This book belongs to an earlier generation of literary criticism, one that is too often undervalued today. The author takes as her intellectual foundation that “writers’ lives are not always particularly interesting; knowledge of... Read More

Television is more than fifty years old. It is tempting to say that the medium is mature, that its strengths and limitations are understood. The problem with this viewpoint is that it is hard to say exactly what television is. Is it the... Read More

While teacher’s fatigue has yet to acquire the bloody cachet of “going postal,” it does add a complicit shadow pathology to this novel, in both its protagonist and its author. JP Griffith, young, lovelorn, and divorced, takes off... Read More

Peter Demian Ouspensky (1878—1947) and George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (ca. 1877—1949), esoteric teachers of self-development, fascinated many 1920s—1940s intellectuals, including Huxley, Isherwood, Borges, Eliot, and Orage. They... Read More

Who could resist another invitation from Uncle Max to accompany him and his family on a scientific adventure? Certainly not his nephew, Riley, and neither will the reader. Riley tells his fellow soccer players in the United States that... Read More

There is a handful of athletes whose performance on and off transcend the sport that made them famous. Those who enjoyed the notoriety that comes with spending their entire career with a single team endear them to their fans much more so... Read More