What a sensible idea of Ashbery’s, I thought, and modest—to direct attention away from himself. It also worked to his own benefit; he was more interested in exploring these other poets and ...

When does imagination become appropriation?The time-honored answer to this what-gives-you-the-right question is: creative imagination, which for the writer is a muscular species of empathy. Okay, I’m ...

Discussed in this essay: Capital: Critique of Political Economy, Volume 1, by Karl Marx. Edited by Paul North and Paul Reitter. Translated by Paul Reitter. Princeton University Press. 944 pages.

The beauty of John McGahern’s proseDiscussed in this essay: The Pornographer, by John McGahern. New York Review Books. 272 pages. $17.95. I f you were asked to name the finest Irish writer of the ...

Is Donald Trump a fascist or a plutocrat?I t is powerfully tempting to call the new president of the United States a fascist. Donald Trump’s bullying tone, his scowl, and his jutting jaw recall Benito ...

Listen to an audio version of this article. D oes anyone believe in college education anymore? Republicans certainly don’t—a mere 19 percent of them expressed “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of ...

T he real numbers, to most economically minded Americans, would be a face full of cold water. Based on the criteria in place a quarter century ago, today’s U.S. unemployment rate is somewhere between ...

“F ar as the east from even, / Dim as the border star, / Life is the little creature / That carries the great cigar.” So wrote Emily Dickinson, with some unfortunate help from a computer. As I read ...

a confession For me, as for many others, the reading of detective stories is an addiction like tobacco or alcohol. The symptoms of this are: Firstly, the intensity of the craving — if I have any work ...

The elusive fiction of Phyllis PaulDiscussed in this essay: Twice Lost, by Phyllis Paul. McNally Editions. 257 pages. $18. W hen Phyllis Paul died on August 30, 1973, after a motorcycle hit her as she ...

On Annie Ernaux’s spectacular impersonalityDiscussed in this essay: A Girl’s Story, by Annie Ernaux, translated by Alison L. Strayer. Seven Stories Press. 160 pages. $18.95. A Man’s Place, by Annie ...

COVID-19 and the new science warsI nvoking science and data to resolve ethical and ideological controversies obscures the values and interests of particular groups and policymakers. Anyone governing ...