In her supremely good graphic memoir, Bechdel considers her life-in-workouts, offering some surprising nuggets of wisdom on our endless quests for self-transformation.
Lily Meyer
Lily Meyer is a writer, critic, and translator from Washington, DC. Her work appears in the Atlantic, NPR Books, Public Books, the Sewanee Review, and more, and her translation of Claudia Ulloa Donoso’s "Little Bird: Stories" is forthcoming from Deep Vellum in 2021.
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Plunder Dissects Napoleon’s Obsession with Stealing Art
Using a mix of art, military, and intellectual history, Cynthia Saltzman argues that controlling art is a powerful way to control hearts and minds.
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Rachel Cusk Intertwines Art with Healthy Skepticism
A fiercely odd, even unfashionably allegorical book, Second Place would be disappointing if it weren’t so bafflingly good.
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New Helen Frankenthaler Biography Favors Nostalgia Over Artist’s Interiority
In Fierce Poise, the paternalistic attitude toward Frankenthaler undermines both the author’s gifts and the artist’s.
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A Once-Revolutionary Creative Fellowship for Women Artists
Maggie Doherty’s The Equivalents follows the Radcliffe College Institute for Independent Study’s role in mid-century feminism, and explores the ways in which it fell short.
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Olivia Laing’s Essays Make a Case for Why Art Matters in Turbulent Times
As exterior life shuts temporarily down, Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency is a useful reminder that connection can be intellectual as well as physical.