French politicians, high-profile intellectuals and journalists are warning that progressive American ideas — specifically on race, gender, post-colonialism — are undermining their society. “There’s a battle to wage against an intellectual matrix from American universities,’’ warned Mr. Macron’s education minister. – The New York Times
Now That ‘The Great Gatsby’ Is In The Public Domain, Will It Be Understood Better?
The novel has been misinterpreted for a long time: just after it was published, Fitzgerald complained to Edmund Wilson that “of all the reviews, even the most enthusiastic, not one had the slightest idea what the book was about.” And that’s continued in the popular mind for nearly a century. (The idea of a Gatsby-themed party, after all, seems pretty wrongheaded once you think about the actual character.) Will the new adaptations — a miniseries, graphic novels, stage works, books written from the points of view of characters other than Gatsby or narrator Nick Carraway — get things right? – BBC
Criticism As Context
Understanding postcritique begins with understanding what has been the dominant mode of interpretation in literary studies for many decades: critique. Critique involves giving an account of a text that is not the account the text would give of itself. The novel or story or poem, from this perspective, is never really about what it says it’s about. Nor is it, often, about what a non-academic reader would think it’s about. Only the critic, trained in theoretical inquiry, can unmask the social hierarchies latent in the artwork. – The Point
In Praise Of The Most Underrated Punctuation Mark
“That semicolons, unlike most other punctuation marks, are fully optional and relatively unusual lends them power; when you use one, you are doing something purposefully, by choice, at a time when motivations are vague and intentions often denied. And there are very few opportunities in life to have it both ways; semicolons are the rare instance in which you can; there is absolutely no downside.” – The New York Times Magazine
Vancouver Art Museum Backs Down Its Major Expansion
Fundraising for the project has been at a virtual standstill for the past two years, since Vancouver’s Chan family, headed by Burrard International Holdings founder Caleb Chan, committed $40 million toward the project now estimated to be worth $355 million, including a $50 million endowment fund. That total does not include the City of Vancouver’s gift of a 99-year lease on land that years ago was valued at $100 million. – BIV
How Breakdancing Got Itself Into The Olympics
“The story of breaking’s meteoric rise to the Olympic stage — it’s set to make its debut at the Paris Summer Games in 2024 — involved an unlikely and reluctant partnership between street-savvy breakers and traditional ballroom dancers, an evolution of an urban art form into a competitive endeavor and a lightning-fast education campaign to sell Olympic officials and a curious sporting public that breakers are very much athletes.” – The Washington Post
What’s Actually In The Paris Opera Ballet’s Diversity Report?
Some of the recommendations are both obvious and overdue: no more yellowface/brownface/blackface, hire more diverse choreographers (but classical choreographers, not contemporary or hip-hop as is the past), tights that match skintones, etc. Other measures will face more resistance, especially the suggested changes in the way the company recruits dancers and students. – Pointe Magazine
Unproduced Stanley Kubrick Screenplay Coming To Screens
“Veteran producers Bruce Hendricks and Galen Walker have optioned the rights to the late Stanley Kubrick’s unmade film Lunatic At Large, and have plans to bring the film-noir storyline to the big screen. … The project was one of three film stories found in Kubrick’s archives after his passing.” Production is expected to start this fall. – The Hollywood Reporter
Oregon Symphony’s Next Music Director: David Danzmayr
The 41-year-old Austrian-born maestro, who recently completed his term as chief conductor of the Zagreb Philharmonic in Croatia, takes up the baton in Portland this fall. He succeeds Carlos Kalmar, whose 18th and final season was cancelled due to the pandemic. (Meanwhile, Danzmayr has also extended his contract as music director of the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra in Columbus, Ohio.) – The Oregonian
More Monoliths. (Is This Irritating Yet?)
Even though it has a little more flair, I hope we can accept the Turkish monolith as a normal part of life in 2021. It is not a mystery — even though we don’t know who exactly put it there, we know human beings did it, and we know that they were undoubtedly inspired by the 100-plus other monoliths around the world. – New York Magazine
Has Westernization In The Rest Of The World Been Over-Estimated?
