Yet Another Russian Literary Dispute Turns Deadly

WORDS Posted: January 31, 2014 12:03 am

Last fall it was over Immanuel Kant. This time it was the superiority (or not) of poetry over prose. (Was vodka involved? Need you ask?)

Sorrows of a seamstress
In today’s Wall Street Journal drama column I review a pair of Massachusetts revivals, Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel and Alan Ayckbourn’s Taking Steps. Here’s an excerpt. * * * Lynn Nottage’s “Intimate Apparel,” first performed ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-07-28
Replay: Judy Collins sings “Someday Soon”
Judy Collins sings Ian Tyson’s “Someday Soon” on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. This episode was originally telecast by CBS on March 2, 1969: (This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-07-28
Almanac: Ray Bradbury on sunsets
“Sunsets are beloved because they vanish.” Ray Bradbury, From the Dust Returned ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-07-28
Selling a Rockwell
In my latest Wall Street Journal “Sightings” column, I sound off on the Berkshire Museum’s planned sale of important works from its permanent collection. Here’s an excerpt. * * * Norman Rockwell’s greatest painting is ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-07-27
Almanac: Patrick Kurp on Dr. Johnson’s endearingness
“With Johnson, even at his most ferocious, one is aware of his essential humility and his recognition that he, like the objects of his wrath, is a deeply flawed creature. He is endearing because his ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-07-27
Fireflies Are Out …
“Veselka” cucumber conundrum soup They bring me back to my stoop days, decades ago, when I smudged their bellies on my forehead as makeup, also called war paint. Will they make the same impression decades ... read more
AJBlog: Out TherePublished 2017-07-26
Snapshot: Aaron Copland’s music for Something Wild
The opening credits of Something Wild, a 1961 film directed by Jack Garfein and starring Carroll Baker. The score was composed and conducted by Aaron Copland and the titles were designed by Saul Bass: ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-07-26
Almanac: Cyril Connolly on the idea of progress
“What monster first slipped in the idea of progress? Who destroyed our conception of happiness with these growing-pains?” Cyril Connolly, The Unquiet Grave ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-07-26
Benefits of the Arts (Again)
Summer is an excellent time to review topics covered before and evaluate whether they should be raised again. Four years ago I offered a preliminary overview of a way of discussing the benefits of ... read more
AJBlog: Engaging MattersPublished 2017-07-25
“Deeply Opposed”: Joint Statement by AAMD & AAM Blasts Berkshire Museum’s Planned Art Sales
I predicted in my previous post that the Association of Art Museum Directors and the American Alliance of Museums were “likely to exert pushback” against the Berkshire Museum’s deplorable deaccession plans. Now they have, after ... read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrlPublished 2017-07-25
‘After the Revolution’: Heathcote Williams as Playwright
Jay Jeff Jones writes in London’s Theatre Record: Like [Jeff] Nuttall, Williams was multi-talented and constant in his espousal of utopian anarchy. He was as uncompromising as he was compassionate; an intellectual force that ... read more
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2017-07-25
Lookback: on handwritten letters
From 2007: I still find it all but impossible to sit down and write a full-length letter by hand, in part because I’m left-handed and so have always found penmanship (as they used to call ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-07-25
Almanac: András Schiff on Haydn and humor in classical music
“It seems to be much easier to make an audience cry than it is to make them laugh. There are many music-lovers who won’t even admit that humour has a place in what we call ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-07-25
Recent Listening In Brief
It is impossible to review even a smattering of the dozens of albums that land in the Rifftides mailbox. With the Sweden trip looming, time allows for mentions of a few relatively ... read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2017-07-24
Berkshire Museum Disposables: Bierstadts, Bouguereaus, Calders, Church, Inness, “George Washington”
The hit list is out. The Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, MA, today identified (see the above link) all 40 works that it intends to sell through Sotheby’s to bankroll its $60-million reinvention plan. Based on this ... read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrlPublished 2017-07-24
Lost: What Ever Happened to ‘Severe Joy’?
Michael Butterworth[Photo: Stephen Iles]When Heathcote Williams died recently, I heard from many people who recalled the lasting impact he’d had on them. Jay Jeff Jones, Michael Butterworth, and David Britton were three. They remembered a ... read more
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2017-07-24
Digging to France
When I tell a U.S. colleague about several concerts I’m playing in France he says: “You’re Jerry Lewis!” The French, it’s true, have a long tradition of appreciating U.S culture, and yes, that silly American ... read more
AJBlog: PianoMorphosisPublished 2017-07-24
Just because: Art Carney stars in Harvey
The credits and opening scene of Harvey, starring Art Carney as Elwood P. Dowd. This version of Mary Chase’s play, adapted for television by Jacqueline Babbin and Audrey Gellen and directed by George Schaefer, was ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-07-24
Almanac: Somerset Maugham on the compulsive reader
“Of course to read in this way is as reprehensible as doping, and I never cease to wonder at the impertinence of great readers who, because they are such, look down on the illiterate. From ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2017-07-24
This is Reading—Artists Make Magic
In mid-July, I traveled to Pennsylvania to see a show. It was straight-up MAGIC. I can’t stop thinking about it. This is Reading is a transmedia production about the people and times of Reading, Pennsylvania. ... read more
AJBlog: The Bright RidePublished 2017-07-23

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