Recent links of note:
 

If We Love Democracy, Why Does ‘Populism’ Get Such a Bad Rap?
Roger Kimball, The Wall Street Journal

On Wednesday, our own Roger Kimball wrote in The Wall Street Journal’s opinion page on a relevant topic (to say the least) of these past few years: populism. Occasioned by the publication of Vox Populi: The Perils and Promises of Populism, a volume of essays from The New Criterion published by Encounter Books, Kimball’s article examines the semantic closeness of “democracy” and “populism,” contrasting this with our typically unequal treatment of the two words (i.e. the eulogistic elevation of the former and disparagement of the latter). Kimball’s look at the linguistic and historical background of both words is a useful and thoughtful contribution to an all-too-frequently emotionally charged discourse. For more on the subject, read Peter Berkowitz’s review of Vox Populi here.
 

‘Let it be felt that the painter was there . . . ’
Sargy Mann, reprinted on Painters’ Table

Sargy Mann died in April 2015, but this week, the popular art blog Painters’ Table republished a catalogue essay written by the English figurative painter in 1984 for the exhibition of drawings by Pierre Bonnard at The Hayward Gallery, London. Bonnard’s drawings have not historically been considered an important part of his oeuvre (perhaps because of his paintings’ striking tendency to employ color over line to build space), but Mann persuasively argues both that the drawings help us better understanding his paintings and that they are worthy aesthetic objects in their own right. Indeed, unlike many of his contemporaries, Bonnard did not paint directly from life, but from these drawings done from observation. Particularly interesting is Mann’s paradoxical argument that “the most remarkable thing about Bonnard’s mature drawings is their ability to communicate colored experience.”
 

Will Orr-Ewing interviews Paul Dean
Will Orr-Ewing, Paul Dean

This week, Paul Dean, a longtime contributor to The New Criterion, sat down with Will Orr-Ewing to discuss Dean’s thirty-six-year career as a teacher in English preparatory schools. After receiving a Ph.D. from the University of Manchester, Dean began teaching in prep schools, where he found what he argues is “the freest place to teach in the entire educator sector.” The hour-long discussion touches on Dean’s pedagogical philosophy, his advice for younger teachers, the power and importance of poetry for students, and much more.  
 

From our pages:

Moral rights? Not quite
Daniel Grant

A Message from the Editors

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