Arts & Letters Daily (05 Feb 2012) ...
In Brazil, every student studies philosophy - Plato, ethics, the will of the gods. Impressive, right? Academic philosophers don't think so... more
"Intellectuals with job security in a university carry a responsibility in troubled times," argued Tony Judt. And so he was outspoken, sometimes to a fault... more
How does a poet of despair survive in rock ʻn' roll? Ideas are the engine of Leonard Cohen's success. His ideas are old and radical and, on occasion, surprisingly persuasive... more
Arts & Letters Daily (04 Feb 2012) ...
In Brazil, every student studies philosophy - Plato, ethics, the will of the gods. Impressive, right? Academic philosophers don't think so... more
"Intellectuals with job security in a university carry a responsibility in troubled times," argued Tony Judt. And so he was outspoken, sometimes to a fault... more
How does a poet of despair survive in rock ʻn' roll? Ideas are the engine of Leonard Cohen's success. His ideas are old and radical and, on occasion, surprisingly persuasive... more
Arts & Letters Daily (03 Feb 2012) ...
Artists in the Arab world tend to be politically engaged, says Adonis, who is no exception. But has the Arab Spring made him irrelevant?... more
Criticism is secondary to writing novels, said Lionel Trilling, who published just one work of fiction. It wasn't great, and he couldn't settle for merely good... more
Touring the Wild West, Oscar Wilde was delighted by a sign on the wall of a saloon, "Don't shoot the piano player, he's doing his best." Alas, far too many pianos now go unplayed... more
Arts & Letters Daily (02 Feb 2012) ...
Few questions divide the classical-music world as starkly as this: Philip Glass - mind-numbing bore or bliss-inducing genius?... more
What happened to Sinology? Recent books, scholarly and popular, suggest a turn toward rank boosterism, historical whitewashing, and hagiography... more
Orwell called them "disgusting tripe," Camille Paglia considers them a "corrupt practice," Stephen King winces at their "hyperbolic ecstasies" - Book blurbs have been a scandal since antiquity... more
Arts & Letters Daily (01 Feb 2012) ...
The adolescent brain. Children are reaching puberty earlier and entering adulthood later. The result: Considerable weirdness... more
Film schools are trade schools playacting as art schools and moonlighting in business courses. Their value is dubious, but the demand is insatiable... more
The intellectual glitterati are at it again, pontificating on "G-Zero World" and the "Rise of Regions" (whatever that means) from an otherwise obscure Swiss village. Welcome to Davos... more
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