shaffi and Lucy Knight. The Guardian, 02/24/2023: Roald Dahl publisher announces unaltered 16-book ‘classics collection.’ "Series will be released alongside controversially amended versions to leave readers ‘free to choose which version they prefer.’"
Helen Lewis. Atlantic, 02/21/2023: Roald Dahl Can NeverR Be Made Nice.
Sarah Shaffi and Lucy Knight. The Guardian, 02/24/2023: Roald Dahl publisher announces unaltered 16-book ‘classics collection.’ "Series will be released alongside controversially amended versions to leave readers ‘free to choose which version they prefer.’"
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Riley Moore & John Sellars. Quillette, 02/19/2023: Aristotle (and the Stoics): An Interview with John Sellars. On the occasion of & about Sellars new book: Aristotle: Understanding the World’s Greatest Philosopher.
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TLS February 24, 2023|No. 6256
Literature
Jochen Hellbeck. A terrible retreat: Vasily Grossman’s fictional account of the Nazi assault on the Soviet Union. Review of: The People Immortal / Vasily Grossman; translated by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler.
Nicola Upson. The Josephine Tey mystery: A reclusive crime writer ahead of her time. Review of Josephine Tey's: The Franchise Affair -- To Love and Be Wise -- The Daughter of Time.
Richard Lea. An octopus’s garden: Ray Nayler’s underwater tale of first alien contact. Review of: The Mountain in the Sea.
Ada Coghen. Tales of the uncanny: Where human imagination meets the supernatural. Review of: The Whisperers and Other Stories: A lifetime of the supernatural / Algernon Blackwood; edited by Mike Ashley -- From the Abyss: Weird fiction, 1907–1945 / D. K. Broster, edited by Melissa Edmundson.
Francesca Peacock. Dressed for literary success?: What women poets wore – and whether it matters. Review of the exhibition Poets in Vogues, Southbank Centre, London, until June 25.
Beejay Silcox. Inner space odyssey: Martin MacInnes’s tender novel for a climate-ravaged age. Review of: In Ascension / Martin MacInnes.
Costica Bradatan. Inner space oddity: Reporting from the front lines of a writer’s own ‘anomalies.’ Review of: Solenoid / Mircea Cărtărescu; translated by Sean Cotter.
Rüdiger Görner. Love and despair" The ‘disturbing’ relationship between Ingeborg Bachmann and Max Frisch. Review of: Ingeborg Bachmann / Max Frisch, ‘Wir Haben Es Nicht Gut Gemacht’ : Der Briefwechsel / Hans Höller, Renate Langer, Thomas Strässle, Barbara Wiedemann, editors.
Sarah Lonsdale. Harsh testament: Letters recording Winifred Holtby’s selflessness and Vera Brittain’s egocentricity. Review of: Between Friends: Letters of Vera Brittain and Winifred Holtby / Elaine and English Showalter, editors.
Irina Dumritescu. Shelf life: Judging books by their covers. (Essay)
In Brief Review of: Age of Vice / Deepti Kapoor.
In Brief Review of: Qui sait / Pauline Delabroy-Allard.
Arts
Paul Genders. The outlaw songbook: Bob Dylan and his anthology of modern American song. Review of: The Philosophy of Modern Song / Bob Dylan -- Folk Music: A Bob Dylan biography in seven songs / Greil Marcus.
Emma Smith. Revels recycled: A Tempest for the Anthropocene. Review of Shakespeare's The Tempest by the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, until March 4.
Lois Potter. Lights up: The shock of first nights in art, music and film. Review of: Astonish Me!: First nights that changed the world / Dominic Dromgoole.
Philosophy & Religion
Jessie Munton. I don’t like Tuesdays: Our minds are shaped in ways that defy our control. Review of: Bias: a philosophical study / Thomas Kelly.
Clare Carlisle. Hellfire sermons: On being raised in the white Southern Baptist church. Review of: Evangelical Anxiety: a memoir / Charles Marsh.
Science and Technology
John Sellars. Scientific revolutionary: The debt western science owes to a pre-Socratic philosopher. Review of: Anaximander and the nature of science / Carlo Rovelli; translated by Marion Lignana Rosenberg.
Liba Taub. Those eureka moments: Great innovation in maths came through abstraction and play. Review of: A New History of Greek Mathematics / Reviel Netz.
In Brief Review of: Spectral Sounds: Unquiet tales of acoustic weird / Manon Burz-Labrande, editor.
In Brief Review of: The Climate Book / Greta Thunberg et al.
In Brief Review of: Nightwalking: Four journeys into Britain after dark / John Lewis-Stempel.
History, Politics, & Society
Geoffrey Wheatcroft. American paranoia: How the First World War triggered a wave of xenophobia and a Red Scare. Review of: American Midnight: The Great War, a violent peace, and democracy’s forgotten crisis / Adam Hochschild.
Jeremy Treglown. ‘Death to life’ and other horrors: The extremist figures behind Franco’s victory. Review of: Architects of Terror: Paranoia, conspiracy and anti-semitism in Franco’s Spain / Paul Preston.
Miranda France. Catching the Condor: Bringing to trial the generals who disappeared their enemies. Review of: The Condor Trials: Transnational repression and human rights in South America / Francesca Lessa.
Peter Clarke. Man of the hour: A Labour leader who moved with his times. Review of: Harold Wilson: the winner / Nick Thomas-Symonds.
Felipe Fernández-Armesto. Between shamans and scholars: Can museums of mankind be reinvented for the modern era? Review of: The Museum of Other People: From colonial acquisitions to cosmopolitan exhibitions / Adam Kuper.
In Brief Review of: Speaking and Being: How language binds and frees us / Kübra Gümüşay; translated by Gesche Ipsen.
Literature
Jochen Hellbeck. A terrible retreat: Vasily Grossman’s fictional account of the Nazi assault on the Soviet Union. Review of: The People Immortal / Vasily Grossman; translated by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler.
Nicola Upson. The Josephine Tey mystery: A reclusive crime writer ahead of her time. Review of Josephine Tey's: The Franchise Affair -- To Love and Be Wise -- The Daughter of Time.
Richard Lea. An octopus’s garden: Ray Nayler’s underwater tale of first alien contact. Review of: The Mountain in the Sea.
Ada Coghen. Tales of the uncanny: Where human imagination meets the supernatural. Review of: The Whisperers and Other Stories: A lifetime of the supernatural / Algernon Blackwood; edited by Mike Ashley -- From the Abyss: Weird fiction, 1907–1945 / D. K. Broster, edited by Melissa Edmundson.
Francesca Peacock. Dressed for literary success?: What women poets wore – and whether it matters. Review of the exhibition Poets in Vogues, Southbank Centre, London, until June 25.
Beejay Silcox. Inner space odyssey: Martin MacInnes’s tender novel for a climate-ravaged age. Review of: In Ascension / Martin MacInnes.
Costica Bradatan. Inner space oddity: Reporting from the front lines of a writer’s own ‘anomalies.’ Review of: Solenoid / Mircea Cărtărescu; translated by Sean Cotter.
Rüdiger Görner. Love and despair" The ‘disturbing’ relationship between Ingeborg Bachmann and Max Frisch. Review of: Ingeborg Bachmann / Max Frisch, ‘Wir Haben Es Nicht Gut Gemacht’ : Der Briefwechsel / Hans Höller, Renate Langer, Thomas Strässle, Barbara Wiedemann, editors.
Sarah Lonsdale. Harsh testament: Letters recording Winifred Holtby’s selflessness and Vera Brittain’s egocentricity. Review of: Between Friends: Letters of Vera Brittain and Winifred Holtby / Elaine and English Showalter, editors.
Irina Dumritescu. Shelf life: Judging books by their covers. (Essay)
In Brief Review of: Age of Vice / Deepti Kapoor.
In Brief Review of: Qui sait / Pauline Delabroy-Allard.
Arts
Paul Genders. The outlaw songbook: Bob Dylan and his anthology of modern American song. Review of: The Philosophy of Modern Song / Bob Dylan -- Folk Music: A Bob Dylan biography in seven songs / Greil Marcus.
Emma Smith. Revels recycled: A Tempest for the Anthropocene. Review of Shakespeare's The Tempest by the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, until March 4.
Lois Potter. Lights up: The shock of first nights in art, music and film. Review of: Astonish Me!: First nights that changed the world / Dominic Dromgoole.
Philosophy & Religion
Jessie Munton. I don’t like Tuesdays: Our minds are shaped in ways that defy our control. Review of: Bias: a philosophical study / Thomas Kelly.
Clare Carlisle. Hellfire sermons: On being raised in the white Southern Baptist church. Review of: Evangelical Anxiety: a memoir / Charles Marsh.
Science and Technology
John Sellars. Scientific revolutionary: The debt western science owes to a pre-Socratic philosopher. Review of: Anaximander and the nature of science / Carlo Rovelli; translated by Marion Lignana Rosenberg.
Liba Taub. Those eureka moments: Great innovation in maths came through abstraction and play. Review of: A New History of Greek Mathematics / Reviel Netz.
In Brief Review of: Spectral Sounds: Unquiet tales of acoustic weird / Manon Burz-Labrande, editor.
