A night with the organ

by Jay Nordlinger

On Paul Jacobs and the French tradition.

Confessional poetry & the artifice of honesty

by David Yezzi

On the legacy of confessional poetry, occasioned by Ted Hughes’s Birthday Letters

Midnight in Rome

by Stephen Schmalhofer

On Henry James & company in the Eternal City.

The First Annual Circle Lecture

“Leninthink: on the pernicious legacy of Vladimir Lenin”

featuring Gary Saul Morson

Kaleidoscopes of feeling

by Paul Dean

A review of The Varieties of Metaphysical Poetry by T. S. Eliot

How good was Auden?

by Jeffrey Hart

A review of The Complete Works of W. H. Auden: Prose and Travel Books in Prose and Verse, 1926-1938 (Volume 1) by W. H. Auden

September 2019

Notes & Comments

Experiments against reality

On the passage of time and totalitarian callousness.

Some family news

Welcoming a familiar face to a new post.

Features

How the great truth dawned

by Gary Saul Morson

On the Soviet virtue of cruelty.

The country house today

by Clive Aslet

On architectural trends in the English countryside.

Nuclear holiday

by Nicola Shulman

On comedy in the shadow of the Chernobyl tragedy.

Picking up with Kipling

by Jesse Hecht

On The Cause of Humanity and Other Stories: Uncollected Prose Fictions, by Rudyard Kipling.

Poems

The sentence

by Morri Creech

Witness

by Morri Creech

Letter from Aberystwyth

Decline & fall in a Welsh town

by Anthony Daniels

Fortune and misfortune on the waterfront.

Reflections

Simon buys for less

by Marco Grassi

On Norton Simon’s legacy in the art world.

Theater

The problem with “Mockingbird”

by Kyle Smith

On To Kill a Mockingbird at the Shubert Theater.

Art

Renoir at the Clark

by Karen Wilkin

On “Renoir: The Body, The Senses” at the Clark Institute.

Verrocchio: the master’s master

by James Hankins

On “Verrocchio: Master of Leonardo” at the Firenze Palazzo Strozzi, Florence.

Exhibition note

by Eric Gibson

On “Herbert Ferber: Form into Space” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Exhibition note

by Franklin Einspruch

On “Hyman Bloom: Matters of Life and Death” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Venice’s last judgment

by James Panero

On the beginning and end of the Most Serene Republic.

Music

New York chronicle

by Jay Nordlinger

On offerings from the Mostly Mozart Festival: The Magic Flute, Beethoven's Violin Concerto, a piano recital, and the Budapest Festival Orchestra.

The media

Revolutionism redux

by James Bowman

On the perils of the modern revolutionary mindset.

Notebook

Norman Stone, 1941–2019

by Jeremy Black

On the life and works of the European historian.

A night with the organ

by Jay Nordlinger

September 19, 2019

On Paul Jacobs and the French tradition.

Midnight in Rome

by Stephen Schmalhofer

September 17, 2019

On Henry James & company in the Eternal City.

The Critic’s Notebook

by The Editors

September 16, 2019

On Brooklyn, Grand Tours, Michelangelo’s master & more from the world of culture.

Week in review

by Robert S. Erickson

September 13, 2019

On Joyce's Ulysses, bids for Botticelli & the dangers of a literary imagination.

From Paris to Palm Beach

by Paul du Quenoy

September 11, 2019

On “Posters by Toulouse-Lautrec” at the Norton Museum of Art.

