Commentary

Book Review: “Literature for a Changing Planet” — A Crash Course

March 11, 2022
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Martin Puchner is stumped because what is called for is a genuinely radical rethink about what role literature and literary studies should play in avoiding the global meltdown to come.

Cultural Commentary: The Gergiev Case

March 11, 2022
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There are times – and we’ve been living in these for several years now – when boldness is required, especially from artists.

Book Review: From Rome in 63 BCE — A Warning for Our Perilous Political Moment

March 8, 2022
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This most timely new translation of Sallust’s The War Against Catiline describes the ancient version of a phenomenon we will recognize instantly: a cold-blooded grift transmuted into terrorism posing as patriotism.

Arts Remembrance: Jack Kerouac at 100 — A Conversation with John Sampas

March 7, 2022
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Jack Kerouac would have turned 100 on March 17. A 2014 conversation about the writer with his literary executor, the late John Sampas.

Visual Arts Commentary: Reordering Design Priorities Through Biometric Research

March 2, 2022
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The cognitive architecture approach espoused by the Human Architecture and Planning Institute is applying a welcome new paradigm that responds in a fresh way to the built environment.

Film Commentary: What Disney’s “Encanto” Says About Colombian Realities

February 23, 2022
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In Colombia and Encanto, willful ignorance is the price paid for reassurance.

Music Commentary: In Memoriam, George Crumb (1929-2022)

February 9, 2022
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George Crumb, who crafted some of the 20th-century’s most brazenly original-sounding and haunting music, lived his life and guided his career on his own terms.

Arts Commentary: Separating the Maker from the Made, the Doer from the Doing

January 20, 2022
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It is natural to believe that there is (or should be) a close connection between the personality and the work.

Arts Remembrance: Film Critic Michael Wilmington — A Memory

January 13, 2022
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Remembering film critic Michael Wilmington, a unique guy, and friend, whom I knew for 53 years.

Book Review: “Drawing the Line” — How to Respond to “Immoral” Artists

January 4, 2022
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Drawing the Line is grounded in the work of ethicists and psychologists. Its prose is clear and its arguments systematic. But every avenue of investigation only opens up another pathway that ends as a cul-de-sac or doubles back on itself.

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