“Witnesses report that three suspects rammed into the cathedral in Oloron-Sainte-Marie in southwestern France with a tree trunk strapped to their car.” (Yes, a battering ram.) “Inside the church, they quickly sawed through steel bars and smashed protective glass to access silver chalices, gold objects, and other treasures from the medieval cathedral. They fled the scene in a second vehicle.” – Artnet
Tag: 11.04.19
Mark Morris’s Rollicking New Memoir
“I was never ashamed of being a sissy, and I wore the bullying as a badge of honor,” he writes. “I knew what was going on and I knew who I was, so I took care of myself by being funny. Nevertheless, every solo I made up in the first part of my career was a humiliation dance in one way or another.” – Washington Post
Jean-Paul Dubois Wins Goncourt, France’s Top Literary Prize
Published in August, Mr. Dubois’s novel “Tous les hommes n’habitent pas le monde de la même façon” (“All Men Do Not Live in the Same Way”) is a story narrated by a man languishing in a Canadian prison for an unknown crime. – The New York Times
Is The “Crisis” In The Humanities Because They’re In The Wrong Zip Code?
Without the blunt, binaristic borders between zones — humanities versus sciences, humanities versus social sciences — the disciplines could connect across the much more complex and multifarious surfaces and interfaces they have with each other. Scholars could interact with their counterparts in all fields without the burdensome assumption that they represent more — an entire community more — than their specific area of expertise. – Inside Higher Ed
America’s Forbidden Composer
“Arthur Farwell is probably the most neglected composer in our history.” This assessment, by the late composer/critic A. Walter Kramer in 1973, rings ever louder today; Farwell has been deemed untouchable. Hounded by the watchdogs of “cultural appropriation,” he has fallen prey to dictates of political rectitude. – Joseph Horowitz
The twenty-five record albums that changed my life (15)
My father had no knowledge of or interest in classical music himself, but he brought home a record for me whenever he passed through Memphis on business. This is the one I remember best. – Terry Teachout
France Has A Fall Publishing Frenzy
Autumn is “Oscar season for books” in France, and that’s not a super feeling for the authors. “For all the finger food that will be gobbled up and all the champagne flutes that will be downed in this chaotic two-month period—from mid-August to the end of October—that runs from the release of 524 books to the crowning of a happy few by a dozen major literary prizes mid-November, La Rentrée Littéraire is an exciting and brutal tradition that engages the whole country, and takes both a mental and physical toll on an increasingly anxious book industry.” – Literary Hub