The New Criterion
(Mobile Version)

November 2010 Volume 29, Number 3  

Notes & Comments

Mario Vargas Llosa
The Nobel Committee gets it right for once.

Speaking of multiculturalism . . .
On Chancellor Merkel's recent comments.

William B. Warren 1934–2010
In memoriam.


Features

A taste for wormwood & gall
by Anthony Daniels
On the masochism of John Stuart Mill.

Pop goes the “Times”
by William McGowan
On the decline of the Gray Lady.

The many roles of Fanny Kemble
by Marc M. Arkin
On the life of the great actress & memoirist.

The full force of Mahler
by James Penrose
On the lasting power of the composer & his tumultuous life.


Poems

Time pieces
by Rachel Wetzsteon


Fiction Chronicle

Speak for yourself
by Stefan Beck
On Freedom, 03, A Visit from the Goon Squad & Dogfight, A Love Story.


Theater

God & Mammon off Broadway
by Kevin D. Williamson
On For Better or For Worse, An Ideal Husband & The Importance of Being Earnest & Murder in the Cathedral.


Art

Miro's “Dutch Interiors”
by Karen Wilkin
On “Miró: The Dutch Interiors” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Exhibition note
by Mario Naves
On "Deborah Kass: MORE Feel Good Paintings for Feel Bad Times" at the Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York.

Exhibition note
by Jay Parini
"Jon Schueler: The Castelli Years” at David Findlay, Jr. Fine Art, New York.

Gallery chronicle
by James Panero
On “Visual Sensations: The Paintings of Robert Swain, 1967–2010” at the Hunter College Times Square Gallery; “Julian Stanczak: Color–Grid” at Danese Gallery & “On Paper: Painted, Printed, Drawn” at Jill Newhouse Gallery.


Music

New York chronicle
by Jay Nordlinger
On Das Rheingold at the Metropolitan Opera; Wynton Marsalis & Alan Gilbert with the New York Philharmonic; Nikolaus Harnoncourt & Gustavo Dudamel with the Vienna Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall; and Maa at the Miller Theater.


The Media

The world's greatest blowhards
by James Bowman
Adventures in punditry.


Books

All glass & rubber
by Jeffrey Collins

He heard the screams
by Gary Saul Morson

Perennial Paris
by John Simon

Blood-dimmed tide
by Jeffrey Meyers

The authentic voice
by David R. Slavitt

Tending the flame
by Brendan Boyle

Shorter notice
by Molly McQuade

Shorter notice
by Leann Davis Alspaugh

Shorter notice
by Katherine Eastland