Criticism

Like This or Die

By Christian Lorentzen,

Alex and Wendy love culture. It’s how they spend their free time. It’s what they talk about at dinner parties. When they go jogging or to the gym, they listen…

Literary Failure

By Elizabeth Hardwick,

There used to be the notion that Keats was killed by a bad review, that in despair and hopelessness he turned his back to the wall and gave up the…

Like This or Die

By Harper’s Magazine, on March 25, 2019

What gets lost in the age of the algorithm Read More

Discussed in this essay: Portraits: John Berger on Artists, by John Berger. Verso. 544 pages. $44.95. versobooks.com. Bad New Days: Art, Criticism, Emergency, by Hal Foster. Verso. 208 pages. $26.95.…

Active metaphors

By George Saunders,

Among the Reviewers

By Wyatt Mason,

Lately, manifestos on the matter of book reviewing seem to be cropping up all over. “The pabulum that passes for most reviews is an insult to the intelligence of most…