How to read Kafka: part II
by John M. Ellis
The second in a two-part series on the writer who transformed our view of modern rationalism.
Features
Mr. Bellow’s planet
by Dominic Green
On the Canadian writer, occasioned by the publication of the second volume of The Life of Saul Bellow, by Zachary Leader.
Eternally ours
by Nigel Spivey
On the world’s favorite ruin, occasioned by the publication of The Rome We Have Lost, by John Pemble.
Cryptocriticism
by Paul Dean
On the religious background of the Bard.
Poems
Most popular
Letters from the World
Ethnic bonds & the appeals of tradition
by Paul Hollander
On travels in Romania, past and present.
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Reflections
Victory & defeat: the Armistice at 100
by Nick Lloyd
A retrospective look at the legacy of the First World War, which ended on November 11, 1918.
Reconsiderations
On the depth of “Wuthering Heights”
by James Como
On Emily Brontë’s classic, occasioned by a new Oxford Companion to the works of the Brontë sisters.
Theater
Playing all the angles
by Kyle Smith
On The Nap at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, Bernhardt/Hamlet at the American Airlines Theatre, and On Beckett at the Irish Rep.
Art
Charterhouse of Bruges at the Frick
by Karen Wilkin
On “The Charterhouse of Bruges: Jan van Eyck, Petrus Christus, and Jan Vos,” at The Frick Collection in New York.
Jack Whitten’s ritual objects
by Eric Gibson
On “Odyssey: Jack Whitten Sculpture 1963–2017” at The Met Breuer in New York.
Exhibition note
by Andrew L. Shea
On “George Shaw: A Corner of a Foreign Field,” at the Yale Center for British Art.
Music
New York chronicle
by Jay Nordlinger
On opening nights at the New York Philharmonic; Samson and Delilah, La bohème, and Aida at the Metropolitan Opera; Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony; Jonas Kaufmann and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s; and Daniel Hyde at Saint Thomas Church’s new organ.
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The media
Civil was
by James Bowman
On the battle over the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh.
Fiction chronicle
Three dystopias & a disappearance
by Andrew Stuttaford
On Hazards of Time Travel: A Novel, by Joyce Carol Oates; Kolyma Stories, by Varlam Shalamov; The Kremlin Ball, by Curzio Malaparte, & To the Back of Beyond, by Peter Stamm.
Books
Notebook
Critics & criticism
by John Simon
A legendary critic looks back on his career.
Robert Venturi, 1925—2018
by Michael J. Lewis
On the godfather of postmodernist architecture, who died in September.
Notes & Comments
The battle of Harvard Yard
by The Editors
On a legal battle over diversity and discrimination in the Ivy League.