Arts & Letters
A selection of recent articles on this topic
Christie’s Compelling Criminals
In the latest installment of the ongoing interview series with contributing editor Mark Bauerlein, Theodore Dalrymple joins…
Lethe
He thought he saw her in the orchid house / and all the flowers seemed to disappear...
On Suddenly Having Several Children
"God never gives us more than we can take,” / the midwife told us, after catching...
The Dreadful Christ of Pär Lagerkvist
It’s dangerous to meet a god,” says the disgraced Pythia in Pär Lagerkvist’s The Sibyl. Her observation…
Words That Made a Nation: New and Notable Books
With Constitution Day taking place this month, a few books on the Founding of our republic are…
The Horror of an Impotent God
A new play inspired by the seven-film Paranormal Activity series is now on stage at the August…
Odysseus in America
In the latest installment of the ongoing interview series with contributing editor Mark Bauerlein, Patrick Deneen joins…
Unmaking Machiavelli’s Modernity
In his Apologia ad Carolum Quintum, English cardinal Reginald Pole claimed that Thomas Cromwell told him in…
Wendell Berry’s Eternal Story
Ten years ago, an editor at Penguin approached me to ask if I would like to edit…
Winners of the Third Annual First Things Poetry Prize
We are pleased to announce the winners of the third annual First Things Poetry Prize. Forester McClatchey…
The Meaning of 1776
On the night he was elected president, in November 2008, Barack Obama addressed a throng in Chicago…
The Hyperreal Dolly Parton
Before her song “I Will Always Love You” became a Whitney Houston hit, Dolly Parton was a…
The Best Film Ever?
Nineteen sixty-six was great for movies, and six decades later, the five nominated for Best Picture at…
A Surprisingly Subversive Sex Comedy
In his recent memoir, Communion, JD Vance talks about feeling “profoundly sad for today’s kids” navigating the…
The Possibility of Possibility
"Might could” is a Southern expression meaning “maybe I could” or “I might be able to,” conveying…
