via flickr/Andrew Baldwin

Sign up to receive "Critic's Notebook" in your inbox every Monday—it only takes a few seconds and it's completely free!

This week: Uncovering the secrets of the Parthenon, a special evening at the Frick, and the Emerson String Quartet.

Fiction: Pushkin Hills by Sergei Dovlatov, translated by Katherine Dovlatov (Counterpoint): In this intimate short novel from the author of The Zone, things aren’t going well for protagonist Boris Alikhanov: recently divorced, his ex-wife is planning to emigrate with their daughter; he’s broke; he’s an alcoholic; he considers himself a literary genius but is still unpublished. To try and stabilize this downward spiral, he gets a job as a tour guide at Pushkin Hills Preserve, the family estate of the poet Alexander Pushkin. Feeling that the work is beneath him, he starts writing about the buffoonery of the tourists who visit the estate and their devotion to Pushkin.

Nonfiction: The Bohemians: Mark Twain and the San Francisco Writers Who Reinvented American Literature by Ben Tarnoff (Penguin): The early 1860s were a pivotal time for American literature. Focusing on Mark Twain, Bret Harte, Charles Warren Stoddard, and Ina Coolbrith, The Bohemians shows the importance both of these writers’ relationships with one another and of the time they spent on the West Coast. Together, they escaped the European influences popular on the East Coast and helped create a widespread literary and cultural movement.

Poetry: Plundered Hearts by J. D. McClatchy: This volume of new and selected poets is the latest offering from a man of many talents—in addition to his poetry, McClatchy has written several opera libretti, is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, teaches at Yale, and edits The Yale Review.
George Green wins 2014 Arts and Letters Award in Literature: George Green, the winner of the 2012 New Criterion Poetry Prize for his collection Lord Byron’s Foot, has been named one of eight winners of the 2014 Arts and Letters Awards in Literature. The awards are presented each year by the American Academy of Arts and Letters to “honor exceptional accomplishment in any genre” and come with a $7,500 prize.

Art: Whitney Biennial, 4th floor (March 7–May 25, 2014): This suggestion may come as a surprise to frequent readers, who know that The New Criterion hasn't been the Biennial's biggest fan. But the fourth floor of this year’s show stands out. This time around, the Whitney chose three guest curators to each oversee a floor. The fourth floor is curated by Michelle Grabner, an artist and Professor in the Painting and Drawing Department at the School of the Art Institute, Chicago. Another reason to visit: This will be the last Biennial hosted in the Whitney’s current Marcel Breuer-designed building before the museum moves downtown next year.

Music: Emerson String Quartet (Sunday): The Los Angeles Philharmonic closes out their explosive Lincoln Center visit tonight, but those looking for a more intimate musical experience should stop by Alice Tully Hall for a performance by the renowned Emerson String Quartet. Their program will pair the dark, searing romanticism of Mendelssohn's sixth string quartet with the acerbic bite of Shostakovich's eleventh and twelfth, exploring the connections between two starkly different composers.

Other: Spring Night at the Frick Collection (March 21): This Friday, the Frick Collection opens its doors for an evening of free programs including gallery talks and live performances. In addition to the Frick’s impressive permanent collection, their current exhibition, “Renaissance and Baroque Bronzes from the Hill Collection,” will be on view.

From the archive: Victor Hugo: the ghost in the pantheon by Eric Ormsby, October 2002: Considering Hugo upon his 200th year.

From our latest issue: Decoding the Parthenon by J. J. Pollitt: A new book tries to change the way we think about the Parthenon.

A Message from the Editors

Your donation sustains our efforts to inspire joyous rediscoveries.