Helen Epstein

Culture Vulture: Interview with Prof. Jytte Klausen

August 14, 2009
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by Helen Epstein Go here for information about a live-chat, scheduled for August 23rd, with Helen Epstein on “The Art of Narrative Writing.” HE: How did this situation evolve? JK: The basic facts are in the “NY Times” story. Yale University told the press to remove the illustrations: first the cartoons, then a second illustration,…

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Culture Vulture: The Cartoons That Still Shake The World

August 13, 2009
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Can you imagine a scholarly press publishing a book about the Mona Lisa without a reproduction of the painting? Or, perhaps a more pertinent example, a book about anti-Semitic stereotypes without an illustration of them? Brandeis professor and author Jytte Klausen was asked to sign what she called a “gag order” by Yale University Press.…

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Culture Vulture: A Timely “Streetcar”

August 11, 2009
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Blanche DuBois (Marin Mazzie) and Stanley Kowalski (Christopher Innvar) battle it out in the Barrington Stage Company production of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” which runs through August 29. by Helen Epstein Go here for information about a live-chat, scheduled for August 23rd, with Helen Epstein on “The Art of Narrative Writing.” “But isn’t he outdated?”…

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Culture Vulture: NYTimes wrong about “Julie and Julia”

August 11, 2009
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by Helen Epstein Go here for information about a live-chat, scheduled for August 23rd, with Helen Epstein on “The Art of Narrative Writing.” Despite what the NYTimes thinks Meryl Streep cooks up a storm in “Julie and Julia.” I usually trust the Times‘ A. O. Scott on movies, but this time I don’t share his…

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Culture Vulture and Mrs. Goldberg

August 10, 2009
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by Helen Epstein Go here for information about a live-chat, scheduled for August 23rd, with Helen Epstein on “The Art of Narrative Writing.” If you’re at all interested in popular culture, don’t miss Aviva Kempner’s new documentary “Yoo-Hoo Mrs. Goldberg.” Kempner is the D.C.-based director of the award-winning documentary “Life and Times of Hank Greenberg”…

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Culture Vulture at Shakespeare & Company

August 9, 2009
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Like many devotees of Shakespeare & Company, I’ve long been an admirer of Tod Randolph, who over the last thirteen years in the Berkshires has given indelible and exceptionally intelligent performances of such Shakespearean roles as Desdemona and Portia. Miriam Hyman (Donna) and John Douglas Thompson (Dad) in “The Dreamer Examines his Pillow” at Shakespeare…

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Culture Vulture at the Gropius House

August 8, 2009
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Visiting the Frelinghuysen Morris House in Lenox got me thinking about modernist architecture in the eastern part of Massachusetts where Walter Gropius landed as part of the great exodus of “degenerate” artists, scientists, writers and other intellectuals who fled to America from Nazi Germany in the years before the second world war. by Helen Epstein…

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Culture Vulture and Wealthy Renegades in the Berkshires

August 5, 2009
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A most rewarding rainy day activity this rainy summer is a visit to one of the artists’ homes in the Berkshires, many of which are now part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. By Helen Epstein Exterior of the Frelinghuysen-Morris House & Studio, circa 1940. Edith Wharton’s The Mount, Daniel Chester French’s Chesterwood, and…

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Culture Vulture at the Chester Theater

July 31, 2009
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If you’re looking for a magical evening of summer theater, get out your map and drive to the Pioneer Valley village of Chester (pop 1100) where the Chester Theater is now celebrating its 20th season. Actors Charles Stransky, Terry Alexander, and Warren Jackson work out a deal in “Railroad Bill.” (Photo Credit: Rick Teller) Railroad…

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Culture Vulture at the Williams College Museum of Art

July 28, 2009
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Almost every visit to the WCMA has piqued my interest so strongly that I’ve often gone straight to the internet or library to read more about what I’ve seen. Edward Steichen’s 1914 photograph “Heavy Roses” by Helen Epstein The Williams College Museum of Art, set back from Williamstown’s main drag and almost indistinguishable from other…

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