Opinion
What the Cult of Knausgaard Tells Us About Critical Bias
The privilege of writing about oneself — of passing one’s vanity off as profundity — is reserved almost exclusively for male authors.
Opinion
Opinion
Six Authors Withdraw from PEN Gala in Protest of 'Charlie Hebdo' Honor
Celebrated writers Teju Cole, Rachel Kushner, Taiye Selasi, Peter Carey, Michael Ondaatje, and Francine Prose have withdrawn from this year’s annual PEN American Center gala, citing discomfort with the organization’s plan to honor French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Opinion
Why Gender Equality in Literature Isn't as Simple as 50/50
For every attempt at exposing sexism, there’s an entitled man with a chip on his shoulder, mumbling to himself in a café in Bushwick that no one appreciates his genius.
Opinion
Required Reading
This week, a quadruple rainbow, genocide at 100, remaking Mackintosh, poetry inspired by visual art, the creator of the emoticon, the first anime, and more.
Opinion
Weekend Words: Piano
On Mayday, the new Whitney Museum, designed by Renzo Piano, opens to the public.
Opinion
A Patronizing Argument Against Cultural Repatriation
In the past few decades, cultural institutions in the West have increasingly felt pressure to return artifacts acquired through questionable means during the colonial era.
Opinion
Required Reading
This week, swapping a run-down house and a Henry Moore sculpture, only 18% of Artforum covers have featured art by women, the mysterious world of the "sneakernet," how Imelda Marcos bought a Goya, and more.
Opinion
Weekend Words: Happiness
This week it was reported that the first recordings ever made by Elvis Presley, "My Happiness" and "That’s When Your Heartaches Begin" (both 1953), have been digitized and will be released by Jack White’s Third Man Records.
Opinion
Should Media Be Charged for Using Citizen News Footage?
The convention has been to let media companies, particularly television channels, use newsworthy footage without paying a fee because it's in the public interest to disseminate the images.
Opinion
How Viral History Accounts Are Hurting the Past They Purport to Celebrate
Although it only started in March, the Twitter account @MedievalReacts has soared to over 270,000 followers — all because it takes images without attribution from libraries and other sources and pairs them with punchy, modern text.
Opinion
Required Reading
This week, overcharging billionaire art collectors, the recent fascination with medieval art, the world's last male white rhino, discovering the previous life of Jean-Honoré Fragonard's “Young Girl Reading,” and more.
Opinion
Weekend Words: Dry
In response to a prolonged dry spell, the state of California has instituted mandatory water restrictions, bringing to mind the line from Chinatown (1974): "Middle of a drought, the water commissioner drowns. Only in L.A."