In Brief Review of: The Climate Book / Greta Thunberg et al.
In Brief Review of: Nightwalking: Four journeys into Britain after dark / John Lewis-Stempel.
History, Politics, & Society
Geoffrey Wheatcroft. American paranoia: How the First World War triggered a wave of xenophobia and a Red Scare. Review of: American Midnight: The Great War, a violent peace, and democracy’s forgotten crisis / Adam Hochschild.
Jeremy Treglown. ‘Death to life’ and other horrors: The extremist figures behind Franco’s victory. Review of: Architects of Terror: Paranoia, conspiracy and anti-semitism in Franco’s Spain / Paul Preston.
Miranda France. Catching the Condor: Bringing to trial the generals who disappeared their enemies. Review of: The Condor Trials: Transnational repression and human rights in South America / Francesca Lessa.
Peter Clarke. Man of the hour: A Labour leader who moved with his times. Review of: Harold Wilson: the winner / Nick Thomas-Symonds.
Felipe Fernández-Armesto. Between shamans and scholars: Can museums of mankind be reinvented for the modern era? Review of: The Museum of Other People: From colonial acquisitions to cosmopolitan exhibitions / Adam Kuper.
In Brief Review of: Speaking and Being: How language binds and frees us / Kübra Gümüşay; translated by Gesche Ipsen.
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David Waldstreicher. The Atlantic, 02/22/2023: The Forgotten Ron DeSantis Book. On: Dreams From Our Founding Fathers (2011) by Ron DeSantis. "Shockingly, for a book by a man who is likely running for president, the only way to acquire a physical copy is to buy a used one, which can sell for over $1,000."
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Christian Lorentzen. Harper's, 03/2023: At Random: The business of books and the merger that wasn’t.
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David Wooton. The Critic, 02/2023: The Enlightenment as reading project. Review of: The Books that Made the European Enlightenment: A History in 12 Case Studies / Gary Kates.
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Eric Moses Gurevitch. Boston Review, 02/22/2023: How Not to Tell the History of Science. Review of: Horizons: The Global Origins of Modern Science / James Poskett -- From Lived Experience to the Written Word: Reconstructing Practical Knowledge in the Early Modern World / Pamela H. Smith.
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Recently from LARB:
Anthony Curtis Adler. 02/19/2023: Jena Romanticism and the Art of Being Selfish. Review of: Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self / Andrea Wulf.
Julien Crockett. 02/23/2023: Does a Final Theory Exist?: A Conversation with Alan Lightman. Regarding The Transcendent Brain: Spirituality in the Age of Science / Alan Lightman.
Anthony Curtis Adler. 02/19/2023: Jena Romanticism and the Art of Being Selfish. Review of: Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self / Andrea Wulf.
Julien Crockett. 02/23/2023: Does a Final Theory Exist?: A Conversation with Alan Lightman. Regarding The Transcendent Brain: Spirituality in the Age of Science / Alan Lightman.
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Michael Dirda. WaPo, 02/24/2023: 9 strangely wonderful books beyond the bestseller list.
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Julia Jacobs. NYT, 02/23/2023: Hogwarts Legacy Sells 12 Million Copies During Dispute Over Rowling.
Julia Jacobs. NYT, 02/09/2023: Hogwarts Legacy Can’t Cast Aside Debate Over J.K. Rowling.
Pamela Paul. NYT, 02/16/2023: In Defense of J.K. Rowling.
Erik Wemple. WaPo, 02/24/2023: The New York Times newsroom is splintering over a trans coverage debate.
Julia Jacobs. NYT, 02/09/2023: Hogwarts Legacy Can’t Cast Aside Debate Over J.K. Rowling.
Pamela Paul. NYT, 02/16/2023: In Defense of J.K. Rowling.
Erik Wemple. WaPo, 02/24/2023: The New York Times newsroom is splintering over a trans coverage debate.
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Jeffrey Herf. Quillette, 02/22/2023: Heidegger’s Downfall. Review of: Heidegger in Ruins: Between Philosophy and Ideology / Richard Wolin.
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Keith Roysdon. Crimereads.com, 02/24/2023: What Is It That Makes Used Bookstores So Wonderful?
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Sarah Shaffi. The Guardian, 02/27/2023: James Bond novels to be reissued with racial references removed.
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New Yorker roundup:
Nathan Heller. 02/27/2023: The End of the English Major.
Merve Emre. 02/27/2023: The Worlds of Italo Calvino.
David Owen. 02/25/2023: What a Sixty-Five-Year-Old Book Teaches Us About A.I. The book is: Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine / Jay Williams and Raymond Abrashkin.
Lauren Collins. 02/25/2023: The Other Blockbuster Royals Memoir. Regarding The Heart Has Its Reasons / Wallis Simpson.
Nathan Heller. 02/27/2023: The End of the English Major.
Merve Emre. 02/27/2023: The Worlds of Italo Calvino.
David Owen. 02/25/2023: What a Sixty-Five-Year-Old Book Teaches Us About A.I. The book is: Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine / Jay Williams and Raymond Abrashkin.
Lauren Collins. 02/25/2023: The Other Blockbuster Royals Memoir. Regarding The Heart Has Its Reasons / Wallis Simpson.
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TLS March 3, 2023|No. 6257
Literature
Hannah Sullivan. Frozen love: T. S. Eliot’s not so intimate relationships. Review of: Mary and Mr Eliot: A sort of love story / Mary Trevelyan and Erica Wagner -- The Hyacinth Girl: T. S. Eliot’s hidden muse / Lyndall Gordon -- The Letters of T. S. Elitot To Emily Hale @tseliot.com / edited by John Haffenden.
Matthew Bown. Computer says no: ChatGPT’s limitations as a novelist. (Essay)
Tadzio Koelb. Show, don’t tell: On the history of writing workshops. Review of: Literary Rebels: A history of creative writers in Anglo-American universities / Lise Jaillant -- Craft Class: The writing workshop in American culture / Christopher Kempf.
Ian Sansom. ChipsGPT: Can algorithms write ‘the kinds of books older men are rumoured to enjoy’? (Essay)
Alex Clark. Magical thinking: Margaret Atwood’s stories of dystopia and decline. Review of: Old Babes in the Wood / Margaret Atwood.
Claire Lowdon. Nature’s mischief: A Booker winner’s high-class eco-thriller. Review of: Birnam Wood / Eleanor Catton.
Randy Boyagoda. Rage! Blow!: Stresses and strains in the run-up to a premiere of King Lear. Review of: Playhouse / Richard Bausch.
Richard Beard. The writing on the wall: A prehistoric literary hoax brought to light. Review of: The Lascaux Notebooks /Jean-Luc Champerret; edited and translated by Philip Terry.
In Brief Review of: Constructing a Nervous System / Margo Jefferson.
In Brief Review of: George Herbert and Early Modern Musical Culture / Simon Jackson.
In Brief Review of: The Things That We Lost / Jyoti Patel.
In Brief Review of: Marguerite Young: the collected poems Edited by Phillip T. Bevis, Joshua Rothes and Jacob Siefring.
Arts
Mary Beard. The cold eyes of heaven: Euripidean revenge tragedies that continue to trouble us. Review of performances of Euripides's Medea (@SohoPlace, London, until April 22) and Phaedra (National Theatre, until April 8).
Paul Griffiths. Fateful fairy tale: Enchantment and confusion in Dvořák’s opera. Review of AntonÍn Dvořák's opera Rusalka (Royal Opera House, until March 7).
Eric J. Iannelli. Singing the blues: A screenwriter’s memoir of Alzheimer’s disease. Review of: Life's Work / David Milch.
In Brief Review of: Sunset Boulevard (BFI Film Classics) / Steven Cohan.
History, Politics, & Religion
Peter Coates. Guests from hell: A history of the environment, and humanity’s impact on the plan. Review of: The Earth Transformed: An untold history / Peter Frankopan.
Stephanie Barczewski. Fantasy and failure: Culture as a bulwark of empire. Review of: A Cultural History of the British Empire / John M. MacKenzie.
David Arnold. In defence of empire: A moral philosopher weighs into the debate. Review of: Colonialism: a moral reckoning / Nigel Biggar.
Philip Ball. Midwife to science: Organized religion was not the enemy of intellectual progress. Review of: Magisteria: The entangled histories of science and religion / Nicholas Spencer.
Matthew Reisz. No longer silent: What makes British and American Jewish communities tick? Review of: Britain's Jews: Confidence, maturity, anxiety / Harry Freedman -- Bad Jews: A history of American Jewish politics and identities / Emily Tamkin.
In Brief Review of: The Making of the Modern Middle East: A personal history / Jeremy Bowen.
In Brief Review of: Cells: Memories for my mother / Gavin McCrea.
Literature
Hannah Sullivan. Frozen love: T. S. Eliot’s not so intimate relationships. Review of: Mary and Mr Eliot: A sort of love story / Mary Trevelyan and Erica Wagner -- The Hyacinth Girl: T. S. Eliot’s hidden muse / Lyndall Gordon -- The Letters of T. S. Elitot To Emily Hale @tseliot.com / edited by John Haffenden.
