The New Yorker

Music Commentary: Nanci Griffith vs. the “New Yorker”

December 19, 2023
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It was the sniping tone that made the article perplexing. I would almost call it perverse. Why treat so cavalierly — even shabbily — a deceased, highly esteemed, Grammy-winning artist?

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Film Review: “The French Dispatch” — A Fantastical Magazine

October 23, 2021
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Fans will be pleased that time around director Wes Anderson has shot off everything in his stylistic quiver.

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Short Fuse Podcast #43: What is Poetry For?

August 17, 2021
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Host Elizabeth Howard talks with poet and performer Kyle Ducayan, executive director of the Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery, about the purpose of poetry.

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Book Review: Art Critic Peter Schjeldahl — Connecting Readers to the World in a New Way

May 22, 2020
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Good essays about art help us learn to see. Wonderful essays about the artists in our lives — which means all the artists through history, because, as Peter Schjeldahl so eloquently puts it, “all art is contemporary” —- help us learn how to live.

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Film Commentary: A Critical Dichotomy — Time to Resolve It

December 11, 2018
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It’s as if critics of silent films were barred from discussing talkies, or devotees of black and white were banned from discussing color.

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Cultural Commentary: “The New Yorker” and The Fat Cats — Teaming Up

October 26, 2018
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Yes, The New Yorker cover pillories the superrich as they ignore the pixie proletariat at their feet. But so what?

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Visual Arts Commentary: “Portraits of Courage” — Critical Misfire

May 27, 2017
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Why do critics like the New Yorker‘s Peter Schjeldahl rush to absolve G.W. Bush?

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Critical Commentary: But Can You Relate?

August 13, 2014
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Fighting for the intellectual integrity and independence of arts reviews means demanding more analysis and less sales talk.

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Book Review: “My Mistake: A Memoir” — Notes from a Reticent Memoirist

December 5, 2013
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There will be readers who appreciate Daniel Menaker’s brevity and lack of emotional engagement, but for me, much of “My Mistake” reads like notes for a memoir.

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Literature Commentary: The New Yorker Misses an H.G. Wells Anniversary Worth Celebrating

October 16, 2011
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“For an imaginative boy, the first experience of writing is like a tiger’s first taste of blood.’ — H.G. Wells, “The New Machiavelli,” 1911.

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