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By David Stenhouse Stephen Greenblatt’s acclaimed biography of Shakespeare is filled with fascinating speculations. Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt (Norton) King Lear’s coaxing plea to Cordelia that “nothing can come of nothing” has always offered a stark challenge for biographers of William Shakespeare. On the page or on the…
Critic David Thomson says the movies have profoundly shaped America, and not always for the better. “The Whole Equation: A History of Hollywood” by David Thomson. (Knopf) By Tim Riley The title of David Thomson’s provocative new history of film comes from a trenchant passage in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Last Tycoon”: “You can…
One of Israel’s foremost prose writers has penned a masterful blend of autobiography and invention. A Tale of Love and Darkness: A Memoir, by Amos Oz. Translated from the Hebrew by Nicholas de Lange. (Harcourt) By Marsha Pomerantz In a memoir of 538 pages, it is hard to find a single image emblematic of the…
This novel about an American radical of the ’60s who flees to Africa displays a cool grasp of the barbaric machinations of globalization.
Bob Dylan’s first installment of his memoirs invokes the bard of old with engaging prose and an old carny’s sleight of hand. “Chronicles, Volume I” By Bob Dylan. By Tim Riley Bob Dylan is one of rock’s great trapeze artists. His songwriting is the stuff of literary aerobics, but his performances could re-attach your spine…
Dance icon Bill T. Jones confounds expectations about race and the power of stereotypes in two new dance pieces. “Reading, Mercy and the Artificial Nigger” and “Mercy 10×8 On a Circle” by Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company By Debra Cash Bill T. Jones would no doubt take umbrage at being compared to the white…
By Harvey Blume Nicholson Baker’s new novel is about a man obsessed with killing President Bush. Checkpoint: A Novel by Nicholson Baker. (Knopf) Nicholson Baker’s short, funny — and frequently tender — new novel consists of a conversation between Ben and Jay, high school buddies who haven’t seen each other in a few years, and…
Students and audiences of tomorrow deserve exposure to great dances, but they are not always getting them.
Dance Commentary: Facing Mekka
A new dance show by Rennie Harris serves as a valuable response to MTV’s commercialization of hip hop.
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