Matthew Bown. Computer says no: ChatGPT’s limitations as a novelist. (Essay)
Tadzio Koelb. Show, don’t tell: On the history of writing workshops. Review of: Literary Rebels: A history of creative writers in Anglo-American universities / Lise Jaillant -- Craft Class: The writing workshop in American culture / Christopher Kempf.
Ian Sansom. ChipsGPT: Can algorithms write ‘the kinds of books older men are rumoured to enjoy’? (Essay)
Alex Clark. Magical thinking: Margaret Atwood’s stories of dystopia and decline. Review of: Old Babes in the Wood / Margaret Atwood.
Claire Lowdon. Nature’s mischief: A Booker winner’s high-class eco-thriller. Review of: Birnam Wood / Eleanor Catton.
Randy Boyagoda. Rage! Blow!: Stresses and strains in the run-up to a premiere of King Lear. Review of: Playhouse / Richard Bausch.
Richard Beard. The writing on the wall: A prehistoric literary hoax brought to light. Review of: The Lascaux Notebooks /Jean-Luc Champerret; edited and translated by Philip Terry.
In Brief Review of: Constructing a Nervous System / Margo Jefferson.
In Brief Review of: George Herbert and Early Modern Musical Culture / Simon Jackson.
In Brief Review of: The Things That We Lost / Jyoti Patel.
In Brief Review of: Marguerite Young: the collected poems Edited by Phillip T. Bevis, Joshua Rothes and Jacob Siefring.
Arts
Mary Beard. The cold eyes of heaven: Euripidean revenge tragedies that continue to trouble us. Review of performances of Euripides's Medea (@SohoPlace, London, until April 22) and Phaedra (National Theatre, until April 8).
Paul Griffiths. Fateful fairy tale: Enchantment and confusion in Dvořák’s opera. Review of AntonÍn Dvořák's opera Rusalka (Royal Opera House, until March 7).
Eric J. Iannelli. Singing the blues: A screenwriter’s memoir of Alzheimer’s disease. Review of: Life's Work / David Milch.
In Brief Review of: Sunset Boulevard (BFI Film Classics) / Steven Cohan.
History, Politics, & Religion
Peter Coates. Guests from hell: A history of the environment, and humanity’s impact on the plan. Review of: The Earth Transformed: An untold history / Peter Frankopan.
Stephanie Barczewski. Fantasy and failure: Culture as a bulwark of empire. Review of: A Cultural History of the British Empire / John M. MacKenzie.
David Arnold. In defence of empire: A moral philosopher weighs into the debate. Review of: Colonialism: a moral reckoning / Nigel Biggar.
Philip Ball. Midwife to science: Organized religion was not the enemy of intellectual progress. Review of: Magisteria: The entangled histories of science and religion / Nicholas Spencer.
Matthew Reisz. No longer silent: What makes British and American Jewish communities tick? Review of: Britain's Jews: Confidence, maturity, anxiety / Harry Freedman -- Bad Jews: A history of American Jewish politics and identities / Emily Tamkin.
In Brief Review of: The Making of the Modern Middle East: A personal history / Jeremy Bowen.
In Brief Review of: Cells: Memories for my mother / Gavin McCrea.
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Russell Jacoby. Harper's, 03/2023: A Climate of Fear: The free speech skeptics abandon Salman Rushdie.
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Carol Muske-Dukes. WaPo, 03/01/2023: The MacArthur ‘genius’ poet who got her first break at 58. Review of: Nothing Stays Put: The Life and Poetry of Amy Clampitt / Willard Spiegelman.
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GD Dess. The Millions, 03/01/2023: Beware of Blurbs.
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Elise Hannum. The Atlantic, 03/03/2023: The Importance of the Coming-of-Age Novel.
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George Packer. The Atlantic, 03/02/2023: The Moral Case Against Equity Language.
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Robert C. Thornett. Quillette, 03/02/2023: Forgetting vs. Overcoming: Abuses of History and the 1619 Project.
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Rosa Cartagena. WaPo, 03/03/2023: How to organize your books, according to people with thousands of them.
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Adam Bradley. NYT, 03/03/2023: Building a New Canon of Black Literature.
And a follow-up. That was quick!:
Adam Bradley. NYT Style Magazine, 03/07/2023: The New Black Canon: Books, Plays and Poems That Everyone Should Know.
And a follow-up. That was quick!:
Adam Bradley. NYT Style Magazine, 03/07/2023: The New Black Canon: Books, Plays and Poems That Everyone Should Know.
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NYRB online, 03/23/2023
Literature
Anjum Hasan. Endless Trance. Review of: Tomb of Sand / Geetanjali Shree, translated from the Hindi by Daisy Rockwell.
Colin Grant. Far from Jamaica. Review of: If I Survive You / Jonathan Escoffery: "explores the unsettling shifts in identity for two generations of a Jamaican family in Florida."
Meghan O'Gieblyn. The Life of the Mind. Review of: The Guest Lecture / Martin Riker: "an economist’s preparation for a talk on John Maynard Keynes."
Arts
Ruth Bernard Yeazell. Laughs and Smiles. Review of: The Portraitist: Frans Hals and His World / Steven Nadler.
Andrew O'Hagan. Bigger, Deeper, and More ‘Fucked Up.’ Review of: It’s Not TV: The Spectacular Rise, Revolution, and Future of HBO / Felix Gillette and John Koblin -- Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers / (995 pages!!) James Andrew Miller.
Natural History
Verlyn Klinkenborg. Trees in Themselves. Review of: Elderflora: A Modern History of Ancient Trees / Jared Farmer.
History, Politics, & Society
Jenny Uglow. Fascism’s Poster Girl. Review of: Mussolini’s Daughter: The Most Dangerous Woman in Europe / Caroline Moorehead. "Edda Mussolini was once considered “the most dangerous woman in Europe,” but did she have real political power?"
Charles Glass. Disenchantment and Devastation in Syria. (Essay)
Francisco Canti. An American Story. Review of: Bad Mexicans: Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands / Kelly Lytle Hernández: "chronicles the tumultuous period leading up to the Mexican Revolution, casting the border as ground zero for continental change."
Sarah Shulman. Red Lights, Blue Lines. Review of: The Streets Belong to Us: Sex, Race, and Police Power from Segregation to Gentrification / Anne Gray Fischer -- Vice Patrol: Cops, Courts, and the Struggle over Urban Gay Life Before Stonewall / Anna Lvovsky -- We Do This ’Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice / Mariame Kaba, edited by Tamara K. Nopper and with a foreword by Naomi Murakawa.
Magda Teter. Reckoning with a Troubled Past. Review of: The Invention of the Culprit: The Case of Little Simon of Trento from Propaganda to History: an exhibition at the Tridentine Diocesan Museum, Trent, Italy, December 13, 2019–September 14, 2020; catalog of the exhibition edited by Domenica Primerano and others -- The Absent: The History of the Jewish Community in Sandomierz: an exhibition at the Regional Museum in Sandomierz, Poland, October 23, 2020–April 2, 2021; catalog of the exhibition edited by Karolina Gara and Tomisław Giergiel
Sandomierz: Muzeum Okręgowe w Sandomierzu.
Geoffrey Wheatcroft. Bloody Panico. Review of: Tory Nation: How One Party Took Over / Samuel Earle -- Boris Johnson: The Rise and Fall of a Troublemaker at Number 10 / Andrew Gimson -- Pandemic Diaries: The Inside Story of Britain’s Battle Against Covid / Matt Hancock with Isabel Oakeshott -- The Fall of Boris Johnson: The Full Story / Sebastian Payne -- Out of the Blue: The Inside Story of the Unexpected Rise and Rapid Fall of Liz Truss / Harry Cole and James Heale -- The Reign: Life in Elizabeth’s Britain, Part 1: The Way It Was, 1952–79 / Matthew Engle -- The Worm in the Apple: A History of the Conservative Party and Europe from Churchill to Cameron / Christopher Tugendhat.
Literature
Anjum Hasan. Endless Trance. Review of: Tomb of Sand / Geetanjali Shree, translated from the Hindi by Daisy Rockwell.
Colin Grant. Far from Jamaica. Review of: If I Survive You / Jonathan Escoffery: "explores the unsettling shifts in identity for two generations of a Jamaican family in Florida."
Meghan O'Gieblyn. The Life of the Mind. Review of: The Guest Lecture / Martin Riker: "an economist’s preparation for a talk on John Maynard Keynes."
Arts
Ruth Bernard Yeazell. Laughs and Smiles. Review of: The Portraitist: Frans Hals and His World / Steven Nadler.
Andrew O'Hagan. Bigger, Deeper, and More ‘Fucked Up.’ Review of: It’s Not TV: The Spectacular Rise, Revolution, and Future of HBO / Felix Gillette and John Koblin -- Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers / (995 pages!!) James Andrew Miller.
Natural History
Verlyn Klinkenborg. Trees in Themselves. Review of: Elderflora: A Modern History of Ancient Trees / Jared Farmer.
History, Politics, & Society
Jenny Uglow. Fascism’s Poster Girl. Review of: Mussolini’s Daughter: The Most Dangerous Woman in Europe / Caroline Moorehead. "Edda Mussolini was once considered “the most dangerous woman in Europe,” but did she have real political power?"
