21st century kitsch: Cultural critic W. David Marx examines the state of our art in his book Blank Space
Marx argues that the 21st century has been typified not by artistic innovation or renovation, but by a capitalistic retrenchment.
Freedom to Read Week 2025: Ulysses by James Joyce
Joyce's novel is now widely regarded as one of the greatest novels of the 20th century.
Fragments shored against ruins: Matthew Hollis charts the convoluted and painful path toward T.S. Eliot’s masterpiece in a new “biography” of The Waste Land
Eliot's vision of a fallen world blighted by urban decay and a somnambulant populace continues to divide readers.
White water rafting along the stream of consciousness: Lucy Ellmann’s Ducks, Newburyport
In its entirety, Ducks, Newburyport represents a towering fictional edifice that is as engaging and readable as it is formally ambitious.