In his new book On China, Henry Kissinger looks at what makes China what it is. In his new book The Origins of Political Order, Francis Fukuyama attempts to explain why China is not Europe. The first book is written by a diplomat. It is in large part a firsthand account and takes a micro view: ...
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen came out last year, but since it has been called the novel of the century, I suppose it is still relevant. Freedom is what is now called a “literary novel”; even an “ambitious literary novel,” as the author himself would describe it. Certainly its author is ...
I usually go to art shows to look at fashion, but last week I went to a fashion show to look at art. The actress Chloë Sevigny held her first runway show for Opening Ceremony in a SoHo church rec hall, and she brought in pieces by the artist Charlie Wing. It was his first show, too, and he set the ...
According to reviewers, Jennifer Egan’s novel A Visit From the Goon Squad is "virtuosic," "shape shifting," "startlingly new," and it "turns the novel on its head." According to me, it is "not bad," "readable"; it tells stories and provokes ...
She lives on credit and lusts after entertainment, whether emotional or commercial. She derives her pleasure solely from seeing her reflection in the gleam of a man's eye or in the sheen of a new silk dress. Like a L"Oréal target customer, she is "worth it." Whatever luxury the world ...
Nixon in China, John Adams's opera based on Richard Nixon's détente-seeking 1972 visit to the People's Republic, has Kissinger pirouetting, Chairman and Madame Mao dancing the tango, and Pat Nixon touring a factory delighted at the sight of hundreds of glass elephants"but it is more than ...
Last week we nostalgically suggested that culturally, things might have been better in the past. This week we will nostalgically infer that they might be better elsewhere. Where? In France, of course. Because media figures must be drawn in broad strokes, let us paint philosopher Bernard-Henri ...
Fran Lebowitz doesn’t write anymore. Does it have something to do with having known success at a young age and seeing so many people buying her books but so few actually getting them? She may no longer write, but she talks, and as displayed in the recent Martin Scorsese documentary Public ...
Thursday night is opening night at the Chelsea galleries in New York. But, an art opening is not a good place to look at art because there are too many distractions. Nor is it is a good place to talk of art because you never know who might be listening. In The Painter of Modern Life, Baudelaire ...
"You must come visit us in Vienna," said Mrs H. as we lunched at Cecconi's in Miami Beach. "Oh, Vienna, yes, I"ve been thinking of Vienna recently," I answered, "because I"ve been reading Thomas Bernhard." "Bernhard! I didn’t realize he was known ...