Charles Glass. Disenchantment and Devastation in Syria. (Essay)
Francisco Canti. An American Story. Review of: Bad Mexicans: Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands / Kelly Lytle Hernández: "chronicles the tumultuous period leading up to the Mexican Revolution, casting the border as ground zero for continental change."
Sarah Shulman. Red Lights, Blue Lines. Review of: The Streets Belong to Us: Sex, Race, and Police Power from Segregation to Gentrification / Anne Gray Fischer -- Vice Patrol: Cops, Courts, and the Struggle over Urban Gay Life Before Stonewall / Anna Lvovsky -- We Do This ’Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice / Mariame Kaba, edited by Tamara K. Nopper and with a foreword by Naomi Murakawa.
Magda Teter. Reckoning with a Troubled Past. Review of: The Invention of the Culprit: The Case of Little Simon of Trento from Propaganda to History: an exhibition at the Tridentine Diocesan Museum, Trent, Italy, December 13, 2019–September 14, 2020; catalog of the exhibition edited by Domenica Primerano and others -- The Absent: The History of the Jewish Community in Sandomierz: an exhibition at the Regional Museum in Sandomierz, Poland, October 23, 2020–April 2, 2021; catalog of the exhibition edited by Karolina Gara and Tomisław Giergiel
Sandomierz: Muzeum Okręgowe w Sandomierzu.
Geoffrey Wheatcroft. Bloody Panico. Review of: Tory Nation: How One Party Took Over / Samuel Earle -- Boris Johnson: The Rise and Fall of a Troublemaker at Number 10 / Andrew Gimson -- Pandemic Diaries: The Inside Story of Britain’s Battle Against Covid / Matt Hancock with Isabel Oakeshott -- The Fall of Boris Johnson: The Full Story / Sebastian Payne -- Out of the Blue: The Inside Story of the Unexpected Rise and Rapid Fall of Liz Truss / Harry Cole and James Heale -- The Reign: Life in Elizabeth’s Britain, Part 1: The Way It Was, 1952–79 / Matthew Engle -- The Worm in the Apple: A History of the Conservative Party and Europe from Churchill to Cameron / Christopher Tugendhat.
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Recently on LARB:
Leigh Jenco. 03/06/2023: Ingesting Mercury and the Noble Lie. Review of: The Many Lives of the First Emperor of China / Anthony Barbieri-Low -- Plato Goes to China: The Greek Classics and Chinese Nationalism / Shadi Bartsch.
Jeremiah Jenne. 03/05/2023: Mistrust on Both Sides. Review of: Americans in China: Encounters with the People’s Republic / Terry Lautz -- Agents of Subversion: The Fate of John T. Downey and the CIA’s Covert War in China / John Delury.
Christoph Wulf. Shelves Full of Bread. Review of: Cultures of Currencies: Literature and the Symbolic Foundation of Money / Joan Ramon Resina.
Leigh Jenco. 03/06/2023: Ingesting Mercury and the Noble Lie. Review of: The Many Lives of the First Emperor of China / Anthony Barbieri-Low -- Plato Goes to China: The Greek Classics and Chinese Nationalism / Shadi Bartsch.
Jeremiah Jenne. 03/05/2023: Mistrust on Both Sides. Review of: Americans in China: Encounters with the People’s Republic / Terry Lautz -- Agents of Subversion: The Fate of John T. Downey and the CIA’s Covert War in China / John Delury.
Christoph Wulf. Shelves Full of Bread. Review of: Cultures of Currencies: Literature and the Symbolic Foundation of Money / Joan Ramon Resina.
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Alexander Jabbari. Aeon, 03/07/2023: After the mother tongues: Cultural exchange between Iran and India led to the creation of literary histories that inspired modern nationalism.
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Seth Mydans. NYT, 03/07/2023: Duong Tuong, Who Opened Western Works to Vietnamese Readers, Dies at 90.
"He translated works by Proust, Nabokov, Tolstoy and Emily Brontë into Vietnamese, and a classic Vietnamese poem, ‘The Tale of Kieu,’ into English."
"He translated works by Proust, Nabokov, Tolstoy and Emily Brontë into Vietnamese, and a classic Vietnamese poem, ‘The Tale of Kieu,’ into English."
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Burke Nixon. The Millions, 02/22/2023: What Dickens and Prince Teach Us About Creativity. On Dickens and Prince: A Particular Kind of Genius / Nick Hornby.
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Clare Thorp. BBC Culture, 03/08/2023: The power of Forbidden Notebook's hidden diary entries. On Forbidden Notebook / Alba de Céspedes, published originally in 1952, in a new translation by Ann Goldstein.
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Parul Sehgal. New Yorker, 03/06/2023: Why We Never Have Enough Time. Review of: Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock / Jenny Odell; with ref. also to her 2019 How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy.
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TLS March 10, 2023|No. 6258
Literature
Clare Pettit. Bomb in the biscuit tin: A brilliant novel of divided female selfhood. Review of: Forbidden Notebook / Alba de Céspedes, translation by Ann Goldstein.
Carlos Fonseca. Welcome to the jungle: Silences and half-truths in a wealthy Colombian family. Review of: Abyss / Pilar Quintana; translated by Lisa Dillman.
Russell Williams. House arrest: Three armed men interrupt a rural birthday celebration. Review of: The Birthday Party / Laurent Mauvignier; translated by Daniel Levin Becker.
Francesca Peacock. Pain and circuses: A bizarre episode of collective madness in 1950s France. Review of: Cursed Bread / Sophie Mackintosh.
Lily Ford. Among the fly boys: An English equivalent to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Review of: The Flying Shadow / John Llewelyn Rhys -- England is My Village: And “The World Owes Me a Living” / John Llewelyn Rhys.
Damian Catani. London’s libido: A newly discovered novel by the French master of the lower depths. Review of: Londres / Louis-Ferdinand Céline -- Louis-Ferdinand Céline / Jean-Pierre Thibaudat.
Craig Raine. Rimbaud’s ‘Ophélie’: The winks and nods of a French symbolist. (Essay)
In Brief Review of: The Double Rimbaud / Victor Segalen; translated by Blandine Longre and Paul Stubbs.
In Brief Review of: Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders / Margaret Clunies Ross.
Arts
James Hall. The golden thread: A monumental history of world art. Review of: Creation: Art since the beginning / John-Paul Stonard.
Toby Lichtig. Edits and ethics: The impact of documentaries on their subjects. Review of: Well Documented: The essential documentaries that prove the truth is more fascinating than fiction / Ian Haydn Smith -- the film Subject.
Anna Aslanyan. Time for chaos: Women as witches, with revolution in the air. Review of Lulu Raczka's play: Women, Beware the Devil.
Anna Picard. All that glitters: Playful pizzazz in two new stagings of Strauss and Wagner. Review of two opera performances: Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos (Opera North, touring until March 24) and Richard Wagner's The Rhinegold (English National Opera, Coliseum, March 10).
Flora Willson. The Muses at a football match: Four female composers who battled condescension. Review of: Quartet: How four women changed the musical world / Leah Broad.
In Brief Review of: Letter From an Unknown Woman (BFI Film Classics) / James Naremore.
In Brief Review of: Genius Loci: An essay on the meanings of place / John Dixon Hunt.
Science and Technology
Michele Pridmore-Brown. Mother knows best: Insights into parenthood from neuroscience, archaeology and social policy. Review of: Mother Brain: Separating myth from biology – the science of the parental brain / Chelsea Conaboy -- What Makes a Person?: Secrets of our first 1,000 days / Mark Hanson and Lucy Green -- Growing Up Human: The evolution of childhood / Brenna Hassett.
Anna Katharina Schaffner. Touchy feely: How human senses compare with those of other life forms. Review of: Sensational: a new story of our senses / Ashley Ward.
Wendy Moore. Slick operation: On surgeons gentle and macho. Review of: The Trauma Chronicles / Stephen Westaby -- Life in Her Hands: The inspiring story of a pioneering female surgeon / Averil Mansfield.
History & Travel
Anna Parker. A young person’s game: What Tudor children did away from their parents. Review of: Tudor Children / Nicholas Orme.
Biancamaria Fontana. Under the Jolly Roger: The late David Graeber’s search for radical democracy in a pirate kingdom. Review of: Pirate Enlightenment: Or the real Libertalia / David Graeber.
Michael Braddick. When religion mattered: The making of modern England. Review of: The Blazing World: A new history of revolutionary England / Jonathan Healey.
Ann Kennedy Smith. A woman’s place: A travel writer looks back at her voyages. Review of: Glowing Still: A woman’s life on the road / Sara Wheeler.
Noo Saro-Wiwa. Is this paradise?: Looking for perfection in a fallen world. Review of: The Half Known Life: Finding paradise in a divided world / Pico Eyer.
In Brief Review of: The Witches of St Osyth: Persecution, betrayal and murder in Elizabethan England / Marion Gibson.
In Brief Review of: Our Santiniketan / Mahasweta Devi, translated by Radha Chakravarty.
In Brief Review of: A Left-Handed Woman: Essays / Judith Thurman.
Literature
Clare Pettit. Bomb in the biscuit tin: A brilliant novel of divided female selfhood. Review of: Forbidden Notebook / Alba de Céspedes, translation by Ann Goldstein.