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Books

Full-court press

on Justice on Trial: The Kavanaugh Confirmation and the Future of the Supreme Court by Mollie Hemingway

reviewed by Andrew C. McCarthy

Man for the monarchy

on Prince Albert: The Man Who Saved the Monarchy by A.n. Wilson

reviewed by Simon Heffer

Gray’s taxonomy

on Seven Types of Atheism by John Gray

reviewed by Andrew Stuttaford

The borders of the possible

on Beyond the Thirty-Nine Steps: A Life of John Buchan by Ursula Buchan

A night with the organ

by Jay Nordlinger

Confessional poetry & the artifice of honesty

by David Yezzi

Midnight in Rome

by Stephen Schmalhofer

The First Annual Circle Lecture

“Leninthink: on the pernicious legacy of Vladimir Lenin”

Kaleidoscopes of feeling

by Paul Dean

How good was Auden?

by Jeffrey Hart

September 2019

Notes & Comments

Experiments against reality

Some family news

Features

How the great truth dawned

by Gary Saul Morson

The country house today

by Clive Aslet

Nuclear holiday

by Nicola Shulman

Picking up with Kipling

by Jesse Hecht

Poems

The sentence

by Morri Creech

Witness

by Morri Creech

Letter from Aberystwyth

Decline & fall in a Welsh town

by Anthony Daniels

Reflections

Simon buys for less

by Marco Grassi

Theater

The problem with “Mockingbird”

by Kyle Smith

Art

Renoir at the Clark

by Karen Wilkin

Verrocchio: the master’s master

by James Hankins

Exhibition note

by Eric Gibson

Exhibition note

by Franklin Einspruch

Venice’s last judgment

by James Panero

Music

New York chronicle

by Jay Nordlinger

The media

Revolutionism redux

by James Bowman

Notebook

Norman Stone, 1941–2019

by Jeremy Black

A night with the organ

by Jay Nordlinger

September 19, 2019

Midnight in Rome

by Stephen Schmalhofer

September 17, 2019

The Critic’s Notebook

by The Editors

September 16, 2019

Week in review

by Robert S. Erickson

September 13, 2019

From Paris to Palm Beach

by Paul du Quenoy

September 11, 2019

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A free weekly newsletter about arts & culture

Books

Full-court press

reviewed by Andrew C. McCarthy

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Critic's Notebook

1
How the great truth dawned by Gary Saul Morson

2
Decline & fall in a Welsh town by Anthony Daniels

3
How good was Auden? by Jeffrey Hart

4
The power of James Burnham by Roger Kimball

5
The problem with “Mockingbird” by Kyle Smith

6
Experiments against reality by Roger Kimball

7
Confessional poetry & the artifice of honesty by David Yezzi

8
The country house today by Clive Aslet

9
Bollocks to vulgarity by Anthony Daniels

10
Kaleidoscopes of feeling by Paul Dean

1
How the great truth dawned by Gary Saul Morson

2
Decline & fall in a Welsh town by Anthony Daniels

3
Experiments against reality by Roger Kimball

4
Full-court press by Andrew C. McCarthy

5
Schopenhauer’s world by Roger Kimball

6
The perversions of M. Foucault by Roger Kimball

7
Bollocks to vulgarity by Anthony Daniels

8
The country house today by Clive Aslet

9
The problem with “Mockingbird” by Kyle Smith

10
Venice’s last judgment by James Panero

1
The greatest of all novels by Gary Saul Morson

2
How the great truth dawned by Gary Saul Morson

3
“Massive retaliation”: the only answer

4
Decline & fall: classics edition

5
Woke’s on you

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The perversions of M. Foucault by Roger Kimball

7
Restoring the lost consensus

8
How to read Kafka: part I by John M. Ellis

9
The Left against Zion by Dominic Green

10
Ex libris by Paul Dean

1
The good populism by Victor Davis Hanson

2
The greatest of all novels by Gary Saul Morson

3
Solzhenitsyn’s cathedrals by Gary Saul Morson

4
How the great truth dawned by Gary Saul Morson

5
The perversions of M. Foucault by Roger Kimball

6
The case of Stephen Greenblatt by Bruce Bawer

7
“Massive retaliation”: the only answer

8
“The Idiot” savant by Gary Saul Morson

9
Decline & fall: classics edition

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Fahrenheit 451 updated