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AROUND THE WORLD

Man Seeking Doppelgänger: On Peter Stamm’s “The Sweet Indifference of the World”

Man Seeking Doppelgänger: On Peter Stamm’s “The Sweet Indifference of the World”

Ben Sandman

Ben Sandman reviews Peter Stamm’s recently released novel “The Sweet Indifference of the World,” translated by Michael Hofmann.

On the Power of Sisterhood and the Limits of Nostalgia: An Interview with Brazilian Director Karim Aïnouz

On the Power of Sisterhood and the Limits of Nostalgia: An Interview with Brazilian Director Karim Aïnouz

Eileen G’Sell

Eileen G’Sell interviews Karim Aïnouz, director of “Invisible Life.”

ART & ARCHITECTURE

ART MATTERS NOW—12 Writers on 20 Years of Art: Greg Allen Reviews Artists in the Americas in 2005

ART MATTERS NOW—12 Writers on 20 Years of Art: Greg Allen Reviews Artists in the Americas in 2005

Greg Allen

Greg Allen looks at three artists who exposed their respective experiences within Latin American, immigrant, and US cultures.

LACMA, Part III: The Way Forward

LACMA, Part III: The Way Forward

Joseph Giovannini

Joseph Giovannini concludes his analysis of Michael Govan’s plans for LACMA.

BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Writing Together

Writing Together

Briallen Hopper

Briallen Hopper appreciates "The Mutual Admiration Society," a new book from Mo Moulton.

Where Are You Taking Me, Father?: Three Sons Live Through Apartheid South Africa

Where Are You Taking Me, Father?: Three Sons Live Through Apartheid South Africa

Kaleem Hawa

Kaleem Hawa reviews three recent books on South African apartheid.

COMICS

Does Chris Ware Still Hate Fun?

Does Chris Ware Still Hate Fun?

Gerry Canavan

Gerry Canavan reviews "Rusty Brown," the recently published collection of Chris Ware's comics.

The De-Colonization of Miles Morales

The De-Colonization of Miles Morales

Vincent Haddad

Vincent Haddad on the promise of Miles Morales.

CULTURAL STUDIES

No One Is Nothing: On “Going All City: Struggle and Survival in LA’s Graffiti Subculture”

No One Is Nothing: On “Going All City: Struggle and Survival in LA’s Graffiti Subculture”

Ryan Gattis

Ryan Gattis reviews Stefano Bloch's new book.

Civilization and Its Stuff: On Kyle Chayka’s “The Longing for Less: Living with Minimalism”

Civilization and Its Stuff: On Kyle Chayka’s “The Longing for Less: Living with Minimalism”

Stuart Whatley

Stuart Whatley considers “The Longing for Less” by Kyle Chayka.

DEAR TELEVISION

Dr. Manhattan is a Cop: "Watchmen" and Frantz Fanon

Dr. Manhattan is a Cop: "Watchmen" and Frantz Fanon

Aaron Bady

Aaron Bady, for Dear Television, considers the way that HBO's Watchmen came so close to unmasking the world's real supervillain.

The Year in Yelling: "Catastrophe," "Marriage Story," "Moonstruck"

The Year in Yelling: "Catastrophe," "Marriage Story," "Moonstruck"

Phillip Maciak

Phillip Maciak, for Dear Television, considers the year in culture by way of three arguments: from Catastrophe, from Marriage Story, and from Moonstruck.

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS

ECONOMICS AND FINANCE

How Human Rights Were Defanged from Any Truly Emancipatory Potential

How Human Rights Were Defanged from Any Truly Emancipatory Potential

Neve Gordon

Is “human rights” merely another route toward economic plunder?

Confessions of a Cake Boy

Confessions of a Cake Boy

Ramsey McGlazer

Another robot world is possible, one not built on hidden human labor and not dependent on damage to the soul

EDUCATION

“We Need More Vigorous Debate”: A Conversation with Michael S. Roth

“We Need More Vigorous Debate”: A Conversation with Michael S. Roth

Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins

Michael S. Roth discusses the challenges of promoting free speech on college campuses.

Is Safe-Enough Pragmatism Good Enough?

Is Safe-Enough Pragmatism Good Enough?

Richard Eldridge

Richard Eldridge reviews “Safe Enough Spaces: A Pragmatist’s Approach to Inclusion, Free Speech, and Political Correctness on College Campuses.”