Carlos Fonseca. Welcome to the jungle: Silences and half-truths in a wealthy Colombian family. Review of: Abyss / Pilar Quintana; translated by Lisa Dillman.
Russell Williams. House arrest: Three armed men interrupt a rural birthday celebration. Review of: The Birthday Party / Laurent Mauvignier; translated by Daniel Levin Becker.
Francesca Peacock. Pain and circuses: A bizarre episode of collective madness in 1950s France. Review of: Cursed Bread / Sophie Mackintosh.
Lily Ford. Among the fly boys: An English equivalent to Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Review of: The Flying Shadow / John Llewelyn Rhys -- England is My Village: And “The World Owes Me a Living” / John Llewelyn Rhys.
Damian Catani. London’s libido: A newly discovered novel by the French master of the lower depths. Review of: Londres / Louis-Ferdinand Céline -- Louis-Ferdinand Céline / Jean-Pierre Thibaudat.
Craig Raine. Rimbaud’s ‘Ophélie’: The winks and nods of a French symbolist. (Essay)
In Brief Review of: The Double Rimbaud / Victor Segalen; translated by Blandine Longre and Paul Stubbs.
In Brief Review of: Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders / Margaret Clunies Ross.
Arts
James Hall. The golden thread: A monumental history of world art. Review of: Creation: Art since the beginning / John-Paul Stonard.
Toby Lichtig. Edits and ethics: The impact of documentaries on their subjects. Review of: Well Documented: The essential documentaries that prove the truth is more fascinating than fiction / Ian Haydn Smith -- the film Subject.
Anna Aslanyan. Time for chaos: Women as witches, with revolution in the air. Review of Lulu Raczka's play: Women, Beware the Devil.
Anna Picard. All that glitters: Playful pizzazz in two new stagings of Strauss and Wagner. Review of two opera performances: Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos (Opera North, touring until March 24) and Richard Wagner's The Rhinegold (English National Opera, Coliseum, March 10).
Flora Willson. The Muses at a football match: Four female composers who battled condescension. Review of: Quartet: How four women changed the musical world / Leah Broad.
In Brief Review of: Letter From an Unknown Woman (BFI Film Classics) / James Naremore.
In Brief Review of: Genius Loci: An essay on the meanings of place / John Dixon Hunt.
Science and Technology
Michele Pridmore-Brown. Mother knows best: Insights into parenthood from neuroscience, archaeology and social policy. Review of: Mother Brain: Separating myth from biology – the science of the parental brain / Chelsea Conaboy -- What Makes a Person?: Secrets of our first 1,000 days / Mark Hanson and Lucy Green -- Growing Up Human: The evolution of childhood / Brenna Hassett.
Anna Katharina Schaffner. Touchy feely: How human senses compare with those of other life forms. Review of: Sensational: a new story of our senses / Ashley Ward.
Wendy Moore. Slick operation: On surgeons gentle and macho. Review of: The Trauma Chronicles / Stephen Westaby -- Life in Her Hands: The inspiring story of a pioneering female surgeon / Averil Mansfield.
History & Travel
Anna Parker. A young person’s game: What Tudor children did away from their parents. Review of: Tudor Children / Nicholas Orme.
Biancamaria Fontana. Under the Jolly Roger: The late David Graeber’s search for radical democracy in a pirate kingdom. Review of: Pirate Enlightenment: Or the real Libertalia / David Graeber.
Michael Braddick. When religion mattered: The making of modern England. Review of: The Blazing World: A new history of revolutionary England / Jonathan Healey.
Ann Kennedy Smith. A woman’s place: A travel writer looks back at her voyages. Review of: Glowing Still: A woman’s life on the road / Sara Wheeler.
Noo Saro-Wiwa. Is this paradise?: Looking for perfection in a fallen world. Review of: The Half Known Life: Finding paradise in a divided world / Pico Eyer.
In Brief Review of: The Witches of St Osyth: Persecution, betrayal and murder in Elizabethan England / Marion Gibson.
In Brief Review of: Our Santiniketan / Mahasweta Devi, translated by Radha Chakravarty.
In Brief Review of: A Left-Handed Woman: Essays / Judith Thurman.
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Pamela Paul. NYT, 03/09/2023: How to Get Kids to Hate English. (English literature, I'm assuming)
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This message has been deleted by its author.
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Kerri Greenidge. NYT, 03/07/2023: The Subversive Art of Phillis Wheatley. Review of: The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet’s Journeys Through American Slavery and Independence / David Waldstreicher.
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Jennifer Schuessler. NYT, 03/09/2023: For Rare Book Librarians, It’s Gloves Off. Seriously.
"When handling rare books, experts say that bare, just-cleaned hands are best. Why won’t the public believe them?"
"When handling rare books, experts say that bare, just-cleaned hands are best. Why won’t the public believe them?"
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Tope Folarin. The Atlantic, 03/09/2023: A Novel in Which Nightmares Are All Too Real. On Our Share of Night / Mariana Enriquez.
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Daniel Pollack-Pelzner. The Atlantic, 03/10/2023: All of Shakespeare's Plays Are About Race. Review of: White People in Shakespeare / edited by Arthur L. Little.
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Katy Waldman. New Yorker, 03/10/2023: What Are We Protecting Children from by Banning Books?.
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Kenzaburo Oe, 1935-2023
Daniel Lewis. NYT, 03/13/2023: Kenzaburo Oe, Nobel Laureate and Critic of Postwar Japan, Dies at 88.
Daniel Lewis. NYT, 03/13/2023: Kenzaburo Oe, Nobel Laureate and Critic of Postwar Japan, Dies at 88.
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Xochitl Gonzalez. Atlantic, 03/15/2023: The Librarians Are Not Okay.
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TLS March 17, 2023|No. 6259
Literature
Jacqueline Bannerjee. Rejoice with trembling: Love and marriage in George Eliot’s life and fiction. Review of: The Marriage Question: George Eliot’s double life / Clare Carlisle.
Stanley Corngold. In the whirlpool: Attention and its lapses, viewed through work of German psychology and literature. Review of: Attention and Distraction in Modern German Literature, Thought, and Culture / Carolin Duttlinger.
Sheena Joughin. A fun place to live: A veteran fiction writer charts the ‘charged landscape’ of her nineties. Review of: Ladies' Lunch / Lore Segal.
Kate McLoughlin. Flowers in the filth: Poverty, discrimination and togetherness in 1940s Trinidad. Review of: Hungry Ghosts / Kevin Jared Hosein.
Chloë Ashby. Misery for art’s sake: Life as a cog in Warhol’s Factory. Review of: Nothing Special / Nicole Flattery.
Pablo Scheffer. North by northeast: Exploring the cult of St Cuthbert. Review of: Cuddy / Benjamin Myers.
Ann Kennedy Smith. Kingdom of the sick: A professor of English and a poet record their experience of illness. Review of: Metamorphosis: a life in pieces / Robert Douglas-Fairhurst -- Getting Better: Life lessons on going under, getting over it, and getting through it / Michael Rosen.
D.J. Taylor. Such, such were the joys: The Bright Young Thing who became George Orwell’s friend, collaborator and observer. (Essay on Inez Holden)
In Brief Review of: Ten Planets / Yuri Herrera; translated by Lisa Dillman.
In Brief Review of: Shuna's Journey / Hayao Miyazaki; translated by Alex Dudok de Wit.
In Brief Review of: Aliss at the Fire / Jon Fosse; translated by Damion Searls.
In Brief Review of: Tove Jansson: the illustrators / Paul Gravett.
Arts
Irina Dumitrescu. More anchorite than athlete: A study of ballet focusing on ‘the women who didn’t make it.’ Review of: Don't Think, Dear: On loving and leaving ballet / Alice Robb.
Boyd Tonkin. Swooning Swedes: The esoteric revival in the arts among a ‘damned rational’ people. Review of: Swedish Ecstasy: Hilma af Klint, August Strindberg and other visionaries / Daniel Birnbaum, editor, catalog of the exhibition of the same name at the Bozar Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels, until May 21.
In Brief Review of: Crooked, But Never Common: The films of Preston Sturges / Stuart Klawans.
Philosophy
Richard Bourke. Making sense of suffering: What secularism inherited from religion. Review of: The Shadow of God: Kant, Hegel, and the passage from Heaven to History / Michael Rosen.
Religion
Alister McGrath. The uses of wonder and ritual: How the sacred helps us find our place in the world. Review of: Sacred Nature: How we can recover our bond with the natural world / Karen Armstrong -- Ritual: How seemingly senseless acts make life worth living / Dimitris Xygalatas.
Helen Bynum. Branching out: A manifesto that invites us to view plants as cognitive beings. Review of: Planta Sapiens: Unmasking plant intelligence Paco Calvo, With Natalie Lawrence.
Politics & Society
Cordelia Fine. Building on sands of ignorance: How the Tavistock Trust’s gender identity clinic failed its patients. Review of: Time To Think: The inside story of the collapse of the Tavistock’s Gender Service for Children / Hannah Barnes.
Richard Dunn. A new kind of world: How Victorian scientists pursued an imperial vision of a technological future. Review of: How the Victorians Took Us To the Moon: The story of the nineteenth-century innovators who forged the future / Iwan Rhys Morus.
