The Student: A Short History, by Michael S. Roth (Yale University Press): Tasked with finding the common traits of Confucius, Socrates, and Jesus, perhaps one first thinks of the fact that each rerouted history with his staggeringly influential ideas. But Michael S. Roth, the president of Wesleyan University, looks to another shared aspect of the figures, their deeds as exemplary teachers, to inform his brief history of the student. By way of these and other historical examples, the book makes the case for what the ideal student should do: learn from others, better himself, think freely, and share the fruits of his studies wherever possible. Now that it has been released in paperback, Roth’s book will make for enlightening subway reading for current students and lifelong learners alike. —SM
Dana Gioia: Poet & Critic, edited by John Zheng and Jon Parrish Peede (Mercer University Press): The abiding aim of Dana Gioia’s career in letters has been the revitalization of poetry as a prominent feature of American public life, and in the past half-century, it may be fairly argued, no single individual has contributed to this cause so much as he—as a poet, an essayist, an editor, the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, and more. To a field dominated by the parochial concerns of MFA programs and the journals they sustain, he has brought “an outlook on the world that is the reverse of everything we associate with the word ‘academic,’” as Hilton Kramer wrote in a glowing review of Gioia’s Can Poetry Matter?: Essays on Poetry and American Culture (1992). Now, a delightful collection of essays evaluating Gioia’s achievements, edited by John Zheng and Jon Parrish Peede (and including Kramer’s review, alongside entries from David Mason, James Matthew Wilson, Ned Balbo, and other standouts), brings the character of his literary contributions into sharper focus. —RE
“Amy Lincoln: On the Strangest Sea,” Sperone Westwater, New York (through October 19): High-key hits the high seas in Amy Lincoln’s latest paintings. “On the Strangest Sea,” Lincoln’s current solo exhibition at New York’s Sperone Westwater, features abstracted waves illuminated in a dazzling spectrum of flickering color. These acrylics on panel call to mind eight-bit computer graphics while also referencing the animated symbolism of such early American modernists as Charles Burchfield and Arthur Dove. Waves of color and light take visual form in the shapes of Lincoln’s shifting seas. —JP
Michael Tilson Thomas & Emanuel Ax with the New York Philharmonic, at David Geffen Hall (September 12–15): The New York Philharmonic preseason opens this Thursday with an exhibition match of heavy hitters: Michael Tilson Thomas conducts Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, with the pianist Emanuel Ax joining for Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 14. Tilson Thomas retired from the San Francisco Symphony podium earlier this year amid a bout with brain cancer; despite a reduced schedule, he is continuing to tour and conduct, often revisiting the Mahler symphonies that have defined his career. This will no doubt be a historic engagement at David Geffen Hall.
—IS
Dispatch:
“A Colorado ‘Nozze,’” by Isaac Sligh. On a performance of Le nozze di Figaro at the Aspen Music Festival.
By the Editors:
“Marx of the Libido”
James Panero, City Journal
On the destructive influence of Wilhelm Reich, father of the sexual revolution.
From the Archive:
“The Bauhaus restored,” by Michael J. Lewis (December 2009). On “Bauhaus 1919–1933: Workshops for Modernity” at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
