Sign in  |  Register

The New Criterion

The New Criterion is probably more consistently worth reading than any other magazine in English.
- The Times Literary Supplement

Weblog

 


Lone Ranger Baffled Re: Sexual Assaults in the Military

by James Bowman

Posted: May 17, 2013 07:16 PM


President Obama, in the midst of scandal to the right of him (the IRS) and scandal to the left of him (the AP wiretaps), scandal behind him (Benghazi) and scandal ahead of him (Obamacare implementation) is outraged about — sexual assaults in the military, which has apparently reached "crisis" proportions. And who can doubt it when Sally Quinn is, in her own words, "sputtering with outrage" about it — always an infallible indication of crisis. Yet she also professes to think that "sexual assault is part of the military culture." Well which is it? If it’s a crisis, it can hardly be part of the military culture, which has been around for a very long time, and if it’s part of the military culture, it can hardly be a crisis.

Read more


Emily Esfahani Smith on Bowdoin College and the Essence of Sex

by Brendan Dooley

Posted: May 17, 2013 04:00 PM


Today at The Atlantic, TNC’s Emily Esfahani Smith has a new article up titled “Is Sex Still Sexy?” commenting on the Bowdoin College sex education play Speak About It. The play, according to its official website, is “a performance-based presentation about consent, boundaries and healthy relationships” that “captures what healthy sex can and should look like.” But in a perfect example of the law of unintended consequences, Emily explains how Speak About It, though perhaps well meaning, ultimately undermines the healthy sexual culture it is trying to encourage. “Rather than promoting healthy sexuality,” Emily writes, “sexual exhibitionism is killing the eroticism that has traditionally been the essence of sex.”

Read more


Kevin D. Williamson: Theatergoers' hero

by Brian P. Kelly

Posted: May 16, 2013 12:13 PM


The New Criterion’s theater critic, Kevin D. Williamson (whose coverage is available here), had an interesting experience last night during Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812. He recommends the show, but not the audience, which “was horrible — talking, using their phones, and making a general nuisance of themselves.”

He continues:

Read more


New Criterion theater critic ejected from theater

by Roger Kimball | from PJ Media

Posted: May 16, 2013 10:36 AM


I am just writing a piece about Maureen Dowd that begins with a quotation from William Hazlitt: “Those who lack delicacy hold us in their power.”  La Dowd exemplifies the melancholy truth of Hazlitt’s observations in her girly, gossipy prose that brings the cattiest of sorority nastiness to the august pages of a once-serious newspaper.  [...]

go to PJ Media


The Pew’s foray into fantasy

by Roger Kimball | from PJ Media

Posted: May 15, 2013 01:32 PM


  So, Andy McCarthy reports on the Pew Research Center’s survey on “The World’s Muslims: Religion, Politics, and Society.” The world’s Muslims, mind you. That’s a capacious group.  The bottom line: things are not so bad, really. Yes, two thirds of those interviewed support the death penalty — the death penalty, Kemo Sabe — for [...]

go to PJ Media


Tokyo String Quartet Bids Farewell to New York

by Eric Simpson

Posted: May 13, 2013 01:12 PM


The Tokyo String Quartet; Photo: Henry J. Fair

This year marks the end of the Tokyo String Quartet's remarkable forty-four year run, following the announcement that its two longest-tenured members, Kikuei Ikeda and Kazuhide Isomura, will retire at the end of the season. Though they have a handful of concerts to go—concluding with a recital at the Norfolk Festival in Connecticut—on Saturday night they made their final New York appearance, with a sentimental program of final—or nearly final—compositions at the 92nd Street Y.

Read more


Butterflies and Apes

by Peter Wood

Posted: May 13, 2013 10:44 AM



Western lowland gorilla female in a cloud of butterflies (© Anup Shah/Corbis)  

Paul Du Chaillu was the young man who ventured inland from the coast of Gabon in 1856 on a quest to be the first European to encounter the njena, the supposedly ferocious beast we now call the gorilla. That same year, William Henry Edwards, grandson of Jonathan Edwards, decided as “to go down the butterfly path,” which would lead in time to his becoming (according to a later scholar) “the greatest butterfly student which this country has ever produced or probably ever will.”

Read more


What you must know about Frieze New York 2013

by James Panero

Posted: May 10, 2013 05:59 PM


IMAG0621

Last year, the London-based Frieze Art Fair came to New York, pitched a tent on Randalls Island, and it was cool. The sophomore effort, on view through Monday, keeps much of the formula from a year ago. The 250,000 square-foot custom tent by SO-IL is back with sweeping views of the East River. (All photographs by James Panero).

Read more


Nordlinger on Kimball

by Roger Kimball | from PJ Media

Posted: May 10, 2013 01:39 PM


Gertrude Stein once asked: “What do writers want?”  Her heartfelt answer (this was one thing she really knew about): “Praise, praise, praise.”  Truer words, etc., etc. I’ve had occasion to ponder the fathomless vanity of writers recently. I won’t go into the particulars, except to say that   it is an untidy subject, mournful and [...]

go to PJ Media


"After Thermopylae" featuring TNC Contributor Bruce Cole

by Brendan Dooley

Posted: May 09, 2013 04:25 PM


Image from the Onassis Foundation

We are delighted to draw attention to “After Thermopylae: How Wars are Concluded and Commemorated,” a panel discussion on June 4th at The Morgan Library & Museum featuring TNC contributor Bruce Cole. The event, sponsored by the Onassis Cultural Center, marks the publication of Professor Paul Cartledge’s new Oxford University Press title, After Thermopylae: The Oath of Palatea and the End of the Graeco-Persian Wars, and will focus on “how wars end and how they are remembered, drawing examples from the Graeco-Persian War, the Great War, and the War on Terror.”

Get all the details and reserve a spot here.  

E-mail to friend


The New Criterion

About ArmaVirumque

 

( AHR-mah wih-ROOM-kweh)

 

In the Aeneid, the Roman poet Virgil sang of "arms and a man" (Arma virumque cano). Month in and month out, The New Criterion expounds with great clarity and wit on the art, culture, and political controversies of our times. With postings of reviews, essays, links, recs, and news, Armavirumque seeks to continue this mission in accordance with the timetable of the digital age.

 

Follow us on Twitter:


 

Shortcut

www.armavirumque.org

 

To contact The New Criterion by email, write to:

  Contact