Paul Collier. Profit and loss: Do capitalism and democracy need one another? Review of: Marketization: How capitalist exchange disciplines workers and subverts democracy / Ian Greer and Charles Umney -- Liberal Capitalist Democracy: The god that failed / Krishnan Nayar -- The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism / Martin Wolf.
Carolyne Larrington. Between maiden and mother: A provocative survey of women’s lives in the Middle Ages. Review of: The Once and Future Sex: Going medieval on women’s roles in society / Eleanor Janega.
Richard Vinen. Victory over Vichy: The last hero of the French Resistance. Review of: Le Moment Daniel Cordier: Comment écrire l’histoire de la Résistance?
Regina Rini. Possession and repossession: Rethinking our consumer goods ontology. (Essay)
In Brief Review of: People Hacker: Confessions of a burglar for hire / Jenny Radcliffe.
In Brief Review of: Great Discoveries in Medicine: From Ayurveda to x-rays, cancer to Covid / William and Helen Bynum, editors.
Literature
Jacqueline Bannerjee. Rejoice with trembling: Love and marriage in George Eliot’s life and fiction. Review of: The Marriage Question: George Eliot’s double life / Clare Carlisle.
Stanley Corngold. In the whirlpool: Attention and its lapses, viewed through work of German psychology and literature. Review of: Attention and Distraction in Modern German Literature, Thought, and Culture / Carolin Duttlinger.
Sheena Joughin. A fun place to live: A veteran fiction writer charts the ‘charged landscape’ of her nineties. Review of: Ladies' Lunch / Lore Segal.
Kate McLoughlin. Flowers in the filth: Poverty, discrimination and togetherness in 1940s Trinidad. Review of: Hungry Ghosts / Kevin Jared Hosein.
Chloë Ashby. Misery for art’s sake: Life as a cog in Warhol’s Factory. Review of: Nothing Special / Nicole Flattery.
Pablo Scheffer. North by northeast: Exploring the cult of St Cuthbert. Review of: Cuddy / Benjamin Myers.
Ann Kennedy Smith. Kingdom of the sick: A professor of English and a poet record their experience of illness. Review of: Metamorphosis: a life in pieces / Robert Douglas-Fairhurst -- Getting Better: Life lessons on going under, getting over it, and getting through it / Michael Rosen.
D.J. Taylor. Such, such were the joys: The Bright Young Thing who became George Orwell’s friend, collaborator and observer. (Essay on Inez Holden)
In Brief Review of: Ten Planets / Yuri Herrera; translated by Lisa Dillman.
In Brief Review of: Shuna's Journey / Hayao Miyazaki; translated by Alex Dudok de Wit.
In Brief Review of: Aliss at the Fire / Jon Fosse; translated by Damion Searls.
In Brief Review of: Tove Jansson: the illustrators / Paul Gravett.
Arts
Irina Dumitrescu. More anchorite than athlete: A study of ballet focusing on ‘the women who didn’t make it.’ Review of: Don't Think, Dear: On loving and leaving ballet / Alice Robb.
Boyd Tonkin. Swooning Swedes: The esoteric revival in the arts among a ‘damned rational’ people. Review of: Swedish Ecstasy: Hilma af Klint, August Strindberg and other visionaries / Daniel Birnbaum, editor, catalog of the exhibition of the same name at the Bozar Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels, until May 21.
In Brief Review of: Crooked, But Never Common: The films of Preston Sturges / Stuart Klawans.
Philosophy
Richard Bourke. Making sense of suffering: What secularism inherited from religion. Review of: The Shadow of God: Kant, Hegel, and the passage from Heaven to History / Michael Rosen.
Religion
Alister McGrath. The uses of wonder and ritual: How the sacred helps us find our place in the world. Review of: Sacred Nature: How we can recover our bond with the natural world / Karen Armstrong -- Ritual: How seemingly senseless acts make life worth living / Dimitris Xygalatas.
Helen Bynum. Branching out: A manifesto that invites us to view plants as cognitive beings. Review of: Planta Sapiens: Unmasking plant intelligence Paco Calvo, With Natalie Lawrence.
Politics & Society
Cordelia Fine. Building on sands of ignorance: How the Tavistock Trust’s gender identity clinic failed its patients. Review of: Time To Think: The inside story of the collapse of the Tavistock’s Gender Service for Children / Hannah Barnes.
Richard Dunn. A new kind of world: How Victorian scientists pursued an imperial vision of a technological future. Review of: How the Victorians Took Us To the Moon: The story of the nineteenth-century innovators who forged the future / Iwan Rhys Morus.
Paul Collier. Profit and loss: Do capitalism and democracy need one another? Review of: Marketization: How capitalist exchange disciplines workers and subverts democracy / Ian Greer and Charles Umney -- Liberal Capitalist Democracy: The god that failed / Krishnan Nayar -- The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism / Martin Wolf.
Carolyne Larrington. Between maiden and mother: A provocative survey of women’s lives in the Middle Ages. Review of: The Once and Future Sex: Going medieval on women’s roles in society / Eleanor Janega.
Richard Vinen. Victory over Vichy: The last hero of the French Resistance. Review of: Le Moment Daniel Cordier: Comment écrire l’histoire de la Résistance?
Regina Rini. Possession and repossession: Rethinking our consumer goods ontology. (Essay)
In Brief Review of: People Hacker: Confessions of a burglar for hire / Jenny Radcliffe.
In Brief Review of: Great Discoveries in Medicine: From Ayurveda to x-rays, cancer to Covid / William and Helen Bynum, editors.
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Rachel Pafe. The Baffler, 03/16/2023: The Ghost at the Feast. Review of: Professor of Apocalypse: The Many Lives of Jacob Taubes / Jerry Z. Muller. "A recent biography of Jacob Taubes is haunted by his first wife’s novel."
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John Jakes, 1932-2023
Michael S. Rosenwald. WaPo, 03/16/2023:John Jakes, best-selling author of historical novels, dies at 90.
Robert D. McFadden. NYT, 03/14/2023: John Jakes, Who Hit the Jackpot With Historical Novels, Dies at 90.
Michael S. Rosenwald. WaPo, 03/16/2023:John Jakes, best-selling author of historical novels, dies at 90.
Robert D. McFadden. NYT, 03/14/2023: John Jakes, Who Hit the Jackpot With Historical Novels, Dies at 90.
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Bernard Lane. Quillette, 03/14/2023: Hormones First. Research Later. Review of: Time to Think: The Inside Story of the Collapse of the Tavistock’s Gender Service for Children / Hannah Barnes.
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Katherine Marsh. The Atlantic, 03/22/2023: Why Kids Aren’t Falling in Love With Reading.
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Alan Jacobs. The New Atlantis, winter 2023: A Humanism of the Abyss. Revisiting Awakenings / Oliver Sacks.
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Samantha Rose Hill. Aeon, 03/21/2022: The scar of identity. "Alexandre Kojève was an immense influence on many French thinkers. What was so compelling about his lectures on Hegel?"
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TLS March 24, 2023|No. 6260
Literature
Claire Lowdon. Teenage kicks: In defence of Martin Amis’s The Rachel Papers, fifty years after its publication. (Essay)
Margarette Lincoln. A literary agent: Defoe’s correspondence reveals his work as a political operator, but not his personality. Review of The Cambridge Edition of the Correspondence of Daniel Defoe / Nicholas Seager, editor.
Oliver Balch. Laying the ground: The Peruvian novelist’s journey towards liberalism>/a>. Review of: The Call of the Tribe: Essays / Mario Vargas Llosa.
Doug Battersby. Prose procedural: The detective genre has emerged as an ideal vehicle for John Banville’s writing. Review of: The Lock-Up / John Banville.
Beejay Silcox. Papering over the trauma: A cold case is opened, awakening old ghosts. Review of: Old God's Time / Sebastian Barry.
Jonathan Keates. After Covid: A strange creative response to the pandemic. Review of: To Battersea Park / Philip Hensher.
Alex Howlett. A sinister shadow map: Between Mexican abductions and London dinner parties. Review of: History Keeps Me Awake at Night / Christy Edwall.
Irina Dumitrescu. Before Bowdler: The long history of strategic rewriting. (Essay)
In Brief Review of: Invitation to View / Peter Scupham.
In Brief Review of: Review of: The Illustrated Woman / Helen Mort.
In Brief Review of: Bandit Country / James Conor Patterson.
In Brief Review of: Aristophanes: Lysistrata / James Robson.
In Brief Review of: Lover Man / Alston Anderson.
In Brief Review of: Stravaging “Strange” / Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky; translated by Joanne Turnbull with Nikolai Formozov.
Arts
Adam Mars-Jones. What is shown and known: A new film about film, made in Iran. Review of Hassan Nazer's film Winners.
Sophie Oliver. ‘The Great Lady of Tapestry’: Modernist, Romantic, unclassifiable – the art of Magdalena Abakanowicz. Review of the exhibition Magdalena Abakanowicz: Every tangle of thread and rope, at the Tate Modern, until May 21.