The immense force of Western institutions – capitalism, democracy, Christianity – stamped itself on other parts of the globe, creating independent democratic nations committed to freedom, end of story. Or is it the end of the story? If 21st-century world trends are any indication, we might have badly overstated Westernisation’s influence and achievement. – Aeon
8-Year-Old Complains About NPR’s Lack Of Dinosaur Coverage
“My name is Leo and I am 8 years old. I listen to All Things Considered in the car with mom. I listen a lot. I never hear much about nature or dinosaurs or things like that. Maybe you should call your show Newsy things Considered, since I don’t get to hear about all the things. Or please talk more about dinosaurs and cool things.” – NPR
Why This Afghan-Born Poet Is ‘The Father Of Uzbek Literature’
Alisher Navoiy was born in 1441 in Herat, now in Afghanistan but historically a Persianate city. He wrote in Arabic, Persian, and Chagatai, the Turkic literary language used all over Central Asia in the Middle Ages and considered the ancestor of modern literary Uzbek. In one of his most famous treatises, he compared Persian (with a centuries-old literary tradition even back then) with Chagatai and found the latter superior — which made him a key figure in constructing an Uzbek identity in the Soviet and post-Soviet periods. – Global Voices
How’s New York’s Dance World Navigating A Year Of Pandemic? Better Than They’d Feared
“As they announce plans for the spring and summer — mostly digital, garnished with a little outdoors and in-person — many New York dance presenters spoke in recent interviews about what they’ve been up to and how the pandemic has changed their business. … Even without box-office revenue, most have continued paying artists, sometimes with no expectation of any product or performance in return. ‘Make something only if you want to” has been a fairly common presenter-to-artist attitude. And yet the dozen or so presenters interviewed said they were surviving financially.” – The New York Times
Last Summer, Museums Made Promises About Diversity. What Are They Actually Doing?
“Many workers regarded it as a positive step this summer when numerous leading institutions released detailed diversity, equity, and inclusion issues (DEI) plans. But more than six months later, employees are still waiting for progress reports. Artnet News surveyed more than a dozen museums across the country, none of which agreed to share the full amount of money they have dedicated toward DEI initiatives, even as they delineated ambitious timelines for creating diversity departments, implementing bias training, and establishing guidelines for purchasing more works by artists of color for their collections.” – Artnet
The Comedy Industry’s Alt-Right Problem
“The mobs that descended on Washington, D.C., last month have intellectual roots in many places, going back to the bloody beginnings of this country. But they also have roots in specific areas of modern culture, including Facebook, BuzzFeed, and the increasingly online world of comedy. All the forces that incubated the rioters are still there, unchanged, chugging along as normal. The rot goes much deeper than you might expect.” – The New Republic
Flory Jagoda, Living Storehouse Of Sephardic Song, Dead At 97
“A Bosnian-born guitarist and accordionist, [she] brought the traditional ballads of her Sephardic [Jewish] ancestors and the melodies of the Ladino language to American audiences through performances and recordings.” – The Washington Post
New L.A. Arts Recovery Fund Has $38.5 Million For Small And Midsize Nonprofits
“The J. Paul Getty Trust initiated the fund, to be officially announced Tuesday, and the California Community Foundation is administering it. Struggling arts organizations with an annual operating budget of under $10 million prior to the pandemic are eligible to apply for unrestricted funds that can go toward programming or operating expenses such as rent, utilities and staff compensation starting this spring.” – Los Angeles Times
Frick Collection Set To Open At Old Whitney Museum Building
“The Frick Collection will open in the Breuer building as the Frick Madison on March 18, the museum announced on Tuesday, beginning a two-year stay in the Brutalist space while its 1914 Gilded Age mansion on Fifth Avenue undergoes renovation.” – The New York Times
Facing Another COVID Summer, British Theatres Are Building Outdoor Stages
Social distancing is easier outdoors and there’s more air circulation, not to mention the fact that, as one director puts it, “Outdoor arts is more accessible because it’s in democratic open spaces.” So companies across the UK are getting ready to perform outside their buildings, many for the first time, as soon as weather and health regulations permit. – The Guardian
Defying National Government, French City’s Mayor Reopens Museums
“Louis Aliot, the right-wing mayor of Perpignan, a city in the south of France, will let four museums begin welcoming visitors once more, effectively disobeying countrywide COVID-19 safety guidelines that are keeping museums throughout the country shuttered.” – ARTnews
First Arab Woman To Direct A Feature Film, Moufida Tlatli, Dead At 73
“[She] remains best known for her breakthrough 1994 feature The Silences of the Palace, a lyrical study of a woman’s return to an abandoned royal residence, which tackled the themes of exploitation and trauma as experienced across generations of Arab women. It won a string of international awards.” – The Guardian