A Woman Under the Influence
Mary MacLane's spectacular moods first fueled, then failed her
Justice in One Country
So-called left-wing Zionism is white nationalism by another name
Ghostbusters
Barbara Johnson showed that while deconstruction had ignored feminism, it was nonetheless inherently a form of feminist critique
Vernacular Criticism
The most interesting place to read about museums is Yelp
As Goes Naples
The disastrous, corrupt "recovery" of war-shattered Naples in Curzio Malaparte's The Skin reflects the rot at the core of the European peace
Splay Attention
I don’t think it’s bad when artists treat me as if I’m there. In fact, I’m more sympathetic to those who do. Because I am.
Trivial Pursuits
Why do we think of the kleptomaniac as being usually a woman, and why do we find her so alluring?
Fire Escape
Revolutions are the confused youth of history, paralyzed by possibility even as they’re enthralled by it
Excuses, Excuses
At what point do we recognize an enemy as not merely adversarial, but existential?
Exorcisms in Style
When we talk about style in writing we're talking about branding
Geographer's Revenge
In casting about for an explanation of what went wrong in Iraq, Robert Kaplan has stumbled into the shallows of geopolitics.
Après Nous, le Déluge
From our stories, you’d think we were ending the world
Looking Through You
Transparency as aesthetic feature, transparency as disposition, transparency as force
Fact Check!
Along with the title, the device under this microscope is a Sandia Ion Trap. Photo by Oxford researchers Brides magazine has a fact-checker. She does…
The Future Is Female
In Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, women are nowhere and everywhere
Orhan Pamuk and The National on Sadness
“Now, many years later, I understand that this discontent is the basic trait that turns a person into a writer. Patience and toil are not…