Arts & Letters
A selection of recent articles on this topic
Woke vs. The Left
The latest installment of an ongoing interview series with contributing editor Mark Bauerlein. David Rieff joins in…
The Lenten Politics of Measure for Measure
At the beginning of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, Vincentio, the Duke of Vienna, withdraws from the city…
Knausgaard and His Time
Karl Ove Knausgaard treats the stage business of life with gravity, seeking in it, perhaps, some key…
A Guide to the Oscars
Who even watches the Oscars?” said First Things editor R. R. Reno when I proposed to write…
An Endless Bookshelf
Sometimes when I am starting a column, I look back to see what I wrote for this…
Fiction and Last Things
The latest installment of an ongoing interview series with contributing editor Mark Bauerlein. Cassandra Nelson joins in…
Cicero the Comedian
The latest installment of an ongoing interview series with contributing editor Mark Bauerlein. Michael Fontaine joins in…
Cathedrals and Us
The Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in the nation’s capital is a magnificent neo-Gothic…
Dostoevsky’s Credo
What does it mean to believe something? Is it possible for a person to profess an idea…
Large Language Poetry
In my ideal undergraduate course in literary criticism, the first semester would include a brisk introduction to…
On Getting Old
Two years plus a couple of weeks ago, I wrote a column that began thus: “I am…
The End of March
Stands of bearded iris, purple in mourning / Spring up, early, among their cool green speartips, /…
Letter to a Middle-Aged Poet
Nature and history have made us / what we are, fat hapless amateurs / stranded some ninety…
Birds of the Air
Look— / crimson berries for songbirds, / writhing worms for red-breasted early birds...
Local Weather
Moving slowly among her solemn friends, / she speaks of him in the present tense. / Hail…
