The Europe syndrome
On the perils of the welfare state: spiritual enfeeblement & the rise of the “Last Man”
Waiting for the grammarians
by Eric Ormsby
On the Collected Poems and The Unfinished Poems of C. P. Cavafy, newly translated by Daniel Mendelsohn.
The unspeakable stress of pitch
by Denis Donoghue
On Gerard Manley Hopkins: A Life, by Paul Mariani and the necessity of critical distance.
Elizabeth Bishop: driving to the interior
by Richard Tillinghast
On Elizabeth Bishop: Poems, Prose, and Letters, edited by Robert Giroux and Lloyd Schwartz and Words in Air: The Complete Correspondence between Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell, edited by Saskia Hamilton and Thomas Travisano.
An English voice
by Paul Dean
On the poetry & criticism of Edward Thomas.
Wagging the slumdog
by Christie Davies
On the PC firestorm following the the Oscar victory of Slumdog Millionaire.
An entrance & an exit
by Brooke Allen
On Enter Laughing: The Musical at the York Theatre, The Savannah Disputation at Playwrights Horizons, 33 Variations at Eugene O'Neill Theater, and the closing of Forbidden Broadway.
Cézanne & beyond in Philadelphia
by Karen Wilkin
On “Cézanne and Beyond” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The New York fairs
by James Panero
On 1Q2US, the Winter Antiques Show 2009, The Armory Show, The Art Show & “Placing Avery: Paintings and Prints from the Collection of the Neuberger Museum of Art” at the UBS Gallery.
Exhibition notice
by Mario Naves
On “Martin Kippenberger: The Problem Perspective” at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, on view through May 11, 2009.
Exhibition notice
by Leann Davis Alspaugh
On “Shell-Shocked: Expressionism After the Great War” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, on view through April 19, 2009.
Exhibition notice
by Peter Pettus
On "Endless Forms: Charles Darwin, Natural Science, and the Visual Arts" at the Yale Center for British Art, on view through May 3, 2009.
New York chronicle
by Jay Nordlinger
On James Levine and the Boston Symphony Orchestra; Ann Sofie von Otter and Stephen Hough at Carnegie Hall; Adriana Lecouvreur, Eugence Onegin, and Il Trovatore at the Metropolitan Opera; Montserrat Caballé at Avery Fisher Hall; the Chamber Music Society of Licoln Center at Alice Tully Hall; Pinchas Zukerman and Marc Neikrug at the 92nd St. Y; Danielle de Niese at Weill Recital Hall; and Zubin Mehta with the Vienna Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall.
Everybody is familiar
by James Bowman
On false intimacy and its obligations in the global media village.
Heaney's ghosts
by William Logan
A review of Stepping Stones: Interviews with Seamus Heaney, by Dennis O’Driscoll (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux).
Remember the children
by Joseph Tartakovsky
A review of Freedom's Orphans: Contemporary Liberalism & the Fate of American Children, by David Tubbs (New Forum Books).
Shakespeare du jour
by John Simon
A review of Shakespeare and Modern Culture, by Marjorie Garber (Pantheon).
An affair to remember
by Tess Lewis
A review of Germaine de Staël & Benjamin Constant: A Dual Biography, by Renee Winegarten (Yale University Press).
Sticking to craft
by Peter Schwendener
A review of Music Quickens Time, by Daniel Barenboim (Verso).
The drama of promise
by David Yezzi
A review of James Agee: Selected Poems, edited by Andrew Hudgins (American Poets Project).
Cats may look at kings
by Anthony Daniels
On the cult of celebrity.