“Kundera, now 88 years old, left Communist Czechoslovakia in 1975 after he was dismissed from his teaching position and had seen his books banned. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting was published in French in 1979. Two years later it was released in Czech by a Canadian publisher – but it has never actually been published in Kundera’s homeland. It is reportedly hard even today to obtain in the Czech Republic.” That, at last, is about to change.
Tag: 11.08.17
Revisiting Edith Hamilton, Who Introduced Generations To Classical Greece And Rome
“Although less well known in Europe, Hamilton achieved such popularity in the United States that, when I tell people that I study Classics, most people over the age of fifty who are familiar with the subject tell me that Hamilton was their entry point.” Now that her The Grrek Way (1930) and The Roman Way (1932) are being republished, Donna Zuckerberg considers how Hamilton’s view of the ancient world has, and hasn’t, held up over the decades.
Rolling Stone Was Inspired By A Leftist Catholic Journal
“Ramparts was by no means a hippie magazine, but its rebellious spirit, flair for publicity and professional design would all leave their mark on Wenner and Gleason’s fledgling magazine.”
To Accomplish A Less Sexist Theatre World, Start With Gender Parity In Theatre Classrooms
The problem isn’t just Shakespeare; it’s also Chekhov – and Arthur Miller, all three of whom dominate English-language theatre training and thus the classroom, and it’s partially why so many women majoring or doing grad work in performance get to act much less often than their male counterparts. “The coexistence of these phenomena — the paucity of plays by women in the classroom and the narrow selection of roles for women in production — begs the exploration of a connection. Are members of an artistic community less likely to put gender parity onstage if it is not presented to them offstage as artistically valuable?”
The Ferocious Heart Of Kim Dingle’s Paintings
Her paintings “sometimes look as if they’ve been attacked by a 6-year-old gone berserk on a sugar high” – and indeed, “for some of her installs, she will enlist the child of a friend to add the finishing touches: a crayon scrawl on the walls, piles of silly string underfoot, assorted bits of detritus.”
Why It’s Difficult To Assess Elliott Carter’s Lasting Impact
“The case of Elliott Carter stands apart from the usual pattern of posthumous appraisals, not least because Carter lived to within a few weeks of his 104th birthday, and kept composing almost to the end. He may be the only composer in the history of Western music to have done so. Rather than leaving us just a handful of unusual works that slot neatly into the dotage thought inevitable before the Romantics or the transcendence Adorno heard in late Beethoven, Carter wrote dozens of pieces in a wide variety of genres. If Aaron Copland’s experience of composing (or rather not composing) in old age was like the turning off of a faucet, Elliott Carter’s was like whitewater rafting.”
A Successful Amateur Theatre? It’s All About Motivating The Volunteers
“In a recent survey we carried out, 74% of people who said they were interested in volunteering would do it to have fun; 56% to spend time with like-minded people; 52% to give back to their community; and 48% to feel useful. Volunteers clearly want more out of their experience than just freebies. In fact, for an organisation like LTO, free tickets would probably lead to a financial crisis if we gave them away to all our volunteers.”
Does Interactive Art Make For A Richer Experience?
“Poor interactive shows come across like a desperate plea for attention from Generation iPad. But this doesn’t have to be the case. We’re just scratching the surface of the technological possibilities. And as for the interactivity haters there will always be shows hat expect you to sit down and shut up rather than asking if you want Hamlet to a) be or b) not be.”
NY Court Rules Developer Violated Graffiti Artists’ Rights
“5Pointz, a former factory owned by Jerry Wolkoff, was a haven for graffiti artists from around the world and became a prominent tourist attraction. Wolkoff had given the artists permission to use the building as a canvas for “aerosol art” and the building was covered in multicolored murals and tags. But in 2013, when Wolkoff decided to demolish the building and replace it with apartments, he whitewashed the graffiti art in the dead of night. On Wednesday the jury decided that the artists’ work was legally protected under the Visual Artists Rights Act (Vara), and that meant that Wolkoff had broken the law.”
‘Call Me By Your Name’ Is A Love Story Between A 17- And A 24-Year-Old. Should We Be Skeeved Out?
“For fans of the book and the film, it may feel self-evident that Call Me by Your Name is not a story of predation: It’s a story of first love and lust told from the perspective of a particularly mature teenager on the cusp of adulthood; the relationship is consensual; even Elio’s parents seem to approve; and, in any case, this is a fictional depiction, not an ethical endorsement. But the age gap will give pause to more people than right-wing trolls – it did to my progressive companion at an early screening – and it does the film no favors to pretend it’s not a question worth exploring.” So Slate‘s Jeffrey Bloomer explores it.