Authority and Freedom: A Defense of the Arts—A Review A review of Authority and Freedom: A Defense of the Arts by Jed Perl. Knopf, 176 pages. (January, 2022) Plug “relevance” into the search field of the website for Artforum, and 16 results pop up from 2021 alone. Relevance is the dominant aesthetic criterion of our time, and lack thereof Franklin Einspruch 12 Jan 2022 · 7 min read
Jessie Tu and the Fashionably Regressive Approach to Reading The world of literature has expanded its horizons in recent decades, and the quality of writing from voices that may not have been published in decades past is something for which we should be grateful. Neil Tully 8 Sep 2021 · 6 min read
Play Anything—The Case for Colorblind Casting Colorblind casting is precisely what it sounds like—the practice of filling roles in a play or film regardless of skin color. Graham Daseler 4 Sep 2021 · 18 min read
When Norman Jewison Turned His Camera on the Ultimate Superstar Jewison, by contrast, had found himself both “curiously moved” and “flooded with exciting visual images” upon first hearing the album. Ira Wells 3 Jun 2021 · 12 min read
R.M. Vaughan (1965–2020): A Beautiful Mind Silently Extinguished in a Time of Fear We were Oscar Wilde’s great-grand-nephews, dandy aesthetes obsessed as much with the curl of our hair as with art or politics. Sky Gilbert 6 Nov 2020 · 8 min read
The Mob That Came After Me Is Turning on Itself. When Will This End? Who Does This Help? One of the justifications offered by the cultural-appropriation mob that came after me is that you cannot speak for others unless you are the other. Hal Niedzviecki 27 Jun 2020 · 8 min read
Death of an Old-Fashioned Clown Willard was a kind of Holy Fool even among fools. Simon Evans 21 May 2020 · 7 min read
As Common Sense Returns to the Gender Debate, Radicals Set Upon Their Own Allies The entire argument was about whether one particular trans ally had become too famous at the expense of more worthy and authentic competitors. Jonathan Kay 20 May 2020 · 12 min read
The Purpose of Imaginative Fiction “What’s it about?” is usually the first question we ask when someone recommends a new book, and it’s the wrong question. Elena Shalneva 27 Apr 2020 · 9 min read
COVID-19 Betrays America’s Curdled Cult of Optimism A philosophy of optimism was central to the flourishing of the American project. But it’s also useful to consider whether insisting that success and greatness lie around every corner can become a maladaptive response to problems that are complex and brutal. Daphne Merkin 27 Apr 2020 · 5 min read
My Former Life as a Radical They believe in the perfectibility of man in their own image: a combination of unscrupulous optimism and narcissism. Gerfried Ambrosch 11 Feb 2020 · 11 min read
By Seeking ‘Safer Spaces’ for Actors, We’re Creating a Hostile Environment for Art I honestly have no idea why any actor would want to appear in a serious play featuring protagonists who are not, in some way, “screwed up.” Sky Gilbert 7 Feb 2020 · 8 min read
Confessions of an Equity-Industry Propagandist It was my job to turn a regressive sow’s ear into a progressive silk purse. Janet Mackay 5 Feb 2020 · 8 min read
Remembering Roger Scruton, Defender of Reason in a World of Postmodern Jackals Scruton did not entertain petty prejudices, and had no wish to tell anyone how to live or who to love. Barbara Kay 14 Jan 2020 · 8 min read
