The New Criterion
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May 2012 Volume 30, Number 9  

Notes & Comments

A Kramer chrestomathy
About this issue.

The writings of Hilton Kramer
A collection of passages from Hilton Kramer's work.


Features

Hilton Kramer & the critical temper
by Roger Kimball
On the life, work, and mindset of Hilton Kramer.

A serious man
by Joseph Epstein
The friendship, work, and life of Hilton Kramer.

The early days
by Erich Eichman
From the special section "Remembering Hilton Kramer: Recollections from friends and colleagues."

The critic supreme
by Norman Podhoretz
From "Remembering Hilton Kramer."

A critical ideal
by Edward Rothstein
From "Remembering Hilton Kramer."

An irreplaceable friend
by Ada Louise Huxtable
From "Remembering Hilton Kramer."

Nattily tweedy
by Grace Glueck
From "Remembering Hilton Kramer."

Patron & controversialist
by Philip Pearlstein
From "Remembering Hilton Kramer."

How right Hilton was
by Ron Radosh
From "Remembering Hilton Kramer."

Character & intellect
by James Piereson
From "Remembering Hilton Kramer."

Resurrecting the culture
by Leslie Lenkowsky
From "Remembering Hilton Kramer."

The living tradition
by Hadley Arkes
From "Remembering Hilton Kramer."

Ping-pong with Hilton
by Herbert I. London
From "Remembering Hilton Kramer."

His lighter side
by Ivan R. Dee
From "Remembering Hilton Kramer."

What a mentor
by Eric Gibson
From "Remembering Hilton Kramer."

"Rather rich"
by David Pryce-Jones
From "Remembering Hilton Kramer."

Wilde lunch conversations
by Bruce Bawer
From "Remembering Hilton Kramer."

Why modernism?
by Myron Magnet
From "Remembering Hilton Kramer."

An eye for talent
by Robert Bork
From "Remembering Hilton Kramer."

On the phone with Hilton
by Bruce Cole
From "Remembering Hilton Kramer."

The adversarial critic
by Karen Wilkin
From "Remembering Hilton Kramer."

Beginner's luck
by Christopher Carduff
From "Remembering Hilton Kramer."

A most generous man
by Robert Messenger
From "Remembering Hilton Kramer."

A high-wire performance
by David Yezzi
From "Remembering Hilton Kramer."

What's new & what's true
by James Panero
From "Remembering Hilton Kramer."

Future tense, IX: Out of the wilderness
by Charles Murray
On major artistic accomplishments.


Poems

"Exercises"
by Bill Coyle


Fiction Chronicle

The unheimlich maneuver
by Stefan Beck
On The Vanishers, by Heidi Julavits, Hope: A Tragedy, by Shalom Auslander, Gods Without Men, by Hari Kunzru, and Varamo, by César Aira.


Reconsiderations

Beauty is not for us to make
by Kelsey Bennett
On Rainer Maria Rilke.


Theater

The last gasp of the WASP
by Kevin D. Williamson
On The Best Man, Tribes, and Lost in Yonkers.


Art

Van Gogh in Philadelphia
by Karen Wilkin
On “Van Gogh Up Close” at The Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Richard Serra's illusions
by Eric Gibson
On "Richard Serra Drawing: A Retrospective" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Exhibition notice
by Mario Naves
On "Whitney Biennial 2012” at The Whitney Museum of Art, New York.

Gallery chronicle
by James Panero
On "The Brodmann Areas: A New Collaborative Ballet from Norte Maar,” “Jorinde Voigt” at David Nolan Gallery, “William Bailey: New Paintings” at Betty Cuningham Gallery, and “Tom Goldenberg: Recent Paintings and Works on Paper.”


Music

New York chronicle
by Jay Nordlinger
On recent performances, including: Concerto funèbre, Adagio, Fugue, and Maenads’ Dance, a duo recital by Michael Schade and Luca Pisaroni, Song Books, (K)ein Sommernachtstraum, clarinet quintets by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the St. Matthew Passion of Bach, and Manon.


The Media

The guardians of the truth?
by James Bowman
On poor journalism in the age of Obama.


Books

The dirtiest book of all
by Michael Weiss

And eating it, too
by Anthony Daniels

Learned helplessness
by Amy L. Wax

Apocalypse now?
by Blake Neff

Our contemporary
by Jeffrey Meyers