Books
Reader’s Diary: Barrett Watten's ‘Questions of Poetics’
What is “language writing” anyway?
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Books
The Great Kenward
Kenward Elmslie published his poems in Poetry magazine in 1960, and his first book, Pavilions, came out in 1961. Between then and now makes more than fifty years of work. And yet, in some ways, his writing cannot quite be contained by such definitions as “poetry” and “fiction.”
Books
In a New Photobook, Stirring Memories of Man on the Moon
The Moon 1968-1972, an attractive new book containing photos from NASA’s Apollo Program, which 47 years ago landed the first men on the moon, evokes the rich mixture of emotion, yearning and speculation that have long surrounded Earth’s mysterious companion and neighbor.
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Trying Famous Photographers’ Recipes, from Avedon’s Pot Roast to Adams’s Eggs
The Photographer's Cookbook is a real gem for photo enthusiasts, featuring the favorite recipes of 50 major photographers, from William Eggleston to Marion Faller.
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A Tour of Timekeeping in Rare Books
Through 86 volumes that span the 15th century to the present, the Grolier Club visualizes the development of modern timekeeping.
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How Cy Twombly Spliced Poetry into His Art
In Reading Cy Twombly: Poetry in Paint, Mary Jacobus offers a fresh and intricate study of Twombly’s citations and overall engagement with verse.
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Death by Wallpaper: The Alluring Arsenic Colors that Poisoned the Victorian Age
Lucinda Hawksley's book Bitten by Witch Fever chronicles the rise of poisonous pigments in the 19th century through the burgeoning British wallpaper trade.
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Reader’s Diary: David Beech's ‘Art and Value’
What in the world is art worth?
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The Aviation Aspirations of Chinese Farmers
Xiaoxiao Xu photographed and interviewed men in rural Chinese villages who have huge dreams of flight.
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Vintage Cameras and the Imperfect Photographs They Take
David Ellwand has collected over 100 vintage cameras and published the photographs he’s taken with them in RetroPhoto: An Obsession.
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The Posthumous Fame of the 19th Century's Greatest Vegetable Photographer
Charles Jones photographed hundreds of vegetables in the 19th century, but it was only in 1981 that his work was rediscovered by chance.
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Reader’s Diary: Cormac McCarthy's ‘Blood Meridian’
Thanks to Blood Meridian, I’ve learned, at least temporarily, the meanings of “quirt,” “pritchel,” and even the seemingly ultra-rare “malandered.”