FICTION

Man Seeking Doppelgänger: On Peter Stamm’s “The Sweet Indifference of the World”

Man Seeking Doppelgänger: On Peter Stamm’s “The Sweet Indifference of the World”

Ben Sandman

Ben Sandman reviews Peter Stamm’s recently released novel “The Sweet Indifference of the World,” translated by Michael Hofmann.

The Antidote to Hubris: On Mark Sargent’s “Fool on the Hill”

The Antidote to Hubris: On Mark Sargent’s “Fool on the Hill”

Luke Cassidy

Luke Cassidy talks to writer Mark Sargent and reviews his new novel, "Fool on the Hill."

FILM

On the Power of Sisterhood and the Limits of Nostalgia: An Interview with Brazilian Director Karim Aïnouz

On the Power of Sisterhood and the Limits of Nostalgia: An Interview with Brazilian Director Karim Aïnouz

Eileen G’Sell

Eileen G’Sell interviews Karim Aïnouz, director of “Invisible Life.”

Room After Room in “The Report”

Room After Room in “The Report”

Hilary Plum

Hilary Plum considers "The Report," Mohamedou Ould Slahi’s "Guantánamo Diary," and who gets to depict torture.

FOOD & DRINK

The Midlife Crisis of the American Restaurant Review

The Midlife Crisis of the American Restaurant Review

Theodore Gioia

Theodore Gioia samples the American restaurant review at present and offers a recipe for the future.

Cooking Outside the Lines: A Conversation with Alison Roman

Cooking Outside the Lines: A Conversation with Alison Roman

Callie Hitchcock

A best-selling cookbook author discusses the problems with fad diets and the importance of eating well.

GENDER & SEXUALITY

On the Power of Sisterhood and the Limits of Nostalgia: An Interview with Brazilian Director Karim Aïnouz

On the Power of Sisterhood and the Limits of Nostalgia: An Interview with Brazilian Director Karim Aïnouz

Eileen G’Sell

Eileen G’Sell interviews Karim Aïnouz, director of “Invisible Life.”

The Wilde Woman and the Sunflower Apostle: Oscar Wilde in the United States

The Wilde Woman and the Sunflower Apostle: Oscar Wilde in the United States

Victoria Dailey

Victoria Dailey looks back at Oscar Wilde’s wild ride through the United States in the early 1880s.

HISTORIES OF VIOLENCE

Histories of Violence: Why We Should All Read Walter Benjamin Today

Histories of Violence: Why We Should All Read Walter Benjamin Today

Brad Evans

Brad Evans speaks with James Martel about the continuing relevance of Walter Benjamin. A conversation in Brad Evans’s “Histories of Violence” series.

Histories of Violence: Slavery in America

Histories of Violence: Slavery in America

Brad Evans

Brad Evans speaks with Ana Lucia Araujo, author of “Reparations for Slavery and the Slave Trade.” A conversation in the “Histories of Violence” series.

HISTORY

The Wilde Woman and the Sunflower Apostle: Oscar Wilde in the United States

The Wilde Woman and the Sunflower Apostle: Oscar Wilde in the United States

Victoria Dailey

Victoria Dailey looks back at Oscar Wilde’s wild ride through the United States in the early 1880s.

Quantum Conversations, Entanglement, and the American Cold War “Physics Bubble”

Quantum Conversations, Entanglement, and the American Cold War “Physics Bubble”

Michael D. Gordin

Historian of science Michael D. Gordin reviews his former lab partner’s new book on the fuzziness of the quantum world.

LARB AV

Radio Hour: Marcia Clark, Sonny Liew, and Steve Wasserman

Radio Hour: Marcia Clark, Sonny Liew, and Steve Wasserman

LARB AV

Subscribe on iTunes  -  Listen Live on KPFK This week’s show is the first of several to feature interviews conducted at

Photographer Spotlight: Stanislas Guigui

Photographer Spotlight: Stanislas Guigui

Michael Kurcfeld

Most photographers are passive, often neutral observers. Stanislas Guigui fully inhabits the ferocious world he shoots, completely caught in its turbulence.

LARB BALL

The Hidden Mystery of Hoops Diplomacy: France vs. China, 1966

The Hidden Mystery of Hoops Diplomacy: France vs. China, 1966

Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff

Sports historian Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff uncovers an archival mystery about France, China, basketball, and a forgotten attempt at Cold War diplomacy.

A One-Man Archive of Baseball History

A One-Man Archive of Baseball History

Kevin Canfield

A new biography of the dean of American baseball writing.

