Literary critic Harold Bloom passed away at the age of 89 two days ago; here’s an illuminating interview with Bloom from 2005.
Harvey Blume
Film Commentary: A Critical Dichotomy — Time to Resolve It
It’s as if critics of silent films were barred from discussing talkies, or devotees of black and white were banned from discussing color.
Book Commentary: Portnoy’s Revenge
There’s something Shakespearian about the grasp of Philip Roth’s fiction.
Feature: Favorite Books of 2017
Some of our critics talk about the books that meant the most to them over the past year.
Fuse Books: Notable Volumes, For Better or Worse, in 2015
Our demanding critics supply lists of books that piqued their interest this of the year.
Book Review: An Evocative Biography of Zionist Agitator and Writer Vladmir Jabotinsky
There’s room to wonder if Vladmir Jabotinsky would have accepted Menachem Begin, Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu as his legitimate Zionist heirs.
Book Review: Russia’s “Vodka Politics” — An Inseparable Duo
What about today? Has Russia finally hit bottom and recovered? Is the political economy of vodka a thing of the past?
TV Review: Simon Schama Tells His “Story of the Jews”
Simon Schama just can’t stop going on about religion and the extra-special Jewish feel for beauty that has, to his mind, kept Judaism vibrant and intact through the ages.
Short Fuse: Quotes for the New Year
Fuse Writer Harvey Blume supplies some quotations for the new year.
Short Fuse Book Review: “Dissident Gardens” — Fantasy Meets Radical Politics
It’s hard to grasp how Jonathan Lethem assimilated all this material — historical and fantastic — and gave it new narrative life in Dissident Gardens, except by granting, to start with, his special genius for absorption.