for the Weekly Standard: The nickname “El Greco” reveals two things about Doménikos Theotokópoulos, the weird and sublime painter of the Counter-Reformation: He was Greek, and he was a stranger. When everybody around you is Greek, nobody is “the Greek.” El Greco’s vision reflected the second part of his identity even more than the first. more Read more
I’ve read a ton of these and Pelagia Horgan’s appreciation of Fra Angelico is the best by far. Give it time to build: The loveliest image I know is Fra Angelico’s ‘Entry of the Blessed into Paradise’, a scene from his painting The Last Judgment of 1431. In it, the blessed, just risen from their graves, gather together in a flowering garden to join hands with angels and dance into the light of heaven. There’s a scene in D H Lawrence’s novel... Read more
for AmCon. Should’ve decided in advance how spoilerous I wanted to be; if you haven’t seen it yet, I’d definitely recommend either skipping this review or stopping after the first couple paragraphs. One of the year’s most widely-praised horror movies, Australia’s “The Babadook,” methodically chews through a list of terrifying questions: What happens when you can’t protect your child from tragedy and grief? When you can’t protect him from the people around him? From himself? From yourself? more Read more
This article is annoyingly coy (it’s all “there’s danger in intoxication! there are no guarantees!” but it’s scared to say what that actually looks like) but the basic idea is right on and important. And if you want specifics there’s always The Secret History so I guess somebody’s already written the stuff he leaves out: …When colleges pick the one book that every new student should read (as they increasingly do through required summer reading programs), they tend to choose... Read more
What I’ve been watching. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: Actually pretty fun, once you get past the narcissism and abuse of women. EDIT: I should say that the latter two elements aren’t things I wish they’d left out of the movie. They add texture to what could have been a plasticky, “drugs R fun!”, self-consciously edgy cliche. F&LILV manages to be neither a cautionary tale nor an ad for addiction. Whiplash: Miles Teller is a super actor. This is... Read more
I’ll always be grateful to my parents for leaving up our bizarre dining-room wallpaper with the huge nodding flowers. Sort of mutant-like. The late ’70s and early ’80s were a special time for wallpaper… as Kindertrauma proves. I love the idea of this post and love the execution even more. Read more
at Studio Theatre: Jaroslav Pelikan declared, “Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.” But it can be hard to tell which one you’re actually doing. “Bad Jews,” at the Studio Theatre through December 28, takes place over a few hours in one tiny (but pricey) New York apartment. Cousins Daphna, Jonah, and Liam are reunited on the night after their grandfather’s funeral. (So big, even Abe Foxman was there!) Liam has... Read more
Hey, I’m in this! But also: Boxers and Saints – Gene Luen Yang This book is two books. Yang wrote paired graphic novels, set during China’s Boxer Rebellion. One follows a young boy who joins the Boxers, the other a young girl who converts to Christianity. You can read either story in isolation, but they’re meant to be read together — the two protagonists come into conflict. I got this as a Christmas present and read both books in one sitting (with... Read more
service journalism: …So here’s a guy who deserves his own movie. In the early morning hours of Jan. 28, 2000, Darrell Night, a member of the Cree Nation, was picked up by two Saskatoon police officers (both white) after a drunken argument at his uncle’s apartment got a bit out of hand. Like any clear-thinking intoxicated person, he expected to be taken to the town drunk tank to sleep off his buzz. That didn’t happen. Instead, Night was driven three... Read more
A critique of some elements of my book. Some of this misreads specific phrases (I don’t use “ancient” as a pejorative!) but Mena is putting his finger on something which is really in the book. I should say that I’m just not in a position to respond to these arguments; my best friend isn’t Christian (nor is my family of course), and that’s obviously shaped how I understand the role of shared belief within friendship. …In Gay and Catholic, Tushnet... Read more
Eve Tushnet
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In