LARB LIT

Two Chapters from "Romance in Marseille"

Two Chapters from "Romance in Marseille"

Claude McKay

Exclusive excerpt from the new Claude McKay novel, Romance in Marseille

Day Moon

Day Moon

Edgar Kunz

This piece appears in the Los Angeles Review of Books Quarterly Journal: Weather, No. 24  To receive the Quarterly&

LARB RADIO HOUR

LAW

The Optimistic Crown Prince

The Optimistic Crown Prince

Elham Hassan

On the “Saudi Development and Reconstruction Program for Yemen” and the Western-supported, Saudi-led coalition has targeted Yemeni civilians.

A Guide to Restoring Faith in Democracy

A Guide to Restoring Faith in Democracy

Steven Lavine

Steven Lavine reviews "In Defence of Democracy," a recently published book by Roslyn Fuller.

LITERARY CRITICISM

The Uneasy Afterlife of John Okada

The Uneasy Afterlife of John Okada

Christopher Lee

Christopher Lee discusses the legacy of John Okada.

On Being Raised by New Critics in a Small Indian Town

On Being Raised by New Critics in a Small Indian Town

Sumana Roy

What literary studies lost when the New Critics were dethroned.

LITERARY FICTION

New York Trance — Geoff Dyer and the Life of the Writer

New York Trance — Geoff Dyer and the Life of the Writer

Toby Lloyd

In Dyer's repetitions and leitmotifs, we get the sense of watching a mind traveling between planes of existence.

Bali Diary: At the 2015 Ubud Writers and Readers Festival

Bali Diary: At the 2015 Ubud Writers and Readers Festival

Maria Bustillos

A visit to the 2015 Ubud Writers and Readers Festival in Bali.

MEMOIR & ESSAY

Septemberland, How to Find Your Way in a Post-9/11 Dystopian World

Septemberland, How to Find Your Way in a Post-9/11 Dystopian World

Jordan Elgrably

Jordan Elgrably reviews "When All Else Fails" by Rayyan Al-Shawaf and "When We Were Arabs" by Massoud Hayoun.

No One Is Nothing: On “Going All City: Struggle and Survival in LA’s Graffiti Subculture”

No One Is Nothing: On “Going All City: Struggle and Survival in LA’s Graffiti Subculture”

Ryan Gattis

Ryan Gattis reviews Stefano Bloch's new book.

MUSIC

The Last Cowboy Song

The Last Cowboy Song

Drew Bratcher

Listening to Marty Robbins’s classic 1959 album “Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs.”

Real Life Rock Top 10: January 2020

Real Life Rock Top 10: January 2020

Greil Marcus

LARB presents the January installment of “Real Life Rock Top 10,” a monthly column by cultural critic Greil Marcus.

NOIR

A Kind of Unifying Western Spirit: An Interview with Chad Dundas

A Kind of Unifying Western Spirit: An Interview with Chad Dundas

Gwen Florio

Gwen Florio interviews Chad Dundas about his new novel, “The Blaze.”

Dark Ride: On Elizabeth Hand’s “Curious Toys”

Dark Ride: On Elizabeth Hand’s “Curious Toys”

Molly Boyle

On “Curious Toys” by Elizabeth Hand.

NONFICTION

Necessary Protection

Necessary Protection

Erica Wright

Erica Wright interviews Kenneth R. Rosen about his book "Bulletproof Vest," a new book in the Object Lessons series.

Confessions of a Weapon: On Being a TV Chat Show Host in Iran

Confessions of a Weapon: On Being a TV Chat Show Host in Iran

Paul Ingram

Former talk show host Paul Ingram talks about his time in Tehran.

PHILOSOPHY & CRITICAL THEORY

The Death Drive at 100

The Death Drive at 100

Peter Brooks

Peter Brooks on the centennial of Freud’s “Beyond the Pleasure Principle.”

An Eye to the Future: On Édouard Glissant’s “Sun of Consciousness”

An Eye to the Future: On Édouard Glissant’s “Sun of Consciousness”

Matt Reeck

Matt Reeck explores the boundless imagination of Édouard Glissant.

PHOTOGRAPHER SPOTLIGHT

POETRY

Your Homie from Another Heart: On Danez Smith’s “Homie”

Your Homie from Another Heart: On Danez Smith’s “Homie”

Amanda Gorman

Amanda Gorman considers “Homie” by Danez Smith.

