The museum as fun house
by Roger Kimball
Reflections on the changing philosophies of the art museum occasioned by a recent trip to the MASS MoCA.
The last Elizabethan: Hart Crane at 100
by Eric Ormsby
Occasioned by the centennial of Crane’s birth , the publication of The Broken Tower: The Life of Hart Crane, by Paul Mariani & the re-publication of The Complete Poems of Hart Crane, edited by Marc Simon.
Morality for solipsists
by Anthony Daniels
Occasioned by PC, M.D.: How Political Correctness is Corrupting Medicine, by Sally Satel.
Exorcising sociobiology
by Paul Gross
Reflections on Patrick Tierney’s scandalous book Darkness in El Dorado & the assault on sociobiology.
In the land of fulfillment
by John Gross
New attitudes in the Girl Guides, oppressive snowmen & dangerous military bands.
Covering the classics
by Mark Steyn
On Steven Berkoff’s one-man show Shakespeare’s Villains: A Masterclass in Evil, Old Money, by Wendy Wasserstein & Proof, by David Auburn.
Making the case for figuration
by Karen Wilkin
On “Reconfiguring the New York School,” at the Center for Figurative Painting, New York.
Exhibition note
by Daniel Kunitz
Daniel Kunitz on “Luc Tuymans: Mwana Kitoko,” at David Zwirner, New York.
Exhibition note
by Daniel Kunitz
On “Kenneth Noland: Circles,” at Ameringer Howard, New York.
Exhibition note
by Mario Naves
Mario Naves on “The Draftsman’s Art: Master Drawings from the National Gallery of Scotland,” at the Frick Collection, New York.
Hearing Bach
by Jay Nordlinger
Reflections on performances & recordings of Bach’s choral music by John Eliot Gardiner & Karl Richter.
Opera note
by David Mermelstein
David Mermelstein on Il Trovatore, by Giuseppe Verdi, at the Metropolitan Opera, New York.
Outside the mainstream
by James Bowman
On the media’s pretense of representing the main currents of American society.
Chicago Dostoyevsky
by Jeffrey Meyers
A review of Bellow, by James Atlas.
Liberated by America
by Stephen Schwartz
A review of Itinerary: An Intellectual Journey, by Octavio Paz, translated by Jason Wilson.
Out of Neronian chaos
by Donald Lyons
A review of Satyricon by Petronius, translated by Sarah Ruden.
Venturesome paths
by Paula Friedman
A review of Quarrel & quandary, by Cynthia Ozick.
Shorter notice
by David Yezzi
David Yezzi on Other Traditions, by John Ashbery.
Shorter notice
by Max Watman
Max Watman on Demonology, by Rick Moody.
Walsall redux
by Theodore Dalrymple
A response to his critics & the furor occasioned by “Crudity beyond belief” (September 2000).