Fragments of a (Diabolical) Dream: Vojtěch Mašek’s ‘The Sisters Dietl’
Reading Vojtěch Mašek’s s diabolical and superb The Sisters Dietl is like consuming a many-layered pastry laced with something hallucinogenic.
Books
Features, reviews, interviews, and lists about books including cultural commentary and history, non-fiction, literature, and more.
Lenny Bruce vs. Lenny Bruce: The Real and the Imagined
There are two Lenny Bruces: 1. the real-life subject of thoughtful documentaries and biographies, and 2. the TV/movie hip mentor and accidental deity.
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NYC’s Underground Scene: ‘This Must Be the Place’
Music may be the glue of every NYC underground scene This Must Be the Place covers, but Jesse Rifkin’s primary interest is in the community held together by that glue.
Albert Camus’ Struggles with Earthly Existence in ‘Travels in the Americas’
The Albert Camus of Travels in the Americas diaries is a passionate, despairing reckoner with the struggles of earthly existence, both personal and societal.
‘The Gospel of the Hold Steady’ Captures Their Unhinged Magic
Michael Hann’s oral history The Gospel of the Hold Steady traces the band’s image, music, and challenges in a brilliant chronicle of the promise of rock ‘n’ roll.
‘Dreams in Double Time’: When Bebop Counter-Punched Racist Violence
In this excerpt from Jonathan Leal’s study of Black American jazz, Dreams in Double Time, bebop gives the music a “new accent” and the outsider citizenry a “new language” for counter-punching rebellion.
‘The Media Swirl’ and the Glitter in Your Eyes
In this excerpt from The Media Swirl, Carol Vernallis peers through the glitter of the stunning party scene in Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby and exams its sparkling layers of meaning.
‘Operation Mindfuck’ Wades into the QAnon Muck
Despite claiming that QAnon believers will never see reason, Operation Mindfuck tries, in Hunter S. Thompson fashion, to explain why they’re wrong.
‘Calling for a Blanket Dance’ Sews Together a Story of Single Fatherhood
Calling for a Blanket Dance stitches an intergenerational quilt of rich themes: gift-giving, second chances, reclaiming culture, family loyalty, and the indelible search for a home.
Trigger Warning: Fuminori Nakamura’s ‘The Gun’
Fuminori Nakamura’s neo-noir The Gun picks apart the mental machinery of a potential shooter and puts him back together, piece by piece, to identify the fatal components.
‘Going For Broke’: Life on the Edge By Those Who Live It
Going for Broke: Living on the Edge in the World’s Richest Country turns to the real experts on economic hardship in America: those who live it.