Books

Book Review: “Imperium” — A Shock-Packed Pastiche of History

August 10, 2015
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In this entertaining satire of empire, Christian Kracht makes use of a nihilistic magic realism, without the sweetness one normally associates with that mode.

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Book Review: Literary Critic James Wood and the Art of ‘Deep Noticing’

August 7, 2015
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We will always need critics to show us how literature works by revering it rather than interrogating it as if it had committed a crime.

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Book Review: “Counternarratives” — Stories About History’s Metamorphosis

August 5, 2015
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What John Keene has given us in Counternarratives is fearless fiction.

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Poetry Review: James Tate’s Last Poems — Dense, Daffy, and Original

August 4, 2015
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James Tate remains true to himself. These prose-poems are often stellar, harrowingly distinctive, and worthy of repeat visits.

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Book Review: “The Sympathizer” — The Vietnam War, Split in Two

July 29, 2015
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In this powerful novel, Vietnamese-American writer Viet Thanh Nguyen shakes up stereotypical notions of the War in Vietnam.

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Book Review: How Science Fared in the Enlightenment — At the Halle Orphanage

July 25, 2015
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Kelly Joan Whitmer does two things very well: she tells a vibrant tale of intellectual reform and shines a light on less prominent historical actors in the history of science.

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Arts Interview: The Late E.L. Doctorow — Reduced to Art

July 24, 2015
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“When people ask how I became interested in history, I answer it was through an interest in popular culture and disreputable genres.”

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Fuse Dance Book Review: “The Ballet Lover’s Companion” — One Way of Looking at it

July 22, 2015
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Zoë Anderson’s volume aims to give readers a handy way to discern the most influential ballets from among the confusing proliferation that we find in today’s repertory.

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Book Review: Anne Garréta’s “Sphinx” — A Compelling Story of Genderless Love

July 15, 2015
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Garréta pulls off a stylistic feat: it is impossible to determine the gender of the two main characters.

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Book Review: Admiring Anne Enright’s “The Green Road”

July 13, 2015
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Anne Enright’s prose, especially when she is firmly rooted in Ireland, sings; she has the ability to get the details both of setting and character, and a wonderful ear.

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