By Caldwell Titcomb NEW YORK, NY: Founded in 1971, the Theater Hall of Fame inducted the usual eight new members at a January 26 ceremony in the Gershwin Theatre. Actress Dana Ivey officiated at the 38th annual celebration as Mistress of Ceremonies. Inductees are voted on by the nationwide American Theater Critics Association and living […]
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Azar Nafisi on Iran’s Static Sense of History
By Bill Marx In a recent World Books podcast I talk to Azar Nafisi, the author of the international bestseller Reading Lolita in Tehran. In her new memoir, “Things I’ve Been Silent About,” Nafisi chronicles the trials and tribulations of about growing up in Iran, focusing on her volatile relationship with her difficult mother and […]
Critical Commentary: John Updike and the Pleasures of the Imported Gadget
One of the late John Updike’s most impressive critical strengths is that he was one of the few high profile reviewers who regularly commented, with perception and equanimity, on fiction in translation.
The Collective Stupidity: Architecture as Prophecy
by Peter Walsh “Architecture is to make us know and remember who we are.” —Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe (1989) Harvard University’s Shad Hall: Can a building predict the future? Twenty years ago, the completion of Shad Hall, on the Harvard Business School campus, created a stir. Even for Harvard, the place was shrouded in deep secrecy. […]
Helen Epstein on Memoirs That Tell Too Much and Too Little
By Bill Marx In a recent World Books podcast I talk to author and book critic Helen Epstein about two new memoirs that share intriguing similarities and differences. Both are written in English by émigrés living in North America, but very much planted in other cultural traditions.
Book Feature: Roberto Bolaño and the Half-Hearted Hoax
Does it matter that posthumous literary darling Roberto Bolaño fibbed about his past? by Tommy Wallach My World Books review of “2666” A couple days ago, “The New York Times” published an article suggesting that Chilean novelist and posthumous literary darling Roberto Bolaño may have fictionalized aspects of his own biography. In question are two […]
The Invention of Air: Eureka Interruptus
By Harvey Blume “The Invention of Air: A Story of Science, Faith, Revolution, and the Birth of America,” Riverhead Books. $25.95. Steven Johnson’s new book is as dull and dispiriting as much of his previous work has been eye-opening and exhilarating. In the past, even if Johnson’s conclusions were questionable — as with the high […]
Classical Music Review: Tenor Rarities from Charles Blandy
By Caldwell Titcomb One of the most engrossing concerts in ages took place on January 22 in the new 365-seat Distler Performance Hall at Tufts University, thanks to tenor Charles Blandy and pianist Linda Osborn-Blaschke. No Schubert. Schumann, Brahms or Wolf. Instead we were treated to an entire program of rarities, most of which I […]
Norman Manea on The Lasting Poison of Stalinism
Norman Manea wants a nuanced moral reckoning of the sins committed in the Stalinist past. by Bill Marx In a recent World Books podcast I talk to Romanian-born essayist and novelist Norman Manea about his article, “A Lasting Poison,” which was published last month in the “New Republic.” In his commentary, Manea explores the recent […]
The Arts and the Brain: A Healing Relationship
by Bill Marx Brain Snuggles with Violin at The World’s Studio In my latest World Books podcast, which includes video coverage, I examine evolving international views of the relationship between neuroscience and the arts, with a special emphasis on the healing powers of music for those suffering from neurodegenerative diseases. The Longwood Symphony Orchestra recently […]