Philosophy
Jane O'Grady. The right form of words: Oxford analytic philosophy and its ‘strenuously subtle distinctions.’ Review of: A Terribly Serious Adventure: Philosophy at Oxford 1900–60 / Nikhil Krishnan.
Rachel Handley. Squaring the Vienna Circle: Four female philosophers who swam against the tide. Review of: Metaphysical Animals: How four women brought philosophy back to life / Clare Mac Cumhaill and Rachael Wiseman.
Natural History
Nessa Carey. Move, adapt or die: An engaging tour of species threatened by a changing climate. Review of: Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid: How the natural world is adapting to climate change / Thor Hanson.
Religion
Kate Cooper. Their defining moment: How Christians came to see time-keeping as an act of defiance. Review of: The Christian Invention of Time: Temporality and the Literature of Late Antiquity / Simon Goldhill.
William Wood. A matter of trust: Atheists can also benefit from understanding sin. Review of: The Origin of Sin: Greece and Rome, early Judaism and Christianity / David Konstan -- Sin / Gregory Mellema.
Vernon White. The pain problem: Why does God permit extreme suffering and evil?. Review of: The Hardest Problem: God, evil and suffering / Rupert Shortt.
In Brief Review of: A Philosopher Looks At The Religious Life / Zena Hitz.
History, Politics, & Society
Jeffrey Veidlinger. Millions of murderers: How the seeds of the Holocaust were sown. Review of: The Holocaust: An unfinished history / Dan Stone -- Before the Holocaust: Antisemitic violence and the reaction of German elites and institutions during the Nazi takeover / Hermann Beck -- Mobilising Hate: The story of Hitler’s Final Solution / Martin Davidson.
Rory MacLean. Right place, right time: Timothy Garton Ash’s engagement with contemporary European history. Review of: Homelands: A personal history of Europe / Timothy Garton Ash.
Christine Bold. The gunk, gore and horror: Paul Auster confronts the hard facts of US gun law. Review of: Bloodbath Nation / Paul Auster; photographs by Spencer Ostrander.
Lorna Scott Fox. You say you want a revolution: How Nancy Cunard rallied artists and writers to the Spanish Republican cause. Review of: Tomorrow Perhaps the Future: Following writers and rebels in the Spanish Civil War / Sarah Watling.
In Brief Review of: Milk: On motherhood and madness / Alice Kinsella.
In Brief Review of: Pharmakon / Almudena Sánchez; translated by Katie Whittemore. "A Spanish author's dialogue with depression."
In Brief Review of: Clouds Over Paris: The wartime notebooks of Felix Hartlaub / Translated by Simon Beattie.
Literature
Claire Lowdon. Teenage kicks: In defence of Martin Amis’s The Rachel Papers, fifty years after its publication. (Essay)
Margarette Lincoln. A literary agent: Defoe’s correspondence reveals his work as a political operator, but not his personality. Review of The Cambridge Edition of the Correspondence of Daniel Defoe / Nicholas Seager, editor.
Oliver Balch. Laying the ground: The Peruvian novelist’s journey towards liberalism>/a>. Review of: The Call of the Tribe: Essays / Mario Vargas Llosa.
Doug Battersby. Prose procedural: The detective genre has emerged as an ideal vehicle for John Banville’s writing. Review of: The Lock-Up / John Banville.
Beejay Silcox. Papering over the trauma: A cold case is opened, awakening old ghosts. Review of: Old God's Time / Sebastian Barry.
Jonathan Keates. After Covid: A strange creative response to the pandemic. Review of: To Battersea Park / Philip Hensher.
Alex Howlett. A sinister shadow map: Between Mexican abductions and London dinner parties. Review of: History Keeps Me Awake at Night / Christy Edwall.
Irina Dumitrescu. Before Bowdler: The long history of strategic rewriting. (Essay)
In Brief Review of: Invitation to View / Peter Scupham.
In Brief Review of: Review of: The Illustrated Woman / Helen Mort.
In Brief Review of: Bandit Country / James Conor Patterson.
In Brief Review of: Aristophanes: Lysistrata / James Robson.
In Brief Review of: Lover Man / Alston Anderson.
In Brief Review of: Stravaging “Strange” / Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky; translated by Joanne Turnbull with Nikolai Formozov.
Arts
Adam Mars-Jones. What is shown and known: A new film about film, made in Iran. Review of Hassan Nazer's film Winners.
Sophie Oliver. ‘The Great Lady of Tapestry’: Modernist, Romantic, unclassifiable – the art of Magdalena Abakanowicz. Review of the exhibition Magdalena Abakanowicz: Every tangle of thread and rope, at the Tate Modern, until May 21.
Philosophy
Jane O'Grady. The right form of words: Oxford analytic philosophy and its ‘strenuously subtle distinctions.’ Review of: A Terribly Serious Adventure: Philosophy at Oxford 1900–60 / Nikhil Krishnan.
Rachel Handley. Squaring the Vienna Circle: Four female philosophers who swam against the tide. Review of: Metaphysical Animals: How four women brought philosophy back to life / Clare Mac Cumhaill and Rachael Wiseman.
Natural History
Nessa Carey. Move, adapt or die: An engaging tour of species threatened by a changing climate. Review of: Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid: How the natural world is adapting to climate change / Thor Hanson.
Religion
Kate Cooper. Their defining moment: How Christians came to see time-keeping as an act of defiance. Review of: The Christian Invention of Time: Temporality and the Literature of Late Antiquity / Simon Goldhill.
William Wood. A matter of trust: Atheists can also benefit from understanding sin. Review of: The Origin of Sin: Greece and Rome, early Judaism and Christianity / David Konstan -- Sin / Gregory Mellema.
Vernon White. The pain problem: Why does God permit extreme suffering and evil?. Review of: The Hardest Problem: God, evil and suffering / Rupert Shortt.
In Brief Review of: A Philosopher Looks At The Religious Life / Zena Hitz.
History, Politics, & Society
Jeffrey Veidlinger. Millions of murderers: How the seeds of the Holocaust were sown. Review of: The Holocaust: An unfinished history / Dan Stone -- Before the Holocaust: Antisemitic violence and the reaction of German elites and institutions during the Nazi takeover / Hermann Beck -- Mobilising Hate: The story of Hitler’s Final Solution / Martin Davidson.
Rory MacLean. Right place, right time: Timothy Garton Ash’s engagement with contemporary European history. Review of: Homelands: A personal history of Europe / Timothy Garton Ash.
Christine Bold. The gunk, gore and horror: Paul Auster confronts the hard facts of US gun law. Review of: Bloodbath Nation / Paul Auster; photographs by Spencer Ostrander.
Lorna Scott Fox. You say you want a revolution: How Nancy Cunard rallied artists and writers to the Spanish Republican cause. Review of: Tomorrow Perhaps the Future: Following writers and rebels in the Spanish Civil War / Sarah Watling.
In Brief Review of: Milk: On motherhood and madness / Alice Kinsella.
In Brief Review of: Pharmakon / Almudena Sánchez; translated by Katie Whittemore. "A Spanish author's dialogue with depression."
In Brief Review of: Clouds Over Paris: The wartime notebooks of Felix Hartlaub / Translated by Simon Beattie.
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Jing Tsu. NYT, 03/23/2023: Everything, Everywhere, in One Big Book. Review of: All the Knowledge in the World: The Extraordinary History of the Encyclopedia / Simon Garfield
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Garth Greenwell. Yale Review, 3/20/2023: A Moral Education: In praise of filth. On Sabbath's Theater / Philip Roth.
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Hillary Kelly. The Atlantic, 03/23/2023: This Novelist Is Pushing All the Buttons At the Same Time. On Biography of X / Cather Lacey.
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Washington Post Staff. WaPo, 03/23/2023: National Book Critics Circle honors Hoover bio and others.
Biography: G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century / Beverly Gage.
Ficton: Bliss Montage: stories / Ling Ma.
Autobiography: Stay True: a memoir / Hua Hsu.
Non-fiction: The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act / Isaac Butler.
Poetry: Hotel Oblivion / Cynthia Cruz.
Criticism: Free Indirect: The Novel in a Postfictional Age / Timothy Bewes.
Biography: G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century / Beverly Gage.
Ficton: Bliss Montage: stories / Ling Ma.
Autobiography: Stay True: a memoir / Hua Hsu.
Non-fiction: The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act / Isaac Butler.
Poetry: Hotel Oblivion / Cynthia Cruz.
Criticism: Free Indirect: The Novel in a Postfictional Age / Timothy Bewes.
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TLS, March 31, 2023|No. 6261
Literature
Jude Cook. This is not a biography: Art, fame and reinvention in a counterfactual United States. Review of: Biography of X / Catherine Lacey.
Sara Lodge. Wood notes wild?: Romantic and Victorian poets inspired by birdsong. Review of: Birdsong, Birdsong, Speech, and Poetry: the art of composition in the long nineteenth century / Francesca Mackenney.
Miranda France. Murder most subjunctive: Terrorism, espionage and moral calculation in Javier Marías’s luminous final novel. Review of: Tomás Nevinson / Javier Marias; translated by Margaret Jull Costa.
Henriette Korthals Altes. Love and deceit in wartime: The author’s existential ‘unknown masterpiece.’ Review of: The Easy Life / Marguerite Duras; translated by Olivia Baes and Emma Ramadan.