Song and the Names of Things: On Robert Hass’s “Summer Snow”

Song and the Names of Things: On Robert Hass’s “Summer Snow”

Heather Treseler

Heather Treseler considers “Summer Snow” by Robert Hass.

POLITICS

A Personal Journey: On “Exile: Rejecting America and Finding the World”

A Personal Journey: On “Exile: Rejecting America and Finding the World”

Todd Miller

A political memoir of 15 years spent in exile.

Confessions of a Weapon: On Being a TV Chat Show Host in Iran

Confessions of a Weapon: On Being a TV Chat Show Host in Iran

Paul Ingram

Former talk show host Paul Ingram talks about his time in Tehran.

RELIGION

Condemned to Salvation: Considering Universalism with David Bentley Hart

Condemned to Salvation: Considering Universalism with David Bentley Hart

Ed Simon

On "That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation" by David Bentley Hart.

Abandoning Your Religion

Abandoning Your Religion

Tucker Coombe

Tucker Coombe reviews "Leaving the Witness" and "Unfollow: A Memoir of Loving and Leaving the Westboro Baptist Church."

REMAKING THE UNIVERSITY

Is Safe-Enough Pragmatism Good Enough?

Is Safe-Enough Pragmatism Good Enough?

Richard Eldridge

Richard Eldridge reviews “Safe Enough Spaces: A Pragmatist’s Approach to Inclusion, Free Speech, and Political Correctness on College Campuses.”

“The Students Are the Material”: David Gooblar and the Art of College Teaching

“The Students Are the Material”: David Gooblar and the Art of College Teaching

Ryan Boyd

Ryan Boyd reviews “The Missing Course” by David Gooblar.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

The Stories Silicon Valley Tells Itself in Order to Live: A Conversation with Anna Wiener

The Stories Silicon Valley Tells Itself in Order to Live: A Conversation with Anna Wiener

Sam Jaffe Goldstein

Anna Wiener discusses her new memoir about working in Silicon Valley.

Quantum Conversations, Entanglement, and the American Cold War “Physics Bubble”

Quantum Conversations, Entanglement, and the American Cold War “Physics Bubble”

Michael D. Gordin

Historian of science Michael D. Gordin reviews his former lab partner’s new book on the fuzziness of the quantum world.

SF

The Matter of America: On Michael Swanwick’s “The Iron Dragon’s Mother”

The Matter of America: On Michael Swanwick’s “The Iron Dragon’s Mother”

Sean Guynes

Michael Swanwick’s “The Iron Dragon’s Mother” looks at the failure of those with privilege and power to address the wrongs of the world.

Tracking Reality’s “Fuckedness Quotient”: An Interview with William Gibson

Tracking Reality’s “Fuckedness Quotient”: An Interview with William Gibson

Eliot Peper

Eliot Peper talks to William Gibson about his new novel, "The Agency," a sequel to "The Peripheral."

SPORTS

Thirteen Ways of Looking at “High Flying Bird”

Thirteen Ways of Looking at “High Flying Bird”

Derek Nystrom

"High Flying Bird’s" Lukácsian dramatization of class struggle remains trapped, visually and narratively, in a neoliberal perceptual apparatus.

On Infinite Baseball: An Interview with Alva Noë

On Infinite Baseball: An Interview with Alva Noë

Kieran Setiya

Philosophy and the "intellectual game": Kieran Setiya interviews Alva Noë about his book, "Infinite Baseball: Notes from a Philosopher on the Ballpark."

TELEVISION

Make America Mayberry Again

Make America Mayberry Again

Grafton Tanner

The fictional town of Mayberry provides a clue to the root of our national poison, and show us how we picked the wrong lawman.

On Millennial Fluidity; or, a Second Open Love Letter to Nico Tortorella

On Millennial Fluidity; or, a Second Open Love Letter to Nico Tortorella

Jonathan Alexander

Jonathan Alexander on Nico Tortorella, gender fluidity, and contemporary culture.

YOUNG ADULT & CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

A Gorgeous Nightmare: On Mark Z. Danielewski’s “The Little Blue Kite”

A Gorgeous Nightmare: On Mark Z. Danielewski’s “The Little Blue Kite”

S. Tremaine Nelson

S. Tremaine Nelson reviews a new children’s book from the author of “House of Leaves.”

Misfit Friendships: A Conversation with Jeff Zentner

Misfit Friendships: A Conversation with Jeff Zentner

Tim Cummings

A prominent YA author on the importance of friendship and the dangers of toxic masculinity.

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