“A State of Mathematical Grace” (How to Begin)
Rereading Enduring Love, I’m struck again by the simple perfection of its opening
I have no right to understand anything
I have no right to understand anything. It is not my fault. Ideas come and settle in my mind by mistake, then, realizing their mistake,…
Writing about the past and the trick of memory
I opened L. P. Hartley’s The Go-Between to find an Introduction by the author that is really a wonderful little piece of literary criticism.
Why Some People Do Not Read Poetry
Because they already know that it means stopping and without stopping they know that beyond stopping it will mean listening listening without hearing and maybe…
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Love, Mystery, and Irrationality
“Sexuality is a murky realm of contradiction and ambivalence. It cannot always be understood by social models, which feminism, as an heir of nineteenth-century utilitarianism,…
Hopper on Art, Commerce, Death & Legacy
Andy Warhol, Dennis Hopper, (1971) Anticipating the premier of Hopper’s follow-up to Easy Rider, The Last Movie (1971), James Stevenson profiled the young director in…
The Search
Bedrich Grunzweig, Times Square Movie Theatre Marquee (New York City, c. 1950) Walker Percy, The Moviegoer Then it is that the idea of the search…
Moral belief as aesthetic stance
Susan Sontag believed that intellectuals should, must, take political stands. She was active in the movement against the Vietnam War. She tried, with passion and…
The Gift
Leopoldo Lugones Argüello (13 June 1874 – 18 February 1938) Jorge Luis Borges, August 9, 1960: The sounds of the plaza fall behind, and I…
Fringe Feminists
Creem Magazine, February 1976: Patti’s heroes may be gone, but she is both with us and for us, so strongly that her music is something,…
Inquiring Minds
Inspired by Saul Bellow’s Humboldt’s Gift, J. Bernstein asks as series of profound, some might say cosmic questions. To which R. Rosenfelt + M. Borkowski…
Therapy and the idea of the love cure…
…courtesy of a 1972 NYRB article by Ellen Willis that I’ve just read, called “The Fantasy of the Perfect Lover” (subscribers only, unfortunately). Ultimately Willis…
TNI Hosts: Conservative Thought Salon
Edmund Burke, “The Father of Modern Conservatism” On Saturday, (update: March 6th at 7pm), TNI will host a Conservative Thought Salon dedicated to exploring the conservative…
Freedom?
And his favorite word, his ultimate emotional eloquence, the great bell with which he summoned others to the loftiest feasts of the soul—it lured many…
Rhetoric and Tone: A Debate
Step inside the inboxes of two TNI editors as we debate the niceties of intellectual rhetoric… Once upon a time, Rachel wrote a post on TNI about George…