Nat Segnit. Skill set and match: A meditation on the disciplines a middle-aged writer wishes he had mastered. Review of: The Real Work: On the mystery of mastery / Adam Gopnik.
Chris Laoutaris. Follow the Folio: Who was Shakespeare’s mysterious London lodger? (Essay)
Catherine Taylor. Lucy Maud of Green Gables: How landscape and life shaped a bestselling Canadian write. Review of: Twice Upon a Time: Selected stories, 1898–1939 / L.M. Montgomery; edited by Benjamin Lefebvre.
David Annand. Their struggle: The preening and posturing of Sweden’s intellectual elite. Review of: Collected Works / Lydia Sandgren; translated by Agnes Broomé.
Z.J. Zawad. The buzz of Madrid: A fractured society in the hour of Franco’s victory. Review of: The Hive / Camilo José Cela; translated by James Womack.
In Brief Review of: All the Men I Never Married (Poems) / Kim Moore.
In Brief Review of: The Kingdom (Poems) / Jane Draycott.
Arts
Michael Caines. Bohemia and the ultimate geezer: A divided production of a divided play. Review of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale at Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London, until April 16.
Larry Wolff. Unnatural pleasure: How Italian opera incited an early outbreak of culture wars. Review of: Opera and Politics in Queen Anne’s Britain, 1705–1714.
Zoe Guttenplan. Lullabies of Broadway: Church choirs and a band of bums at the Bridge. Review of a new production of Guys and Dolls at the Bridge Theatre, London, until September 2.
Muriel Zagha. Emotional Republican: The memoir of a very private superstar. Review of: The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man: A memoir / Paul Newman and Stewart Stern.
In Brief Review of: The Creative Act: a way of being / Rick Rubin.
Philosophy
Skye C. Cleary. Searching for the good life: How to cope with the fear of death and other anxieties. Review of: Life Is Short: An appropriately brief guide to making it more meaningful / Dean Rickles -- Life is Hard: How philosophy can help us find our way / Kieran Setiya.
Simone Gubler. Slow thinking: What the great twentieth-century philosophers have to teach us. Review of: How to Think Like a Philosopher: Essential principles for clearer thinking / Julian Baggini.
Science and Technology
Barbara J. King. Playing chicken: Wondrous, disturbing facts about humanity’s favourite meal. Review of: Fowl Play: A history of the chicken from dinosaur to dinner plate / Sally Coulthard.
Rebecca Foster. Bye, bye blackbird: Bird populations in Britain are crashing. Review of: In Search of One Last Song: Britain’s disappearing birds and the people trying to save them / Patrick Galbraith -- Forget Me Not: Finding the forgotten species of climate-change Britain / Sophie Pavelle.
History, Politics, & Society
Karen Leeder. Goodbye, GDR!: The good, the bad and the ugly in the other Germany. Review of: Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949-1990 / Katja Hoyer.
Edward Wilson-Lee. Transfer records: A cat’s cradle of cultural connections through history. Review of: Culture: A new world history / Martin Puchner.
Joe Moran. Ooh!: Opening our minds to wonders. Review of: Awe: The transformative power of everyday wonder / Dacher Keltner.
Daniel Beer. Behind the barbed wire: Criss-crossing Europe’s frontiers to record recent history. Review of: The Curtain and the Wall: A modern journey along Europe’s Cold War border / Timothy Phillips.
David Goodhart. Missing majority: Considering the Tory failure to institute a lasting political realignment. Review of: The Conservative Party After BREXIT: Turmoil and transformation / Tim Bale -- Values, Voice and Virtue: The new British politics / Matthew Goodwin.
Peter Geoghegan. Blunderers and laggards: A country blighted by poor decisions and a ‘great money sink.’ Review of: Follow the Money: How much does Britain cost? / Paul Johnson.
In Brief Review of: Gemini and the Sacred: Twins and twinship in religion and mythology / Kimberley C. Patton, editor.
In Brief Review of: You Are Not Alone / Cariad Lloyd.
In Brief Review of: The Year of the Cat / Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett.
Literature
Jude Cook. This is not a biography: Art, fame and reinvention in a counterfactual United States. Review of: Biography of X / Catherine Lacey.
Sara Lodge. Wood notes wild?: Romantic and Victorian poets inspired by birdsong. Review of: Birdsong, Birdsong, Speech, and Poetry: the art of composition in the long nineteenth century / Francesca Mackenney.
Miranda France. Murder most subjunctive: Terrorism, espionage and moral calculation in Javier Marías’s luminous final novel. Review of: Tomás Nevinson / Javier Marias; translated by Margaret Jull Costa.
Henriette Korthals Altes. Love and deceit in wartime: The author’s existential ‘unknown masterpiece.’ Review of: The Easy Life / Marguerite Duras; translated by Olivia Baes and Emma Ramadan.
Nat Segnit. Skill set and match: A meditation on the disciplines a middle-aged writer wishes he had mastered. Review of: The Real Work: On the mystery of mastery / Adam Gopnik.
Chris Laoutaris. Follow the Folio: Who was Shakespeare’s mysterious London lodger? (Essay)
Catherine Taylor. Lucy Maud of Green Gables: How landscape and life shaped a bestselling Canadian write. Review of: Twice Upon a Time: Selected stories, 1898–1939 / L.M. Montgomery; edited by Benjamin Lefebvre.
David Annand. Their struggle: The preening and posturing of Sweden’s intellectual elite. Review of: Collected Works / Lydia Sandgren; translated by Agnes Broomé.
Z.J. Zawad. The buzz of Madrid: A fractured society in the hour of Franco’s victory. Review of: The Hive / Camilo José Cela; translated by James Womack.
In Brief Review of: All the Men I Never Married (Poems) / Kim Moore.
In Brief Review of: The Kingdom (Poems) / Jane Draycott.
Arts
Michael Caines. Bohemia and the ultimate geezer: A divided production of a divided play. Review of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale at Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London, until April 16.
Larry Wolff. Unnatural pleasure: How Italian opera incited an early outbreak of culture wars. Review of: Opera and Politics in Queen Anne’s Britain, 1705–1714.
Zoe Guttenplan. Lullabies of Broadway: Church choirs and a band of bums at the Bridge. Review of a new production of Guys and Dolls at the Bridge Theatre, London, until September 2.
Muriel Zagha. Emotional Republican: The memoir of a very private superstar. Review of: The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man: A memoir / Paul Newman and Stewart Stern.
In Brief Review of: The Creative Act: a way of being / Rick Rubin.
Philosophy
Skye C. Cleary. Searching for the good life: How to cope with the fear of death and other anxieties. Review of: Life Is Short: An appropriately brief guide to making it more meaningful / Dean Rickles -- Life is Hard: How philosophy can help us find our way / Kieran Setiya.
Simone Gubler. Slow thinking: What the great twentieth-century philosophers have to teach us. Review of: How to Think Like a Philosopher: Essential principles for clearer thinking / Julian Baggini.
Science and Technology
Barbara J. King. Playing chicken: Wondrous, disturbing facts about humanity’s favourite meal. Review of: Fowl Play: A history of the chicken from dinosaur to dinner plate / Sally Coulthard.
Rebecca Foster. Bye, bye blackbird: Bird populations in Britain are crashing. Review of: In Search of One Last Song: Britain’s disappearing birds and the people trying to save them / Patrick Galbraith -- Forget Me Not: Finding the forgotten species of climate-change Britain / Sophie Pavelle.
History, Politics, & Society
Karen Leeder. Goodbye, GDR!: The good, the bad and the ugly in the other Germany. Review of: Beyond the Wall: East Germany, 1949-1990 / Katja Hoyer.
Edward Wilson-Lee. Transfer records: A cat’s cradle of cultural connections through history. Review of: Culture: A new world history / Martin Puchner.
Joe Moran. Ooh!: Opening our minds to wonders. Review of: Awe: The transformative power of everyday wonder / Dacher Keltner.
Daniel Beer. Behind the barbed wire: Criss-crossing Europe’s frontiers to record recent history. Review of: The Curtain and the Wall: A modern journey along Europe’s Cold War border / Timothy Phillips.
David Goodhart. Missing majority: Considering the Tory failure to institute a lasting political realignment. Review of: The Conservative Party After BREXIT: Turmoil and transformation / Tim Bale -- Values, Voice and Virtue: The new British politics / Matthew Goodwin.
Peter Geoghegan. Blunderers and laggards: A country blighted by poor decisions and a ‘great money sink.’ Review of: Follow the Money: How much does Britain cost? / Paul Johnson.
In Brief Review of: Gemini and the Sacred: Twins and twinship in religion and mythology / Kimberley C. Patton, editor.
In Brief Review of: You Are Not Alone / Cariad Lloyd.
In Brief Review of: The Year of the Cat / Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett.
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Dan Cohen. 03/30/2023: Libraries Need More Freedom to Distribute Digital Books.
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William Grimes. 03/29-30/2023: D.M. Thomas, 88, Dies; His ‘White Hotel’ Was a Surprise Best Seller.
This topic was continued by Exploring Books Through Articles, Reviews, Announcements, & Lists 2023-2 Apr.-June.
