Ultimately, one wonders what item of Hong Kong’s colonial baggage the next publicity-seeker will attempt to steal away. – The Critic
How English Departments Waned
The old critics used familiar terms of analysis—irony, structure, symbol . . . The new theorists traded in logocentrism, “the Other,” undecidability, “infinite paradigm of difference.” Their vocabulary reduced the audience for academic criticism. American undergraduates couldn’t understand it, but so what? – First Things
Choreographing The Social Distancing At Dance Parties
“SOCIAL! the social distance dance club advertised a COVID-conscious rave [in Manhattan] this spring, where people were free to let loose together in the Park Avenue Armory’s Drill Hall. David Byrne MC’d the evening’s festivities, but the real dance happened before the party. The choreography was as follows.” – The Brooklyn Rail
This Is How Easy It Is To Troll Book Folk
What’s important to note about these hoaxes is that they are absolutely terrible—totally artless, not believable at all, only really a “fool me once” situation if you were born or signed up for a Twitter account yesterday. Their relative success is even more embarrassing when you consider that the targets are supposed to be readers, people who approach language actively, if not critically. – BookForum
What Accounts For The Enduing Popularity Of Orwell?
There is no doubting the clarity and vigor of his prose, but when it comes to assessing his capacity to face up to grim truths, there is good reason to doubt Orwell’s claims to his having looked reality unflinchingly in the eye and told it like it was. Orwell’s friend Malcolm Muggeridge believed that while Orwell displayed “an almost painful honesty,” his grasp of what was going on in the world was often more than a little tenuous. – New Criterion
The New Gehry Towering Over Arles
Until recently, it would have been possible to walk across town and replicate the experience with Van Gogh’s Starry Night Over the Rhône—to stand on the banks of the river and gaze out at the same vista that met the artist’s eye over 130 years ago. For the first time in many years, Arles’ skyline is changing, with the addition of an ambitious new cultural complex called LUMA Arles. – Smithsonian